E>  RAR.Y 

OF   THE 
UNIVERSITY 
OF    ILLINOIS 


977379 


H62w 


ILLINOIS  HISTORY  SURVEY 
LIBRARY 


HISTORY 


OF 


WAYNE« CLAY  COUNTIES 


ILLINOIS. 


I LKUSTRATRD 


CHICAGO: 

GLOBE  PUBLISHING  CO.,  HISTORICAL  PUBLISHERS 

183  Lake  Strekt. 

1884. 


M 


JOHN     MORRIS.     SUCCESSOR    TO 


J18  M 


PREFACE 


WE  herewith  present  to  the  people  of  Wayne  and  Clay  Counties  a  history  of  this  por- 
tion of  Illinois,  from  its  earliest  known  existence  to  the  present  time.  In  some 
things  the  reader  may  think,  especially  if  he  should  be  a  stranger  to  the  pioneers  or  their 
descendants,  that  at  times  we  deal  in  details  that  are  tedious,  but  in  a  generation  from  now 
these  details  will  be  the  more  highly  prized  the  more  full  and  complete  they  are. 

Then,  in  telling  the  story  of  the  general  county  histories,  we  believe  they  will  be  found 
clothed  in  a  literary  garb,  and  brightened  with  reflections,  suggestions  and  philosophical 
deductions,  that  will  make  it  a  storehouse  for  young  and  old,  where  they  may  acquire  new 
and  enlarged  ideas,  and  thus  receive  profit  as  well  as  pleasure,  that  will  repay  them  a  thou- 
sand-fold for  the  small  outlay  of  the  original  cost  of  the  book. 

This  work  has  cost  us  much  labor,  and  a  large  expenditure  of  money,  and  although  our 
territory  for  patrons  is  sparsely  settled,  and,  therefore,  our  patronage  but  limited,  yet  we 
have  given  in  this  book  more  than  we  promised,  and  we  feel  assured  that  all  thoughtful 
people  in  the  county  now,  and  especially  in  the  future,  will  recognize  and  appreciate  the 
work  and  its  permanent  value. 

We  are  indebted  to  the  kind  assistance  of  most  of  the  prominent  people  in  the  county 
for  interesting  facts  and  assistance  in  our  compilations,  and  also  to  F.  M.  Woolard  and  G 
W.  Smith  for  their  valuable  contributions  of  interesting  chapters. 

THE  PUBLISHERS 

Makoh,   1884. 


214264 


CONTENTS, 


PART  I. 

HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 

Page. 
CHAPTER  I.— A  few  Words  on  Geology  in  the  Schools- 
Many  Interesting  Suggestions — The  Outlines  of  Geology 
— Prairies,  and  about  Their  Formation— The  Geology  of 
Wayne  County — Probabilities  of  Finding  Coal  Here, 
etc.,  etc.,  etc 11 

CHAPTER  II.— The  Daring  Discoveries  and  Operations  of 
the  French  in  the  Mississippi  Valley — Some  Corrections 
in  History — The  Catholic  Missionaries— Discovery  of 
the  Mississippi  River— Pontiac's  Conspiracy — The  Down- 
fall of  Quebec— The  Territory  Ceded  by  the  Indians — 
Illinois  Separated  from  Indiana,  etc.,  etc 21 

CHAPTER  III.— The  Old  Settlers,  Where  They  Were  From, 
Together  With  Many  Interesting  Facts  Concerning 
Them — Isaac  Harris,  Mrs.  Goodwin,  Col,  Samuel  Leech, 
George  Merritt,  "Jacky  "  Jones,  George  McCown,  and 
Many  Others — Rangers — Joe  Boltinghouse's  Avengers 
—Wayne  County  Organized  March  26,  1819,  etc 35 

CHAPTER  IV.— Habits  and  Pastimes— The  Borah  Family- 
Cannons— Owens — Halls— First  and  Second  Settlements 
in  the  County — First  Schools  and  Churches— Gatherings 
of  Old  Settlers  and  Their  Names— Nathan  Atteberry— 
W.  W.  George— David  Wright — Ellidges— Andrew  Crews 
Alexander  Campbell — And  Many  Others— Incidents  and 
Anecdotes — The  Disappearance  of  the  Indian — Wild 
Game,  etc.,  etc.,  etc 48 

CHAPTER  V.— Some  More  Reflections  Worth  Reading— 
The  Evils  and  the  Good  of  the  Country — An  Account  of 
the  Officials  and  Who  They  Were — Some  Big  Men  and 
Some  not  so  Big— Gen.  Leech,  Rigdon  B.  Slocumb,  W. 
B.Davis,  or  Black  Bill — Senators,  Representatives  and 
County  Officials— David  W.  Barkley,  Warnioth,  Turney, 
Burns,  Barnhill,  Nathan  Crews,  Clark,  Hogue,  Hanna, 
and  Many  Others — First  Deed — Township  Organization 
—Whisky  Banished  from  the  County,  etc 60 

CHAPTER  VI.— The  Wars  for  Our  Liberties— George  Wash- 
ington and  His  Wayne  County  Heroes— Sequel  to  the 
Holtinghouse  Massacre  and  its  Wayne  County  Avengers 
— The  Rangers  Here  and  who  They  were— Winnebago 
and  Black  Hawk  War— First  Campaign  a  Bloodless  One 
— Mexican  War  and  the  Part  Therein  of  Wayne  County 
— Col.  Leech— Our  Civil  War,  When  Its  Real  History  will 
be  Written — The  Companies  That  went  from  Wayne 
County,  and  Some  Account  of  Them — Who  were  Killed 
and  Wounded  in  Battle — The  Eleven  Companies  Fur- 
insbed  by  Wayne'County — Capture  of  Jeff  Davis,  etc..  etc    68 


Page. 
CHAPTER  TIL—  Miscellaneous  Items  of  Interest— Birth>. 
Deaths  and  Marriages — Census  of  1845 — Literary  Sp<  i. - 
ties— Old  Store  Accounts,  etc.,  etc 68 

CHAPTER  VIII.— A  Complete  History  of  all  the  Churches 
—The  Methodist— Different  Baptists— Christian— Pres- 
byterian— Catholic— Who  Organized  Them— Sketches 
of  the  Prominent  Churchmen,  etc 95 

CHAPTER  IX.— Bench  and  Bar  of  Wayne  County— The 

People  of  "Precedents"— The  Coming  Lawyer— The 
Laws  and  Other  Legislation— First  Court,  Grand  Jury 
and  Lawyer  in  the  County— Hubbard,  Wilson— Edwin 
andC.  A.  Beech er— Campbell,  Hanna,  Boggs  and  Many 
Others,  Including  the  Present  Active  Practitioners,  et<  -   129 

CHAPTER  X.— The  Press  of  Wayne  County — MauySalutatn- 
ries  and  as  Many  Farewells—  Wilmaus,  Joe  Prior,  i'.augh, 
Tilden,  Sibley,  Schell,  Smith,  Walden,  Stickney,  Litzeu- 
berger,  Barkley,  McClung,  Tracy,  Holmes— Some  Ac- 
count of  the  Many  Papers  that  Started  ;ind  Perished, 
etc.,  etc.,  etc 148 

CHAPTER  XL— Schools— An  Account  From  the  First  One  to 
the  Present  Day— A  Comparison  of  the  Improvements- 
Sunday  Schools  and  the  First  Free  Schools— Difficulties 
Attending  Education  at  an  Early  Day— The  Changes  of 
Fifty  Years— Discussions  of  the  School  System— Statis- 
tics, etc 1.57 

CHAPTER  XIL— Railroads— Internal  Improvement  Fol- 
lies—Some  Thoughts  on  Municipal  Aid— Voters  and 
Their  Demagogues— Monopolies  and  Paupers— The  Un- 
wisdom of  Law-makers— Ignorance  in  Bulk  Considered 
—The  Five  Horse  Court — Swamp  Lands— Sharp  Figur- 
ing—O.  A  M.  Road— Air  Line— I).  &  O.  Line—  Narrow 
•  lauge,  etc.,  etc.,  etc 161 

CHAPTER  XIIL— Recapitulation— Some  General  and  Spe- 
cial Accounts  of  the  People—  Early  Wills  and  Adminis- 
trations —  Present  County  Wealth  —Wayne  Formed 
from  Edwards,  and  then  the  South  Line  Changed— 
Then  a  Portion  Set  off  to  Clay  County— Full  List  of  Of- 
ficers—Some  of  the  Literature  of  the  Early  and  Present 
Day— An  Immortal  Speech— Israel  Dewey,  etc.,  etc.,  etc..  172 

CHAPTER  XIV.— City  of  Fairfield— The  Original  Plat, 
With  Numerous  Additions— Growth  and  Development 
—Some  of  the  First  Houses  and  Old  Landmarks— Mer- 
chants and  Merchandising— Taverns,  Mills  and  Facto- 
ries— The  Court  House — Churches,  Schools  and  News- 
papers— Freemasonry  and  Other  Benevolent  Orders — 
Incorporation  of  Fairfield— Town  Boards,  etc.,  etc 178 


CONTEXTS. 


Page. 

•  il  U'TER  XV.—  Barnhill  and    Big  Mound  Townships  — 

Their  Geographical  ami  Physical  Features— Settlement 
—  An  Incident  of  DaTia  -Who  the  Pioneers  Were,  What 
They  Hid,  ami  Where  They  fame  From— Early  Im- 
provements and  Industries— The  First  Efforts  at  Mer- 
chandising—Wright's St, ire.  Mill  and  Tanyard— A  Busi- 
ness Place— Schools  and  Churches  in  Harnhill— The 
Same  in  Big  Mound— Odds  and  Ends— Fairfield's  Birth, 
etc.,  etc 193 

•  11  IPTEB    XVI.—  Jasper  Township— Topography,  Drain- 

age, -oil  and  Beauties— Its  Streams,  Lakes,  Timbers  and 
Wild  Fruits— Bees,  Honey,  Flora  and  Fauna-Joshua 
Graham,  the  First  Settler— Then  Came  James  Dickin- 
son, the  Cannons,  William  Husk,  George  Frazer,  John 
Pitchett,  Joseph  Martin,  the  Borahs,  Thomas  Bradshaw, 
Ihe  Owens,  Jonathan  Douglas  and  Many  Others— How 
They  Lived  and  Struggled— First  Birth  and  Death— The 
First  House.  Mill,  Blacksmith  Shop,  Lime-kiln  and 
Land  Entry  and  Marriage— A  Panther  Attacks  a  Wo- 
man—First Schools  and  Singing  Schools,  and  Who 
Taught  Them— First  Sermons  and  Preachers— When 
Leading  Families  Came "" 

CHAPTER  XVII.— Massillon  Township— Early  Facts  and 
Reminiscences  as  Gathered  from  Jacob  Hall,  W.  N. 
Borah,  ,1.  B.  Borah,  Judge  Wilson  and  Others— Lovelette, 
the  Traditional  First  Comer— Enoch  Beach,  the  First 
Settler,  with  a  Sketch— Name  and  Sketches  of  Our  Sel- 
lers and  Their  Families— Camps  and  Cabins  of  the  Ear- 
ly Day— Trundle  Beds  and  Their  Trash— First  School 
and  Who  Taught  It-First  Marriage,  Birth  and  Death— 
The  Old  Rangers— J udge  Wilson  and  the  Deer  That 
Tore  His  Clothes  off— John  McCollum  and  His  Coon- 
Wild  Cats— First  Mills,  Churches,  Preachers,  etc.,  etc., 
etc.,  etc 217 

CHAPTER  XYUL— Laniard  Township— Description— To- 
pography, etc.— Early  Settlements— Pioneer  Improve- 
ments and  Industries— Caudle's  Distillery  and  the  Early 
Fse  of  Whisky— Churches  and  Church  Buildings— 
Schools— Dr.  Jones,  the  First  Teacher-How  he  went 
Snipe  Hunting— Jeffersonville  Laid  Out  as  a  Village- 
Its  Growth,  Development  and  Incorporation— Business 

.    .  227 

Statistics,  etc 

CHAPTER  SIX.— Bedford  Township— Geographical  De- 
scription, Topography,  etc.— Coming  of  the  Pioneers— 
Their  Early  Struggles  and  Hardship—Wild  Game- 
Pioneer  Mills  antl  Who  Built  Them— Schools  and 
Churches—  Villages—  Cisne  Laid  Out  as  a  Town— Its 
Growth  and  Development  —  Hiuard  — Laid  Out,  Im- 
proved, etc.,  etc.,  etc -33 

CHAPTER  XX.— Indian  Prairie  Township— Description- 
Topography,  etc.— Early  Settlements— Pioneer  Improve- 
ments and  Industries— Early  Preachers  and  Churches- 
First  School  Teachers— First  Death  in  the  Township— 
1  hurches,  Preachers  and  Officers— Johnsonville— When 
and  by  Whom  Laid  1  Hit— Its'  Growth  and  Improvements 
and  Its  Future  Outlook— Railroad  Prospects— Bine 
Point— When  Laid  Out  and  by  Whom— A  List  of  Town- 
ship Officers,  etc.,  etc.,  etc 241 

CHAPTER  XXL— lour  Mile  Township— Introduction- 
Boundaries—  Surface—  Water-courses  —  Productions— 


Pahk. 
Beaus— Frog    Island— Early    Settlers    and    Sketches— 
The  Wild  Man— Population—  Wayne  city— Middleton— 
Keens— Schools,  Churches  -Politics— Officers,  etc 246 

CHAPTER  XX1L— Elm  River  Township— Boundaries  and 
Settlement— Pioneer  Incidents  —  Population  —  Surface 
and  Water-courses— Enterprise— Education  and  School 
Statistics— Churches  and  Preachers,  etc 251 

CHAPTER  XXIII.— Zif  Township— Boundaries  and  Sur- 
face—Origin of  Name— First  Settlers— Zif— Religious 
and  Educational  Notes— Agriculture— Main  Productions 
—The  Great  Prairie  Fire,  etc 26* 

CHAPTER  XXIV.— Mount  Erie  Township— Introduction 
—Boundaries— Early  Settlers  and  Incidents— Alexan- 
der Ramsey— Topography— Chief  Productions— Mills— 
The  Village  of  Mount.  Erie— When  and  by  Whom  Laid 
Out— Its  Present  Business  Representations— Lodges- 
Churches— Schools,    etc 2-'"5 

CHAPTER  XXV.— Arrington  Township— Boundaries- 
First  Settlers  and  Incidents— Uncle  Jimmy  Siniins— 
Topography— Chief  Productions— Mills— Sims— Cincin- 
nati and  Covington— Early  Schools  and  Teachers- 
Churches— Officers,  etc -6'- 

CHAPTER  XXVI  —Brush  Creek  Township— Description 
and  Topograghy,  etc.— Early  Settlements— Pioneer  Im- 
provements—Early Preachers— Berry  Elledge,  the  First 
Schoolteacher— His  Stroke  of  Paralysis  Compelling  Him 
to  lay  Three  Days  in  the  Woods  Surrounded  by  Wild 
Animals— Murder  of  a  Mr.  Brazell  by  William  Fathree 
—First  Marriage,  First  Death— Churches— Schools,   etc.  265 

CHAPTER  XXVII.— Leech  Township— Boundaries  and  To- 
pography—Water-co  urses— General  Productions— Ori- 
gin of  Name  and  First  Settlements— Some  Indian 
Stories— Internal  Improvements— Towns— Church  His- 
tory and  School  Statistics,  etc 369 

CHAPTER  XXVIII.— Hickory  HillTowuship— Topography 
and  Boundaries— First  Settlers— Who  They  Were— First 
Birth— First  Farming— First  Roads,  etc 274 


PART  II. 

HISTORY  OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 
CHAPTER  I— An  Interesting  Chapter  as  well  as  much  In- 
formation—Practical Questions  Considered— Some  Ideas 
on  Education— How  Farmers  may  Become  the  First 
People  in  the  World— Wonderful  Things  from  the  Soil 
—Rocks,  Soil  and  the  Natural  Products  of  the  County- 
Coal  and  Mineral  Springs,  etc '■ 

CHAPTER  IX— 1778— George  Rogers  Clark— Capt.  Helm 
and  Private  Henry— Clay  County  Revolutionary 
Grounds— Its  Soil  Made  Sacred  by  the  Tread  of  the  Rev- 
olutionary Army— The  Hannibal  of  the  Northwest— An 
Army  of  an  Officer  and  Private— our  Land  Titles- 
Names  of  Some  of  the  Army  that  Passed  Through  Clay 


County,  etc 

CHAPTER  1 1 1.— The  Earliest  Settlers— Who  They  Were  and 
How  'They  Came -Appearance  of  the  Country— John 
McCawley— How  Our  Titles  to  the    Land   Came— The 


300 


CONTENTS. 


Page. 
indians— A  List  of  Early  Settlers— Thomas  McCrackin, 
and  Many  Others  — Trundle  Bed  — School  Teacher  — 
Singing  Master^First  Dudes— Writing  Master— Bottle 
Race— Weddings— Many  Other  Interesting  Facts  and 
Fancies,  etc 307 

CHAPTER  IV.—  Organization  of  the  County- Its  Name- 
Henry  Clay— The  First  County  Seat— Hist  Officers- 
Grand  Juries— Incidents,  etc— Clay  County— Its  Name 
— Date  Organized — Commissioners — First  County  Court 
and  Officers,  and  List  Complete  to  1850— Hubbardsville, 
Maysville  and  Louisville  the  Three  County  Capitals— 
The  County  Buildings— Full  Account  of  Early  Roads, 
Bridges  and  Juries— A  Chapter  in  which  Every  Para- 
graph is  Full  of  Interest,  etc 319 

CHAPTER  V— Additional  Accounts  of  the  People — Neigh- 
borhood Feuds— Regulators  and  Some  of  Their  Victims 
—Marriages,  Commencing  with  Number  One— The 
Courts — Juries  and  Lawyers  and  Court  and  County  Offi- 
cers to  date— First  Indictments— First  County  Officers— 
The  Presiding  Judges,  etc 328 

CHAPTER  VI.— Agriculture  and  Horticulture— Stock-rais- 
ing—Dairying— Matters  of  Interest  and  Value  to  Every 
One— Apples  and  Sorghum— How  to  Make  Your  Land 
Worth  $500  per  Acre,  etc 340 

CHAPTER  VII. -Schools— A  Reference  to  the  Originals- 
Some  Thoughts  on  the  Subject  Generally— The  First 
Schools  and  Teachers-jThe  Early  Schools  and  Those  of 
To-day  Compared  and  Estimated— Thoughts  on  the  Sub- 
ject of  General  Interest,  etc 345 

(  HAPTER  VIII.  — War  — Revolutionary  Soldiers  — Black 
Hawk  War— The  Late  Civil  War— The  Heroic  Conduct 
and  Bearing  of  the  People  of  Clay  County— lien.  L.  B. 
Parsons,  Capt.  .1.  W.  Westcott  and  Many  Others,  etc 351 

(  HAPTER  IX.— Harter  Township  and  Flora— Who  Came, 
and  About  Them— Thomas  Elliott,  Matthias  Misen- 
heimer,  Seth  F.  Hinkley,  Russell  T.  Logan,  Robert  Bry- 
ant, James  Jacobs,  William  Nichols  and  Others— Land 
Entries,  First  Schools,  Teachers  and  Churches— Flora 
and  Its  History— Anecdotes— Railroads— Business,  etc...  358 

CHAPTER  X.  — Louisville  Township  — Configuration- 
Boundaries,  etc.— Drainage— Early  Pioneers— Water 
Mills— Early  Industries— Life  on  the  Little  Wabash— 
Boating— First  Buildings  and  Business  Houses—"  Blind 
Tiger"  and  "Horned  Rooster"— The  Old  Agricultural 
Society— Churches  and  Schools — Township  Records,  ete.  374 

CHAPTER  XL— (lay  City  Township— Description— Topog- 
raphy—Flora  and  Fauna — Pioneer  Settlers — John  Mc- 
Cawley  Driven  Off  by  Indians— His  Return— Capt.  Rob- 
ert Toler— Faris— sheriff  Riley— How  He  Held  a  Pris- 
oner—The "Hoss"  Ordered  to  the  Stable— Bill  Colwell 
— First  School  and  First  Teacher— Schools  and  Officers — 
First  Child— Township  officers— Old  Maysville— Its 
History,  Settlement  and  Growth— County  Seat— Hotels 
— Town  Officers— List  of  Prominent  People— Churches 
and  Church  People— List  of  Officials— Anecdotes,  etc 390 

CHAPTER  XII.— Stanford  Township— Its  Local  History- 
Topography — Its  Name — Stanford  F'amily — Judge  N.  H. 


Page. 

Dull— J.  K.  Bothwell — First  Settlers  and  the  Order  of 
Their  Coming — Schools  and  Churches — Anecdotes — 
Lynch  Court — Early  Preaching  and  Hunting— A  Wolf 
Story — Township  Record  and  Officers,  etc 109 

CHAPTER  XIII.— Oskaloosa  Township— Its  Topography- 
Early  Settlement — Development — Village  of  Oskaloosa — 
Schools— Religion — Politics— Officials,  Incidents,  etc 122 

CHAPTER  XIV.— Xenia  Township  —  Description  —  First 
Settlers — Early  Schools  and  Churches — Villages — Secret 
Societies,  etc 12G 

CHAPTER  XV.— Songer  Township— Description  — Agri- 
culture —  Vegetation — Early  Settlement  and  Settlers — 
Schools — Churches,  etc 437 

CHAPTER  XVI.— Blair  Township— Full  Account  of  all 
the  Pioneers  and  People  Down  to  Date — Incidents- 
Characters — Churches— Schools — Town  Officers,  etc 440 

CHAPTER  XVIL— Hoosier  Township— Its  Topography  and 
Physical  Features — First  F2ntries  and  Early  Settlers — 
Churches,  Schools,  etc I4E 

CHAPTER  XVIII.— Larkinsburg  Township— Topography 
and  Physical  F'eatures — Soil  aud  Timber — Pioneer  Set- 
tlement—Iiarly  Mills — Its  Growth  and  Development — 
Secret  Societies — Schools  and  Churches— Present  Busi- 
ness— Township  Records,  etc I  ■ 

CHAPTER  XIX  —Bible  Grove  Township— Location— To- 
pography— Soil  and  Timber — How   Its   Name  Came — 
F'irst  Settler,  With   Long  List   of  the  People  and  the 
Order  in  Which  They   Came — Incidents — Robbery    of  — 
McKnight — Violent  Deaths,  etc 460 

CHAPTER  XX. — Pisley  Township — Geographical  Position 
— Settlement  by  the  Whites — Improvements — Mills  and 
Roads — Schools,  Schoolhouses.  Churches,  etc. — Village 
of  Ingraham 46S 


PART  III. 

BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES. 

Wayne  County — City  of  Fairfield s 

Barnhill  Township 43 

Mount  Erie  Township 61 

Bedford  Township 72 

Biy;  Mound  Township 85 

Jasper  Township 94 

Indian  Prairie  Township 102 

Leech  Township 108 

MassiNon   Township 113 

Arrington  Township 117 

Laniard  Township 121 

Brush  Creek  Township 126 

Four  Mile  Township 12S 

Elm  River  Township 137 

Zif  Township 139 

Hickory  Hill  Township 140 

Bedford  Township,  Extra 142- 


CONTENTS. 


PART   IV. 

BIi  H  iRAPHICAL  SKETCHES. 

Page. 

Clay  County. — Louisville  Township 145 

Xenia  Township 159 

Clay  City  Township 171 

I lousier  Township 184 

City  of  Flora 191 

Harter  Township 210 

Rible  Grove  Township 216 

Songer  Township 224 

Pixley  Township 229 

Stanford  Township 234 


'age. 

Larkinsburg  Township 238 

lllair  Township 240 

PORTRAITS. 

Barkley,  J.  G 79 

Cisne,  W.  H 257 

George,  Francis 115 

Hall,  Jacob 151 

Johnson,  William  M 187 

McCartney,  James 43 

Smith,  G.  W 329 

Walters,  J.  P 223 

Westcott,  J.  W 298 


|T~sk;    * 


PAET  I. 


-MtWSfr 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY, 


I' ART     I 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY 


CHAPTER     I. 


A  FEW  WORDS  ON  GEOLOGY  IN  THE  SCHOOLS— MANY  INTERESTING  SUGGESTIONS— THE  OUTLINES 

OF  GEOLOGY— PRAIRIES,  AND  ABOUT  THEIR  FORMATION— THE  GEOLOGY  OF  WAYNE 

COUNTY— PROBABILITIES   OF    FINDING   COAL   HERE,   ETC.,   ETC.,   ETC. 


A  FEW  words  of  the  agricultural  history 
of  the  county  is  not  an  inappropriate 
introduction  to  the  story  of  the  people  who 
were  here  when  the  white  man  discovered 
the  country,  and  their  passing  away,  mark- 
ing, as  they  did.  every  step  of  their  sullen, 
backward  movement  before  the  faces  of  the 
white  man,  with  bloody  and  cruel  carnage. 
as  well  as  the  interesting  account  of  the 
brave  pioneers  and  their  tierce  conflicts  with 
the  savages,  the  wild  beasts  and  deadly  dis- 
eases that  afflicted  the  early  settlers  of  the 
Mississippi  Valley 

The  soil  is  the  Alma  Mater — the  nourish- 
ing mother,  indeed,  of  all  animate  life  in 
this  world.  The  hopes,  the  ambitions,  the 
wealth  and  joys,  the  beauties  of  both  art  and 
nature,  the  sweet  maiden's  blush,  the  love-lit 
eye,  the  floating  Armada,  the  thundering 
train,  the  flaming  forge  and  the  flying  spin 
die.  the  rippling  laughter,  and  all  there  has 
been  or  will  be  in  this  bright  and  beautiful 
world  is  directly  or  remotely  from  the  dull 
soil  upon  which  we  tread.  Here  is  the 
fountain  head,  the  nursing  mother  of  all 
and  every  conceivable  thing  of;  utility  or 
beauty,    mentally   or   physically,  that    a   wise 


God  has  given  to  man.  This  page,  reader, 
you  are  now  perusing,  the  sweet  girl's  melo- 
dy that  you  may  or  have  so  passionately 
worshiped,  the  angel  mother's  voice,  that 
will  linger  in  your  heart  till  the  close  of 
life's  great  final  tragedy,  are,  with  everything 
else,  from  the  one  same  source — the  soil. 
The  Sun  worshipers  were  not  base  in  their 
adored  ideal,  the  warmth  and  sunlight  were 
a  near  approach  to  the  fountains  of  life,  and 
yet  it  was  only  as  the  husbandman,  who  aids 
the  soil  with  his  labors,  and  a  world  grows 
vocal  with  joys.  It  was  the  soil  at  last  and 
not  the  husbandman  who  created,  fructified 
and  produced,  not  only  our  possessions,  but 
life  itself.  Yet  in  the  gray  dawn  of  the 
traditions  we  find  no  account  of  the  Soil 
worshiper-,  and  the  fact  is  now  unquestion- 
.iM\  plain  that  the  soil  has  not  been  appre- 
ciated, its  all  commending  value  in  this 
world  not  at  all  understood;  and  in  the 
progress  of  civilization  it  was  eventually  rel- 
■d  to  the  world's  "drudges."  the  lit  com- 
panion and  associate  only  of  serfs  and  slaves, 
and  finally  in  a  country  whose  air  was  too 
pure  for  a  slave  to  breathe,  inaugurated  the 
long  reign  of   the  Feudal   system,  where  the 


12 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


laborer  and  the  soil  he  cultivated  came  to 
be  considered  one  and  the  same,  and  the  title 
to  the  so-called  free  man  passed  with  the 
deed  to  the  land  on  which  he  lived.  While 
the  soil  has  found  no  worshipers,  it  has  been 
carefully  ignored,  and  it  has  gone  on  increas- 
ing  its  bounties,  showering  its  benefits  upon 
us  until  it  has  lifted  us  from  dull  and  dirty 
savages  to  this  age  of  steam  and  electricity, 
until  space  itself  has  ceased  to  be  in  the 
transactions  and  social  life  of  the  world. 

Why  should  we  teach  our  children  to  un- 
derstand the  dull,  stupid,  uninteresting  soil? 
Build  schoolhouses  and  teach  your  children 
metaphysical  mathematics  seems  to  be  the 
idea  that  has  held  sway  in  the  world  for  all 
the  ages.  It's  but  dirt  that  flies  as  dust  and 
soils  your  clothes,  or  as  sticky  mud  seizes 
upon  you  and  clings  wherever  it  touches, 
and  thus  it  comes  to  be  considered  but  an 
evil  of  life.  And  from  infancy  to  old  age  it 
is  the  same  old  story  of 

"  The  yellow  primrose  on  the  river's  bank, 
A  yellow  primrose  is." 

The  Soil  comes  from  the  rocks,  and  hence 
to  the  intelligent  eye  that  examines  the  un- 
derlying rocks  of  a  country  it  is  at  once 
plain  enough  of  what  the  elements  of  the  soil 
are  composed,  and  what,  if  any,  vegetation  it 
will  best  sustain.  Oar  people  are  agricult- 
ural, their  relation  and  interest  in  the  soil 
is  primary,  and  in  the  natural  order  of 
things  one  would  suppose  that  this  would  be 
the  first  subject  they  would  set  about  master- 
ing, or  at  least  understanding  the  practical 
and  hourly  subjects  of  vital  interests  to 
which  it  is  the  eternal  basis  and  foundation. 
Amazing  as  it  may  seem,  the  very  reverse  of 
this  is  true,  'and  the  evils  it  has  inflicted  are 
but  too  plainly  visible  in  this  wide  tendency 
of  the  young  men  reared  on  farms  to  rush  to 
the  villages,  towns  and  cities,  and  become 
clerks,   tradesmen,    or  "learn  a  trade,"  and 


thus  advance  themselves  beyond  the  station  to 
which  they  were  born.  They  see  and  feel 
the  real  and  imagined  refinement,  elegance 
and  ease  and  culture  of  the  wealthy  of  the 
cities,  and  they  look  with  contempt  upon  all 
forms  of  country  life.  They  are  not  much 
to  blame.  The  whole  world  has  been  falsely 
educated  on  this  point.  The  farmer  has  been 
told  to  educate  his  family — send  them  to  col- 
lege and  have  them  taught  to  read  Latin  and 
Greek,  and  thus  they  can  live  without  work, 
etc.  The  three  or  four  years  at  school  has 
taught  him  to  know  nothing  about  farming 
certain,  and  if  there  he  has  acquired  a  single 
idea  that  he  can  utilize  in  the  practical 
affairs  of  life,  he  has  surely  beeD  the  fortu- 
nate one  in  a  thousand.  Teach  them  ab- 
struse mathematics,  through  all  the  arith- 
metics, algebras,  geometries,  trigonometries, 
the  calculus,  etc.,  and  then  he  may  become  a 
starving  professor,  and  drool  out  his  useless 
life  in  a  clean  white  shirt  and  an  empty 
stomach,  and  imagine  such  a  half-mendicant 
existence  is  eminently  respectable.  He  left 
home  a  bright  farmer  boy,  he  returns  a 
cheaply  veneered  gentleman — but  little  else, 
in  fact,  than  an  incipient  tramp,  prepared  to 
soon  spend  what  little  fortune  may  be  left 
him.  and  then  enter  upon  that  nightmare 
life  of  an  educated  young  man  looking  for  a 
"situation."  Many  years  ago,  Horace  Gree- 
ley, in  a  well  considered  article  in  the  Trib- 
une, estimated  there  were  then  in  the  city 
of  New  York  5,000  college-bred  young  men 
hunting  for  "  situations  "  and  half-starving. 
Here  were  the  gathered  fruits  of  this  most 
vicious  and  cardinal  idea  that  is  inculcated 
in  all  the  schools  of  getting  an  education  and 
living  without  manual  labor.  To  a  sane 
mind,  what  a  monstrous  idea  it  is  to  call  an 
institution  a  school  where  the  child  is  taught 
that  manual  labor,  farming  especially,  is  both 
low  and  degrading.     But  all  the  schools  will 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  rorXTY. 


13 


claim  that  this  charge  does  not  apply  to 
thorn;  that  they  are  the  latest  patent  im- 
provement, and  they  teach  the  pupil  to  think 
for  himself.  And  they  will  in  all  earnest- 
ness tell  you  of  the  hundreds  of  devices  they 
have  invented,  all  tending  to  this  divine 
perfection.  After  duly  listening  to  all  they 
claim,  we  deliberately  repeat  what  we  have 
said  above.  The  young  mind  is  not  taught 
to  think.  We  are  not  convinced  that  this  i8 
among  the  human  possibilities  yet  It  may 
be  done  some  day,  it  has  not  yet  been  done 
most  certainly.  In  our  judgment,  there  has 
not  been  a  school  ever  yet  taught  where 
there  was  any  approach  toward  this  wonder- 
ful invention  of  teaching  the  mind  to  think. 
The  incontestible  evideuce  of  this  is  given 
in  the  fewness,  the  rarity  of  philosophical 
thinkers  there  are  now  or  have  been  in  the 
world.  Read  the  books,  the  newspapers,  the 
sermons,  the  discussions,  of  which  the  world 
is  full,  and  about  all  of  it,  to  the  trained 
philosophical  thinker,  is  but  words,  words, 
words,  signifying  nothing.  For  instance,  if 
you  go  and  listen  to  a  joint  discussion  be- 
tween two  men,  the  most  eminent  men  in  the 
country  say.  upon  any  subject,  political,  po- 
lemical or  otherwise,  and  they  divide  the 
time,  and  by  the  day,  week  or  month  carry 
on  the  discussion,  and  you  listen  to  it  all 
from  the  first  word  to  the  last,  nud  you  final- 
ly come  to  the  end  and  go  home  and  in  your 
quiet  add  up  what  new  knowledge  you  have 
gained.  And  what  is  it?  If  you  are  frank 
with  yourself,  you  will  acknowledge  that  after 
it  all  you  really  know  less  about  it  than  you 
did  before.  There  is  a  reason  for  this.  The 
speakers  or  writers  were  empirics  and  so 
were  their  audiences.  An  empiric  is  a  man 
who  forms  a  judgment  upon  a  subject  from  a 
one-sided  view.  His  judgment  may  be  cor- 
rect, but  it  is  so  by  accident.  A  philosopher 
bases  his  judgment  upon  the  fullest  possible 


investigation  of  everything,  immediate  and 
remote,  that  can  possibly  bear  upon  the  sub- 
ject, and  still  he  doubts,  or  leaves  room  for 
possible  doubts.  The  empiric  is  always  very 
positive,  and  he  loves  to  toll  you  how  he 
hates  a  man  who  has  no  positive  opinions. 
Educated  empiricism  may  be  a  little  better 
than  downright  ignorance,  but  it  is  not 
much,  and  mankind  as  yet  has  produced  lit- 
tle else.  It  is  said  that  the  newspapers,  the 
stump  speakers,  and  the  widespread  discus- 
sions of  political  questions  that  precede  our 
elections,  make  the  best  posted  people 
on  questions  of  political  economy  in  the 
world.  Is  this  true"?  There  is  no  question 
but  that  Washington  and  his  compatriots 
left  us  the  best  government  in  the  world,  and 
there  is  just  as  little  question  but  that  we  have 
allowed  it  to  retrograde  to  some  extent.  If 
this  is  true,  it  is  a  marvelous  fact,  an  amaz- 
ing commentary  upon  our  boasted  civiliza- 
tion, a  biting  irony  upon  the  election  and 
Fourth  of  July  hulabaloos  that  do  so  abound 
and  are  so  like  the  plunging  Niagara. 

Last  summer  we  dropped  in  for  an  hour 
and  listened  to  the  proceedings  of  a  teacher's 
institute.  There  we're  present  100  teachers, 
and  we  understood  they  were  being  taught 
how  to  teach  school,  how  to  teach  tho  best 
possible  school  and  in  the  best  way.  During 
the  hour  we  were  present,  there  was  a  teacher 
at  the  black-board,  and  he  was  elucidating 
the  subject  of  the  "  Equation  of  Payments," 
when  probably  not  a  teacher  present  nor  a 
single  future  pupil  of  any  of  them,  no  mat- 
ter what  his  business  in  life  might  be.  would 
ever  have  a  single  occasion  to  use  the  rule  or 
anything  connected  with  it,  except  in  case 
he  or  she  should  become  a  school  teacher. 
Years  and  years  are  spent  in  the  school  room 
in  this  way,  and  not  perhaps  a  graduate  who 
could  return  to  his  father's  farm  and  pick  up 
a  clod  of  earth,  and  give  you  any  idea  at  all 


14 


HISTORY   OF   WAYNE   COUNTY. 


about  it.  And  yet  in  that  simple  clod  are  the 
destinies  of  all  mankind  and  knowledge  that 
is  of  endless  and  immeasurablevalne.  Some 
gentlemen  once  applied  to  Agassiz  for  in- 
formation upon  the  subject  of  how  to  breed 
the  best  horse.  "  It  is  a  question  of  rocks," 
was  his  sententious  reply.  The  learned 
Professor  was  right.  He  knew  the  soil  came 
from  the  rocks,  and  certain  kind  of  rocks 
would  produce  a  certain  kind  of  vegetable 
growth  and  water,  and  that  this  determined 
not  only  the  kind  of  horses  that  it  would 
eventually  produce,  but  the  kind  of  people. 
In  short,  that  he  who  understands  the  rocks 
and  the  soil  will  not  only  be  the  best  farmer 
in  the  world,  but  he  can  tell  the  kind  and 
quality  of  civilization  it  will  eventually  pro- 
duce and  sustain.  There  is  no  witchery 
about  this,  but  it  is  the  simple  result  of 
knowledge,  being  really  educated  upon  one 
of  the  most-  practical  and  important  subjects 
of  life.  The  proper  teacher  can  soon  teach 
the  children  of  his  school  the  necessary  ele- 
ments of  geology  and  botany,  so  that  they 
would  make  men  and  women  who  would  place 
farm  life  where  it  should  be.  in  the  front 
rank  of  social  existence;  take  it  out  of  what 
it  now  mostly  is,  a  life  of  dull  drudgery  and 
poorly  paid  toil.  The  agricultural  people 
should  possess  a  full  share  of  the  world's 
wealth — an  abundance  to  give  thnm  the  ease 
and  leisure  for  education,  travel,  culture  and 
relinement  that  would  make  it  the  most  invit- 
ing and  enviable  position  in  life.  The  pres- 
ent state  of  affairs  is  the  result  of  mistakes 
in  education,  and  a  false  political  economy 
that  enslaves  and  cruelly  oppresses.  Suppose 
that  for  the  mostly  foolish,  if  not  silly,  ques- 
tions that  are  now  required  to  be  answered  by 
the  School  Superintendents,  and  which  all 
applicants  to  teach  school  are  required  to  be 
able  to  answer  before  they  can  get  a  certifi- 
cate to  teach,  there  were  substituted  a   few 


common  sense  questions  upon  practical  sub- 
jects of  life.  For  instance:  Tell  us  about 
the  rocks  in  the  county;  and  certain 
rocks  given,  what  kind  of  soil  do  they 
make?  And  what  the  plant  food  they 
give,  and  about  the  water?  When  cer- 
tain vegetation  is  seen,  what  kind  of  a 
soil  does  it  indicate'?  An  intelligent  answer 
to  these  questions  would  indicate  that  the 
teacher  could  be  able  to  take  your  children 
and  ramble  through  the  woods  (to  their  in- 
finite delight  and  permanent  benefit),  and  in 
the  flowers,  the  trees,  and  babbling  brooks, 
gather  lessons  they  would  never  forget — that 
would  be  of  inestimable  value  to  them.  Any 
ordinarily  intelligent  child  can  readily  be 
taught  such  lessons  as  these,  and  understand 
it  much  better  than  they  can  the  "  rule  of 
three,"  or  any  rule  of  the  English  grammar. 
But  it  must  be  taught  by  a  teacher  who  could 
do  more  than  is  now  required  of  teachers  in 
the  school  room,  namely,  to  make  the  child 
memorize  its  lessons,  and  when  this  is  done 
enough,  give  him  a  diploma  and  pronounce 
his  education  complete. 

AVhen  we  come  to  give  an  [account  of 
the  schools  of  the  county,  we  may  then 
take  occasion  to  more  specifically  point 
out  the  faults  that  have  found  their 
way  into,  and  permanent  lodgment  in 
the  school  systems.  We  only  wish  here 
to  point  out  the  importance  of  an  un- 
derstanding of  the  geology  of  your  immediate 
locality  at  least,  or  of  that  part  of  the  geology 
that  bears  its  vital  and  practical  lessons  of 
wisdom,  and  results  in  benefits  to  all  man- 
kind. If  our  views  upon  the  subject  are  at 
all  correct,  are  we  not  right  in  saying  that 
the  chapter  on  the  topography  and  geology 
of  the  county  should  be  recognized  by  the 
reader  as  being  one  of  the  most  important 
chapters  in  the  book? 

The  world's  history  going  back    through 


HISTORY  OF   WAYNE  COTNTY. 


15 


its  millions,  probably  billions  of  years,  of  ex- 
istence, is  written  in  the  rocks  to  be  read  and 
interpreted  with  almost  unerring  accuracy. 
At  one  time  it  was  so  hot  that  everything  in 
the  world  was  not  only  melted,  but  fused  into 
the  original  gases — the  sixty-one  element- 
ary substances  which  variously  combining, 
produce  every  form  and  quality  of  existence. 
The  simplest  designation  of  the  rocks  are 
the  stratified  and  the  unstratified.  The  un- 
stratified  are  called  igneous  rocks,  because 
they  have  been  melted  by  intense  heat  and 
occur  in  irregular  masses.  The  desintegra- 
tion  of  the  elements  carried  a  sediment  from 
these  igneous  rocks,  and  the  waters  carried 
these  into  the  earth's  depressions,  and  here  it 
settled  in  parallel  layers  and  thus  formed  the 
stratified  rocks.  This  process  of  building 
the  stratified  rocks  commenced  upon  the 
earth's  first  surface  and  extended  upward. 
In  the  silent  depths  of  the  stratified  rocks  are 
the  former  creation  of  plants  and  animals, 
which  lived  and  died  during  the  slow,  drag- 
ging ages  of  their  formation.  These  fossil 
remains  are  fragments  of  history  which 
enable  us  to  extend  our  researches  into  the 
past,  and  determine  their  modes  of  life.  We 
find  that  such  has  been  the  profusion  of 
life  that  the  great  limestone  formations  of 
the  globe  consist  mostly  of  animal  remains 
cemented  by  the  infusion  of  mineral  matter. 
A  large  part  of  the  soil  spread  over  the 
earth's  surface  has  been  elaborated  in  animal 
organisms.  Fiist,  as  nourishment,  it  enters 
the  structure  of  plants  and  forms  vegetable 
tissue.  Passing  thence  as  food  into  the  ani- 
mal, it  becomes  endowed  with  life,  and  when 
death  occurs,  it  returns  to  the  soil  and  im- 
parts to  it  additional  elements  of  fertility. 

Wayne  County  forms  the  dividing  line 
between  the  heavily  timbered  belt  of  Southern 
Illinois  and  the  great  prairie  ranges  of  the 
central  and  northern  parts  of  the  State.    The 


true  prairie  is  found  here,  but  in  small 
patches,  and  their  whole  extent  in  the  county 
is  only  about  twenty  per  cent  of  the  area. 
How  these  prairies  have  been  formed  has 
long  been  one  of  the  most  interesting  ques- 
tions for  discussion  among  the  scientific  men 
of  the  country.  Gov.  Reynolds  in  his  his- 
tory tells  us  how  the  caravan  with  which  he 
came  to  Illinois  was  impressed  with  the  view 
when  the  people  first  looked  out  upon  the 
broad  and  undulating  prairie,  with  its  tall 
waving  grass  like  the  gentle  roll  of  the 
waves  of  a  great  sea.  He  then  proceeds  to 
summarily  settle  these  questions  by  saying 
there  is  no  doubt  but  that  they  were  formed 
by  the  annual  tires  that  swept  over  the  tall 
grass  and  burned  up  the  young  timber  in  its 
attempts  to  grow  out  over  the  prairies  from 
all  the  edges  of  the  timber.  He  thinks  this 
is  well  demonstrated  by  the  fact  that  since 
the  fires  have  been  subdued  the  timber  has 
been  rapidly  encroaching  upon  the  prairies. 
The  ' '  old  ranger "  was  mistaken.  There 
has  been  no  extension  of  the  timber  where  it 
has  been  left  to  nature's  forces.  There  are 
two  theories  that  find  advocates,  one  con- 
tending that  the  amount  of  rainfall  deter- 
mines the  question  of  the  growth  of  timber, 
and  that  always  where  there  is  the  greatest 
rainfall  there  is  always  the  heaviest  timber 
gr<  iwth.  According  to  the  other  view,  prairies 
are  at  present  in  process  of  formation  along 
the  shores  of  lakes  and  rivers.  During 
freshets  and  in  flowing  rivers,  the  center  of 
the  stream  is  always  the  highest  and  the 
heaviest  particles  carried  in  the  waters  are 
deposted  at  the  outer  edges  of  the  channel, 
and  thus  by  repeated  deposts  the  banks  are 
formed  and  are  elevated  above  the  floods. 
These  natural  levees,  when  sufficiently  high, 
are  overgrown  with  timber,  and  inclose  large 
areas  of  bottom  land  back  from  the  river  and 
form  Bloughs  frequently  of  great  extent.   The 


16 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


shallow  and  stagnant  waters  are  first  invaded 
by  mosses  and  other   aquatic  plants  which 
grow  under  the  surface  and  contain  in  their 
tissues  lime,  alumina  and  silica,  the  constit- 
uents of  clay.      They  also  subsist  immense 
numbers  of  small  mollusks  and  other  diminu- 
tive creatures,    and  the  constant  decomposi- 
tion of  vegetables  and  animals  forms  a  stratum 
of  clay  corresponding  with  that  which  under- 
lies the  finished  prairies.     As  the  marshy  bot- 
toms are  by  this  means  built  up  to  the  sur- 
face of  the  water,  the  mosses  are  then  inter- 
mixed   with    coarse    grasses,    which    become 
more  and  more  abundant  as  the  depth  dimin 
ishes.     These  reedy  plants,  now  rising  above 
the  surface,  absorb  and  decompose  the  car- 
bonic gas  of  the  atmosphere  and  convert  it 
into  woody  matter,    which   at  first  forms   a 
clayey  mold,  and  afterward  the  black  mold  of 
the  prairie.      The  same  agencies  now  operat- 
ing in  the  ponds  skirting  the  banks  of  rivers, 
originally  formed  all  the  prairies  of  the  Mis 
sissippi  Valley.      The  present  want  of  hori- 
zontality  in  some  of  them  is  due  to  the  ero- 
sive action  of  water.      The  drainage,  moving 
in  the  direction  of  the  creeks  and  rivers,   at 
length    furrowed'  the  surface  with  tortuous 
meanders,    resulting  finally   in    the    present 
undulating  or  rolliDg  prairies.      The  absence 
of    trees,    the    most   remarkable    feature,    is 
attributable  first  to  the   formation  of   ulmic 
acid,  which  favors  the  growth  of  herbaceous 
plants,  and  retards  that  of  forests  ;  secondly, 
trees  absorb  by  their  roots  large  quantities  of 
air,  which  they  cannot  obtain   when  the  sur- 
face'is  under  water  or  covered  by  a  compact 
soil  or  sod;  and.   thirdly,  they  require  solid 
points  of  attachment  which  marshy  flats  are 
unable   to    furnish.      When,    however,    they 
become    dry    and  the  sod   is  broken    by  the 
plow,  they  may  then   only  produce  trees,  but 
not  otherwise. 

This  is  a  mere  statement  of  the  different 


theories  upon  the  subject  cf  the  formation  of 
prairies,  without  any  effort  to  give  the  argu- 
ments upon  which  either  are  based.  So  far 
as  the  writer  now  remembers,  the  discussion 
was  commenced  about  twenty- five  years  ago 
by  Judge  Walter  B.  Scates,  of  this  State,  and 
has  since  been  taken  up  and  carried  on  by 
some  of  the  most  eminent  scientists  of  the 
country.  The  discussion  is  interesting  and 
full  of  facts  and  valuable  information. 

The  surface  of  the  county  is  generally 
rolling,  and  elevated  from  50  to  100  feet 
above  the  bed  of  the  streams.  The  bottoms 
on  Skillet  Fork  and  Little  Wabash  are  rather 
low  and  flat,  and  are  heavily  timbered.  The 
geological  features  are  very  similar  to  those 
of  Wabash  and  Edwards,  the  drift  deposits 
and  the  upper  coal  measures  being  the  only 
formations  exposed.  In  the  southern  portion 
of  the  county,  the  drift  clays  seldom  exceed 
a  thickness  of  fifteen  to  twenty  feet,  and  in 
sinking  wells  the  bed-rock  is  often  found  at  a 
depth  of  ten  or  twelve  feet  below  the  surface. 
Toward  the  northern  boundary  of  the  county 
they  are  somewhat  heavier,  and  on  Elm 
Creek  there  are  bluffs  thirty  feet  or  more  in 
height  that  seem  to  be  composed  entirely  of 
drift.  Here  the  lower  portion  consists  of  the 
bluish-gray  hard-pan,  where  it  is  sometimes 
found  from  fifty  to  seventy-five  feet  or  more 
in  thickness.  The  upper  portion  of  these 
superficial  deposits  may  be  represented  along 
the  bluffs  of  the  Little  Wabash  by  a  few  feet 
of  loess,  but  generally  it  consists  of  yellowish- 
brown  gravelly  clays  and  sands  with  numer- 
ous rounded  pebbles,  and  occasionally  bowl- 
ders, of  metamorphic  rock,  of  moderate  size. 
Locally,  the  gravelly  clays  are  tinged  with  a 
reddish-brown  color,  with  the  red  oxide  of 
iron,  derived  probably  from  the  decomposi- 
tion of  a  ferruginous  sandstone  that  forms 
the  bed-rock  in  many  places  in  the  southern 
part  of  the  county.      The  undulations  of  the 


HISTORY   OF    WAYNE   COl'XTY. 


17 


surface  often  take  the  form  of  long  ridges 
from  thirty  to  forty  feet  in  height,  with  a 
direction  nearly  parallel  with  the  course  of 
the  streams.  These  ridges  usually  have  a 
nucleus  of  sandstone  or  shale,  but  their  Fides 
are  so  gently  sloping,  and  the  drift  clay  cov- 
ers then  so  evenly  that  the  bed-rock  is  seldom 
exposed  to  view.  The  streams  are  sluggish, 
and  meander  through  wide,  fiat  valleys,  sel- 
dom showing  any  outcrop  of  the  bed-rock 
along  their  courses.  This  renders  the  con- 
struction of  continuous  sections  very  difficult, 
and  the  determination  of  the  true  sequence 
of  the  strata  can  only  be  made  in  a  general 
way  by  the  examination  of  isolated  outcrops. 
Coal  Measures.  —At  the  iron  bridge  on  the 
Little  Wabash,  on  the  stage  road  from  Fair- 
field to  Albion,  the  following  section  is  to 
be  seen  on  the  oast  bank  of  the  stream: 

PEET 

Sandstone,  partly  in  regular  beds  and  partly 
massive 25 

Pebbly  conglomerate,  with  fragments  of  coal 
and  mineral  charcoal '.'in  I 

Black  laminated  shale,  with  concretions  of 
bituminous  limestone 3 

Dove-colored  clay  shale,  with  fossil  ferns. . .  .2  to  3 

Shaly  sandstone  appealing  some  distance  be- 
low  3  to  4 

No  fossils  are  found  here  that  would  ena- 
ble us  to  fix  the  horizon  of  these  beds,  but 
they  present  nearly  the  same  lithological 
characters  as  the  outcrop  at  Hamiaker's  old 
mill  on  the  Boupas,  in  Edwards  County.  At 
Beech  Bluff,  three  or  four  miles  above  the 
bridge,  the  sandstone  is  more  massive  and 
extends  to  the  river  level,  showing  no  out- 
crop of  the  underlying  beds. 

At  Massillon,  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Lit- 
tle Wabash,  on  the  northwest  quarter  of 
Section  15,  Town  1  south.  Range  9  east,  the 
bluff  is  composed  mainly  of  sandstone  and 
sandy  shale,  with  a  few  feet  of  argillaceous 
shales  near  the  river  level,  containing  several 
bands  of  clay  iron  ore.     This  outcrop  seems 


to  be  identical  with  that  at  the  old  ford  three 
miles  above,  in  Edwards  County,  and  it  is 
quite  probable  the  thin  coal  found  there  is  a 
little  below  the  river  bed.  A  thin  coal  is 
found  here  in  the  sandstone  some  twenty  feet 
or  more  above  the  river  level;  but  it  is  prob- 
ably only  a  local  deposit,  or  pocket,  such  as 
may  be  frequently  met  with  in  the  sandstones 
of  the  coal  measures. 

Mill  Shoals  is  situated  on  the  Skillet  Fork, 
just  over  the  line  in  White  County,  but  the 
section  made  in  this  vicinity  is  partly  in 
Wayne,  and  is  as  follows: 

FEET. 

Sandstone  in  thiu  beds,  partial  exposure  of 

about 6 

Bituminous  shale,  with  streak  of  impure 

coal  near  the  top 2A  to    3 

Sandstone  and  sandy  shale 40  to  50 

Space  unexposed 15  to  20 

Hard,   shaly   sandstone   in    the    bank  of 

Skillet  Fork 3  to    4 

Hard,  black  laminated  shale,  passing  lo- 
cally into  clay  shale 6  to    8 

Shale  with  a  thin  coal 2  to    3 

Hard-grained  limestone  without  fossils..     2  to    3 

Greenish,  pebbly  shale 2 

Sandy  shale 1 

The  three  upper  beds  in  the  foregoing  sec- 
tion are  found  in  Wayne  County,  about  three- 
quarters  of  a  mile  northeast  of  Fairfield. 
Prof.  Cox  reports  a  section  six  miles  south- 
east of  Fairfield  which  seems  to  be  nearly  a 
repetition  of  that  at  Mill  Shoals, as  follows: 

FEET. 

Yellow  clay  and  drift 15 

Sandstone,  and  locally  some  shale 45 

Gray  silicinus  shale 10 

Thin  coal       0 

Limestone  without  fossils 2 

These  two  sections  will  give  a  general  idea 
of  the  prevailing  character  of  the  rocks  in 
the  south  part  of  Wayne  County.  The  fol- 
lowing is  a  section  of  a  well  bored  for  oil  by 
Maj.  Collins  on  Section  25,  of  Township  2, 
Range  7  : 


18 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


FEET. 

Soil  and  subsoil 3 

Sandstone 50 

Slate  (shale?) 27 

Coal 3 

Clay  and  blue  shale 2 

Hard,  gritty  rock 4 

Hard  yellow  rock 4 

Hard  sandstone 8  to  10 

Dark  slate  (shale?) 28 

White  sandstone 66 

Black  shale 4 

Total 206 

Reports  have  gone  out  from  this  county,  as 
they  have  frequently  from  other  counties,  of 
the  discovery  of  oil  wells.  These  are  to  be 
taken  with  due  allowance,  in  consideration 
of  the  fact  that  the  persons  having  the  work 
in  charge  were  seldom  qualified  to  determine 
the  true  character  of  the  beds  through  which 
their  drill  was  passing,  and  we  see  in  the 
above  section  that  no  attempt  was  made  to 
define  the  character  of  two  beds  of  hard  rock, 
while  the  beds  denominated  slates  were  prob- 
ably shale,  with  possibly  a  thin  bed  of  slate 
intercalated  therein.  In  this  way  bituminous 
slate  is  often  mistaken  for  coal,  and  where 
the  substance  is  reduced  to  an  impalpable 
powder  by  the  drill  no  one  but  an  expert  can 
fully  determine  the  one  from  the  other  by 
the  material  brought  up  in  the  sand  pump. 
At  Mr.  Black's  place,  about  two  miles  north- 
west of  Fairfield,  there  is  an  outcrop  of  hard, 
dark  bluish-gray  limestone  weathering  to  a 
buff  color,  which  is  overlaid  by  a  clay  shale, 
with  a  thin  coal  or  bituminous  shale  inter- 
calated therein,  as  indicated  by  a  streak  of 
smutty  material,  to  be  seen  a  few  feet  above 
the  limestone.  A  thin  coal,  sometimes  as  much 
as  eighteen  inches  in  thickness,  occurs  at  an- 
other locality  under  a  limestone  similar  to  this, 
and  the  same  may  be  possibly  found  here  by 
digging  a  few  feet  below  the  rock.  The 
limestone  has  been  quarried  here  as  well  as 
on  the  adjoining  farm  for  building  stone  and 


for  lime,  and  ranges  from  two  to  three  feet 
in  thickness. 

On  Mr.  J.  H.  Thomas'  place,  on  Section 
7,  Township  1  south,  Range  8  east,  a  thin 
coal  has  been  found  below  a  limestone  sim- 
ilar to  that  above  mentioned.  The  coal  was 
opened  a  few  years  since  by  sinking  a  shaft 
some  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  in  depth,  and  the 
coal  is  reported  to  have  been  eighteen  inches 
thick,  and  the  limestone  two  feet.  The  shaly 
poition  of  the  limestone  contained  a  few  fos- 
sils, among  which  we  identified  Orthis  pecosi, 
Spirifer  cameratus,  Chonetes  vernenilianus 
and  Lophophillum  proliferum. 

On  Mr.  E.  Pilcher's  land,  in  Section  20  of 
the  same  township,  a  bed  of  black  shale  crops 
out  on  a  hillside,  at  an  elevation  consider- 
ably above  the  coal  shaft  above  mentioned, 
and  was  penetrated  to  the  depth  of  fifteen 
feet  in  search  of  coal,  but  without  finding  it. 
On  the  opposite  side  of  the  hill  and  below 
the  level  of  the  "black  shale,  a  calcareo- 
silicious  rock  has  been  quarried  for  building 
stone.  It  has  a  slaty  structure,  and  is  filled 
with  fragments  of  broken  plants,  and  appears 
to  be  the  exact  equivalent  of  the  arenaceous 
limestone  found  at  Mr.  Boden's  place  two 
miles  and  a  half  south  of  Flora.  The  bitu- 
minous shale  at  Mr.  Pilcher's  place  contains 
rounded  bowlders  of  black  limestone  that 
weathers  to  a  bluish  dove  color,  and  similar 
concretions  were  seen  at  the  exposure  south 
of  Flora,  which  leaves  no  reasonable  doubt 
of  the  identity  of  the  beds  at  these  points. 
A  short  distance  south  of  Mr.  Pilcher's  land, 
limestone]  was  formerly  quarried  for  lime- 
burning,  but  the  outcrop  is  now  covered  up. 
The  relative  position  of  the  beds  above  de- 
scribed is  represented  by  the  following  sec- 
tion : 

FEET. 

Bituminous  shale,  with  concretion  of  black 

limestone 15  to  20 

Shale  partly  exposed 10  to  15 


IlIsTOHY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


lit 


Slat}    arenacious   limestone    with    broken 

plants %  to    4 

Dark  limestone 2 

Shale  (thickness  not  determined) 0 

Coal 1 

On  Mrs.  Williams'  place  on  northwest  quar- 
ter of  Section  29,  Town  1  south,  Range  7 
east,  about  seven  miles  northwest  of  Fairfield, 
there  is  an  outcrop  of  1">  to  Hi)  feet  of  sandy 
and  argillaceous  shale,  containing  numerous 
hands  of  kidney  iron  ore  of  good  quality.  A 
thin  coal  has  been  passed  through  in  digging 
wells  in  this  neighborhood,  and  either  under- 
lies these  shales  or  is  intercalated  in  them. 
This  outcrop  closely  resembles  those  at  the 
McDaniel  place,  near  the  north  line  of  the 
county,  hereafter  to  be  mentioned,  and  the 
well  water  in  this  neighborhood  is  impreg- 
nated with  epsom  salts,  like  wells  and  springs 
in  the  locality  above  mentioned.  Between 
this  locality  and  Fairfield,  and  about  three 
miles  a  little  north  of  west  from  the  town, 
an  even-bedded  sandstone  is  quarried  for 
building  purposes,  similar  to  that  at  Hoag's 
quarry  north  of  Xenia.  This  sandstone 
probably  underlies  the  shale  outcropping  at 
the  Williams  place,  three  or  four  miles  to 
the  westward,  and  the  coal  there  is  probably 
a  local  deposit. 

On  Section  21,  Town  2  north,  Range  6 
east,  in  the  bluffs  of  Bear  Creek,  near  the 
north  line  of  the  county,  a  massive  sandstone 
outcrops  for  a  long  distance  along  the  course 
of  the  stream,  in  perpendicular  cliffs  from 
twenty  to  thirty  feet  in  height.  This  sand- 
stone was  struck  in  the  boring  at  Flora,  at 
the  depth  of  about  sixty  feet,  and  was  pene- 
trated to  the  depth  of  about  eighty-four  feet. 
The  outcrops  on  Bear  Creek  probably  repre- 
sent only  the  lower  portion  of  the  bed. 

On  Section  '27,  Town  2  north.  Range  6 
east,  argillaceous  and  sandy  shales  with  bands 
of  kidney  iron  ore  crop  out  in  the  slopes  of 
hills  at  various  poiuts,  showing  an  aggregate 


thickness  of  twenty  feet  or  more,  with  a  bi- 
tuminous shale  or  impure  coal  at  the  top  of 
the  exposure.  A  well  sunk  here  struck  a  vein 
of  water  at  the  depth  of  twenty-two  feet  so 
strong  that  it  soon  rose  to  the  surface,  and 
has  been  flowing  ever  since.  It  has  a  strong 
taste  of  opsom  salts,  and  produces  an  effect 
similar  to  that  drug  upon  those  who  use  it. 
At  Eli  McDaniel's  place  adjoining  the  above, 
a  spring  of  the  same  kind  of  water  is  found, 
somewhat,  stronger  in  mineral  properties  than 
that  in  the  well.  The  water  here  seems  to 
derive  its  mineral  properties  from  the  bed  of 
argillaceous  slate  which  forms  the  bed  rock 
in  this  vicinity,  as  the  wells  sunk  in  the  over- 
laying sandstone  afford  pure  water.  The  fol- 
lowing additional  notes  and  sections  are  re- 
ported by  Prof.  Cox  in  this  county:  "  At  Lib- 
erty they  pass  through  sandstone  in  digging 
wells  from  ten  to  forty  feet,  and  obtain  pure 
water.  On  Section  30,  Town  2,  Range  7, 
limestone  is  obtained  for  building  and  for 
lime  bed  three  feet  thick,  upper  part  shaly 
contains  Productm  loiii/is/u'iiHs,  Machrohei 
lux  jiriiiiigeniiis,  Ailii/ris  subtilita,  Produc- 
ing costatus,  and  joints  of  Crinoidea.  The 
same  limestone  is  exposed  at  Whittaker's, 
on  Section  25,  of  Town  2,  Range  7.  A  thin 
coal  is  usually  found  beneath  the  limestone, 
and  impure  coal  or  bituminous  shale  is  fre- 
quently  seen  in  the  shales  above  it.  Clay 
iron  ore  occurs  in  a  grayish  shale,  seven  miles 
north  of  Fairfield,  exposed  by  awash  on  the 
hillside.  On  Section  :'>!,  Town  1  south. 
Range  9  east,  the  following  beds  are  seen: 

Kt.      In. 

Heavy  beaded  sandstone '-25  0 

Arenaceous  shale 10  0 

Black  slaty  shale .'.    2  0 

Pyritiferous  shale,  with  fragments  of  shells  10  ^ 

Fire  clay  (good  quality) 1  0 

Clayshale 0  6 

Shaly  sandstone  in  river  bed '•.'  6 

From  the  foregoing  sections  and  remarks, 


20 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


it  will  be  seen  that  there  is  but  little  divers- 
ity in  the  character  of  the  rocks  exposed  in 
this  county.  They  probably  represent  a 
thickness  of  175  feet  to  200  feet  or  more,  com- 
prising mainly  sandstone  and  shales,  most  of 
which  decompose  readily  on  exposure,  and 
are  therefore  seldom  found  in  bold  outcrops. 
Building  Stone. — Sandstone  of  a  fair  qual- 
ity  for  building  purposes,  is  tolerably  abun- 
dant, and  quarries  have  been  opened  in  nearly 
every  township  in  the  county.  Three  miles 
a  little  southwest  of  Fairfield,  an  excellent 
sandstone  is  quarried  on  a  small  branch  trib- 
utary to  the  Skillet  Fork  The  rock  is  in 
smooth,  even  layers,  and  resembles  the  sand- 
stone in  Hoag's  quarry,  near  Xenia.  Along 
the  Little  Wabash,  a  heavy  bedded  sandstone 
is  found  throughout  the  course  in  the  south- 
eastern part  of 'the  county,  which,  from  the 
bold  cliff  it  forms  at  many  points  along  the 
bluffs  of  the  stream,  will  no  doubt  afford  a 
large  amount  of  building  material.  Six 
miles  southeast  of,  Fairfield,  a  good  flag- 
sandstone  is  quarried  in  large  slabs  six  in- 
ches thick.  Three  and  a  half  miles  north  of 
Jeffersonville,  on  Section  30,  Town  1  north. 
Range  6  east,  a  grayish  sandstone  of  good 
quality  is  quarried  in  large  slabs  from  a  foot 
to  eighteen  inches  in  thickness.  A  similar 
stone  is  also  quarried  by  Mr.  Philips,  on 
Section  16,  Town  1  north ,  Range  7  east. 
These  are  some  of  the  most  valuable  quarries 
opened  at  the  present  time,  but  others  equally 
good  may  be  opened  at  various  places  in  the 
county,  as  the  wants  of  the  people  may  re- 
quire. Thej  limestone  over  the  eighteen- 
inch  coal  seam  has  been  quarried  at  almost 
every  spot  where  it  outcrops,  but  the  bed  is 
thin  and  the  supply  to  be  obtained  from  it, 
without  too  great  expense  in  stripping,  is 
rather  limited. 

Coal. — The  only   coal   in   the  county  that 
promises    to    be   of   any  value    for    practical 


mining,  is  the  eighteen-inch  seam  north  and 
northeast  of  Fairfield.  This  might  be 
worked  in  a  limited  way  either  by  stripping, 
or  by  an  inclined  tunnel  near  its  outcrop. 
But  the  seam  is  too  thin  to  furnish  an  ade- 
quate supply  for  the  general  market.  The 
main  coals  of  the  lower  measures  may  be 
reached  in  the  southern  portion  of  the 
county,  at  depths  varying  from  4  to  600 
feet,  and  in  the  northern  part  from  5  to  800. 
Iron  Ore. — Bands  of  iron  ore  of  good 
quality  occur  at  several  places  in  the  shales 
of  this  county,  and  have  been  noted  in  the 
sections  already  given.  They  seem  to  be  in 
sufficient  quantity  in  several  localities  to 
eventually  become  of  some  economical  value. 
In  Great  Britain,  bands  six  to  eight  inches 
thick  are  said  to  be  worked  successfully,  and 
we  find  many  localities  in  the  coal  measures 
where  from  twelve  to  eighteen  inches  of  good 
ore  can  be  obtained,  from  a  vertical  thickness 
of  five  or  six  feet  of  shale.  The  shale  con- 
taining the  iron  ore  observed  in  this  county, 
underlies  a  considerable  area  in  the  center 
and  western  portions,  mainly  in  Ranges  6  and 
7  east.  At  Mrs.  Williams'  place  on  the 
northwest  quarter  of  Section  29  of  Township 
1  south,  Range  7  east,  iron  ore  of  good 
quality  seemed  to  be  quite  abundant,  and 
also  at  several  places,  in  the  ravines  near 
Mr.  McDaniel's  place,  not  far  from  the  north 
line  of  the  county.  Prof.  Cox  also  notes 
an  outcrop  of  clay  iron  ore  in  a  grayish  shale 
seven  miles  north  of  Fairfield,  and  also  on 
Section  15,  Town  1  north,  Range  8  east. 

Potters'  Clay. — A  good  clay,  suitable  for 
pottery  or  fire-brick  is  found  on  Section  32, 
Township  1  south,  Range  9  east,  but  at  the 
outcrop  it  was  only  one  foot  thick.  Possibly 
it  may  be  found  at  some  other  locality  near 
by,  where  it  is  thick  enough  to  be  utilized 
for   the  manufacture  of  pottery  or  fire-brick. 

Clay  or  Sand. — Materials  for  brick  can  be 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


21 


obtained  from  the  subsoils  of  the  uplands, 
almost  anywhere  in  the  county,  and  from  the 
abundant  supply  of  wood  for  fuel,  brick  can 
be  made  in  sufficient  quantity  to  supply  all 
future  demands  for  this  indispensable  build- 
ing material. 

Soil  and  Agriculture. — The  soil  in  this 
county  is  mainly  a  dark  ash-gray  or  chocolate- 
colored  clay  loam,  less  highly  charged  with 
organic  matter  or  humus  than  the  black 
prairie  soil  of  Central  Illinois,  but  yielding 
fair  crops  of  corn,  wheat,  oats  and  grass, 
both  clover  and  timothy,  and  with  judicious 
treatment  will  retain  its  fertility  without  any 
expense  for  artificial  fertilizers 
afford  excellent  fruit  farms. 


The  ridges 


Recent  developments  have  taught  the  peo- 
ple of  Wayne  County  that  here  is  the  home 
of  the  apple  in  all  its  varieties.  The  soil 
and  temperature  made  it  the  favored  spot  in 
the  great,  valley  for  the  production  of  this 
valuable  fruit.  Either  further  north  or  fur- 
ther south  than  this,  and  the  advantageous 
grounds  are  left  for  apple  raising.  The 
present  season,  1883,  has  been  marked  in 
many  parts  of  Illinois  by  a  failure  of  much 
of  the  wheat  and  corn  crops.  It  was  too  wet 
in  the  spring  and  too  dry  in  the  summer,  but 
the  apple  crop  in  Wayne  County  has  nearly 
compensated  our  people  for  the  failure  of 
corn  and  wheat. 


CHAPTER    II. 


THE  DARING  DISCOVERIES  AND  OPERATIONS  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY— SoMK 

CORRECTIONS  IN  HISTORY— THE  CATHOLIC  MISSIONARIES— DISCOVERY  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI 

RIVER— PONTIAC'S   CONSPIRACY— THE   DOWNFALL   OF  QUEBEC— THE  TERRITORY 

CEDED  BY  THE  INDIANS— ILLINOIS  SEPARATED  FROM  INDIANA— ETC.,  ETC. 


"  Naught  telling  how  the  victim  died, 
Save  faint  tradition's  faltering  tongue." 

THE  cradle  of  American  history  is  the 
lower  St.  Lawrence  River,  and  the  great 
storehouse  is  the  Mississippi  Valley.  And 
going  back  nearly  four  hundred  years,  it  is  one 
of  the  world's  most  wonderful  tragedies,  run- 
ning through  nearly  four  centuries  in  duration. 
The  thrilling  story  has  been  a  grand  epic  of 
mankind,  and  while  its  recital  thrills  the  stu- 
dent of  those  tremendous  events  with  consum- 
ing interest,  it  may  command  the  eager  in- 
vestigation of  the  whole  thinking  world, 
because  it  is  fraught  with  more  mastering 
influences — forces  that  have  shaped  the  desti- 
nies   of    mankind,    and   of   civilization   to  a 


greater  extent,  than  has  any  other  period  in 
all  the  world's  history. 

The  truths  of  history  in  reference  to  this 
spot  upon  the  globe  are  only  now  being  crit- 
ically examined;  and  the  revelations  they 
afford  command  a  deep  interest  and  a  wide 
attention.  For  this  empire  of  magnificent 
proportions  (the  Mississippi  Valley),  the  lead- 
ing powers  of  the  Old  World  contended  for 
nearly  three  hundred  years,  and  the  savage 
Indian  yet  sharpens  his  scalping  knife  and 
lifts  up  in  deadly  revenge  his  tomahawk. 
Tun  pj.ver  of  the  Old  World  was  the  church, 
and  it  is  a  curious  fact  that  these  warlike 
nations  that  struggle  for  empire  by  the 
sword  were  guided  and  pointed  the  way  to  the 


22 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


new  and  tempting  continent — to  the  very 
heart  of  the  homes  of  the  most  powerful  and 
savage  tribes  of  men  that  were  here,  by  the 
missionaries  of  the  Catholic  Church,  who 
carried  nothing  more  formidable  for  attack 
or  defense  than  their  prayer  books  and  rosa- 
ries, and  the  gentle  and  divine  command  of 
"Peace  on  earth  and  good  will  among  men.' 
The  French  Catholic  missionaries  were  as 
loyal  to  their  government  as  they  were  true 
to  their  God.  They  planted  the  lilies  of 
France,  and  erected  the  cross  of  the  mother 
church  in  the  newly  discovered  countries,  and 
chauted  the  solemn  mass  that  soothed  the 
savage  breast,  and  smoke  the  calumet  with 
wild  men  of  the  woods. 

The  settlement  of  the  West  and  the  first 
discoveries  were  made  by  the  French,  and  it 
was  long  afterward  the  country  passed  into 
the  permanent  possession  of  the  English  ;  the 
letter  people  wrote  the  histories,  and  tinged 
them  from  first  to  last  with  their  prejudices, 
and  thus  promulgated  many  serious  errors  of 
history.  Time  will  always  produce  the  icon- 
oclast who  will  dispassionately  follow  out  the 
truth,  regardless  of  how  many  fictions  it 
may  brush  away  in  its  course.  Thus  history 
is  being  continually  re-written,  and  the 
(ruth  is  ever  making  its  approaches,  and  the 
glorious  deeds  of  the  noble  sons  of  France 
are  becoming  manifested,  as  the  views  of  our 
history  are  brought  to  light,  particularly 
their  occupancy  of  the  valley  of  the  Father 
of  Waters. 

As  early  as  1504,  the  French  seamen  from 
Brittany  and  Normandy  visited  the  fisheries 
of  Newfoundland  and  Nova  Scotia.  These 
bold  and  daring  men  traversed  the  ocean, 
through  the  dangers  of  ice  and  storms,  to 
pursue  the  occupation  of  fishery,  an  enter- 
prise which  to-day  has  developed  into  one  of 
gigantic  magnitude. 

France  not   long  after  this  commissioned 


•Tames  Cartier,  a  distinguished  mariner,  to 
explore  America.  In  1535,  in  pursuance  of 
the  order,  they  planted  the  cross  on  the 
shores  of  the  New  World,  on  the  banks  of 
the  St.  Lawrence,  bearing  a  shield  with  the 
lilies  of  France.  He  was  followed  by  other 
adventurous  spirits,  and  among  them  the  im- 
mortal Samuel  Champlain,  a  man  of  great 
enterprises,  who  founded  Quebec  in  1608. 
Champlain  ascended  the  Sorel  River,  ex- 
plored Lake  Champlain,  which  bears  his 
name  to-day.  He  afterward  penetrated  the 
forest  and  found  his  grave  on  the  bleak  shores 
of  Lake  Huron.  He  was  unsurpassed  for 
braverv,  indefatigable  in  industry,  and  was 
one  of  the  leading  spirits  in  explorations 
and  discoveries  in  the  New  World. 

In  the  van  of  the  explorations  on  this  con- 
tinent were  found  the  courageous  and  pious 
Catholic  missionaries,  meeting  dangers  an 
death  with  a  crucifix  upon  their  breasts'' 
breviary  in  hand,  whilst  chanting  their 
matins  and  vespers,  along  the  shores  of  our 
majestic  rivers,  great  lakes  and  unbroken 
forests.  Their  course  was  marked  through 
the  trackless  wilderness  by  'he  carving  of 
their  emblems  of  faith  upon  the  roadway, 
amidst  perils  and  dangers,  without  food  but 
pounded  maize,  sleeping  in  the  woods  with- 
out shelter,  their  couch  being  the  ground  and 
rock.  Their  beacon  light,  the  cross,  which 
was  marked  upon  the  oak  of  the  forest  in 
their  pathway. 

After  these  missionaries  had  selected  their 
stations  of  worship,  the  French  hunters. 
courriers  de  boift,  voyagers  and  traders, 
opened  their  traffic  with  the  savages.  France, 
when  convenient  and  expedient,  erected  a 
chain1  of  forts  along  the  rivers  and  lakes,  in 
defense  of  Christianity  and  commerce. 

France,  from  1008,  acquired  in  this  conti- 
nent a  territory  extensive  enough  to  create  a 
great  empire,  and  was  at  that  time  untrod  by 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY 


23 


the  foot  of  the  white  man.  and  inhabited  by 
roving  tribos  of  the  red  man.  As  early  as 
1615,  we  find  Father  LeCarron,  a  Catholic 
priest,  in  the  forests  of  Canada,  exploring 
the  country  for  the  purpose  of  converting 
the  savages  to  the  Christian  religion.  The 
following  year  he  is  seen  on  foot  traversing 
the  forests  amongst  the  Mohawks,  and  reach- 
ing the  rivers  of  the  Ottewas.  He  was  fol- 
lowed by  other  missionaries  along  the  basin 
of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  Kennebec  Rivers, 
where  some  met  their  fate  in  frail  barks, 
whilst  others  perished  in  the  storms  of  a 
dreadful  wilderness. 

In  1635  we  find  Father  Jean  Brebeauf, 
Daniels  and  Gabriel  Lallamaud  leaving  Que- 
bec with  a  few  Huron  braves  to  explore  Lake 
Huron,  to  establish  chapels  along  its  banks, 
from  which  sprung  the  villages  of  St. 
Joseph,  St.  Ignatius  and  St.  Louis.  To 
reach  these  places  it  was  necessary  to  follow 
the  Ottawae  River  through  a  dangerous  and 
devious  way  to  avoid  the  Mohawks,  Oneidas, 
Cayugas.  Senecas  and  Iroquois,  forming  a 
confederacy  as  the  "Five  Nations,"  occupy- 
ing a  territory  then  known  as  the  New  York 
colony,  who  were  continually  at  war  with  the 
Hurons,  a  tribe  of  Indians  inhabiting  Lake 
Huron  territory. 

As  early  as  1639,  three  Sisters  of  Charity 
from  France  arrived  at  Quebec,  dressed  in 
plain  black  gowns  with  snowy  white  collars, 
whilst  to  their  girdles  hung  the  rosary.  They 
proceeded  to  the  chapel,  led  by  the  Governor 
of  Canada,  accompanied  by  braves  and  war 
riors,  to  chant  the  Te  Deum.  These  holy 
and  pious  women,  moved  by  religious  zeal, 
immediately  established  the  Ursuline  Con- 
vent for  the  education  of  girls.  In  addition 
to  this,  the  King  of  Franco  and  nobility  of 
Paris  endowed  a  seminary  in  Quebec  for  the 
education  of  all  classes  of  persons.  A  pub- 
lic hospital  was  built  by  the  generous  Duchess 


of  D'Arguilon,  with  the  aid  of  Cardinal 
Richelieu,  for  the  unfortunate  emigrants,  to 
the  savages  of  all  tribes  and  afflicted  of  all 
classes.  A  missionary  station  was  established 
as  early  as  Kill,  at  Montreal,  under  a  rude 
tent,  from  which  has  grown  the  large  city  <  f 
to-day,  with  its  maguilicent  cathedral  and 
phurches,  its  massive  business  houses  and  its 
commerce. 

The  tribes  of  Huron  Lake  and  neighboring 
savages,  in  1641,  met  on  the  banks  of  the 
Iroquois  Bay  to  celebrate  the  "  Festival  of 
the  Dead."  The  bones  and  ashes  of  the 
dead  had  been  gathered  in  coffins  of  bark, 
whilst  wrapped  in  magniticpnt  furs,  to  be 
given  an  affectionate  sepulcher.  At  this 
singular  festival  of  the  savages,  the  chiefs 
and  braves  of  different  tribes  chanted  their 
low,  mournful  songs,  day  and  night,  amidst 
the  wails  and  groans  of  their  women  and 
children.  During  this  festival  appeared  the 
pious  missionaries,  their  cassocks  with  beads 
to  their  girdle,  sympathizing  with  the  red 
men  in  their  devotion  to  the  dead,  whilst 
scattering  their  medals,  pictures  of  our  Savior 
and  blessed  and  beautiful  beads,  which 
touched  and  won  the  hearts  of  the  sons  of 
the  forest.  What  a  beautiful  spectacle  to 
behold,  over  the  grass  of  the  tierce  warriors, 
idolatry  fading  before  the  Son  of  God. 
Father  Charles  Raymbault  and  the  indomit- 
able Isaac  Jorjues  in  1641  left  Canada  to  ex- 
plore the  country  as  far  as  Lake  Superior. 
They  reached  the  Falls  of  St.  Moaray's  and 
established  a  station  at  SauK  de  Ste.  Marie, 
where  were  assembled  many  warriors  and 
braves  from  the  great  West,  to  see  and  hear 
these  two  apostles  of  religion  and  to  behold 
the  cross  of  Christianity.  These  two  mission- 
aries invoked  them  to  worship  the  true  God. 
The  savages  were  struck  with  the  emblem  of 
the  cross  and  its  teachings,  and  exclaimed. 
"  We  embrace  you  as  brothers:  come  and 
dwell  in  our  cabins." 


24 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


When  Father  Joques  and  his  party  were 
returning  from  the  Falls  of  St.  Mary's  to 
Quebec,  they  were  attacked  by  the  Mohawks, 
who  massacred  the  chief  and  his  braves,  who 
accompanied  him,  whilst  they  held  Bather 
Joques  in  captivity,  showering  upon  him  a 
great  many  indignities,  compelling  him  to 
run  the  gantlet  through  their  village. 
Father  Brussini  at  the  same  time  was  beaten, 
mutilated,  and  made  to  walk  barefooted 
through  thorns  and  briers  and  then  scourged 
by  a  whole  village.  However,  by  some 
miraculous  way  they  were  rescued  by  the 
generous  Dutch  of  New  York  and  both  after- 
ward returned  to  France.  Father  Joques 
again  returned  to  Quebec,  and  was  sent  as 
an  envoy  amongst  the  Five  Nations.  Con- 
trary to  the  savage  laws  of  hospitality,  he 
was  ill-treated,  and  then  killed  as  an  en- 
chanter, his  head  hung  upon  the  skirts  of 
the  village  and  his  body  thrown  into  the 
Mohawk  River.  Such  was  the  fate  of  this 
courageous  and  pious  man,  leaving  a  monu- 
ment of  martyrdom  more  enduring  than  the 
pyramids  of  Egypt. 

The  year  1(545  is  memorable,  owing  to  a 
congress  held  by  France  and  the  "  Five  Na- 
tions "  at  the  Three  Rivers,  in  Canada.  There 
the  daring  chiefs  and  warriors  and  the  gal- 
lant officers  of  France  met  at  the  great  coun- 
cil-fires. After  the  war-dance  and  numerous 
ceremonies,  the  hostile  parties  smoked  the 
calumet  of  peace.  The  Iroquois  said  :  "  Let 
the  clouds  be  dispersed  and  the  sun  shine  on 
all  the  land  between  us."  The  Mohawks  ex- 
claimed: "We  have  thrown  the  hatchet  so 
high  into  the  air  and  beyond  the  skies  that 
no  man  on  earth  can  reach  to  bring  it  down. 
Tho  French  shall  sleep  on  our  softest  blank- 
ets, by  the  warm  tire,  that  shall  be  kept  blaz- 
ing all  night."  Notwithstanding  the  eloquent 
and  fervent  language  and  appearance  of 
peace,  it  was  but  of  short  duration,  for  soon 


the  cabin  of  the  white  man  was  in  flames, 
and  the  foot-print  of  blood  was  seen  along  the 
St.  Lawrence,  and  once  more  a  bloody  war 
broke  out,  which  was  disastrous  to  France, 
as  the  Five  Nations  returned  to  the  allegiance 
of  the  English  colonies. 

The  village  of  St.  Joseph,  near  Huron 
Lake,  on  the  4th  of  July,  1648,  whilst  her 
warriors  were  absent,  was  sacked  and  its 
people  murdered  by  the  Mohawks.  Father 
Daniel,  who  officiated  there,  whilst  endeavor- 
ing to  protect  the  children,  women  and  old 
men  was  fatally  wounded  by  numerous  arrows 
and  killed.  Thus  fell  this  martyr  in  the 
cause  of  religion  and  progress. 

The  next  year  the  villages  of  St.  Ignatius 
and  St.  Louis  were  attacked  by  the  Iroquois. 
The  village  of  St.  Ignatius  was  destroyed 
and  its  inhabitants  massacred.  The  village 
of  St.  Louis  shared  the  same  fate.  At  the 
latter  place,  Father  Brebeauf  and  Lallemand 
were  made  prisoners,  tied  to  a  tree,  stripped 
of  their  clothes,  mutilated,  burned  with  fagots 
and  rosin  bark,  and  then  scalped.  They  per- 
ished in  the  name  of  France  and  Christianity. 

Father  de  la  Ribourde,  who  had  been  the  , 
companion  of  La  Salle  on  the  Griffin,  and  who 
officiated  at  Fort  Creve  Cceur,  111.,  whilst  re- 
turning to  Lake  Michigan,  was  lost  in  the 
wilderness.  Afterward,  it  was  learned  he 
had  been  murdered  in  cold  blood  by  three 
young  warriors,  who  carried  his  prayer  book 
and  scalp  as  a  trophy  up  north  of  Lake  Su- 
perior, which  afterward  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  missionaries.  Thus  died  this  martyr 
of  religion,  after  ten  years'  devotion  in  the 
cabins  of  the  savages,  whose  head  had  become 
bleached  with  seventy  winters.  Such  was 
also  the  fate  of  the  illustrious  Father  Rine 
Mesnard,  on  his  mission  to  the  southern  shore 
of  Lake  Superior,  where  in  after  years  his 
cassock  and  breviary  was  kept  as  amulets 
among    the    Sioux.      After    thpse    atrocities, 


HISTOTIY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY 


•j: 


these  noble  missionaries  never  retraced 'their 
steps,  and  new  troops  pressed  forward  to  take 
their  places.  They  still  continued  to  explore 
our  vast  country.  The  history  of  their  labors, 
self-sacrifice  and  devotion  is  connected  with 
the  origin  of  every  village  or  noted  place  in 
the  North  and  great  West. 

France  ordered,  by  Colbert,  its  great  min- 
ister, that  an  invitation  be  given  to  all  tribes 
West  for  a  general  congress.  This  remark- 
able council  was  hold  in  May,  1671,  at  the 
Falls  of  St.  Mary's.  There  were  found  the 
chiefs  and  braves  of  many  nations  of  the 
West,  decorated  in  their  brightest  feathers 
and  furs,  whilst,  the  French  officers  glistened 
with  their  swords  and  golden  epaulets.  In 
their  midst  stood  the  undaunted  missionaries 
from  all  parts  of  the  country.  In  this  re- 
markable congress  rose  a  log  cedar  cross,  and 
upon  a  staff  the  colors  of  France. 

In  this  council,  after  many  congratulations 
offered,  and  the  war  dance,  the  calumet  was 
smoked-  and  peace  declared.  France  secures 
here  the  friendship  of  the  tribes  and  domin- 
ion over  the  great  West. 

Marquette,  while  on  his  mission  in  the 
West,  leaves  Mackinac  on  the  13th  of  May, 
1673,  with  his  companion  Joliot  and  five 
Frenchmen  and  two  Indian  guides,  in  two 
bark  canoes  freighted  with  maize  and  smoked 
meat, to  enter  into  Lake  Michigan  and  Green 
Bay  until  they  reached  Fox  River  in  Illinois, 
where  stood  on  its  banks  an  Indian  village 
occupied  by  the  Kickapoos,  Mascoutins  and 
Mianiis.  where  the  noble  Father  Alloues  offi- 
ciated. Marquette  in  this  village  preaches 
and  announces  to  them  his  object  of  discover- 
ing the  great  river.  They  are  appalled  at 
the  bold  proposition.  They  say:  "Those 
distant  nations  never  spare  the  strangers; 
their  mutual  wars  till  their  borders  with 
bands  of  warriors.  The  great  river  abounds 
in    monsters    which    devour    both    men    and 


canoos.  The  excessive  heat  occasions  death." 
From  Fox  River  across  the  portage  with 
the  canoes  they  reach  the  Wisconsin  River. 
There  Marquette  and  Joliet  separated  with 
their  guides,  and  in  Marquette's  language, 
"  Leaving  us  alone  in  this  unknown  land  in 
the  hands  of  Providence,"  they  float  down 
the  Wisconsin,  whose  banks  are  dotted  with 
prairies  and  beautiful  hills,  whilst  surrounded 
by  wild  animals  and  the  buffalo.  After  seven 
days'  navigation  on  this  river,  their  hearts 
bound  with  gladness  on  beholding  on  the 
17th  day  of  June,  1673.  the  broad  expanse 
of  the  great  Father  of  Waters,  and  upon  its 
bosom  they  float  down.  About  sixty  leagues 
below  this,  they  visit  an  Indian  village. 
Their  reception  from  the  savages  was  cordial. 
They  said:  "  We  are  Illinois,  that  is,  we  are 
men.  The  whole  village  awaits  thee;  thou 
shalt  enter  in  peace  our  cabins."  After  six 
days'  rest  on  the  couch  of  furs,  and  amidst 
abundance  of  game,  these  hospitable  Illinois 
conduct  them  to  their  canoes,  whilst  the 
chief  places  around  Marquette's  neck  the  cal- 
UTiiet  of  peace,  being  beautifully  decorated 
with  the  feathers  of  birds. 

Their  canoe  again  ripples  the  bosom  of 
the  great  river  (Mississippi).  When  further 
down,  they  behold  on  the  high  bluffs  and 
smooth  rock  above  (now  Alton)  on  the  Illinois 
shore,  the  figures  of  two  monsters  painted  in 
various  colors,  of  frightful  appearance,  and 
the  position  appeared  to  bo  inaccessible  to  a 
painter.  They  soon  reached  the  turbid  waters 
of  the  Missouri,  and  thence  floated  down  to 
the  mouth  of  the  Ohio. 

Farther  down  the  river  stands  the  village 
of  Mitchigamea,  being  on  the  west,  side  of 
the  river.  When  approaching  this  place,  its 
bloody  warriors  with  their  war  cry  embark 
in  their  canoes  to  attack  them,  but  the  calu- 
met, held  aloft  by  Marquette,  pacifies  them. 
So  tbey  are  treated  with  hospitality   and  es- 


29 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


corted  by  them  to  the  Arkansas  River.  They 
sojourn  there  a  short  time,  when  Marquette, 
before  leaving  this  sunny  land,  celebrates 
the  festival  'oi  the  church.  Marquette  and 
Joliet  then  turn  their  canoe  northward  to 
retrace  their  way  back  until  they  reach  the 
Illinois  River,  thence  up  that  stream,  along 
its  flowery  prairies.  The  Illinois  braves  con 
duct  them  back  to  Lake  Michigan,  thence  to 
Green  Bay,  where  they  arrived  in  September, 
1673. 

Marquette  for  two  years  officiated 
along  Lake  Michigan;  afterward  visited 
Mackinaw;  from  thence  he  enters  a  small 
river  in  Michigan  (that  bears  his  name)  when, 
after  saying  mass,  he  withdraws  for  a  short 
time  to  the  woods,  where  he  is  found  dead. 
Thus  died  this  illustrious  explorer  and  re- 
markable priest,  leaving  a  name  unparalleled 
as  a  brave,  good  and  virtuous  Christian. 

Robert  Caralin  La  Salle,  a  native  of  Nor- 
mandy, an  adventurer  from  France,  arrived 
in  Canada  about  1670.  Being  ambitious  to 
distinguish  himself  in  making  discoveries  on 
this  continent,  he  returned  to  France  to  solicit  j 
aid  for  that  purpose.  He  was  made  chevalier, 
upon  the  condition  that  he  would  repair  Fort 
Frontenac,  located  on  Lake  Ontario,  and  open 
commerce  with  the  savages.  In  1678,  he 
again  returned  to  France,  when,  in  July,  1679. 
with  Chevalier  Tonti,  his  Lieutenant,  with 
thirty  men,  he  left  Rochelle  for  Quebec  and 
Fort  Frontenac.  Whilst  at  Quebec,  an  agree- 
ment was  made  by  the  Governor  of  Canada 
with  La  Salle  to  establish  forts  along  the 
northern  lakes.  At  this  time  he  undertook 
with  great  activity  to  increase  the  commerce 
of  the  West,  by  building  a  bark  of  ten  tons 
to  float  on  Lake  Ontario.  Shortly  afterward 
he  built  another  vessel,  known  as  the  Griffin, 
above  Niagara  Falls,  for  Lake  Erie,  of  sixty 
tons,  being  the  lirst  vessel  seen  on  the  North- 
ern lakes.     The    Griffin    was    launched    and 


made  to  float  on  Lake  Erie.  ' '  On  the  prow 
of  this  ship  armorial  bearings  were  adorned 
by  two  griffins  as  supporters ; "  upon  her 
deck  she  carried  two  brass  cannon  for  defense. 
On  the  7th  of  August,  1679,  she  spread  her 
sails  on  Lake  Erie,  whilst  on  her  deck  stood 
the  brave  naval  commander  La  Salle,  accom- 
panied by  Fathers  Hennepin,  Ribourde  and 
Zenobi,  surrounded  by  a  crew  of  thirty  voy- 
ageurs.  On  leaving,  a  salute  was  fired,  whose 
echoes  were  heard  to  the  astonishment  of  the 
savages,  who  named  the  Griffin  the  "  Great 
WTooden  Canoe/'  This  ship  pursued  her 
course  thTough  Lakes  Erie,  St.  Clair  and 
Huron  to  Mackinaw,  thence  through  that 
strait  into  Lake  Michigan,  thence  to  Green 
Bay,  where  she  anchored  in  safety.  The 
Griffin,  after  being  laden  with  a  cargo  of 
pultries  and  furs,  was  ordered  back  by  La 
Salle  to  the  port  from  whence  she  sailed,  but 
unfortunately  on  her  return  she  was  wrecked. 
La  Salle  during  the  absence  of  the  Griffin 
determined,  with  fourteen  men,  to  proceed  to 
the  mouth  of  the  Miamis,  now  St.  Joseph, 
where  he  built  a  fort,  from  which  place  he 
proceeded  to  Rock  Fort  in  La  Salle  County, 
111.  La  Salle  hearing  of  the  disaster  and 
wreck  of  the  Griffin,  he  builds  a  fort  on  the 
Illinois  River  called  Creve  Cceur  (broken 
heart).  This  brave  man,  though  weighed 
down  by  misfortune,  did  not  despair.  He 
concluded  to  return  to  Canada,  but  before 
leaving  sends  Father  Hennepin,  withPiscard, 
Du  Gay  and  Michael  Aka.  to  explore  the 
sources  of  the  Upper  Mississippi.  They 
leave  Creve  Cceur  February  '2d,  lf>80.  float- 
ing down  the  Illinois  River,  reaching  the 
Mississippi  March  8,  1680  :  then  explored 
this  river  up  to  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony; 
from  there  they  penetrated  the  forests,  which 
brought  them  to  the  wigwams  of  the  Sioux, 
who  detained  Father  Hennepin  and  compan- 
ions for  a  short  time  in  captivity;  recover]    g 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


their  liberties,  they  returned  to  Lake  Superior 
in  November,  1680,  thence  to  Quebec  and 
France.  During  the  explorations  of  Father 
Hennepin,  La  Salle,  with  a  courage  unsur- 
passed, a  constitution  of  iron,  returns  to 
Canada,  a  distance  of  1,200  miles,  his  path 
way  being  through  snows,  ice  and  savages 
along  the  lakes  Michigan,  Erie  and  Ontario. 
Reaching  Quebec,  he  finds  his  business  in  a 
disastrous  condition,  his  vessels  lost,  his 
goods  seized  and  his  men  scattered.  Not 
being  discouraged,  however,  he  returns  to 
his  forts  in  Illinois,  which  he  finds  deserted; 
takes  new  courage;  goes  to  Mackinaw;  finds 
his  devoted  friend  Chevalier  Tonti  in  1681, 
and  is  found  once  more  on  the  Illinois  River 
to  continue  the  explorations  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, which  had  been  explored  by  Father 
Marquette  to  the  Arkansas  River,  and  by 
Father  Hennepin  up  to  the  Falls  of  St.  An- 
thony. La  Salle,  from  Fort  Creve  Cceur,  on 
the  Illinois  River,  with  twenty-two  French- 
men, amongst  whom  was  Father  Zenobi  and 
Chevalier  Tonti,  with  eighteen  savages  and 
two  women  and  three  children,  float  down 
until  they  reached  the  Mississippi  on  Feb- 
ruary 6,  1682.  They  descend  this  mighty 
river  until  they  reach  its  mouth,  April  6, 
L682,  where  they  are  the 'first  to  plant  the 
cross  and  the  banners  of  France.  La  Salle, 
with  his  companions,  ascends  the  Mississippi 
and  returns  to  his  forts  on  the  Illinois;  re- 
turns again  to  Canada  and  France. 

La  Salle  is  received  at  the  French  court 
with  enthusiam.  The  King  of  France  orders 
four  vessels  well  equipped  to  serve  him,  un- 
do- Beatigerr,  commander  of  the  fleet,  to 
proceed  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  to  discover  the 
Balize.  Unfortunately  for  La  Salle,  he  fails 
in  discovering  it.  and  they  arc  thrown  into 
the  Bay  of  Matagorda,  Texas,  where  La  Salle, 
with  liis  280  persona,  are  abandoned  by 
Beaugerr,  the  commander  of  the  fleet.     La 


Salle  here  builds  a  fort;  then  undertakes  by 
land  to  discover  the  Balize.  After  many 
hardships  he  returns  to  his  fort,  and  acain 
attempts  the  same  object,  when  ho  meets  a 
tragical  end,  being  murdered  by  the  desper- 
ate Duhall,  one  of  his  men.  During  the 
voyage  of  La  Salle,  Chevalier  Tonti,  his 
friend  had  gone  down  the  Mississippi  to  its 
mouth  to  meet  him.  After  a  long  search  in 
vain  for  the  fleet,  he  returned  to  Rock  Fort 
on  the  Illinois.  After  the  unfortunate  death 
of  La  Salle,  great  disorder  and  misfortune 
occurred  to  his  men  in  Texas.  Some  wan- 
dered among  the  jsavages,  others  were  taken 
prisoners,  others  perished  in  the  woods. 
However,  seven  bold  and  brave  men  of  La 
Salle's  force  determined  to  return  to  Illinois, 
headed  by  Capt.  Joutel  and  the  noble  Father 
Anatase.  After  six  months  of  exploration 
through  the  forest  and  plain,  they  cross  Red 
River,  where  they  lose  one  of  their  comrades. 
They  then  moved  toward  the  Arkansas 
River,  where,  to  their  great  joy.  they 
reached  a  French  fort,  upon  which  stood  a 
large  cross,  where  Couture  and  Delouny,  two 
Frenchmen,  had  possession,  to  hold  commu- 
nication with  La  Salle.  This  brave  band, 
with  the  exception  of  young  Berthelney,  pro- 
ceeded  up  the  Mississippi  to  the  Illinois 
forts;  from  thence  to  Canada. 

This  terminated  La  Salle's  wonderful  ex- 
plorations over  our  vast  lakes,  groat  rivers 
and  territory  of  Texas.  He  was  a  man  of 
stern  integrity,  of  undoubted  activity  and 
boldness  of  character,  of  an  iron  constitution, 
entertaining  broad  views  and  a  chivalry  un- 
surpassed in  tho  Old  or  New   World 

France,  as  early  as  possible,' established 
along  the  lakes  permanent  settlements.  One 
was  that  df  Detroit,  which  was  one  of  the 
most  interesting  and  loveliest  positions,  which 
was  settled  in  1701  by  Lamotte  de  Cardillac 
with   KK>  Frenchmen. 


30 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


The  discovery  and  possession  of  Mobile, 
Biloxi  and  Dauphin  Islands  induced  the 
French  to  search  for  the  mouth  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi River,  formerly  discovered  by  La 
Salle.  Lemoine  D'Iberville,  a  naval  officer 
of  talent  and  great  experience,  discovered  the 
Balize,  on  the  2d  of  March,  1699  ;  proceeded 
lip  this  river  and  took  possession  of  the  coun- 
try known  as  Louisiana.  D'Iberville  re- 
turned immediately  to  France  to  announce 
this  glorious  news.  Bienville,  his  brother, 
was  left  to  take  charge  of  Louisiana  during 
his  absence.  D'Iberville  returned,  when  Bien- 
ville and  St.  Denis,  with  a  force,  was  or- 
dered to  explore  Red  River,  and  thence  to 
the  borders  of  Mexico.  La  Harpe  also  as- 
cended Red  River  in  1719  ;  built  a  fort  called 
Carlotte  ;  also  took  possession  of  the  Arkan- 
sas River  ;  afterward  floated  down  this  river 
in  pirogues,  finding  on  its  banks  many  thriv- 
ing Indian  villages.  France,  in  September, 
1712,  by  letters  patent,  granted  Louisiana  to 
Crozas,  a  wealthy  Frenchman,  who  relin- 
quished  his  rights  and  power  in  1717  to  the 
Company  of  the  West,  established  by  the  no- 
torious banker,  John  Law.  Under  a  fever  of 
great  speculations,  great  efforts  were  made  to 
advance  the  population  and  wealth  of  Louis- 
iana. New  Orleans  was  mapped  out  in  1718, 
and  became  the  important  city  of  Lower  and 
Upper  Louisiana.  The  charter  and  privileges 
of  "Company  of  the  West,"  after  its  total 
failure,  was  resigned  to  the  crown  of  France 
in  1731.  The  country  embracing  Louisiana 
was  populated  by  numerous  tribes  of  savages. 
One  of  these  tribes  was  known  as  the  Natchez, 
located  on  a  high  bluff,  in  the  midst  of  a 
glorious  climate,  about  three  hundred  miles 
above  New  Orleans  on  the  river  bank.  The 
Natchez  had  erected  a  remarkable  temple, 
where  they  invoked  the  "  Great  Spirit,"  which 
was  decorated  with  various  idols  molded  from 
clay  baked  in  the  sun.     In  this  temple  burned 


a  living  fire,  where  the  bones  of  the  brave 
were  burned.  Near  it,  on  a  high  mound, 
the  chief  of  the  nation,  called  the  Sun,  re- 
sided, where  the  warriors  chanted  their  war 
songs  and  held  their  great  council  fires.  The 
Natchez  had  shown  great  hospitality  to  the 
French.  The  Governor  of  Louisiana  built  a 
fort  near  them  in  1714,  called  Fort  Rosalie. 
Chopart,  afterward  commander  of  this  fort, 
ill-treated  them,  and  unjustly  demanded  a 
part  of  their  villages.  This  unjust  demand 
so  outraged  their  feelings,  that  the  Natchez, 
in  their  anger,  lifted  up  the  bloody  tomahawk, 
headed  by  the  "  Great  Sun,"  attacked  Fort 
Rosalie  November  28,  1729,  and  massacred 
every  Frenchman  in  the  fort  and  the  vicinity. 
During  these  bloody  scenes,  the  chief,  amid 
this  carnage,  stood  calm  and  unmoved,  while 
Chopart' s  head  and  that  of  his  officers  and 
soldiers  were  thrown  at  his  feet,  forming  a 
pyramid  of  human  heads.  This  caused  a 
bloody  war,  which,  after  many  battles  fought, 
terminated  in  the  total  destruction  of  the 
Natchez  nation.  In  these  struggles,  the  chief 
and  his  four  hundred  braves  were  made  prison- 
ers, and  afterward  inhumanly  sold  as  slaves 
in  St.  Domingo. 

The  French  declared  war  in  1736  against 
the  Chickasaws,  a  war-like  tribe  that  inhab- 
ited the  Southern  States.  Bienville,  com- 
mander of  the  French,  ordered  a  re-union  of 
the  troops  to  assemble  on  the  10th  of  May, 
1736,  on  the  Tombigbee  River.  The  gallant 
D'Artaquette,  from  Fort  Chartres,  and  the 
brave  Vincennes  from  the  Wabash  River, 
with  a  thousand  warriors,  were  at  their  post 
in  time,  but  were  forced  into  battle  on  the 
20th  of  May  without  the  assistance  of  the 
other  troops,  were  defeated  and  massacred. 
Bienville  shortly  afterward,  on  the  27th  of 
May,  1736,  failed  in  his  assault  upon  the 
Chickasaw  forts  on  the  Tombigbee,  where 
the  English  flag   waved,  and  was   forced  to 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


31 


retreat  with  the  loss  of  his  cannons,  which 
forced  him  to  return  to  New  Orleans.  In 
1740,  the  French  built  a  fort  at  the  month 
of  the  St.  Francois  River,  ami  moved  their 
troops  in  Fort  Assumption,  near  Memphis, 
where  peace  was  concluded  with  the  Chicka- 
saws. 

The  oldest  permanent  settlement  on  the 
Mississippi  was  Kaskaskia.  first  visited  by 
Father  Gravier,  date  unknown:  but  he  was 
in  Illinois  in  1693.  He  was  succeeded  by 
Fathers  Pinet  and  Binetan.  l'inet  became 
the  founder  of  Cahokia,  where  he  erected  a 
chapel,  and  a  goodly  number  <>f  savages  as- 
sembled to  attend  the  great  feast.  Father 
Gabriel,  who  had  chanted  mass  through 
Canada,  officiated  at  Cahokia  and  Kaskaskia 
in  1711.  The  missionaries  in  1721  established 
a  college  and  monastery  at  Kaskaskia;  Fort 
Chartres,  in  Illinois,  was  built  in  1720,  be- 
came an  important  post  for  the  security  of 
the  French,  and  a  great  protection  for  the 
commerce  on  the  Missi-sippi.  "  The  Com- 
pany of  the  West  "  sent  an  expedition  under 
Le  Sieur  to  "Upper  Louisiana  about  1720  in 
search  of  precious  metals,  and  proceeded  up 
as  far  as  St.  Croix  and  St.  Peter's  Rivers, 
where  a  fort  was  built,  which  had  to  be 
abandoned  owing  to  tbe  hostilities  of  the 
savages. 

The  French  as  early  as  1 7'  >~i.  ascended  tho 
Missouri  River  to  open  traffic  with  the  Mis 
souris  and  to  take  possession  of  the  country. 
M.  Dutism,  from  New  Orleans,  with  a  force, 
arrived  in  Saline  River,  below  Ste.  Gene- 
vieve, moved  westward  to  the  Osage  River, 
then  beyond  this  about  150  miles,  where  he 
found  two  large  villages  located  in  line  prai- 
ries abounding  with    wild  game  and  buffalo. 

France  and  Spain  in  1711*  were  contending 
for  dominion  west  of  the  Mississippi.  Spain 
in  1720  sent  from  Sante  F£  a  large  caravan 
to  make  a  settlement  on  the  Missouri  River, 


the  design  being  to  destroy  the  Missouris,  a 
tribe  at  peace  with  France.  This  caravan. 
after  traveling  and  wandering,  lost  their  way, 
and  marched  into  the  camp  of  the  Missouris, 
their  enemies,  where  they  were  all  massacred 
except  a  priest,  who,  from  his  dress,  was 
considered  no  warrior.  After  this  expedition 
from  Sante  F6  npon  Missouri,  France,  under 
M.  DeRonrgmeut,  with  a  force,  in  1724  as- 
cended the  Missouri,  established  a  fort 
on  an  island  above  the  Osage  River,  named 
Fort  Orleans.  This  fort  was  afterward  at- 
tacked and  its  defenders  destroyed,  and  by 
whom  was  never  ascertained. 

The  town  of  St.  Genevieve  was  the  first 
settlement  west  of  the  Mississippi  River,  by 
emigrants  from  Franco  and  Canada,  in  the 
year  1735. 

The  wars  between  England  and  France  more 
or  less  affected  the  growth  of  this  continent. 
The  war  in  1689,  known  as  "  King  William's 
war,''  was  concluded  by  the  treaty  of  Rys- 
wick,  1697;  "  Queen  Anne's  war"  termin- 
ated by  tho  treaty  of  Utrecht  in  1713;  "  King 
George's  war  "  concluded  by  the  treaty  of 
Aix  la  Chapelle  in  174S.  These  wars  gave 
England  supremacy  in  the  fisheries,  the  pos- 
session of  the  bay  of  Hudson,  of  Newfound- 
land and  all  of  Nova  Scotia. 

The  French  and  Indian  wars,  between 
1754  and  1763 — tho  struggle  between  En- 
gland and  Franco  as  to  their  dominion  in 
America-  -commenced  at  this  period.  It  was  a 
disastrous  and  bloody  war,  where  both  parties 
enlisted  hordes  of  savages  to  participate  in  a 
warfare  conducted  in  a  disgraceful  manner 
to  humanity.  France  at  this  time  had  erected 
a  chain  of  forts  from  Canada  to  the  great 
lakes  and  along  the  Mississippi  Valley.  The 
English  controlled  the  territory  occupied  by 
her  English  colonies.  The  English  claimed 
beyond  the  Alleghany  Mountains  to  the  Ohio 
River.      The  French  deemed  her  right  to  this 


Si> 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


river  indisputable.  Virginia  bad  granted  to 
the  "  Obio  Company  "  an  extensive  territory 
reaobing  to  tbe  Obio.  Dinwiddie,  Governor 
of  Virginia,  through  George  Washington, 
remonstrated  against  tbe  encroachment  of 
tbe  French.  St.  Pierre,  the  French  com- 
mander, received  Washington  with  kindness, 
returned  an  answer  claiming  the  territory 
which  France  occupied.  Tbe  "  Ohio  Com- 
pany "  sent  out  a  party  of  men  to  erect  a 
fort  at  the  confluence  of  the  Allegheny  and 
Monongahela  Rivers.  These  men  had  hard- 
ly commenced  work  on  this  fort  when  they 
were  driven  away  by  the  French,  who  took 
possession  and  established  "Fort  du  Quesne." 

Washington,  with  a  body  of  provincials 
from  Virginia,  marched  to  the  disputed  ter- 
ritory, when  a  party  of  French  under  Jumon- 
ville  was  attacked,  and  all  either  killed  or 
made  prisoners.  Washington  after  this 
erected  a  fort  called  Fort  Necessity.  From 
thence  Washington  proceeded  with  400  men 
toward  Fort  du  Quesne,  where,  hearing  of 
the  advance  of  M.  De  Villiers  with  a  large 
force,  he  returned  to  Fort  Necessity,  where, 
after  a  short  defense,  Washington  had  to 
capitulate,  with  the  honorable  terms  of  re- 
turning to  Virginia. 

On  the  4th  of  July,  1754,  the  day  that 
Fort  Necessity  surrendered,  a  convention  of 
colonies  was  held  at  Albany,  N.  Y.,  for  a 
union  of  the  colonies  proposed  by  Dr.  Ben 
Franklin,  adopted  by  the  delegates,  but  de- 
feated by  the  English  Government.  How- 
ever, at  this  convention,  a  treaty  was  made 
between  the  colonies  and  the  "  Five  Nations," 
which  proved  to  be  of  great  advantage  to  En- 
gland. Gen.  Braddock,  with  a  force  of 
'2,000  soldiers,  marched  against  Fort  du 
Quesne.  Within  seven  miles  of  this  fort,  he 
was  attacked  by  the  French  and  Indian  allies 
and  disastrously  defeated,  when  Washington 
covered  tbe  retreat,  and  saved  the  army  from 
total  destruction. 


Sir  William  Johnson,  with  a  large  force, 
took  command  of  the  army  at  Fort  Edward. 
Near  this  fort,  Baron  Dieskan  and  St.  Pierre 
attacked  Col.  Williams  and  troop,  where  the 
English  were  defeated,  but  Sir  Johnson,  com- 
ing to  the  rescue,  defeated  the  French,  who 
lost  in  this  battle  Dieskan  and  St.  Pierre. 

On  August  12,  1756,  Marquis  Montcalm, 
commander  of  the  French  army,  attacked  Fort 
Ontario,  garrisoned  by  1,400  troops,  who 
capitulated  as  prisoners  of  war,  with  134 
cannon,  several  vessels,  and  a  large  amount 
of  military  stores.  Montcalm,  destroying 
this  fort,  returned  to  Canada. 

By  the  treaty  of  peace  of  Aix  la  Chapelle 
of  October,  1748,  Arcadia,  known  as  Nova 
Scotia,  and  Brunswick  had  been  ceded  by 
France  to  England.  When  tbe  war  of  1754 
broke  out,  this  territory  was  occupied  by 
numerous  French  families.  England,  fear- 
ing their  sympathy  for  France,  cruelly  con- 
fiscated their  property,  destroyed  their  hum- 
ble homes  and  exiled  them  to  their  colonies 
in  the  utmost  poverty  and  distress. 

In  August,  1857,  Marquis  Montcalm,  with 
a  large  army,  marched  on  Fort  William 
Henry,  defended  by  3,000  English  troops. 
The  English  were  defeated  and  surrendered 
on  condition  that  they  might  march  out  of 
the  fort  with  their  arms.  The  savage  allies, 
as  they  marched  out  in  an  outrageous  man- 
ner, plundered  them  and  massacred  some  in 
cold  blood,  notwithstanding  the  efforts  of  the 
French  officers  to  prevent  them.  The  mili- 
tary campaign  so  far  had  been  very  disas- 
trous to  the  English,  which  created  quite  a 
sensation  in  the  colonies  and  in  England. 
At  this  critical  period  the  illustrous  Mr.  Pitt, 
known  as  Lord  Chatham,  was  placed  at  the 
helm  of  state  on  account  of  his  talent  and 
statesmanship,  and  he  sent  a  large  naval  ar- 
mament and  numerous  troops  to  protect  tbe 
colonies. 

July  8,    1758,  Gen.    Abercombie,   with  an 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


33 


army  of  15,000,  moved  on  Ticonderoga,  de- 
fended Marquis  Montcalm.  After  a  great 
struggle  the  English  were  defeated  with  a 
loss  of  2,000  dead  and  wounded. 

August  27,  1758,  Coi.  Bradstreet  with  a 
force  attacked  the  French  fort,  Fort  Fronte- 
nac,  on  Lake  Ontario,  took  it  with  nine 
armed  vessels,  sixty  cannon  and  a  quantity  of 
military  stores,  whilst  Gen.  Forbes  moved  on 
Fort  du  Quesne,  and  took  it,  which  fort  was 
afterward  called  Pittsburgh,  in  honor  of  Mr. 
Pitt. 

In  1759,  the  ^French  this  year  evacuated 
Ticonderoga,  Crown  Point  and  Niagara. 
Gen.  Wolf  advanced  against  Quebec,  then 
defended  by  the  gallant  Montcalm,  where  a 
terrible  and  bloody  battle  took  place  between 
the  two  armies.  Gen.  Wolf  was  killed  and 
a  great  number  of  English  officers.  When 
the  brav"  Wolf  was  told  the  English  were 
victorious,  he  said,  "He  died  contented." 
Montcalm,  when  told  his  wounds  were 
mortal,  he  said,  "  So  much  the  better,  I  shall 
not  live  to  see  the  surrender  of  Quebec," 
which  city  surrendered  September  18,  1759. 

In  1760,  another  battle  was  fought  near 
Quebec,  which  drove  the  English  into  their 
fortifications,  and  were  only  relieved  by  the 
English  squadron.  Montreal  still  contended 
to  the  last,  when  she  was  compelled  to  sur- 
render, which  gave  Canada  to  the  English. 

Treaty  of  peace,  February  10,  1763.  By 
this  France  ceded  to  England  all  her  posses- 
sions on  the  St.  Lawrence  River,  all  east  of 
the  Mississippi  River,  except  that  portion 
south  of  Iberville  River  and  west  of  the  Mis 
sissippi.  At  the  same  time  all  ihe  territory 
here  reserved  being  west  of  the  Mississippi, 
and  the  Orleans  territory  was  transferred  to 
Spain.  France,  after  all  her  labors,  toil  and 
expenditures,  and  groat  loss  of  life,  surren- 
dered to  England  and  Spain  her  great  domain 
in  North   America.      The  historv  of  France, 


embracing  a  term  of  228  years,  is  replete 
with  interest  and  with  thrilling  events  in 
this  country  up  to  1763. 

The  defeats  of  the  French  in  North  Amer- 
ica greatly  led  to  the  establishment  of  the 
United     States    Government.       The    accom- 
plishment of  such  a  glorious  end  was  largely 
due  to   the   gallant  Frenchmen.     As  long  as 
the  anniversary  of  the  American  Independ 
ence  shall  be  celebrated,  the  names  of  Wash 
ington    and    Lafayette  will    ever  be  remem 
bered  by  a  grateful  people.      We  can  but  con- 
gratulate ourselves,  as   citizens  of  this  great 
valley,  that  owing  to  the  sympathy  of  France 
and    her    people    under    the    great  Napoleon 
and  the    immortal  Jefferson,  that  we  to-day 
are  a  portion  of  this  grand  republic. 

The  downfall  of  Quebec  was  the  over-' 
throw  of  French  power  in  North  America. 
The  French  supremacy  was  only  overthrown 
after  a  long  and  bloody  struggle,  and  the  re- 
coil of  the  blow  that  had  smitten  it  down  was 
the  cause  of  another  struggle  more  desolat- 
ing and  widely  extended  than  the  first,  but 
ended  without  accomplishing  any  political 
results.  In  this  fierce  conflict  the  red  man 
became  the  principal  actor,  and  exhibited  a 
degree  of  sagacity  and  constancy  of  purpose 
never  before  witnessed  in  the  history  of  his 
warfai-e.  The  English  sent  Maj.  Robert 
Clark  to  take  possession  of  the  frontier  out- 
posts. Tbe  approach  of  Maj.  Clark  aroiised 
Pontiac,  and  he  boldly  demanded  to  know 
their  mission.  Pontiac  was  the  Napoleon  of 
his  race,  and  suffice  it  to  say  here  that  this 
movement  of  the  British  troops  resulted  in 
his  great  conspiracy,  and  the  destruction  of 
British  settlements,  and  the  attack  upon  De- 
troit. 

On  the  13th  of  August,  1803,  the  treaty 
of  Vincennes,  and  the  additional  treaty  of 
December  30,  1805,  was  concluded  with  the 
Kaskaskias,    by   which    they    ceded    to    the 


34 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


United  States,  all  that  tract  included  within 
a  line  beginning  below  the  mouth  of  the  Illi- 
nois River,  and  descending  the  Mississippi 
to  its  junction  with  the  Ohio,  ascending  the 
latter  to  the  Wabash,  and  from  a  certain 
point  up  the  Wabash  west  to  the  Mississippi, 
embracing  the  greater  part  of  Southern  Illi- 
nois, and  including  Wayne  County.  This 
was  the  act  that  divested  the  Indians  of  their 
title  to  the  lands  the  people  of  the  county 
now  possess.* 

By  act  of  Congress,  February  3,  1809,  all 
that  part  of  the  Indian  Territory  lying  "west 
of  the  Wabash  River,  and  a  direct  line  drawn 
from  the  said  Wabash  River  and  Post  Vin- 
cennes,  due  north  to  the  territorial  line  be- 
tween the  United  States  and  Canada,  should 
constitute  Illinois.  This,  it  will  be  noticed, 
included  Wisconsin.  It  was  the  separation 
of  Illinois  from  Indiana.  This  act  of  separ- 
ating Illinois  from  Indiana,  found  a  hot 
anti -separation  party  in  Vincennes,  the  cap- 
ital, and  the  villages  and  settlements  east  of 
that  place.  The  excitement  culminated  in 
bloodshed;  one  of  the  leading  men  in  favor 
of  the  measure  was  assassinated  in  the  streets 
of  Kaskaskia.  The  question  of  separation 
turned  upon  the  ability  of  the  Illinois  mem- 
bers of  the  Legislature,  in  session  in  Vin- 
cennes in  October,  1S08,  to  elect  a  Delegate  to 
Congress  in  place  of  Benjamin  Park,  resigned, 
who  should  be  favorable  to  the  division. 
The  Illinoisans  found  a  suitable  candidate  in 
an  Indiana  member  of  the  House,  who  was 


•The  important  historical  facts  that  give  an  account  of  the 
acts  of  Gen.  George  Rogers  Clark,  by  which  all  this  vast  ter- 
ritory was  secured  to  the  Tinted  States,  ami  wrested  from  the 
British  crown,  are  given  in  the  Clay  County  history,  and  to 
which  the  reader  iB  referred.  The  reader  will  there  see  that  the 
territory  of  Wayne  and  l  lay  Counties  are  historical  grounds, 
were  the  scenes  of  most  important  events  of  the  Revolution,  and 
that  ( ieu.  Clark  was  here  fighting  out  that  great  war  for  human 
liberty:  that  he  was  one  of  the  greatest  men  America  has  pro- 
duced and  that  the  territory  of  those  counties  may  honor  him 
as  among  their  first  visitors. 


also  Speaker,  by  the  name  of  Jesse  B.  Thom- 
as, who,  for  the  sake  of  going  to  Congress, 
was  ready  to  violate  the  sentiments  of  his 
constituents  upon  this  question.  Thomas 
gave  a  bond  that  he  would  procure  from  Con- 
gress a  separation;  and  he  was  triumphantly 
elected  by  a  majority  of  one  vote — he  voted 
for  himself.  He  was  hung  in  effigy  in  Vin- 
cennes, but  he  went  to  Congress  and  kept  his 
bond  and  faith  with  Illinois,  and  came  from 
Congress  with  a  commission  in  his  pocket  for 
a  federal  judgeship  in  Illinois,  and  he  re- 
moved to  the  new  State,  and  thus  was  secured 
our  great  State  and  an  eminent  citizen. 

William  Edwards,  at  the  time  Chief  Jus- 
tice of  the  Court  of  Appeals  in  Kentucky, 
became  Governor  of  the  new  Territory.  John 
Bogle,  of  the  same  State,  at  first  received  the 
appointment  of  Governor,  but  declined  the 
office  and  accepted  that  of  Associate  Justice 
of  the  same  court  whereof  Edwards  was 
Chief  Justice. 

This  brief  outline  of  the  history  leading  up 
to  the  final  organization  of  the  country  that 
eventually  made  us  what  we  are,  is  given  for 
the  double  purpose  of  correcting  many  ma- 
terial facts  that  have  heretofore  either  not  been 
truly  set  forth  or  were  deliberately  falsified, 
and  to  call  the  attention  of  the  reader  to  the 
fact  that  we  are  upon  grounds  that  are  full 
of  history — history  more  interesting  than  any 
romance — and  that  every  day  is  growing  in 
interest  and  importance. 

To  some  extent  we  prefer  to  resume  the 
story  of  the  part  this  locality  played  in  the 
Revolutionary  war  in  our  history  of  Clay 
County,  because  it  was  through  that  county 
the  old  Vincennes  trace  was  located  and  it 
was  over  this  route  a  portion  of  the  Revolu- 
tionary army  traveled  on  its  way  from  Kas- 
kaskia to  Vincennes. 


HISTORY  OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


35 


CHAPTER    III. 


THE  OLD  SETTLERS,  WHERE  TIIEV  WERE  FROM,  TOGETHER  WITH   MANY   INTERESTING  FACTS  CON 
CERNING  THEM— ISAAC  HARRIS,  MRS.  GOODWIN,  COL.  SAMUEL  LEECH,  GEORGE  MERRITT. 
"J  LCKY"  JONES, GEORGE  M.C'OU'N,  AND  MANY  OTHERS— RANGERS— JOE  BOLTING- 
HOUSE'S    AVENGERS— WAYNE  COUNTY  ORGANIZED  MARCH  20,  1819,  ETC. 

interested  in  the  movements 


THE  "  simple  annals  "  of  the  brave  and 
hardy  pioneers  who  came  to  this  portion 
of  Illinois  to  carve  out  new  homes  for  them- 
selves, and  fight  it  out  with  the  bloody 
savages,  the  wild  beasts  and  the  deadly 
malaria,  dates  back  only  seventy  years,  the 
allotted  span  of  extreme  human  life,  and  the 
fleeting  years  are  fast  carrying  away  all  liv- 
ing testimony  of  the  earliest  settlers,  and 
unless  we  now  catch  the  shadow  ere  the  sub- 
stance wholly  fades,  and  tell  the  story  of  the 
most  interesting  people  the  country  has  pro- 
duced, it  will  soon  be  forgotten,  and  the 
world  will  thus  lose  a  lesson  that  is  worth 
more  if  fully  told  than  any  heritage  that  we 
can  possess.  To  gather  up  the  threads  of 
their  eventful  lives — mostly  broken  threads 
now — is  both  a  labor  of  love,  and  already  a 
difficult  task  in  many  respects.  The  pleasure 
consists  in  listening  to  the  story  of  the  very 
few  now  left  of  those  early  comers,  all  of 
whom  are  venerable  men  and  women  now, 
and  who  were  infants  then,  and  the  difficulty 
consists  in  the  fact  that  no  person  is  now 
alive  who  was  then  old  enough  to  know  and 
see  and  remember  for  themselves.  Thus  we 
are  driven  to  their  recollections  of  the  tales 
that  were  told  to  them,  and  to  those  tradi- 
tion? that  have  hero  and  there  been  preserved 
from  the  fathers. 

Next  in  interest  to  the  story  of  the  lives  of 
these  pioneers  is  the  study  of  their  charac- 
ters.     Man's  nature  is  such  that  he  is  deeply 


purposes,  great 
actions,  heroic  deeds,  sublime  sacrifices,  the 
loves,  the  sports  and  pastimes  of  those  who 
have  gone  before  him.  "Whether  his  fore- 
fathers were  wiseor  foolish,  great  and  strong, 
or  puerile  and  weak,  he  wauts  to  learn  all  he 
can  about  them.  How  they  thought  and 
what  they  did — acts  and  doings  that,  discon- 
nected from  their  story,  might  not  only  seem 
idle  but  foolish,  are  clothed  with  immense 
interests  when  they  are  told  of  those  we  love 
and  respect — those  whose  lives  were  a  long 
sacrifice  which  have  produced  the  ripened 
fruits  we  now  enjoy;  and  while  even  one  or 
two  are  yet  living  who  were  here  and  parti- 
cipated to  some  extent  in  the  stirring  long 
ago,  the  task,  so  far  as  they  can  go  in  memory, 
is  both  easy  and  pleasant,  but  in  a  moment, 
and  before  we  have  had  time  to  reflect  upon 
the  loss,  they  are  all  gone,  and  the  places 
that  knew  them  so  well  will  know  them  no 
more  forever.  Hence  the  chronicler,  who 
puts  in  a  permanent  form  all  these  once  sup- 
posed trifling  details,  has  performed  an  in- 
valuable, if  not  an  imperishable  service.  For 
the  proper  study  of  mankind  is  man.  It  is 
the  great  and  inexhaustible  fountain  of 
knowledge,  and  the  "  man  "  that  is  or  should 
be  best  studied  is  your  own  immediate  fore- 
fathers or  predecessors.  To  know  them  well 
is  to  master  all  you  can  really  learn  of  the 
human  family.  To  peer  into  the  complex 
problem  of  the  human  race  does  not  so  much 


3(5 


HISTORY    OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


consist  in  trying  to  study  all  of  the  living 
and  the  dead,  as  in  mastering,  in  so  far  as 
it  is  possible,  the  chosen  few. 

Gov.  Reynolds  gives  this  quaint  account 
of  himself  and  the  early  pioneers:  "All  spe- 
cies of  amusements  were  indulged  in  by  the 
original  inhabitants  of  Illinois.  I  do  not 
pretend  to  say  that  every  person  was  devoted 
to  gaming;  but  it  was  considered  at  that  day 
both  fashionable  and  honorable  to  game  for 
money;  but,  as  gentlemen,  for  amusement 
and  high  and  chivalrous  sports.  In  this 
manner  a  great  many  gambled.  Card  play- 
ing was  sustained  by  the  highest  classes  as 
well  as  the  lowest  in  the  country.  A  person 
who  could  not  or  would  not  play  at  cards  was 
scarcely  fit  for  genteel  society.  The  French 
delighted  much  in  this  amusement,  which 
gave  the  card  parties  much  standing  and 
popularity  with  the  Americans.  The  French 
at  that  time  had  the  ascendency  in  the  coun- 
try, and  their  manners  and  habits  gave  tone 
and  character  to  many  such  transactions. 
The  French  masses  in  early  times  played 
cards  incessantly  in  the  shade  of  the  galleries 
of  their  houses  in  the  hot  summer  months. 
They  frequently  played  without  betting,  but 
at  times  wagered  heavily.  Card  playing  was 
mostly  the  only  gaming  the  French  indulged 
in.  The  ladies  of  that  day  amused  them- 
selves often  in  these  games,  and  as  they  do 
at  this  day.  At  times  the  Americans,  as  well 
as  the  French,  bet  heavily  at  cards,  although 
they  were  not  considered  gamblers.  *  * 
Shooting  matches,  with  the  Americans,  were 
great  sport.  Almost  every  Saturday  in  the 
summer,  a  beef  or  some  other  article  would 
be  shot  for  in  the  rural  districts,  and  the 
beef  killed  and  parceled  out  the  same  night. 
A  keg  of  whisky  was  generally  packed  to 
the  shooting  match  on  horseback.  Sometimes 
a  violin  appeared,  and  stag  dances,  as  they 
were  termed,  occupied  the  crowd    for  hours 


"  In  1804,  I  witnessed  a  match  of  shooting 
in  the  orchard  of  Gen.  Edgar,  a  short  dis- 
tance west  of  Kaskaskia.  It  was  a  match 
between  John  Smith  and  Thomas  Stubletield, 
and  the  bet  was  $100.  Smith  won  the 
wager.  A  small  tricky  game  for  whisky  was 
often  played  in  these  keg  groceries,  which 
was  called  'finger  in  danger.'  Every  one 
that  pleased,  put  his  finger  down  in  a  ring, 
and  then  some  knowing  one  counted  the  fin- 
gers until  they  counted  some  number  agreed 
on,  and  the  finger  at  that  number  when  it 
was  touched  was  withdrawn,  and  so  on  until 
the  last  finger  in  the  ring  was  left,  and  then 
it  had  to  pay  the  treat. 

"Aged  matrons  frequently  attended  these 
shooting  matches  with  a  neat,  clean  keg  of 
metheglin  to  sell.  This  drink  is  made  of 
honey  and  water,  with  the  proper  fermenta- 
tion. It  is  pleasant  to  drink,  and  has  no 
power  in  it  to  intoxicate.  The  old  lady  often 
had  her  sewing  or  knitting  with  her,  and 
would  frequently  relate  horrid  stories  of  the 
Tories  in  the  Revolution  in  North  Carolina, 
as  well  as  to  sell  her  drink. 

"  In  the  early  days  of  Illinois,  horse-racing 
was  a  kind  of  mania  with  almost  all  people, 
and  almost  all  indulged  in  it,  either  by  being 
spectators,  or  engaged  in  them.  The  level 
and  beautiful  prairies  seemed  to  persuade 
this  class  of  amusement." 

The  earliest  settlement  in  this  portion  of 
Illinois  it  appears  was  made  by  Michael 
Sprinkle,  the  first  white  man  to  settle  in 
Shawneetown.  He  was  a  gunsmith,  and  the 
Indians  had  petitioned  Gov.  Harrison  for 
permission  for  him  to  reside  among  them  to 
repair  their  guns,  and  he  fixed  his  residence 
there  in  the  year  1802.  Other  people  were 
attracted  to  the  locality,  mostly  on  account  of 
its  convenience  to  the  Salines,  and  in  1S05 
an  unprovoked  murder  was  committed  by 
the  Indians  in  the  killing  of   Mr.  Duff  near 


HISTORY   OF   WAYNE   COUNTY. 


the  Island  Ripples  in  the  Saline  Creek,  and 
he  was  buried  near  the  old  salt  spring.  It 
was  supposed  the  Indians  wore  hired  to  com- 
mit this  murder.  Shawneetown  was  occu- 
pied by  a  village  of  the  Shawnee  Indians  for 
many  ages,  and  it  was  the  place  where  Maj. 
Croghan,  the  English  officer,  camped  in  his 
explorations  of  the  country  in  1765.  He  had 
a  battle  at  this  place  with  the  savages.  The 
old  salt  spring  is  situated  about  twelve  miles 
northwest  of  Shawneetown,  and  around  it  a 
colony  commenced  to  settle  about  the  year 
1805.  In  1803,  Gov.  Harrison  had  purchased 
of  the  Indians  the  salt  works  and  adjoining 
lands,  and  the  same  year  the  Saline  was 
leased  by  Capt.  Bell,  of  Lexington,  Ky.,  and 
this  attracted  the  attention  of  immigrants. 

The  attention  of  the  early  pioneers  who 
had  settled  along  the  Lower  Wabash  and  Ohio 
Rivers  was  attracted  to  this  portion  of  Illi- 
nois by  some  of  them  passing  over  what  is 
now  Wayne  County  as  rangers — those  heroic 
men  who  went  out  and  braved  the  savage, 
and,  at  the  risk  of  their  lives,  protected  the 
helpless  and  scattered  families  that  had  vent- 
ured out  in  the  solitary  wilds  and  com- 
menced to  build  permanent  homes. 

The  first  settler  in  Wayne  County  was 
Isaac  Harris,  and  until  three  months  ago, 
when  she  died,  his  daughter,  Mrs.  Betsey 
Goodwin  was  not  only  the  oldest  living  in- 
habitant in  the  county,  but  the  first.  She 
came  here  with  her  father's  family  in  1S14, 
she  being  then  ten  years  old.  Her  death,  in 
September,  1SS3.  severed  the  last  link  con- 
necting the  present  with  the  first  settlement 
in  the  county.  Her  father,  Isaac  Harris, 
left  his  Kentucky  home  with  a  few  provis- 
ions and  cooking  utensils  packed  on  horses, 
and  followed  a  dim  Indian  trail  to  the  terri- 
tory now  comprised  in  Wayne  County — then 
a  perfect  wilderness.  Mr.  Harris  was  the 
first  white  man   to  settle   and  build  a  house 


in  our  county.  The  site  chosen  was  a  high 
bluff  at  the  edge  of  the  Wabash  bottoms, 
nine  miles  southeast  of  Fairfield.  A  large 
spring  at  the  foot  of  the  bluff  was  doubtless 
an  attraction.  Thomas  Harris,  ex-Supervisor 
of  Leech  Township,  now  lives  on  the  exact 
site  of  the  first  building  erected  in  "Wayne 
County.  This  first  cabin  had  a  dirt  floor  and 
its  size  is  showu  by  Mrs.  Goodwin's  state 
ment  as  to  the  carpet  used.  Four  bearskins, 
cut  square,  filled  the  cabiu  and  made  a  lux- 
urious carpet.  The  daily  food  of  the  pio- 
neers was  corn  meal,  hominy,  bear  meat,  ven- 
ison, honey  and  sassafras  tea.  The  meal  and 
hominy  were  ground  in  a  mortar  made  out  of 
a  stump,  a  wooden  maul  attached  to  a  spring 
pole  being  the  pestle.  The  breadstuff  for 
each  day  was  pounded  up  before  breakfast. 
Mrs.  Goodwin  thinks  she  has  ground  over  a 
hundred  bushels  of  corn  in  this  way.  The 
grist  was  sieved  and  the  finer  portion  called 
meal,  the  coarser  hominy.  These  mortars 
were  used  for  three  years.  Bear  meat  was 
plentiful.  Mr.  Harris  killing  four  or  five  a 
week.  Venison  was  not  a  rarity  in  a  house- 
hold where  the  head  of  the  family  has  been 
known  to  kill  nineteen  deer  before  breakfast 
as  Mr.  Harris  did.  But  this  was  doubtless 
an  unusually  good  morning  for  deer.  Mr. 
Harris' method  of  bringing  home  honey  when 
out  on  a  hunt  was  decidedly  aboriginal. 
"When  he  found  a  bee-tree,  he  would  kill  a 
deer,  takeoff  the  skin  in  a  way  best  suited 
to  the  use  he  had  for  it.  till  the  skin  with 
honey,  tie  up  the  holes  made  by  the  legs  and 
neck,  throw  it  across  his  horse  and  make  his 
way  homeward.  Honey  was  so  abundant 
that  great  wooden  troughs  were  provided  for  it. 
Mrs.  Goodwin  stated  to  her  friends  only  a 
short  time  before  her  death,  that  she  remem- 
bered man]  times  of  seeing  a  bandied  gal- 
lons of  honeyed  sweetness  in  a  rude  wooden 
trough.     When  a  surplus  of  honev  had  been 


38 


HISTORY  OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


gathered,  it  was  hauled  on  a  sled  to  Carini 
and  sold  for  25  cents  a  gallon.  The  pioneers' 
luscious  bill  of  fare  was  served  on  pewter 
plates,  sometimes  accompanied  by  milk  poured 
from  a  gourd,  and  which  had  been  strained 
through  a  gourd  strainer. 

Bears  were  so  bold  that  have  been  known  to 
come  within  twenty  steps  of  the  house  and 
carry  off  pigs.  Their  skins  were  made  very 
useful.  Mrs.  Goodwin  said  she  had  made  at 
leaBt  500  pairs  of  bear  skin  moccasins,  and 
could  do  the  work  as  well  as  an  Indian.  They 
were  made  with  the  hair  on  (turned  inside), 
and  for  men,  cut  about  as  high  as  socks;  for 
women,  about  the  length  of  stockings.  Mrs. 
Goodwin  said  she  would  enjoy  wearing  a  pair 
even  in  1880. 

The  young  ladies  of  the  pioneer  period 
wore  deer  skin  dresses.  The  hair  was  re- 
moved, and  the  skin  dressed  so  as  to  be  soft 
and  pliable,  and  when  colored  red  and  yellow 
made  rather  a  stylish  looking  suit.  The 
number  of  "  breadths  in  the  skirt "  were 
about  as  few  as  in  the  tight-fitting,  figure- 
displaying  costumes  of  the  super-fashionable 
belles  of  the  present  day.  The  men  wore 
leather  breeches  and  jackets. 

In  1880,  Mrs.  Goodwin  related  to  the  ed- 
itor of  the  Wayne  County  Press  her  recol- 
lections of  her  first  calico  dress.  She  said: 
"  Daddy  loaded  a  lot  of  deer  skins  and  veni- 
son hams  on  a  sled,  and  took  'em  to  Carmi 
and  bought  us  gals  each  a  calico  dress.  We 
thought  they  were  powerful  nice,  and  that 
arts  nice."  The  barter  was  at  these  prices: 
A  pair  of  venison  hams  25  cents,  and  calico 
30  or  40  cents  a  yard.  A  few  years  later, 
shoes  and  stockings  also  became  fashionable, 
but  they  were  too  highly  valued  for  wearing 
even  a  whole  Sunday.  The  girls  would  carry 
them  tied  up  in  their  handkerchiefs  until 
near  the  church  or  farmhouse  where  church 
was  held.      They  would  then  take  a  seat  on  a 


log,  don  their  shoes  and  stockings,  and  go 
into  the  house  with  as  much  of  a  dressed- up 
feeling  as  a  city  belle  alights  from  her  car- 
riage to  enter  the  opera.  Plainness  of  dress 
was  the  rule  for  girls,  and  wearing  of  "  ruf- 
fles and  bobs "  to  church  was  not  generally 
allowed. 

At  the  earliest  day  of  Mrs.  Goodwin's  rec- 
ollection, the  Indians  seem  not  to  have  had 
any  permanent  village  in  our  county,  but 
were  frequently  camped  here  in  large  num- 
bers. Mrs.  Goodwin  remembered  seeing 
about  300  camped  near  Nathan  Atteberry'6 
present  home.  Once  she  was  so  badly  fright- 
ened by  unexpectedly  coming  upon  an  Indi- 
an, that  she  ran  a  mile  and  a  half  at  full 
speed,  arriving  home  almost  dead.  Her 
father  "  gathered  a  parcel  of  men,  and  moved 
'em  out."  Mrs.  Goodwin  attended  the  first 
Fourth  of  July  celebration  ever  held  in  Wayne 
County  sixty-seven  years  ago.  Fairfield 
then  consisted  of  two  cabins,  and  the  patri- 
otic observers  of  the  day  we  celebrate  num- 
bered about  thirty  persons,  prominent  among 
whom  were  the  Barnhills,  Slocumbs,  Leech- 
es and  Jo  Campbell.  It  was,  Mrs.  Goodwin 
said,  "  a  sort  of  pay  celebration."  The  re- 
freshments consisted  mainly  of  a  roasted  pig 
and  blackberry  pies — regular  "  turnovers  " — ■ 
baked  in  a  skillet.  Sam  Leech  was  the  ora- 
tor of  the  day.  Mrs.  Goodwin  remembers 
that  our  fellow-citizen,  J.  W.  Barnhill,  was 
one  of  the  patriotic  pioneers.  He  was  two 
years  old,  barefooted  and  wore  a  home-made 
cotton  dress. 

Isaac  Harris,  the  first  settler,  loved  to  joke. 
Dick  Lock  one  day  wanted  some  corn  fodder 
(blades).  Isaac  told  him  to  bring  his  wagon 
and  get  it.  Lock,  however,  took  a  rope  with 
him,  intending  to  carry  a  bundle  only.  As 
he  started  off,  Harris  touch  a  chunk  of  fire  to 
the  load.  While  Lock  was  wondering  how 
he  fodder  happened  to  burn  up  so  suddenly. 


HISTORY  OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


IS 


Harris  told  him  to  go  get  his  wagon  and  come 
for  it  like  a  white  man.  Mr.  Harris  had  a 
pleasant  way  of  dealing  with  speculators 
who  came  into  the  country  to  buy  large 
tracts  of  land.  He  was  sought  as  a  guide 
and  would  invariably  take  the  Eastern  follows 
through  some  of  the  most  radically  swamp 
land  that  could  be  found,  and  skip  the  good 
portions.  On  more  than  one  occasion  he 
purposely  got  lost,  and  compelled  the  land 
buyers  to  sleep  a  night  in  the  woods,  and  go 
supperless  to  bed. 

Isaac  and  Gilham  Harris  (brothers),  with 
their  families,  had  spent  the  winters  of  1812- 
13  in  a  camp,  near  where  Nathan  Atteborry's 
farm  now  is,  bringing  their  hogs  from  their 
home  in  Big  Prairie,  White  County,  on 
account  of  the  superior  mast  of  that  locality. 
And  in  1814,  as  stated  above,  the  families 
moved  into  the  county  as  permanent  settlers. 
Aunt  Betsey  Goodwin  was  then  twelve  years 
old,  and  from  an  interview  with  tho  old  lady  in 
1880  by  the  editor  of  the  Press,  we  extract 
the  following  interesting  reminiscences:  Her 
father,  Isaac  Harris,  built  the  tirst  cabin 
ever  erected  within  the  borders  of  Wayne. 
Mrs.  Goodwin  was  twelve  years  of  age  then, 
and  has  a  very  distinct  remembrance  of  that 
first  low  hut,  with  its  dirt  floor,  carpeted  with 
bear  skins  (and  it  took  only  four  bears  to 
supply  the  carpet).  Mrs.  Goodwin  is  seventy- 
seven  years  old,  and  promises  fair  to  live  out 
the  century.  Her  mother  lived  to  be  ninety- 
one,  her  grandmother  to  bo  one  hundred  and 
seven,  making  a  visit  to  Ireland  after  her  one 
hundredth  year. 

Mrs.  Goodwin  yet  thinks  that  the  corn 
meal  she  ground  or  pounded  in  a  stump  mortar 
was  better  than  that  made  by  the  steam  mills 
of  to-day.  It  was  sifted  through  a  home- 
made seive  made  by  stretching  a  deer  skin, 
tanned  with  ashes,  over  a  hoop.  The  holes 
in  the   sieve   were    made    with   a  small   iron 


instrument  heated  hot.  The  smaller  the 
iron  the  finer  the  meal.  That  portion  of  the 
grist  which  went  through  the  seive  was 
called  meal — that  which  remained  was  used 
as  hominy.  As  civilization  advanced,  home- 
made horso-hair  seives  came  in  fashion. 
Aunt  Betsey  remembers  seeing  Granny 
Hooper  weave  lots  of  'em.  The  dishes 
and  spoons  used  were  almost  wholly  of 
pewter  and  were  sold  by  peddlers.  There 
were  no  stores  in  the  county,  and  men 
and  women  both  wore  buckskin  clothing 
made  of  deer  skins,  dressed  with  deer's 
brains,  and  colored  yellow  with  hickory  bark 
and  alum,  or  red  with  sassafras.  Three  ordi- 
nary deer  skins  made  a  dres3.  Leather 
whangs  or  homespun  flax  thread  was  used  in 
making  them.  No  frills,  ruffles  or  diagonal 
pleatings  were  allowed. 

Clad  in  a  short,  red  leather  dress,  and 
wearing  a  sunbonnet  made  of  homemade  cot- 
ton or  flax,  our  hostess,  then  Miss  Betsey 
Harris,  must  have  been  an  attractive  young 
lady  when  at  the  age  of  fourteen,  and  "  wild 
as  a  deer,"  she  struck  the  fancy  and  won  the 
affections  of  Tom  Jones,  a  stout  young  pio- 
neer in  leather  breeches  and  a  coonskin  cap. 
But  the  tender  feeling  was  not  reciprocated. 
Young  Jones  tried  to  make  headway  in  his 
suit  by  presenting  Miss  Harris  with  a  pair  of 
side  combs.  She  wouldn't  take  them,  and 
Jones  tried  a  flank  movement  by  giving  the 
combs  to  her  little  brother.  But  she  never 
would  wear  them. 

While  on  this  subject,  we  will  state  that 
many  of  the  pioneers  made  their  own  combs. 
An  old  case  knife  was  converted  into  a  saw. 
and  with  this  rude  tool  combs  of  everlasting 
quality  were  made  from  cow's  horn.  Mrs. 
Goodwin's  mother  wore  such  a  comb  of 
Wayne  County  manufacture  for  thirty-two 
years,  and  was  buried  with  it  in  her  hair,  v 
a  later  period.    Andrew    Wright  came   from 


40 


HISTOBY   OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


New  Jersey,  settled  three  miles  south  of 
Fairfield,  and  added  to  the  scanty  revenues 
of  his  farm  by  making  wooden  combs  with 
saws  especially  made  for  that  purpose. 

Mrs.  Goodwin's  first  fine  bonnet  was  bought 
of  J.  G.  Barkley  forty- two  years  ago,  when 
he  kept  store  in  the  north  room  of  Mrs.  E. 
Trousdale's  residence  in  Fairfield.  This  bon- 
net was  a  palmetto,  and  was  much  larger 
than  the  shaker  hoods  which  were  worn  a 
dozen  or  more  years  ago. 

About  this  time  those  enormous  tortoise 
shell  tuck  combs  were  in  fashion — immense 
semi  circles,  twelve  inches  in  length,  and 
with  teeth  four  inches  long.  They  were  about 
as  large  as  the  bonnets  of  to-day. 

In  those  days,  Uncle  Charley  Wood  kept 
hotel  in  a  log  building  just  north  of  the  Lang 
Hotel.  Hon.  I.  S.  Warmoth  made  saddles 
and  harness  in  the  present  residence  of  A.  R. 
Swan,  near  Thomas  L.  Cooper's  residence. 

Caleb  Williams  and  R.  B.  Slocumb  were 
among  the  pioneer  merchants.  After  they 
"  broke  up"  no  store  existed  in  Fairfield  for 
a  year  or  more,  and  Mrs.  Goodwin  was  com- 
pelled to  send  to  Carmi  for  a  set  of  cups  and 
saucers.  A  little  later,  Page  came  with  a 
stock  of  goods,  and  the  pioneer  did  not  have 
to  go  thirty  miles  to  make  little  household 
purchases. 

Tallow  candles,  made  by  dipping,  were 
first  used  for  illumination.  When  the  iron 
lamp  was  introduced,  with  its  hook  to  hang 
on  a  nail  and  its  sharp  point  to  stick  in  the 
cracks  in  the  logs,  it  was  deemed  a  great  in- 
vention. When  filled  with  "coon"  or  bears 
oil  it  made  a  splendid  light.  Candles  were 
also  sometimes  made  from  beeswax. 

The  first  school  which  Mrs.  Goodwin  at- 
tended was  taught  by  Uncle  George  Meritt. 
There  was  not  an  arithmetic  or  slate  in  the 
school  room,  the  studies  being  confined  to 
the  Testament  and  spelling-book.      And  Mrs. 


Goodwin  added,  "  George  was  counted  a  big 
scholar  in  them  days." 

Archy  Roberts  (grandfather  of  N.  E.  Rob- 
erts) was  one  of  the  first  preachers  in  this 
part  oF  the  State.  He  was  a  Methodist,  as 
were  most  of  the  early  ministers. 

As  to  weddings  in  the  early  times.  Mrs. 
Goodsvin  said  she  didn't  have  much  of  a 
wedding  when  she  was  married  to  Steven 
Merritt — her  first  husband.  "  Daddy  cut  up 
powerful  about  it — thought  nobody  was  good 
enough  for  his  gals,  and  we  run  off  and  got 
married."  Mr.  Harris  soon  afterward  be- 
came reconciled  to  the  match,  and  gave  the 
bride  money  enough  to  buy  a  full  set  of  pew- 
ter dishes. 

Mrs.  Goodwin  is  a  very  large  woman,  and 
has  been  remarkably  stout,  well  fitting  her 
for  the  trials  and  hardships  of  a  frontier  life. 
R.  B.  Slocumb,  many  of  our  readers  will  re- 
member as  a  large  man,  yet  Mrs.  Goodwin 
one  day  won  a  bushel  of  salt  from  Mr.  Slo- 
cumb by  outweighing  him,  tipping  the  scales 
at  190  pounds. 

Steven  Merritt  came  to  Fairfield  one  Satur- 
day and  won  !?10  in  a  horse-pulling  match. 
He  bought  a  hat  for  himself,  a  calico  dress 
for  his  wife,  and  expended  the  balance  of  the 
money,  $3,  in  coffee.  He  got  a  meal  sack 
full,  as  coffee  then  sold  eighteen  or  twenty 
pounds  to  the  dollar.  Mrs.  Merritt  had  never 
made  a  cup  of  coffee,  having  always  used 
milk  and  sassafras  tea,  and  this  big  lot  of 
coffee  was  kept  lying  in  the  loft  of  the  cabin 
untouched  for  a  year  or  more,  until  a  Ken- 
tucky cousin  visited  the  family  and  explained 
to  Mrs.  Merritt  the  mysteries  of  making 
coffee. 

Mrs.  Goodwin  never  seemed  to  learn  to 
appreciate  Jinuch  of  the  modern  luxuries. 
Even  the  spring  seat  in  a  two-horse  wagon 
is  an  effeminate  invention  for  which  she  had 
no  use.      She  preferred  to  take  her  seat  on  a 


VSNBH 


HISTORY   OF    WAYNE   COUNTY. 


41 


quilt  or  a  pile  of  straw  in  the  bottom  of  the 
wagon.  And  this  sort  of  conveyance  she 
thought  more  comfortable  than  a  buggy. 

The  commercial  poverty  of  the  country  in 
its  first  settlement  is  shown  by  the  fact  that 
the  smokers  made  their  own  clay  pipes  when 
they  became  too  aristocratic  to  use  a  corn 
cob.   Such  a  thing  as  a  cigar  was  unheard  of. 

What  would  the  ladies  of  to-day  think  of 
a  bedstead  with  only  one  post?  On  first 
thought  they  will  say  such  an  article  of  fur- 
niture is  an  impossibility.  Not  so,  if  the 
bedstead  is  built  in  one  corner  of  the  room, 
and  holes  bored  in  the  logs  for  the  insertion 
of  the  poles  which  constitute  the  one  side 
and  one  foot  rail  needed.  Such  were  the 
original  Illinois  bedsteads. 

Shoe  blacking  is  a  modern  fashionable 
folly  which  was  unknown  in  the  days  when 
venison  hams  sold  for  50  cents-  per  pair  and 
wild  honey  was  stored  away  by  the  bushels 
in  large  wooden  troughs.  When  Uncle  Eph- 
raim  Friend,  lately  deceased,  was  being  mar- 
ried to  his  second  wife,  he  felt  the  necessity 
of  putting  on  a  little  extra  style.  In  this 
respect  he  did  not  differ  from  the  widowers 
of  1883.  Shoe  blacking  was  not  to  be  had, 
and  he  inverted  the  oven  used  for  baking 
corn  bread  and  the  soot  on  the  bottom  thereof 
was  made  to  do  service  on  his  wedding  boots. 

Window  glass  was  unknown  in  the  early 
cabins.  A  hole  in  the  wall  was  left  for  light, 
but  this  was  scarcely  necessary,  when  we  con- 
sider the  pioneer's  love  for  open  doors,  even 
in  extreme  winter  weather. 

T.  T.  Bonhatn  brought  the  first  buggy  to 
Wayne  County.  It  was  a  stylish  affair,  im- 
ported from  Pennsylvania.  E»  Bonhain, 
when  a  young  man  "  cut  a  splurge  "  by  driv- 
ing in  this  buggy  to  camp  meeting.  The 
civilization  represented  by  the  Eastern  buggy 
was  in  great  contrast  with  that  of  which  Mr. 
B.'s  dinner  was  a  type.     He  was  a  guest  at  a 


farmhouse  where  the  principal  dish  was 
baked  'possum.  Mr.  Bonham  would  have 
preferred  fried  oysters. 

The  first  show  Pomp  Scott  ever  attended 
was  in  Albion.  He  went  on  horseback,  but 
not  being  the  owner  of  a  saddle,  a  bed  quilt 
was  used  as  a  substitute.  On  this,  with  his 
gal  behind  him,  he  rode  to  the  show,  had  a 
bully  time,  and  thought  himself  as  much  of 
a  bigbug  as  any  aristocrat  present. 

One  day,  Mrs.  Goodwin  and  Sally  Moffitt 
wished  to  visit  the  family  of  Alexander  Camp- 
bell, Sr. ,  the  father  of  Sheriff  Campbell. 
They  had  on  the  farm  a  gentle  steer  which 
the  boys  had  been  in  the  habit  of  riding. 
The  ladies  thought  that  a  ride  on  this  steer 
would  be  better  than  walking.  It  was  a  rainy 
day,  and  they  took  with  them  an  umbrella 
which  had  been  left  at  the  house  by  some 
land  hunters.  After  getting  fairly  started, 
they  stretched  the  umbrella,  when  the  steer 
started  off  like  mad.  Both  were  thrown  off, 
and  the  land  speculator's  umbrella  broken  all 
to  smash. 

Soon  after  the  first  settlement  of  the  county, 
when  rjeace  existed  between  the  Indians  and 
settlers,  Joe  Boltinghouse  was  killed  by  In- 
dians, while  he  was  herding  hogs  on  the 
heavy  mast  near  Massillon.  He  was  shot, 
scalped,  and  thrown  in  the  fire  of  his  camp 
so  that  his  hands  were  burned  off.  His  fam- 
ily were  advised  that  something  was  wrong 
by  his  faithful  dog  "  Beve "  coming  home 
alone.  When  the  friends  went  to  the  camp, 
they  found  him  scaled  and  mutilated,  his 
horse  stolen  and  the  Indians  gone.  Three 
years  after  this,  a  party  of  seven  Indians 
came  to  the  same  place  and  camped  for  a  few 
weeks  hunting.  Among  their  ponies  Joe 
Boltinghouse's  horse  was  seen  and  recognized 
by  one  of  the  pioneers.  The  news  was  car- 
ried to  his  family,  and  a  party  organized  to 
investigate.      Joe  Boltinghouse's   father,  his 


■_».'  '  ■  '    l».»  t 


42 


HISTORY   OF   WAYNE   COUNTY. 


brother  Dan  and  Isaac  Harris  visited  the 
camp.  By  strategy  they  obtained  the  guns 
of  all  the  Indians  but  one.  This  warrior,  an 
immense  savage,  was  last  to  surrender  his 
gun,  and  as  soon  as  he  did  so  ran  and  swam 
across  the  river.  As  he  climbed  the  opposite 
bank  he  was  seized  by  the  half-wolf  dog 
"  Beve,"  dragged  into  the  water  and  drowned. 
What  became  of  the  other  six  Indians  the 
three  revengeful  pioneers  would  never  tell. 
It  was  suspected  that  all  were  killed  and 
thrown  in  the  river.  The  stolen  horse  was 
reclaimed  by  the  Boltinghouse  family,  and 
the  ponies  posted  as  estrays.  Mrs.  Goodwin 
says  there  "  was  a  powerful  stir  in  the  neigh- 
borhood "  about  the  matter,  but  no  close  in- 
quiry was  ever  made  as  to  what  became  of 
the  Indians. 

In  1810,  came  George  Merritt,  with  his 
father.  Ephraim  Merritt,  and  settled  near 
the  Harrises,  and  also  John  Jones  (preacher 
"  Jacky "  Jones),  in  company  with  his 
father,  Cadwalader  Jones,  and  settled  in 
what  is  now  Leech  Township,  on  the  east 
side  near  the  county  line.  George  Merritt, 
in  answer  to  the  question,  when  he  came  to 
Wayne  County,  replied:  "  Well,  sir,  I  got 
here  on  the  3d  day  of  August,  1816,  half  an 
hour  by  sun."  There's  exactness  for 
you.  Uncle  George  said  he  "  helped  rai»e 
the  fourth  house  that  was  built  in  this  fork"' — 
that  is  the  country  between  the  Skillet  Fork 
and  Little  Wabasb.  He  said  that  in  1817  a 
vote  was  hold  as  to  whether  Illinois  should 
be  a  Slave  or  Free  State.  The  territory  now 
comprising  Wayne  County  was  at  that  time 
a  portion  of  Edwards  County.  Mr.  Merritt's 
first  going  to  mill  was  to  New  Haven,  below 
Carmi.  The  settlers  here  had  no  com,  but 
borrowed  of  Toliver  Simpson,  thon  living  at 
Concord,  White  County,  four  miles  below 
Big  Prairie.  A  year  or  two  later,  Mr.  Simp- 
son moved  to  Wayne,  and   by   that  time  our 


pioneers  had  small  pieces  under  cultivation, 
and  were  able  to  return  the  borrowed  bread- 
stuff. Uncle  George  took  two  horses  when 
he  went  to  mill,  putting  three  bushels  of  corn 
on  one  and  two  bushels  on  the  one  he  rode. 
The  Skillet  Fork  was  crossed  in  a  log  canoe. 
The  corn  was  taken  over  first,  and  he  then 
went  back  for  the  horses,  making  them  swim 
beside  the  canoe.  In  1810,  only  three  small 
patches  of  ground  were  in  cultivation  in 
Wayne  County.  The  first  settlers  preferred 
the  timber  to  the  prairie,  on  account  of  the 
toughness  of  the  sod  of  the  latter,  requiring, 
Uncle  George  said,  three  yoke  of  cattle  to 
break  it.  The  first  corn-fields  were  greatly 
annoyed  by  "  varmints,"  and  every  farmer 
had  a  pack  of  hounds  to  keep  the  coon  from 
destroying  the  corn.  Uncle  George  said  that 
the  third  winter  he  spent  here  his  brother 
Steven  killed  seventeen  bears.  Yenison  hams 
were  then  as  staple  a  product  of  the  county 
as  wheat  is  now.  And  the  price  was  uni- 
formly "two  bits  a  saddle."  Uncle  George 
has  hauled  many  a  load  to  Shawneetown. 
He  remembers  that  it  was  very  difficult  to 
raise  wheat  in  the  early  days.  It  looked  well 
enough,  but  failed  to  mature  and  make  per- 
fect heads.  Corn  was  the  sole  reliance  for 
bread. 

Notwithstanding  the  eighty  winters  that 
have  silvered  his  head,  he  is  as  lively  as  a 
cricket,    and    from    the    cheerful   words  and 

:  pleasant  smiles  he  fires  sometimes  at  a  robust 
widow  of  sixty-six  years,  we  think  he  has 
some  notion  of  marrying,  and  beginning  life 
anew  to  "  grow  up  with  the  country. " 

The  first  mill  in  the  county  was  built  by 
Jo  Martin,  who  hauled  the  stones  from  Bar- 

-  ron  County,  Ky.  Gaston's  "  band  mill  "  was 
soon  afterward  built  in  Little  Mound  Prairie 
Its  name  was  derived  from  the  manner  in 
which  the  wheel  turned  by  the  horses  com- 
municated power  to  the  grinding  machinery. 


U 


^cu*t*i  fa  cga^$2iy 


VlN'1  I 


HISTORY   OF    WAYNE   COUNTY. 


45 


Many  of  our  readers  know  of  the  creek 
which  crosses  the  Liberty  road  just  beyond 
Nathan  Atteberry's  farm,  four  miles  south 
)f  Fairfield.  It  is  now  perfectly  dry  uine 
:nonths  of  the  year.  It  will  be  astonishing 
information  to  many  of  the  present  genera- 
tion that  on  this  creek  was  built  the  first  wa- 
ter mill  ever  in  the  county.  Mr.  Atteberry 
said  that  a  lam  across  the  creek  furnished 
water  power  enough  to  run  a  small  pair  of 
corn  stones  two  feet  in  diameter.  A  heavy 
rain  would  fill  the  dam  and  enable  the  miller 
to  receive  business.  This  mill  was  of  great 
utility,  saving  the  scattered  settlers  mauy  a 
trip  to  New  Haven.  It  was  universally  rec- 
ognize! as  one  of  the  most  valued  public  en- 
terprises of  tin-  day.  Such  being  the  case, 
the  capacity  of  the  mill  will  be  an  interest- 
ing facl  to  note.  Each  damful  of  water 
would  grind  six  or  eight  bushels  of  corn! 
Only  that  and  no  more.  Abe  Chapman  used 
to  illustrate  the  speed  of  the  mill  by  the  re- 
lation of  a  little  incident:  One   day  the  mil- 

inliii  '  iarson,  started   the  stones  and  went 

is  home  a  i  tort   Hstance  off.     His  favor- 
ite  hound  pup  >rent  to  the  meal  box  and  ate 

meal  as  fast  as  it   came   from   the  buhrs. 

'ii  the  miller  returned,  the  grist  was  fin 
ibhed  bnt  ao  meal  was  in  the  box.     However, 
he  improved  appearance  of  the  valued  hound 
i  is    soon    noticed    and    fully   explained    the 

I .  iry. 
Between  showers,  the  neighbors   were  wel- 

■  to  come  with  their  prists  and  grind  by 
id,  after  the  oriental  style. 
George    Merritt    came    with    his    father's 
family  from   Union  County.  Ky..  March  25, 

'.    first    stopping    at    Concordia.    White 
■  ity.   where  the  family  made  a  crop,  and 

.  in  September,  eame  to  Wayne  County, 

leech  Township.     He  Eound  then  living 

Alexander    Campbell,   in    the    edge   of 

vhite  County,  and  Isaac  Harris.      Mr.  Mer- 


ritt now  thinks  these  included  all  the  settlers 
who  preceded  his  coming.  With  the  Merritt 
family  came  Daniel  Gray,  Clarinda  Hooper, 
and  Samuel  Slocurnb  (the  father  of  Rigdon 
B.  Sloeurab).  Merritt  went  to  Concordia  to 
get  the  first  corn  they  had  for  bread,  and 
took  it  down  the  river  to  New  Haven  to  mill, 
on  horseback.  He  had  to  cross  the  Skillet 
Fork  on  the  trip,  as  is  mentioned  above. 

George  Merritt  was  born  January  30,  1799, 
in  Pendleton  County.  S.  C.  Emigrated  to 
Caldwell  County,  Ky.,  in  1809.  In  181(3, 
he  came  from  Kentucky  to  Illinois,  and 
located  in  Burnt  Prairie,  which  was  then 
Edwards  County,  but  now  Wayne,  on  the 
16th  day  of  August  of  that  year.  His  father 
was  Ephraim  Merritt,  born  in  Granville 
County,  N.  C. ,  1776,  and  died  at  Burnt  Prairie 
in  August,  1844.  His  grandfather,  Stephen 
Merritt,  of  Granville  County,  N.  C,  was  a 
Captain  of  colonial  troops  during  the  entire 
Revolutionary  struggle  for  independence,  and 
participated  in  the  following  battles  in  South 
Carolina:  Charleston.  Monks  Comer.  George- 
town, Kings  Mountain,  Cowpens,  and  was 
wounded  in  a  charge  by  Tarleton's  cavalry  at 
Cowpens,  and  also  in  a  hard- contested  battle 
at  Guilford  Court  House,  N.  C.  The  pater- 
nal ancestor  of  this  branch  of  the  Merritt 
family  was  from  Wales,  and  emigrated  dur- 
ing the  time  of  colonization  by  Sir  Walter 
Raleigh.  The  maternal  ancestor  was  the 
daughter  of  the  Rev.  Micklejohn,  a  minister 
of  the  High,  or  Established  Church  of  Eng- 
land, born  in  Scotland  and  educated  in  En«- 
land  for  the  ministry,  and  emigrated  to  this 
country  prior  to  the  Revolutionary  war,  and 
received  his  pay  annually  from  the  Crown 
during  his  life. 

Cadwalader  Jones  came,  as  stated  above, 
in  L^IU,  and  the  same  year  John  Jones,  his 
son,  was  born,  and  thus  he  will  go  into  history 
as  the  first,  white  child  born  in  Wayne  County 


46 


HISTORY    OF    WAYNE   COUNTY 


Parson  "  Jacky "  Jones  says  he  came  very 
near  missing  the  county  when  he  "  lit "  in 
this  world,  the  spot  being  within  six  rods  of 
the  east  line  of  the  county.  He  was  born  in 
a  tent,  made  by  placing  a  pole  between  two 
trees,  and  then  boards  and  brush  put  up  the 
sides  and  end.  Parson  Jones  is  yet  a  hale  and 
vigorous  old  man,  as  full  of  the  enjoyments 
of  life,  its  fun  and  jokes  as  the  gayest  of  our 
youngsters.  He  has  spent  his  long  life  in 
the  county,  and  amid  the  roughest  early  sur- 
roundings he  has  picked  up  a  fair  education 
and  a  fund  of  reading,  and  at  one  time  in 
life  was  a  successful  school  teacher,  and  also 
a  preacher — training  the  minds  of  the  young 
and  pointing  to  all  the  way  to  heaven. 

Cadwalader  Jones'  wife  died  in  1826,  and 
he  survived  until  1856,  when  he  died  in  this 
county.  There  were  fifteen  children  in  the 
family,  and  "Jacky"  was  the  eldest.  Sev- 
en of  these  children  are  now  living — two 
boys  and  five  girls.  Two  widows,  Manahan 
and  McKibbin,  reside  in  Wayne  County,  and 
a  son,  Charles  Jones,  lives  on  the  place  first 
settled  by  his  father. 

Parson  Jones  says  the  nearest  and  ouly 
neighbors  his  father  bad  were  the  Hunts, 
and  Grandfather  Jones,  who  lived  in  Edwards 
County.  Of  the  early  settlers  in  bis  portion 
of  the  county,  the  Parson  remembers  Rich- 
ard Burks,  of  North  Carolina  and  family, 
whose  children  grew  up,  and  in  after  years 
the  family  removed  to  Sangamon  County. 
Then  there  were  Aquilla  McCrackin  and 
family,  who  settled  about  a  half  mile  from 
Jones.  Five  of  the  McCrackin  children 
died  in  1834,  and  the  next  year  this  family 
removed  to  Arkansa3. 

Harman  Horn  married  one  of  the  Burks 
girls.  He  was  6nme  time  a  Constable  and 
Deputy  Sheriff,  and  in  1837  he  and  family 
went  to  Arkansas. 

Pulliam  Higginbotham  came  with  the  Mc- 


Crackins  from  Tennessee  in  1819.  The 
family  went  to  Arkansas,  in  order  to  keep 
their  slaves  that  they  brought  from  Tennessee. 

Cadwalader  Jones  was  an  Indiana  Ranger, 
in  Barker's  company.  In  scouting  expedi- 
tions he  traveled  west  about  as  far  as  Vanda 
lia.  While  his  company  were  in  what  is 
now  Wayne  County,  one  of  them  named 
Honsly,  accidently  killed  his  comrade, 
Hughes — in  some  way  mistaking  him  for  the 
enemy  and  tired  upon  him.  These  ranger;: 
were  in  pursuit  at  that  time  of  the  Indians 
who  had  massacred  the  Cannon  family  on 
the  Big  Wabash.  The  murdered  family  con- 
sisted of  old  man  Cannon  and  wifo.  and  his 
son  Samuel,  and  taking  prisoners  Mr.  Stark 
and  wife  and  a  son-in-law,  and  an  old  lady 
and  a  young  daughter  of  Cannon's.  Stark 
soon  made  his  escape  and  returned  home, 
and  Mrs.  Stark  only  made  her  escape  many 
months  after,  when  the  Indians  were  on  the 
Illinois  River,  and  on  foot  she  eventually 
made  her  way  back  home.  It  was  on  Grand 
father  Jones'  farm  in  Edwards  County  that 
Joe  Boltinghouse  was  killed  by  the  Indians 
— an  account  of  which  we  give  above. 

Parson  Jones  remembers  that  when  six 
years  old,  a  Dr.  Spring  was  the  first  doctor 
he  ever  saw.  He  also  remembers  passing 
through  Fairfield  in  1823  when  there  was 
but  one  house  in  the  place.  He  thinks  that 
the  first  death  in  this  section  of  the  countn 
was  the  drowning  of  a  trader  named  Dubois, 
in  the  Little  Wabash.  He  was  traveling  for 
a  man  named  Lasellet,  who  was  at  one  time 
a  trader,  and  the  first  in  this  part  of  the 
country.  The  first  schoolhouse  he  has  any 
recollection  of  hearing  of.  was  about  30' I 
yards  from  his  father's  house,  and  the  first 
teacher  was  George  McCown.  the  great-grand 
father  of  Capt.  Nick  McCown,  of  Fairfield. 
This  school  was  taught  as  early  as  1823. 

He  remembers  as  early  a^  1821.  a  preachi  r 


HIsTOKY   (IF    WAYNE  COUNTY. 


(7 


from  Edwards  County,  named  William  Keith, 
who  preached  in  some  private  house  about 
two  miles  from  the  Jones  place. 

Parson  Jones  was  married  when  he  was 
twenty  four  years  old  to  Nancy  Stalen.  daugh- 
ter of  Peter  Staten.  He  commenced  preach- 
ing*(Missionary  Baptist)  at  th>>  age  of  forty- 
two.  Jacob  Line  was  the  first  County  School 
Commissioner  of  Wayne  County,  and  under 
his  sign  manual  Jones  got  a  certificate  and 
commenced  teaching  school.  He  says  he 
went  in  heavy  on  Dillworth's  Spelling  Book 
and  Scales'  Reading  Lessons. 

Archy  Roberts  came  to  the  county  in  1S17. 
and  settled  on  what  was  afterward  the  George 
Borah  place.  Samuel  Slocumb  settled  on 
the  Motlitt  place.  John  Harris.  Archy  Rob 
erls  and  Daniel  McHenry  were  among  the 
first  Methodist  Episcopal  preachers. 

During  the  year  1818,  there  was  added  to 
those  first  comers  as  given  above.  Andrew 
Kuykendall.  Andrew  Clark.  James.  Solomon 
and  William  Clark.  Enoch  Wilcox.  George 
Borah.  Felix  and  John  Barnhill.  Reuben 
Melton,  Thomas  and  James  Gaston,  Joseph 
Campbell.  Alexander  and  Andrew  (Mark, 
Tyra  Robinson.  William  B.  Davis.  Owen 
M.ulin.  George  W.  Hines.  Peter  Watson, 
Michael  Turney,  Needham  Hillard,  James  C. 
Gaston,  John  Turner.  Thomas  P.  Fletcher, 
Robert  Gaston,  John  Carson.  Andrew  Carson, 
Henry  Tyler.  Daniel  <  1.  Gray,  Robert  Gray, 
Sol  Stone,  George  Close,  A.  B.  Tnrney, 
Henry  Hall.  William  Gray,  Benjamin  Clark, 
John  Atteberry.  John  W.  Ellidge,  John  Me 
Cauley,  Joseph  Martin.  Samuel  Leech.  John 
Liveigood.  Andrew  Bratson,  Ansley  ,  Clark, 
Seth  Carson,  Samuel  Bain  and  John  Motlitt. 

George  MeOown  came  from  Kentucky  in 
1S17.  He  was  one  of  five  brothers.  Scotch- 
Irish.  Two  of  the  brothers  settled  in  Ken- 
tucky, two  in  Virginia,  and  the  other  in 
South   Carolina.     George  McCown's    second 


wife  was  Martha  Nash,  of  Kentucky.  The 
eldest  child  by  the  second  wife  was  Francis, 
who  came  to  Illinois  with  his  father.  Two 
daughters  of  George  MoCown  were  born 
here,  namely,  Nancy  and  Matilda.  Francis 
married  Parthenia  Andnis  in  1838,  by  whom 
he  had  two  sons  and  three  daughters,  namely, 
X  S.  and  James  (died  in  infancy).  Mary, 
who  married  Capt,  Walsur,  and  died  four 
years  ago  ;  and  Helen,  who  married  Thomas 
Locke,  and  is  now  living  in  Fairfield.  Nich- 
olas S.  is  one  of  the  good  people  of  Fairfield, 
whose  biography  may  be  found  in  another 
part  of  this  work. 

In  company  with  George  McCown  came 
Nicholas  Smith,  his  brother-in-law.  These 
two  men  were  Rangers  and  belonged  to  the 
Regulators  of  the  early  time.  Here  are  the 
names  of  over  sixty  settlers,  young  men  about 
grown,  some  of  them,  and  the  most  of  them 
the  heads  of  families.  They,  and  others  that 
we  will  refer  to,  were  all  there  prior  to  1819, 
and  mostly  participated  in  procuring  the  act 
of  the  Legislature,  creating  the  new  county 
(if  Wayne,  which  was  enacted  by  proper  law- 
making power  March  26,  1819,  and  is  as  fol- 
lows: 

That  all  thai    tract    of  country  within  the  fol 
lowing  boundaries,  to  wit:   Beginning  at  the  White 
County  line,  dividing  the  Ranges  !•  and  1"  ea 
the  Third  Principal  Meridian  line;  thence  north  to 
the  line  dividing  Townships  -i  and  4,  to  thi  Crawford 
Countj  line,  north  of  the  base  line;  thenee  west  to 
the  line  dividing  Towns  1  and  5  east  of  the  Third 
Principal    Meridian  ;    thence    south    to  the  White 
County  line;  thence  east  to  the  place  of  beginning, 
shall'constitute  a  separate  county  to  he  called  Waj  ne 
And  for  the  purpose  of  fixings  permanent  se: 
justice  therein  the  following  persons  be  appointed 
Commissioners:    Henry  J.    Mills.    Benjamin    Rey- 
nolds, George  Claypole,  Seth  Gard  and  Levi  Comp 
ton,  which   said  Commissioners,  or  a   majoril 
them,  being  durj  sworn  before  some  Judge  or  Jus 
tice  of  the  Peace   in   ihis  State,  to  faithful]'. 
into  view  the  convenience  of  the   people  .  the  situa 
tion  of  the  settlements,  with  an  eye  to  the  future 
population  and  eligibility  of  the  place,  shall  i 


48 


HISTORY   OF   WAYNE  COUNTY 


at  the  house  of  Alexander  Campbell,  in  said  county, 
and  proceed  to  examine  and  determine  the  place  for 
the  present  seat  of  justice  and  designate  the  same. 
Provided,  The  proprietor  or  proprietors  of  the  land 
shall  give  to  the  county,  for  the  purpose  of  erecting 
public  buildings,  a  quantity  of  land  not  less  than 
twenty  acres,  to  be  laid  out  in  lots  and  sold  for  that 
purpose;  but  should  the  proprietors  refuse  or  neg- 
lect to  make  the  donations  aforesaid,  then,  and  in 
that  case,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Commissioners 
to  fix  on  some  other  place  for  the  seat  of  justice  as 
convenient  as  may  be  to  the  inhabitants  of  the 
county,  which  place  so  fixed  and  determined  upon, 
the  said  Commissioners  shall  certify  under  their 
hands  and  seals  and  return  the  same  to  the  next 
Commissioners'  Court  in  the  county  aforesaid, 
which  court  shall  cause  an  entry  thereof  to  be  made 
in  their  books  of  record;  and,  until  the  public 
buildings  are  erected,  the  court  shall  be  held  at  the 
house  of  Alexander  Campbell. 

The  act  then  provides  that  the  Commis- 
sioners shall  have  $2  a  day  each  for  their  la- 
bors.     It  then  provides  that  Wayne   County 


shall  vote  in  conjunction  with  Edwards 
County  for  members  of  tbe  General  Assembly 
of  the  State.  And  further  that  "  the  county 
of  Wayne  shall  be  and  compose  a  part  of  the 
Second  Judicial  Circuit,  and  the  courts  there- 
in be  holdeu  at  such  times  as  shall  be  speci- 
fied," etc. 

And  Wayne  County  was  launched  upon 
the  sea  of  municipal  existence,  and  the  no- 
ble crew  were  the  pioneers  whose  names  we 
have  given  above.  At  the  helm  stood  Sam 
uel  Leech,  one  of  the  uoblest  of  men,  and  a 
man  whose  life,  here  in  those  early  days  of 
the  young  county,  will  always  stand  out  in 
history  as  the  conspicuous  and  commanding 
figure,  and  in  the  following  chapters  detail- 
ing from  the  records  the  history  of  the  county, 
the  reader  may  bear  in  mind  that  it  was 
nearly  all  the  work  of  this  good  man. 


CHAPTER     IV. 


HABITS  AND  PASTIMES— THE  BORAH    FAMILY— CANNONS— OWENS— HALLS— FIRST    AND    SECOND 
SETTLEMENTS  IN   THE   COUNTY— FIRST  SCHOOLS  AND   CHURCHES— GATHERINGS  OF  OLD 
SETTLERS    AND    THEIR   NAMES  — NATHAN    ATTEBERRY— W.    W.    GEORGE— DAVID 
WRIGHT  —  ELLIDGES  —  ANDREW  CREWS—  ALEXANDER  CAMPBELL  — AND 
MANY   OTHERS  — INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES —THE  DISAPPEAR- 
ANCE   OF    THE    INDIAN— WILD   GAME,    ETC.,    ETC.,    ETC. 


THE  writer  remembers  an  interview  some 
years  ago  with  a  couple  of  very  aged 
ladies,  and  of  the  early  times  and  their  re- 
collections, he  finds  the  following  in  his 
note  book: 

When  we  came  West  it  was  known  as 
the  Louisiana.  Then,  in  a  fiat-boat,  from 
Kentucky.  It  was  in  the  year  1801,  and  I 
remember  the  trip  well;  chiefly,  perhaps,  be- 
cause a  little  colored  girl  was  drowned  in 
leaning   over  the  edge  of  the  boat  to  draw 


some  water.     It  made   the  strongest   impres- 
sion on  me  of  anything  that  happened. 

"You  remember  the  earthquakes  in  1811  F" 
"  Oh,  yes,  well,  I  can't  tell  how  long  they 
lasted,  but  there  were  so  many  shocks  that 
we  began  to  get  used  to  them.  They  came 
on  sometimes  at  night,  and  sometimes  by 
day.  First  there  would  be  a  roaring  we'd 
seem  to  hear  in  the  west,  like  a  storm.  If  it 
was  in  the  day  the  sky  would  appear  dark. 
Thou  the  "round  would  commence  to  shake. 


HISTORY    OF    WAYNE  COUNTY. 


4!) 


The  shaking  would  be  so  hard  that,  when  we 
tried  to  stand  up  and  hold  to  the  palings  we 
couldn't  do  it.  I  remember  the  earth  opened 
in  a  great  crack  right  through  the  streets  of 
St.  Michael's.  It  must  have  been  six  or 
eight  feet  wide,  and  I  couldn't  tell  how 
deep,  only  it  seemed  to  get  narrower.  Right 
where  the  crack  opened  there  was  a  party  of 
miners  camped,  and  their  things  went  down 
in  the  crack.  After  a  long  time  the  earth 
came  together  slowly.  At  New  Madrid  the 
earth  opened  in  cracks  so  large  that  whole 
houses,  with  people  in  them,  went  down. 
Between  where  we  lived  and  New  Madrid 
large  trees  went  down  through  these  cracks. 
We  were  badly  scared  at  first,  but  we  gradu- 
ally got  so  we  didn't  mind  the  earthquakes 
so  much.  At  one  time  the  shaking  lasted 
half  an  horn-. 

"  When  the  first  one  came  father  called 
out,  'What's  going  to  be?'  .Mother  said, 
'Oh.  it's  only  an  earthquake  I've  felt  it  be- 
fore.'" 

The  old  lady  drifted  readily  into  some  of 
the  features  of  housekeeping   in   those  days. 

"Tell  the  reporter  how  you  made  combs," 
suggested  a  bright-eyed  grand  daughter. 

The  old  lady  laughed  heartily  and  re- 
plied, "  We  used  to  take  ox-horns  and  boil 
them.  That  made  them  soft.  Then  we 
would  saw  them  to  make  the  teeth.  They 
weren't  like  the  combs  yon  have  now,  but 
they  did  very  well,  we  thought.  We  made 
our  spoons  from  the  horns,  too."' 

"  We  didn't  have  the  groceries  handy  to 
run  to  for  every  little  thing.  We  had  to 
make  our  own  bluing  for  one  thing,  and  this 
was  the  way  we  did  it :  We  gathered  an 
herb  called  indigo  weed,  and  put  it  in  a  barrel 
with  water.  This  we  had  to  churn  and  then 
we  squeezed  it.  After  that  we  had  to  put  a 
little  lye  in  to  break  the  indigo  from  the 
water.    The  blue  would  settle,  and  weooured 


off  the  water.  That  was  our  indigo.  We 
made  starch  ourselves,  too,  and  very  nice 
starch  it  was.  in  this  way:  WTe  took  wheat- 
bran  and  put  it  in  water  till  it  soured.  Then 
we  squeezed  it  through  blankets  and  let  the 
water  settle.  The  starch  formed  in  a  cake 
at  the  bottom  and  we  dried  it  in  old  plat- 
ters." 

A  counterpane  was  produced  and  shown. 
"  I  made  it  fifty-five  years  ago,"  she  said 
with  a  touch  of  pride.  "  I  made  it  all,  too, 
raised  the  cotton,  picked  it.  carded  it,  spun 
it,  and  then  wove  the  cotton  and  worked  the 
figures  on  it  afterward." 

There  was  a  largo  rosebush  with  branches, 
leaves  and  blossom  worked  in  the  cloth.  The 
design  was  faithful  to  nature.  "  How  did 
you  do  that,"  was  asked.  The  old  lady 
laughed  and  explained.  "  I  laid  my  cloth 
over  a  counterpane  that  another  lady  had 
made  and  pressed  it  over  the  figures  with  one 
of  the  pewter  plates  we  used  then.  The  rose 
bush  left  the  impression,  and  I  worked  it  on 
my  cloth.  The  other  lady  got  her  impres- 
sion this  way:  She  went  out  and  dug  up  a 
rose  bush  from  the  garden,  spread  out  the 
branches  and  leaves  and  roses  and  pressed 
her  cloth  upon  them  and  got  the  impression 
which  she  worked  in  that  way.  Wre  didn't 
have  any  stamping  in  those  days." 

"  Did  the  Indians  ever  trouble  you?" 

"  Oh  yes ;  many  a  time  the  men  would  get 
all  the  women  and  children  together  and 
'fort  up,'  and  then  go  out  to  drive  the  In- 
dians off.  Most  of  the  timo  they  were  peace 
able,  though,  and  we  used  to  get  our  cooking 
lard  of  them." 

Here  both  ladies  indulged  in  a  oheery 
laugh  ovor  the  recollection  "  It  was  bear's 
grease.  The  Indians  used  to  bring  it  in  tied 
up  in  a  deerskin  sewed  up  in  a  bag.  We 
would  buy  it  and  put  it  into  pots.  After  it  be- 
came warm  we  put  in  slippery  elm  to  clarify 


50 


I1I.STOKY   OF    WAYNE   COUNTY. 


it.  It  would  come  out  as  clear  and  pure  as 
oil.  Then  we  would  put  it  in  a  hide  drawn 
up  with  a  throng  so  as  to  make  a  bag  with 
the  top  open.  The  oil  never  turned  bad, 
and  we  dipped  it  out  with  a  gourd  and  used 
it  for  cooking.  Oh,  it  was  nice!  We  didn't 
have  crocks  in  those  days.  Most  of  our  ves- 
sels were  gourds,  some  of  them  big  as  buck- 
ets. I've  seen  'em  big  enough  to  hold  half 
a  bushel." 

"  It  was  nice  to  bake  the  old-fashioned 
French  pancakes  with.  You  don't  see  those 
kind  of  pancakes  nowadays  very  often.  We 
used  to  take  three  dozen  eggs,  plenty  of  milk 
and  a  little  flour.  We  baked  them  on  a 
long-handled  skillet.  You  took  hold  of  the 
handle  when  you  wanted  to  turn,  gave  the 
pan  a  little  flirt  and  the  cake  would  flop  up 
and  come  down  on  the  skillet.  The  cakes 
were  thin  as  wafers,  and  we  used  to  pile  them 
up  so  high  (indicating  eighteen  inches  or 
thereabouts).  Shrove  Tuesday  was  the  great 
day  for  pancakes.  The  table  would  be  set 
the  length  of  the  room  and  nothing  on  it  but 
pancakes  and  molasses.  The  man  that  ate 
the  most  was  taken  out  by  the  others  and 
tossed  up  and  down.  The  most  I  recollect  of 
any  one  man  eating  at  a  time  was  twenty- 
four.'' 

"  You  had  your  amusements  as  well  as  your 
work  in  those  days  ?" 

"  Oh,  yes,  but  they  were  different  from 
what  you  have  now.  On  New  Year's  we  had 
what  we  called  'guignanne.'  The  young 
men  would  disguise  themselves  and  go  to  the 
house  of  somebody  selected  and  tire  their 
guns  and  sing." 

These  were  the  days  of  pure  simplicity, 
and  yet  there  was  a  gallantry  and  refinement 
often  to  be  seen  that  even  in  these  days  one 
can  only  read  about  in  the  story  of  a  people 
that  are  passed  away,  and  regret  that  with 
them  have  gone  many  customs  that  are  to  be 


regretted.  There  is  nothing  now  more  in- 
teresting than  the  details  of  the  habits  and 
customs  of  these  people,  but  we  choose  just 
here  to  resume  the  story  of  the  early  settlers 
and  of  their  coming  to  this  part  of  Illinois. 

William  N.  Borah  came  with  his  father's 
family  to  Wayne  County  in  the  spring  of 
1820.  His  uncle,  George  Borah,  had  come  ,vith 
his  family  in  1818,  and  had  made  an  im- 
provement in  the  southern  part  of  the  coun- 
ty, and  to  this  place,  the  two  brothers  of 
George  came  and  spent  the  summer  and  made 
a  crop,  and  in  the  fall  of  the  same  year  had 
prepared  places  for  their  families  and  moved 
to  that  part  of  the  county  where  they  now 
live  in  Jasper  Township. 

Although  William  N.  Borah  was  not  yet 
three  years  old,  he  remembers  distinctly 
passing  through  Fairfield  as  the  family  were 
on  their  way  to  their  then  new  home,  and 
that  they  stopped  for  dinner  at  an  uncle's, 
named  McMakin,  some  of  whose  descendants 
now  live  in  Marion  County.  He  remembers 
there  were  three  houses  in  Fairfield  at  that 
time.  Gen.  Leech's.  John  Barnhill's  and  Dr. 
Park's.  ^  Leech's  house  was  on  the  northeast 
corner  of  the  public  square;  Dr.  Park's  resi- 
dence is  still  standing  on  Main  street  a  block 
west  from  the  north  side  of  the  square.  The 
entire  settlement  then  in  what  is  now  Jasper 
Township  or  the  Borah  settlement  was  Enoch 
Beach,  at  one  time  a  State  Senator  from  this 
district  and  for  many  years  a  prominent  and 
influential  man;  a  good  neighbor  and  friend, 
and  an  honorable,  upright  and  valuable  citi- 
zen. Then  there  was  William  Fraser  and 
family.  They  were  among  the  very  earliest 
settlers  in  the  county.  He,  at  one  time,  was 
a  Major  in  the  State  Militia,  and  in  the  very 
early  day  was  rather  a  prominent  man,  but 
his  fame  waned  somewhat  before  his  death. 
The  entire  family  have  long  since  passed 
away.      Enoch  Beach  reared  a  most  excellent 


HISTORY  OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


51 


family  and  died  about  1836.  George  Rus- 
sell was  one  of  these  early  settlers.  His  fam- 
ily of  children  was  large.  His  eldest  son, 
Macomb,  grew  up  a  much  better  educated 
youth  than  the  average  then  of  young  men  in 
the  county.  He  started  for  California  in 
IS 49.  and  was  killed  on  the  way  by  Indians. 
Mrs.  Russell  was  tbe  main  stay  and  prop  of 
the  whole  family  and  a  most  exemplary 
woman  indeed.  After  her  death,  the  old 
_-'<utleuiau  soon  fell  into  bad  health  and 
finally  got  to  telling  some  most  wonderful 
stories  about  his  own  exploits.  So  extrava- 
gant were  some  of  these,  that  they  were  very 
amusing  and  often  furnished  amusement  for 
all  the  county.  A  fair  specimen  of  these 
yarns  was  one  about  a  bee-tree  he  found  and 
cut.  The  honey,  hi'  said,  occupied  the  hol- 
low of  the  tree  for  about  ton  feet,  and  he  took 
out  a  piece  of  the  honey  cnmb.  and  put  it  on 
his  shoulder,  and  so  heavy  was  it  (being 
nearly  ten  feet  long),  that  he  would  have  to 
stop  and  rest  every  little  while,  and  he  would 
then  set  it  on  end  and  lean  it  up  against  a  tree. 
Russell's  fame  for  such  fictions  extended  far 
and  wide,  and  some  yet  believe  that  he  told 
them  over  from  morn  till  night  until  he 
eventually  half-way  believed  them  himself. 

William  and  Jesse  Cannon,  brothers,  were 
also  in  this  settlement.  Jesse  was  noted  for 
his  fun  and  practical  jokes.  He  seeined  to 
never  tire  of  astonishing  the  men  with  some 
new  prank.  A  neighbor  once  was  trying  to 
plow  his  horse  on  only  grass  feed,  when  Can- 
non told  him  to  come  to  his  place  and  get  a 
load  of  fodder.  The  man  came  and  tied  up 
an  immense  bundle,  and  shouldered  it  and 
started  for  home.  .Jess.'  slipped  up  behind 
him  with  a  "chunk  of  tire."  and  in  a  moment 
it  was  in  a  blaze,  and  the  poor  fellow  threw 
it  down  and  ran  for  dear  life.  He  then 
helped  him  hitch  up  a  wagon  and  gave  him 
a  wagon-load,  and   sent    him    home   happy. 


Jesse  Cannon  was  a  most  excellent  neighbor 
and  good  man  in  every  respect.  About  1850, 
he  started  for  California  and  died  on  the 
road.  His  grandson,  Frank  Cannon,  is  now 
a  respected  citizen  of  this  county.  The 
brother,  old  Uncle  Billy  Cannon,  married 
William  Fraser's  widow,  an  aunt  of  Col.  P. 
Hay,  and  died  about  1839. 

Walter  Owens  and  Andrew  Crews,  the  lat- 
ter the  progenitor  of  the  large  and  respecta- 
ble Crews  family  of  Wayne  County,  were 
among  these  early  settlers  in  the  Borah 
neighborhood.  Walter  Owens  was  an  old 
man  when  he  came  West.  He  was  a  good 
man  in  every  respect,  and  in  the  early  times 
was  noted  as  "  the  best  corn -raiser  "  in  the 
county;  this  theD  constituted  about  all  there 
was  in  farming.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Baptist  Church,  and  lived  and  died  without 
an  enemy  in  the  world.  He  removed  to 
Rock  Island,  where  he  spent  the  last  few 
years  of  his  life. 

Richard  Hall  came  from  Ohio  and  lived 
about  two  miles  from  Borah's.  His  only  son, 
Jacob,  is  now  a  citizen  of  Fairfield.  Richard 
Hall  was  born  in  New  Jersey,  near  Trenton, 
on  the  17th  of  November,  1775.  His  father, 
■John  T.  Hall,  was  of  English  descent.  His 
mother's  maiden  name  was  Ann  Low,  a  sister 
of  Judge  Low,  the  father  of  Gov.  Low 
of  Iowa. 

John  T.  Hall  emigrated  with  his  family  to 
Warren  County,  Ohio,  about  the  year  1793, 
and  here  he  received  his  education  and  mar- 
ried Eleanor  Foster,  of  Irish  descent,  in  the 
year  1809,  and  after  his  marriage  settled  in 
Warren  County,  where  he  remained  about 
four  years,  and  then  moved  to  Cincinnati, 
where  he  resided  about  two  years,  and  in 
1815  moved  to  Rising  Sun,  End.,  and  in  1816 
moved  to  Illinois,  landed  at  Shawneetown 
and  settled  in  White  County,  not  far  from 
Concord,  Big  Prairie,  and  purchased  land  in 


52 


HISTORY   OF    WAYNE   COUNTY 


Wayne  County,  soon  after  his  arrival  in 
White  County,  and  moved  to  his  Wayne 
County  farm  in  about  ISIS,  where  he  built  a 
cabin  on  Section  30.  Town  1  south,  Range  9 
east.  Here  he  made  a  large  farm  in  its  day, 
and  here  he  remained  until  he  died  April  8, 
1836.  He  had  nine  children,  four  boys  and 
five  girls.  Three  of  the  children  died  when 
small.  He  was  a  large,  muscular  man,  lix 
feet  high,  full  chest  and  broad  across  the 
shoulders;  weighed  about  180  pounds;  black 
hair,  fair  complexion  and  a  sharp,  hazel  eye; 
fond  of  home  and  friends,  kind  to  his  chil- 
dren, but  firm;  such  was  his  government  over 
his  children  that  a  word  was  sufficient  to  do 
his  will.  He,  indeed,  was  a  man  of  but  few 
words.  His  countenance  indicated  firmness. 
For  the  day  and  age  in  which  he  lived,  he 
had  a  very  fair  education  and  was  a  very  fine 
reader.  His  leisure  hours  were  earnestly  de- 
voted to  reading  and  study;  was  a  member 
of  church. 

William  Husk  and  James  Dickinson  were 
among  these  early  settlers  in  this  neighbor- 
hood. After  residing  here  a  few  years  they 
moved  away,  and  we  are  told  they  went  to 
White  County. 

This  was  the  second  settlement  made  in 
what  is  now  Wayne  County,  and  we  have 
given  the  names  of  all  of  the  first  settlers 
there.  The  Borahs,  Owonses,  Crewses  and 
Beaches,  were  all  Kentuckians.  Hall  was 
from  Ohio  and  Russell  from  North  Carolina. 
Andrew  Crews  was  quite  an  old  man  when  he 
came  to  Illinois.  He  was  badly  crippled  in 
his  feet,  and  could  never  get  about  much. 
His  sons  were  about  all  grown  men.  He  died 
in  1831  or  1832.  His  sons  are  now  all  dead, 
and  it  is  only  his  grand  and  great-grand 
children  who  are  now  remaining. 

About  1824,  there  were  new  comers  to  this 
settlement  of  Samuel  Borah,  George  and 
Thomas  Wilson.     Thomas  Wilson  died  about 


L849,  and  Samuel  in  1880.  Samuel  Borah 
also  died  in  1S80,  leaving  six  daughters,  all 
married.  He  had  married  three  different 
wives,  survived  them  all  and  was  about  eighty 
years  old  when  he  died. 

William  N.  Borah,  to  whom  we  are  in- 
debted for  this  account  of  the  early  settlers, 
tells  us  that  these  men  were  all  pious,  God- 
fearing men,  and  were  all  members  of  some 
church  except  the  two  Cannons.  He  thinks 
Mr.  Nesbitt  one  of  the  best  men  that  ever  came 
to  the  county.  He  was  a  man  of  fine  intelli- 
gence and  the  very  soul  of  integrity  and 
manliness.  His  life  was  a  continuous  bless- 
ing to  all  with  whom  he  came  in  contact.  He 
died  about  1878,  having  a  daughter  and  son 
(Andrew)  now  living  in  Mt.  Erie  Township. 
We  should  have  stated  above  that  Mr.  Nesbitt 
had  settled  in  Mt.  Brie. 

In  the  Borah  settlement,  those  who  came 
before  1825.  except  those  noted  above  as 
moving  away,  have  continued  there,  and  they 
and  their  descendants  make  that  their  home 
to  this  time.  This  is  more  strongly  a  feature 
of  this  settlement  than  any  other  in  the 
county. 

The  early  settlers  in  what  is  now  Mt.  Erie 
Township  were  a  very  worthy  class  of  men. 
but  they  all,  except  Ramsey  and  Nesbitt  and 
Michael  Book,  moved  away  after  spending  a 
few  years  in  the  county,  and  their  places 
were  taken  by  new  comers. 

As  early  as  1822,  there  was  an  effort  to 
organize  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Chitrch  in  Tom's  Prairie.  Before  any  school- 
houses  or  churches  were  built,  the  services 
were  held  in  the  woods  or  groves,  and  at  the 
cabinsof  the  members.  Woods  N.  Hamilton 
was  among  the  first  preachers.  He  was  noted 
as  a  good  and  pious  man.  and  an  effective 
preacher. 

The  first  schoolhouse  William  Borah 
remembers,    about    1824,   was    about   half    a 


HISTORY   OF    WAYNE   (Ol'NTY. 


53 


uiilo  from  John  Borah's  house  and  was  built 
on  his  land.  Hove  William  went  to  his  first 
school  when  he  was  not  yet.  six  years  old,  and 
where  his  childish  mind  was  dazed  in  looking 
upon  the  first  school  teacher  he  remembers 
seeing— G.  W.  Wilson.  The  schoolhouse  was 
the  rudest  log  hut,  with  dirt  floor  anil  clap- 
board roof.  It  was  only  a  summer  school, 
and  these  people  evidently  did  not  imagine 
there  would  ever  arise  the  necessity  for  a 
school  in  the  winter.  Mr.  Borah  could  not 
restrain  a  smile  when  he  told  of  the  first  home 
mill  he  ever  saw,  and  the  immeasurable  awe 
with  which  he  looked  at,  its  vast  and  wonder- 
ful machinery.  He  thinks  a  flying  steamboat 
of  largest  build  would  not  now  so  utterly 
overwhelm  him,  as  did  Martin's  horse  mill, 
on  Martin's  Creek,  where  Sam  Farris  now 
lives,  in  all  its  wonderful  aud  flying  machin- 
ery. The  sound  of  the  slow  revolving  aud 
crunching  stones  was  the  most  awe-inspiring 
thing  he  ever  heard.  He  now  believes  a 
wagon  load  of  striped  candy  would  not  have 
hired  him  to  touch  the  remotest  part  of  this 
immense  wonder. 

In  1824,  old  man  Gaston  had  a  hand  mill 
in  Big  Mound  Prairie.  The  first  water  mill 
was  put  up  just  a  little  south  of  Nathan 
Atteberry's. 

A  man  named  William  Ellidge  was  an 
early  settler.  He  lived  just  west  of  where 
Fairfield  now  is.  He  was  noted  as  a  very 
shrewd  trader  in  a  small  way,  and  if  he 
made  a  good  trade,  as  he  generally  did,  if 
he  only  had  his  ';old  woman  and  gals"  to 
help  him,  he  was  noted  for  sticking  to  it 
like  a  tick  to  a  fat  dog.  On  one  occasion, 
two  neighbors,  Hofford  and  Sowenfrey,  an 
Englishman,  called  at  Ellidge' s  to  buy  a 
milch  cow.  The  small  herd  was  looked  at. 
and  Ellidge  told  them  they  could  have  their 
pick,  except  the  cow  with  the  long  bag,  for 
so  much.      He  would  not  sell  that  particular 


cow  because  he  had  "sorter  promised  the  old 
woman  and  gals  not  to."  The  buyers  were 
thus  induced  to  want  that  very  cow,  when 
the  old  woman  began  to  scold  and  the  girls 
to  bawl  and  cry  at  a  terrible  rate.  To 
make  a  long  story  short,  that  cow  was  paid 
for  and  driven  oil'  in  triumph  amid  the 
wails  and  sobs  of  the  girls,  and  the  vehe- 
ment anathemas  of  the  wife.  The  happy 
possessors  of  the  prize  cow  drove  along  the 
road  and  finally  met  a  near  neighbor  of 
Ellidge,  when  he  wanted  to  know  what  on  earth 
they  had  got  "  that  spoiled-bag  cow  for."  He 
then  gave  them  the  history  of  the  worthless 
brute,  and  their  joy  turned  to  disgust,  and 
they  drove  the  cow  back.  Ellidge  met  them, 
and  told  them  that  now  the  "  old  woman  and 
gals"  had  been  "  peacefied,"  and  he  would 
not  trade  back  and  they  must  keep  their 
bargain. 

The  first  settlement  in  what  is  now  the 
northeast  part  of  Wayne  County,  and  in  the 
present  Mount  Erie  Township,  was  composed 
of  Alexander  Nesbitt,  Alexander  Ramsey, 
James  Ramsey.  William  Farmer,  William 
McCormick  and  Michael  Book.  These  peo- 
ple left  Hopkins  County,  Ky.,  in  1816,  and 
came  overland  to  White  County,  and  located 
in  Seven  Mile  Prairie,  near  where  Enfield 
now  is.  Here  they  remained  two  years,  and 
then,  in  1818,  constructed  a  pirogue,  and 
started  up  the  Little  Wabash,  to  the  mouth 
of  what  is  known  as  Miller's  Creek,  and 
fixed  their  camp  in  a  grove  at  the  foot  of  the 
hill  on  which  Mount  Erie  is  built,  on  Christ- 
mas Eve.  They  Darned  the  place  Ramsey's 
Grove.  Here  the  party  remained  and  rested 
for  a  shorttime,  anil  hunted  game,  and  at  the 
same  time  hunted  out  each  his  future  home. 
Alexander  Ramsey,  Sr..  fixed  his  home  in 
this  grove.  His  son,  Alexander,  improved  a 
place  a  little  east  of  Mount  Erie,  near  where 
the   Little   Gem   Mill    now    is.        Alexander 


54 


HISTORY  OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


Nesbitt  improved  a  place  about  a  mile  and  a 
half  west  of  Mount  Erie.  Michael  Book's 
family  resided  in  this  part  of  the  county  for 
fifteen  years,  and  then  removed  to  Big  Mound 
Township,  where  he  died,  October,  1858. 
Nesbitt  eventually  removed  to  the  village  of 
Mount  Erie,  and  died  there  in  1878.  Alex- 
ander Ramsey,  Sr. .  died  in  1857,  and  his  son, 
Alexander,  died  there  in  1851. 

A  gathering  of  the  old  settlers  of  Wayne 
County  was  held  May  7,  1880,  at  William  H. 
Carter's  residence,  three  miles  east  of  Fair- 
field, to  celebrate  the  eighty-third  birthday 
of  Mrs.  Hannah  Carter,  mother  of  William 
H.  and  John  R.  Carter.  The  day  was  also 
the  sixty-fourth  anniversary  of  Mrs.  Carter's 
marriage  with  William  A.  Carter,  who  died 
in  1870.  The  Press  gave  this  list  of  the  old 
settlers  that  were  at  two  of  the  tables  on  this 
occasion.  Twelve  of  the  oldest  guests  sat 
down  to  the  first  table,  We  give  below  the 
names  of  these  pioneers,  their  ages,  and  the 
length  of  time  they  have  resided  in  Wayne 
County : 

AGE.        IN    CO. 

George  Merritt 81  64 

Dica  Files 70  63 

Betsey  Campbell 7 1  45 

Harriett  Boze 73  55 

Sarah  Houston 75  62 

Sally  Moffitt 78  64 

Malinda  Day 87  61 

Hannah  Carter 83  52 

Betsey  Goodwin 76  66 

Margaret  Shaw 75  46 

Mary  Holloway 70  25 

Margaret  Bland 79  50 

Total  ages 921 

The  average  age  of  the  twelve  is  about 
seventy-seven  years.  A  majority  of  the  old 
ladies  were  sprightly  and  active  for  their 
years.  That  so  many  of  one  neighborhood 
of  such  extreme  age  have  lived  in  our  county 
for  an  average  of  about  fifty-five  years  each, 
speaks  strongly  for  the  healthfulness  of  our 


county.      A  majority  of  these  twelve  guests 
came  to  Illinois  from  Kentucky. 

The  second  table  was  occupied  as  follows: 

V.K.  IN  CO. 

Nathan  Atteberry 76  61 

Dr.  R.  L.  Boggs 68  41 

W.  T.   Mathews 74  44 

Benjamin  Brown 75  21 

T.  W.  Elliott 62  18 

John  D.  Simpson 64  53 

James  Bland 53  50 

Mrs.  James  Bland 51  44 

Polly  Grey 61  20 

Elizabeth  Butler 66  66 

The  conversation  at  the  table  turned 
largely  upon  reminiscences,  and  some  of  these 
were  both  amusing  and  interesting,  as  fol- 
lows : 

Dr.  Boggs'  memory  of  the  early  church 
was  quite  vivid.  In  1840.  a  lady  came  in 
from  the  East  who  had  been  accustomed  to 
"wearing  brass  ear  bobs."  She  had  been 
a  member  of  the  M.  E.  Church,  but  was  de- 
nied admission  here  until  the  holes  in  her 
ears  had  grown  up.  Dr.  B.  referred  to  this 
alleged  fact  as  a  gratifying  proof  of  the 
greater  purity  of  the  church  in  former  times. 
Without  deciding  as  to  whether  or  not  the 
Doctor  is  right,  we  are  disposed  to  approve 
this  action  of  fathers  of  the  pioneer  church. 

James  Bland  said  that  he  was  grown  be- 
fore he  knew  that  fruit  could  be  kept  through 
the  winter  in  cans.  Which  remark  reminded 
Dr.  Boggs  of  the  fact  that  he  was  fifteen 
years  old  before  he  knew  that  sugar  could  be 
kept  in  anything  but  a  gourd. 

H.  F.  Vaughn's  first  suit  of  store  clothes 
were  bought  of  Thomas  Cooper.     His  father 
sold  castor  beans  to  Mr.  C.  for  50  cents  per 
bushel,  and  paid  50  cents  per  yard  for  Ken 
tucky  jeans. 

Dr.  Boggs,  in  the  days  of  other  years, 
owed  Ed  Butler  $25,  and  Mr.  Butler  wanted 
the  money  "  to  put  in  Slocumb's  hands 
where  it  would  be  safe.''      Dr.  B.  didn't  have 


HISTORY   OF    WAYNE  COUNTY. 


55 


the  cash,  but  went  to  Josiah  Reed  to  borrow 
it.  Mr.  Rood's  stocking  happened  to  be 
empty  of  silver  just  then,  but  he  sold  five 
cows  for  $5  each,  and  loaned  the  money  to 
the  Doctor. 

\s  late  as  1835,  William  A.  Carter  sold 
cattle  to  David  Wright,  one  of  the  pioneer 
merchants,  at  these  figures :  Cows,  $4  ; 
good  yoke  of  steers,  $16.  These  were  gold 
and  silver  prices.  In  State  paper  money, 
double  these  figures  were  the  ruling  rate. 

Dick  Lock  brought  the  first  wagon  to 
Wayne  County.  It  was  one  of  the  good  old 
fashion,  with  a  long  bed  shaped  like  a  new 
moon,  very  high  before  and  behind,  and  with 
a  holding  capacity  almost  equal  to  a  modern 
freight  ear.  This  first  wagon  was  not  only  a 
great  curiosity,  but  was  a  decided  public 
blessing.  As  one  of  the  old  ladies  said  : 
"  There  was  a  master  ripin'  and  tearin'  to 
get  Dick  Lock's  wagon  to  gather  corn  with." 
Sleds  were  the  most  convenient  vehicles  be- 
fore the  advent  of  Dick  Lock's  historic  wagon. 

Craig  Wright  is  fifty-seven  years  old  ;  was 
born  in  and  has  always  lived  in  Barnhill 
Township. 

John  D.  Simpson  has  been  in  Wayne  over 
fifty  years,  and  remembers  when  Fairfield 
consisted  of  only  two  houses  in  a  crab-apple 
thicket. 

John  R.  Carter,  as  long  as  he  lived  at 
home,  never  had  $5  worth  of  store  clothing. 
The  family  made  all  their  cloth  of  all  kinds; 
tanned  their  own  leather  and  made  their  own 
shoes.  Mr.  Carter  never  sported  a  pair  of 
store  shoes  until  grown. 

Nathan  Attoberrv  was  born  in  South  Caro- 
lina August  10,  1803,  and  in  childhood  was 
removed  from  there  by  his  parents  to  Ken- 
tucky, where  ho  remained  until  1820,  when 
he  came  to  Wayne  County,  where  ho  has  re- 
mained over  since.  He  was  first  married  in 
1824    in    this    county.      He    is    a    hale    and 


cheery  old  man,  whose  mind  and  body  are 
strong,  vigorous  and  active.  His  biography 
may  be  found  in  another  part  of  this  work. 
At  the  house  of  Mr.  Attoberry,  on  the  10th 
day  of  last  August,  was  gathered  some  of  the 
friends  and  old  settlors  to  celebrate  his 
eightieth  birthday.  Among  the  guests  were 
the  following  : 

Richard  L.  Boggs,  born  in  Kentucky  March 
6,  1811;  came  to  Wayne  County,  111.,  in 
1834  ;   a  physician  by  profession. 

Pradi  S.  Meeks,  born  in  Kentucky  April 
20,  1814  ;  came  to  Wayne  County  in  1833. 

Joseph  Odell,  born  in  Kentucky  March  -!4. 
1813.  Came  to  Wayne  County  in  1826.  A 
farmer. 

Edward  Butler,  born  in  Kentucky  July  1 4, 
1816.  Came  to  Wayne  County  in  1825.  A 
farmer. 

Silas  Wilson,  born  in  Kentucky  November 
3.  1821.  Came  to  Wayne  County  in  1838. 
A  farmer. 

Andrew  C.  Wright,  born  in  Wayne  Coun 
ty  January  29,  1823.     A  farmer. 

Margaret  Ann  Blissett,  wife  of  Pradi  S. 
Meeks,  was  born  in  Wayne  County  June  14, 
1819. 

Jane  Day,  wife  of  Edward  Butler,  was. 
born  in  White  County  November  17,  1818. 

Anna  Gray,  wife  of  Gambrel  Tucker,  was 
born  in  Kentucky  August  25,  1820.  Came 
tti  Wayne  County  in  1836. 

Elizabeth  Shrewsbury,  widow  of  Lemuel 
H.  Harris,  late  deceased,  was  born  in  Ken- 
tucky August  16,  1822.  Came  to  Wayne 
County  in  1841.  Was  married  in  1842,  by 
W    XV.  George,  Justice  of  the  Peace. 

Sarah  Renfrow,  widow  of  Asa  Atteberry, 
win)  died  many  years  ago,  was  born  in 
Georgia  September  12,  1812.  Came  to 
Wayne  County  in  L829. 

Sarah  Ann  Files,  widow  of  William  But- 
ler, deceased,  was  born  in   Kentucky  Febru- 


56 


HISTORY   OF    WAYNE   COUNTY. 


ary  25,  1814.     Came  to  Illinois  in  childhood. 

Eliza  Emmick,  widow  of.  Elder  Benjamin 
S.  Meeks,  deceased,  was  born  in  Gallatin 
County  October  0,  1827. 

George  Borah  came  with  his  family  to 
Wayne  County  in  1818.  Nathan  N.  Borah,  his 
son,  like  many  of  this  old  and  large  family,  is 
one  of  the  most  estimable  citizens  of  the 
county.  George  Borah's  family  consisted  of 
children  by  three  different  wives,  having 
married  his  first  wife  in  Kentucky.  There 
were,  of  the  three  sets  of  children,  twenty  in 
all.  Nelson  N.  was  a  son  of  the  first  wife, 
and  was  two  years  and  four  days  old  when 
the  family  came  to  this  county.  He  was 
born  in  Nelson  County,  Ky.,  September  6, 
1818. 

George  Borah  was  one  of  the  pioneer  mer- 
chants of  Wayne  County,  first  opening  a 
store  in  Burnt  Prairie,  within  two  miles  of 
where  the  town  of  Liberty  now  is. 

Nathan  Atteberry  came  to  Wayne  County 
and  settled  in  Turney's  Prairie  in  the  fall  of 
1819.  In  the  party  were  the  two  brothers  of 
Atteberry  and  their  families.  Their  nearest 
neighbors  were  Reason  Blessitt  and  his  fam- 
ily of  four  children,  George  Close,  William 
Watkins,  Green  Lee,  Henry  Coonrod.  Mi 
chael  Turney,  Isaiah  Turney,  Thomas  Turney 
and  John  Turney.  These  were  all  here  when 
the  Atteberrys  came,  and  had  been  on  the 
grounds  the  most  of  them  long  enough  to 
have  gone  to  keeping  house  in  their  rude 
cabins. 

Isaiah  Turney  taught  a  school  in  this  prai- 
rie in  1820,  and  about  this  time  Washington 
Faris  also  taught  a  school  there. 

Mr.  A.  remembers  attending  a  general 
muster  and  election  in  1820,  where  the  mili- 
tia officers  for  the  county  were  elected.  It 
was  held  at  the  house  of  Washington  Faris, 
just  north  of  Fairfield.  One  of  the  Turneys 
was  elected  Captain,    and  Justus  Beach  was 


elected  commander,  vice  Gen.  Samuel  Leech. 
Mr.  Atteberry  afterward  became  a  Captain 
and  then  a  Major  in  the  militia,  where  he 
served  two  years.  James  Clark  was  made 
Brigadier  General  of  the  militia. 

Nathan  Atteberry  was  a  bound  boy  to  old 
John  Turney,  and  by  the  terms  of  the  in- 
denture was  sent  to  school  three  months,  and 
this  was  the  total  of  his  facilities  in  this 
line.  His  recollection  is  that  George  Close 
raised  the  first  wheat  ever  grown  in  the 
county. 

W.  W.  George  was  born  in  South  Carolina 
November  15,  1810.  Removed  to  Kentucky 
about  1818;  remained  there  until  1821,  when 
he  removed  to  Illinois  and  settled  in  Gallatin 
County,  and  removed  from  there  to  White 
County,  where  he  lived  until  1830,  when  he 
removed  to  Wayne  County,  where  he  has 
resided  ever  since.  Was  married  in  Hamil- 
ton County,  111.,  November  1,  1S27,  to  Miss 
Mary  Maberry.  United  with  the  M.  E. 
Church  in  1842,  in  which  he  lived  for  several 
years,  and  afterward  united  with  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Fairfield,  where  he 
remained  until  his  death,  which  took  place 
September  16,  1883. 

He  was  the  father  of  sis  children,  who 
arrived  at  man  or  womanhood,  five  of  whom, 
Mary  Shaw,  Martha  Atteberry,  Olive  Way, 
Meshech  George  and  William  W.  George  are 
still  living,  and  one,  Helen  Hendershott.  is 
dead.  Only  two  of  his  children,  Mary  Shaw 
and  Martha  Atteberry,  are  living  here. 

Mr.  George  was  continuously  in  public  life 
from  the  time  he  attained  his  majority  until 
his  death.  During  this  time  there  was  one 
short  period  of  eighteen  months,  during 
which  ho  held  no  office.  He  was  elected  a 
Justice  of  the  Peace  before  he  attained  the 
age  of  twenty-one,  and  his  commission  was 
delayed  until  he  arrived  at  legal  age.  He 
held  the  office  of  Justice  forty-five  years;  was 


J^A~/ 


insTouy  OF  wavxi:  cointy. 


57 


County  Judge  four  years;  School  Commis- 
sioner six  years;  was  also  Drainage  Commis- 
sioner for  Wayne  County,  and  two  years 
Commissioner  on  River  Improvements  under- 
taken by  the  State. 

His  father,  John  George,  was  born  in  Ire- 
land, and  when  a  child  came  to  South  Caro- 
lina, where  he  grew  to  manhood  and  married 
Mary  Stone.  She  was  born  in  South  Caro- 
lina, but  was  of  Irish  parentage.  The  father 
was  in  the  war  of  1812,  after  which,  in  1816, 
he  removed  to  Kentucky,  where  he  remained 
until  1824,  at  which  time  he  removed  to  Illi- 
nois and  settled  in  Gallatin  County.  In  the 
last  named  county,  and  in  White  County,  ho 
spent  the  remainder  of  his  life.  From 
White  County  he  went  to  the  Black  Hawk 
war,  serving  until  its  close.  He  died  in 
White  County. 
—  David  Wright.  4th,  came  from  New  Jersey 
to  Wayne  County  in  lSl'.l,  and  settled  and 
improved  a  farm  three  miles  south  of  Fair- 
field, He  started  the  lirst  tan-yard  in  the 
county,  using  a  wooden  trough,  which  in 
time  he  increased  to  fourteen  vats,  in  which 
he  did  an  extensive  business  for  those  days — 
tanning  all  kinds  of  hides,  even  hog  skins. 
The  old  family  Bible,  now  in  the  possession 
of  Charles  W.  \Y right,  is  covered  with  fawn 
skin  tanned  in  his  tannery.  He  soon  opened 
a  store  and  also  built  a  horse  mill,  each  of 
which  were  about  the  first  of  their  kind  in 
the  county.  People  came  fifteen  and  twenty 
miles  to  his  mill  on  horseback,  often  camping 
to  wait  for  their  turn.  The  product  of  the 
mill  was  bolted  by  hand.  D.  W.  Barkley,  a 
grandson,  says  he  has  both  lively  and  pain 
ful  recollections  of  assisting  in  this  part  of 
the  business.  At  least  he  remembers  it  was 
not  so  agreeable  as  driving  the  horses  and 
riding  on  the  beam.  Mr.  Wright  had  his  mer- 
chandise hauled  from  Shawneetown,  Mount 
Vernon,  Ind.,  and  Evansville,  and  his  produce 


was  taken  to  Beach  Bluff  and  Mill  Shoals  and 
shipped  to  New  Orleans  by  flat-boat.  This 
mostly  consisted  of  venison  hams,  wild  fur 
key  honey,  deer  and  coon  skins,  etc.  In 
those  days,  two-horse  wagons,  in  which  were 
to  be  seen  teams  in  harness  of  which  not  a 
particle  of  iron  was  used — all  home  made 
leather,  shuck  collars,  and  names  cut  from 
the  root  of  a  tree.  When  the  family  lirst 
came  to  the  county,  as  did  all  others,  they 
pounded  meal  in  a  stump  mortar.  The  first 
meal  from  a  mill  was  procured  at  Shawnee- 
town, and  until  Mr.  Wright's  mill  was  put 
up,  the  nearest  mill  was  at  Carmi. 

Mr.  Wright  was  a  fine  specimen  of  the 
hardy,  thrifty  pioneers.  His  industry  never 
flagged,  and  his  energy  was  tireless— all  of 
which  were  most  admirable  qualities  for  aid 
ing  in  opening  up  and  developing  thp  new 
country.  His  other  good  qualities  were  only 
equaled  by  his  widely  known  integrity,  and 
a  morality  and  uprightness  that  marked  his 
whole  life  and  drew  around  him  an  extended 
circle  of  warm  friends. 

His  children  were  Thomas  Curtis,  Eliza 
Atkinson  (afterward  Mrs.  J.  G.  Barkley), 
David,  5th,  Sarah  Ann  (afterward  Mrs.  Dr. 
R.  L.  Boggs),  Charles  Williams,  now  living 
three  miles  north  of  Fairfield,  on  the  place 
first  improved  by  his  father  nearly  sixty. five 
years  ago. 

David   Wright,  4th.  died  March  14,  1865. 

Andrew    Crews    came     to   Wayne   County 
while  Illinois  was  yet  a  Territory,  from  Ken 
tuck).      Some  years  later,  he  was  followed  by 
his  five  sons,  who  are  described  as  very  tall, 
erect,  strong   and   healthy  men.      They 
farmers. 

Mathew,  the  oldest  of  the  five,  had  a  :' 
ily  of  thirteen  children,  eight  of  whom 
ill-  resnlt  of  a  second  marriage.      William 
I  of  the  thirteen. 

William  had  a  family  of  six  children  who 


58 


HISTORY   OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


grew  to  maturity,  one  of  whom  died  in  the 
army.  Joseph  J.  is  the  oldest  of  these.  The 
father  died  in  1862,  and  the  mother  in  1877. 
Joseph  was  educated  in  the  common  school, 
and  from  delicate  health  was  much  his  own 
teacher;  taught  nine  years.  Read  law  under 
Hon.  James  McCartney. 

He  was  admitted  in  1871,  and  has  practiced 
in  Fairfield  since.  Married  in  Fairfield  to 
Eliza  Shaeffer,  daughter  of  Henry  and  Eliza- 
beth Shaeffer.  She  was  born  in  Tuscarawas 
County,  Ohio.  May  10,  1855.  They  have  four 
children — Lillian,  Edith,  Carl  and  Bertha 

The  first  schoolhouee  in  Tom's  Prairie  was 
in  1822,  and  George  Wilson  was  the  first 
teacher.  The  first  patrons  were  the  families 
of  John  Borah,  Thomas  Wilson,  William 
Frazer,  Richard  Hall,  John  Pritchett,  Alex- 
ander Crews,  Walter  Owen,  Enoch  Beach, 
and  Mr.  Bradshaw,  whose  youngest  son  is 
now  a  resident  of  Fairfield.  The  first  mar- 
riage in  this  portion  of  the  county  was  Owen 
Morton  with  Mary  Crews,  and  the  first  death 
was  that  of  a  Mr.  King.  The  first  preacher 
there  was  Wood  M.  Hamilton,  of  the  Cum- 
berland Presbyterians.  George  Wilson,  the 
first  school  teacher  as  named  above,  was  at  one 
time  Sheriff  of  the  county.  He  is  remem- 
bered as  an  excellent,  good  man.  He  died 
about  1845. 

John  Borah  died  in  1841,  leaving  William, 
Valentine.  Baily,  John  and  Milton,  sons. 
The  latter  went  to  California. 

Alexander  Campbell  was  a  member  of  the 
Legislature  in  1822.  He  was  an  illiterate 
man.  but  had  good  sense  and  an  honest,  warm 
heart.  He  has  many  descendants  yet  in  the 
county.  One  of  his  sons  now  resides  in 
Springfield,  111.,  and  one  of  his  daughters 
and  many  of  his  grandchildren  are  yet  in  the 
county.  Among  the  early  weddings  of  the 
county  was  the  marriage  of  John  Moffitt  to 
one  of  Campbell's  daughters. 


Beach  Bluff  was  settled  many  years  ago 
by  a  man  named  Hampton  Weed.  Mr.  Weed 
built  a  mill  at  the  place,  and  also  sold  goods 
away  back  forty-five  years  ago.  It  was  then 
the  most  important  place  in  Wayne  County. 
Mr.  Weed  was  a  very  enterprising  man.  At 
Beach  Bluff  the  people  would  build  flat  boats 
and  load  them  with  pork  and  corn  and  float 
them  down  to  New  Orleans. 

The  hardy  explorers  who  first  discovered 
this  portion  of  the  great  Mississippi  Valley, 
told  the  world  in  glowing  terms  of  its  rich 
lands,  of  its  great  old  forests,  and  the  beau- 
tiful and  rich  prairies,  spread  out  like  an  un- 
dulating sea,  and  then  they  believed  that  all 
over  this  valley  were  inexhaustible  mines  of 
the  precious  metals.  These  were  the  almost 
fairy  legends  that  they  gave  the  world,  and 
that  brought  the  first  sporadic  efforts  of  men 
of  wealth  and  political  power  to  populate  this 
country,  and  they  could  possess  the  richest 
empire  in  the  world.  But  all  these  attempts 
at  making  permanent  settlements  failed,  and, 
as  a  rule,  bankrupted  the  daring  projectors. 
It  is  doubtless  best  that  this  fate  attended 
them;  and  thus  the  grand  field  was  left  un- 
occupied until  the  real  pioneer — the  hunter 
— was  lured  here  by  the  abundance  of  wild 
game,  and  for  this  he  came  with  all  his  glo- 
rious  instincts  for  freedom,  and  his  resolute 
daring  to  meet  the  savage  upon  his  chosen 
fields  and  beat  him  down  and  drive  him  off. 

The  Indian  here  now  is  but  a  memory.  He 
accomplished  nothing,  and  had  he  continued 
unmolested  here  a  million  of  years  he  would 
most  probably  only  have  bred  wretchedness 
and  the  vilest  ignorance  and  savagery.  Un- 
like the  negro,  he  was  ready  to  die,  but  never 
to  be  a  slave,  and  the  one  only  record  that  he 
has  ever  made  that  is  worth  remembrance 
was  that  he  never  was  a  slave.  But  he  per- 
ished with  that  barbaric  stoicism  that  ren- 
dered his  exit  above  the  reproach  of  contempt. 


HISTORY   OF    WAYNE   COUNTY. 


59 


The  wild  game  has  mostly  gone  with  the 
Indian.  The  swift  growth  of  our  cities  is 
not  nearly  as  unparalleled  as  the  rapid  dis- 
appearance of  our  game  animals.  One  hun- 
dred years  ago,  eastern  North  America  was 
the  finest  game  country  in  the  world.  "  This 
valley  is  a  hunter's  paradise,"  says  Col. 
Boone  in  his  account  of  the  expedition  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Kentucky  River.  "  Our  dogs 
started  three  troops  of  deer  in  less  than  half 
an  horn-;  on  the  river  we  saw  tracks  of  elk, 
bears  and  buffalo,  and  the  thickets  along  the 
slope  were  full  of  turkeys  and  mountain 
pheasants.  From  the  cliffs  above  the  junc- 
tion, our  guide  showed  us  the  wigwams  of 
the  Miatuis.  About  eight  miles  to  the  north- 
west, we  could  see  the  smoke  of  their  camp 
fires  rising  from  the  foot  of  a  rocky  bluff,  but 
the  hill  country  in  the  east  and  the  great 
plains  in  the  west,  north  and  northeast,  re- 
sembled a  boundless  ocean  of  undulating 
woodlands." 

Northwest  of  the  "  Blue  Ridge  "  buffaloes 
grazed  in  countless  heards.  During  the  heat 
of  the  midsummer  months  they  used  to  re- 
treat to  the  highlands,  and  followed  the 
ridges  in  the  southward  migration,  as  the  ap- 
proach of  winter  gradually  crowned  the 
heights  with  snow.  Along  the  backbones  of 
all  the  main  chains  of  the  sunken  Alleghanies 
these  trails  can  still  bedistinctly  traced  for  hun- 
dreds of  miles.  "  Buffalo  Springs,"  "Buffalo 
Gap,"  and  scores  of  similar  names  still  attest 
the  presence  of  the  American  bison  in  localities 
that  are  now  fully  2,000  miles  from  the  next 
buffalo  range.     The  center  of  our  buffalo  pop 


ulation  is  moving  northwest  at  an  alarming 
rate.  Herds,  in  the  old-time  sense  of  the 
word,  can  now  be  found  only  in  British  North 
America,  and  here  and  there  along  the  fron- 
tier of  our  Northwestern  Territories.  In 
cold  winter,  small  troops,  of  fifteen  or  twenty 
are  occasionally  seen  in  the  Texas  "  Panhan- 
dle," in  Western  Utah,  and  in  the  valley  of 
the  Upper  Arkansas,  but  nowhere  on  this  side 
of  the  Mississippi.  Their  days  are  numbered. 
They  cannot  hide,  and  their  defensive  weap- 
ons are  useless  against  mounted  riflemen. 
Pot-hunters  follow  them  to  their  far  Northern 
retreats;  the  International  Railroad  will  soon 
carry  a  swarm  of  sportsmen  to  their  Mexican 
reservations,  and  in  fifty  years  from  now 
their  happy  pasture  grounds  will  probably 
be  reduced  to  the  inclosed  grass  plots  of  a 
few  zoulogical  gardens. 

Panthers  are  still  found  in  twenty-six  or 
twenty-seven  States,  but  chiefly  at  the  two 
opposite  ends  of  our  territory — in  Florida 
and  Oregon.  In  the  Southern  Allegha 
nies  they  are  still  frequent  enough  to  make 
the  Government  bounty  a  source  of  in- 
come to  the  hunters  of  several'  highland 
counties.  Wolves  still  defy  civilization  in 
some  of  the  larger  prairie  States,  and  in  the 
wild  border  country  between  North  Carolina 
and  East  Tennessee.  But,  unlike  panthers, 
they  do  not  confine  themselves  to  a  special 
locality.  Hunger  makes  them  peripatetic, 
and  in  cold  winters  their  occasional  visits  can 
be  looked  for  in  almost  any  mountain  vallei 
between  Southern  Kentucky  and  Alabama. 


60 


HISTOKY   OF    WAYNE   COUNTY. 


CHAPTER    V. 


SOME   MORE   REFLECTIONS  WORTH    READING  — THE  EVILS  AND  THE  GOOD  OF  THE  COUNTRY  — AN 
ACCOUNT  OF  THE  OFFICIALS  AND  WHO  THEY  WERE— SOME  BIG  MEN  AND  SOME  NOT  SO  BIG 
—GEN.  LEECH,  RIGDON  B.  SLOCUMB,  W.  B.  DAVIS  OR  BLACK  BILL— SENATORS,  REP- 
RESENTATIVES AND  COUNTY  OFFICIALS— DAVID  W.  BARKLEY,  WARMOTH, 
TURNEY,  BURNS,  BARNHILL,  NATHAN  CREWS,  CLABK,  HOGUE,  H  AN- 
NA, AND  MANY  OTHERS— FIRST  DEED— TOWNSHIP  ORGANI- 
ZATION—WHISKY  BANISHED  FROM  THE  COUNTY,  ETC. 

TO  mark  the  changes  in  the  social    and 
business  habits  of  the  people  in    this 
country  the  last   half  century  is  to  start  the 


reader  upon  the  investigations  of  some  of 
those  remarkable  revolutions  that  are  histor 
ical  in  their  nature.  Such  a  course  of  in- 
vestigation is  one  step  in  the  commencement 
of  the  construction  of  real  history —  the  ascer- 
taining the  causes,  in  short,  that  have  silent- 
ly worked  these  tremendous  effects  upon 
mankind,  and  that  are  the  true  eras  to  the 
profound  historian. 

The  pioneer  people  were  the  possessors  of 
that  boon  to  the  world  of  human  equality  in 
a  degree  nearer  perfection  than,  perhaps,  of 
any  other  numerous  people  in  the  world. 
Doubtless  there  have  been  isolated  societies, 
composed  of  enthusiasts  in  the  hunt  of  Uto- 
pia, where  a  more  perfect  equality  existed; 
but  these  were  always  short-lived  communi- 
ties, and  their  equality  was  in  a  degree  al- 
ways to  their  isolation  from  the  great  outside 
world.  But  among  the  early  people  of  the 
West  there  were  none  rich  and  none  poor, 
and  Gov.  Reynolds  tolls  us  they  were  a  sim- 
ple, contented  and  happy  people.  They 
slept  the  sweet  sleep  of  innocent  content, 
where  came  no  dreams  of  modern  colossal 
fortunes,  no  nightmare  of  assassination  for 
pelf  or   position,  or  those  miserable  baubles 


that  have  plunged  the  world  in  bloody  wars 
and  blackened  the  fair  face  of  nature. 

To-day  we  boast  of  our  great  population, 
our  schools,  churches,  magnificent  public 
buildings,  our  numerous  population,  splen- 
did civilization,  and  our  boundless  wealth. 
But  the  thinking  man,  even  when  he  beholds 
all  this,  is  confronted  with  the  curious  fact 
that  wealth  concentrates  in  a  few  hands  more 
readily  in  this  than  any  other  country  on 
earth.  We  have  followed  out  the  traditions 
of  Jefferson  in  this  country,  and  given  every 
one  an  equal  chance  in  the  making  of  money, 
upon  the  theory  that  this  would  result  in  the 
equalizing  of  fortunes.  To  help  bring  about 
this  desirable  result,  our  laws  call  for  an 
equal  division  of  property  on  the  death  of  the 
parent.  But  unrestricted  competition  has 
not  borne  out  the  claim  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  that  "  all  men  are  equal."  The 
facts  of  the  last  fifty  years  show  that  oppor- 
tunity, brains  and  unserupulousness  will  en- 
able individuals,  within  a  short  lifetime,  to 
gather  to  themselves  enormons  sums  of  mon- 
ey, which,  under  different  institutions,  would 
be  diffused  among  the  masses  of  the  people. 
France,  for  instance,  is  a  very  rich  country, 
but,  outside  of  the  Rothschild  family,  has 
few  millionaires.  It  has  a  poor  and  frugal 
working   class,  but   the    great    bulk    of    the 


H1>T0RY   OF   WAYNE   COUNTY. 


03 


French  people  belong  to  what  is  known  as 
the  "  middle  class,"  and  are  well-to-do.  In 
Great  Britain  there  are  greater  contrasts  of 
wealth  and  poverty,  but  facts  recently  pub- 
lished go  to  show  that  the  number  of  very 
rich  is  not  large.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  there 
have  been  more  millionaires  created  in  the 
United  States  since  the  beginning  of  the 
civil  war  than  have  been  developed  by  a  cent- 
ury of  banking,  manufacturing  and  trading 
in  Great  Britain  There  are  no  single  fort- 
unes  in  England  comparable  to  those  of  Van 
derbilt,  Gould,  Mackey,  Flood,  the  Astor  and 
the  Stewart  estates,  and  probably  fifty  others 
which  might  be  mentioned.  The  great  fort 
unes  in  England  have  been  aggregating — 
some  of  them — for  centuries:  ours  date  back 
to  the  first  year  of  the  civil  war,  when  vast 
accumulations  were  rolled  up  in  contracts  for 
supplying  our  armies.  Then  the  Jeffersonian 
theory,  which  said  to  the  Government, 
"Hands  off,"  left  the  transportation  field 
open  to  tip'  monopolist.  Our  railway  mag- 
nates have  ta\e<l  the  public,  the  Government 
declining  to  interfere  until  very  recently;  but 
our  highest  court  has  at  length  decided  that 
the  nation  is  supreme,  and  has  a  right  to  su- 
pervise railway  passenger  and  freight  charges. 
The  freedom  of  our  institutions  had  been 
vastly  more  advantageous  to  the  capitalist 
than  the  poor  workman.  Should  the  present 
tendencies  continue,  the  middle  of  the  twen- 
tieth century  will  see  the  Cnited  States  with 
ast  laboring  population,  a  small  middle 
.  and  a  few-  hundred  millionaires,  who 
will  monopolize  the  greal  bulk  of  the  prop- 
erty of  the  country. 

Delegate  to  the  Constitutional  Convention 
of  1847,  from  Wayne  County.  James  M. 
Hogue;  to  the  Constitutional  Convention  of 
1870,  Robert  1'.  Hanna  The  first  and  only 
State  officer  ever  elected  from  Wayne  County 
is    .J mnes   McCartney,  the   present    Attorney 


General  of  Illinois.  The  first  member  of  the 
Legislature  from  Wayne  County  was  Alex- 
ander Campbell,  in  the  sessions  of  1822  and 
1824;  the  second  was  Bigdon  B.  Slocumb,  in 
1824  and  1826. 

James    Bird    was    the  State  Senator  from 
Wayne  and  Lawrence  Counties  in  1826-28. 

W.  B.  Davis  was  a  liepresentative  in  1826. 
Mr.  Davis  was  one  of  the  remarkable  early 
statesmen  of  Wayne  County.  He  was  knowD 
much  better  all  over  the  county  as  "  Black 
Bill"  than  by  his  baptismal  name.  His 
looks  gave  him  this  name.  It  is  said  that 
many  of  his  acquaintances  never  dreamed 
but  that  this  descriptive  appellation  was  his 
only  real  name,  and  when  they  read  his 
obituary  notice  they  were  innocent  of  sus- 
pecting that  it  was  the  story  of  the  death  of 
anybody  they  knew.  Davis  was  a  rare  char- 
acter, who  came  to  Wayne  County  at  so  early 
a  date  that  there  was  no  chronicler  here  to 
give  the  day  and  date  of  this  event.  He  was 
as  illiterate  as  the  game  he  hunted — a  genu- 
ine, unpretentious,  pioneer  hunter,  who  used 
as  little  soap  as  any  man  in  America,  lie 
lived  an  easy,  careless  life,  and  was  innocent 
of  even  thinking  ho  was  a  great  statesman 
until,  all  at  once,  in  1826,  he  was  elected  to 
tlin  Illinois  Legislature,  and,  arrayed  in  all 
his  buckskin  glories,  he  shouldered  his  rifle 
and  footed  it  to  Vandalia  to  attend  the  ses- 
sion of  the  Legislature.  He  was  much  an- 
noyed at  the  style  he  there  found,  especially 
in  the  pompous  grandeur  of  Gov.  Edwao 
It  is  said  of  Black  Bill  that  he  was  told  that 
it  was  customary  for  members  to  wash  their 
faces  lief. 're  taking  their  seats,  and  he  had 
repaired  to  a  small  pond  of  water  in  the  pub- 
lic  '[iiareand  had  laid  down  his  coon-skin 
cap  preparatory  to  his  first  ablution,  when 
the  Governor  happened  to  pass  by.  when  he 
addressed  him  familiarly  by  saying,  "Cap'n, 
won't  you  have  a  wash  with  me?" 


64 


EISTOEY   OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


During  the  term,  he  never  rose  and  ad- 
dressed the  chair  but  once,  and  that  was  upon 
some  question  that  threatened  to  divide 
Wayne  County,  when  his  monitor  told  him 
to  move  to  lay  the  bill  upon  the  table.  He 
bounded  to  his  feet  and  said:  "  Mr.  Speaker, 
I  ask  you  to  please  put  that  on  the  table," 
and  he  sat  down  exhausted  with  his  mighty 
effort  to  the  extent  that  the  perspiration 
dampened  his  buckskin   suit. 

When  sworn  in  and  the  Clerk  was  taking 
down  the  names  of  the  members,  he  asked 
Davis  the  usual  questions  of  name,  etc. 
When  he  asked  him  his  occupation,  Davis 
stopped  short  and  was  as  mum  as  a  statue. 
The  Clerk  asked  him  if  he  was  a  farmer. 
"No,"  said  Davis.     "  A  merchant?"   "No." 

"A  trader?"      "No."    "  What  the -are 

you,  then?"  said  the  Clerk.  "Ahunter.bydad!" 

Davis,  it  is  said,  soon  tired  of  the  flumer- 
ies  of  law-making,  and  one  evening  just  as 
the  House  adjourned  he  rose  and  said,  "I 
move  Black  Bill  adjourns,"  and  thereupon 
he  shouldered  his  trusty  rifle  and  returned 
to  his  admiring  constituents.  He  thus  quit 
public  life,  and  his  national  usefulness  was 
cut  short. 

In  the  General  Assembly  of  1828-30,  the 
counties  of  Wayne,  Wabash  and  Edwards 
formed  a  Senatorial  district,  and  the  member 
was  Enoch  Beach,  and  in  the  Lower  House 
again  was  Rigdon  B.  Slocumb.  In  the  As- 
sembly of  1830-32,  Beach  was  still  Senator, 
and  Alexander  Clark  was  the  Representative 
from  Wayne. 

Iu  the  Assembly  of  1832-34,  the  counties  of 
Wayne,  Wabash  and  Edwards  composed  a 
Senatorial  district,  and  Henry  I.  Mills  was 
the  Senator,  and  Alexander  Clark  was  again 
the  Representative. 

In  the  Assembly  of  1S34-36,  Mills  was 
Senator  andSBenjamin  A.  Clark  was  the  Rep- 
resentative from  Wayne. 


In  183(5-38,  Mills  still  Senator,  and  Daniel 
Turner  was  the  Representative. 

In  1838-40,  Mills  was  still  the  Senator, 
and  Jeffrey  Robinson  was  the  Representative. 

Id  the  Assembly  of  1840-42,  Rigdon  B. 
Slocumb  was  the  State  Senator  from  the  old 
district  of  Wayne.  Edwards  and  Wabash, 
and  Daniel  Turney  was  the   Representative. 

Edward  West  was  elected  Representative 
from  Wayne  to  the  House  of  Representatives 
1842-44." 

The  General  Assembly,  1844-46,  Charles  H. 
Constant  was  State  Senator  and  Joseph 
Campbell  Representative. 

In  the  Assembly  of  1846-48,  Charles  H. 
Constable  was  Senator,  and  Rigdon  B.  Slo- 
cumb Representative. 

In  1848-50,  John  A.  Campbell  was  the 
Representative. 

In  Assembly  of  1S52-54,  Alexander  Camp- 
bell was  the  Representative. 

Isaac  R.  Warmoth  was  Assistant  Enrolling 
and  Engrossing  Clerk  in  the  Assembly  i  if 
1854-56. 

Charles  P.  Burns  was  the  Representative 
from  Wayne  in  1856-5S. 

Rigdon  S.  Barnhill  was  Postmaster  to  the 
Senate  in  the  Assembly  of  1858-60.  R!  T. 
Forth  was  the  Representative. 

In  the  Twenty -second  General  Assembly. 
1861,  Nathan  Crews  was  Representative  and 
William  H.  Robinson  was  Second  Assistant 
Clerk. 

In  the  Twenty-third  Assembly,  1863-64, 
James  M.  Herd  was  the  Representative. 

In  1866-68,  Robert  P.  Hanna  was  the  Rep- 
resentative in  the  Legislature. 

In  the  Twenty-sixth  General  Assembly. 
1868-70,  Dr.  J.  J.  R.  Turney  was  Senator 
from  this  district. 

David  W.  Barkley  was  a  member  of  the 
House  of  Representatives  in  the  Twenty- 
eighth  General  Assemblv. 


HISTORY   OF    WAYNE  COUNTY. 


65 


Robert  P.  Hanna  was  State  Senator  in  the 
Thirtieth  General  Assembly,  L876  78,  and 
also  in  the  Assembly  of   187S-80. 

Judge  Edwin  Beecher"s  commission  as 
Judge  of  the  Twelfth  Judicial  Circuit  bears 
date  June  25,  1S55. 

At  the  election,  November  '_',  1N80,  the  vote 
for  State  Senator  in  this  district,  as  returned 
officially  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  was  as 
follows: 


c  orvni - 


Clay 

Wayne 

Edwards... 
w  abaab 


.    . 

B    V, 

>■ 

-    ' 

-.    H 

Z    U 

*     EC 

f  a 

.;     - 

£  - 

K    - 

r/;    * 

.     K 

..:   a 

2,086 

■2,167 

1,68; 

1,731 

l.i-i 

938 

l.in 

7,198 

H9 
156 


231 


Thomas  P.  Fletcher,  Alexander  Clark  and 
G.  \Y.  Faris  were  the  first  County  Commis- 
sioners' Court  elected  in  the  county.  Their 
first  business  was  to  arrange  for  the  platting 
the  town  of  Fairfield,  and  their  first  deed  was 
to  Daniel  Kinehelo,  Lot  24.  in  the  town. 

Felix  H.  and  John  Barnhill  made  a  deed 
to  the  county  for  the  original  town  of  Fair- 
field. 

The  first  deed  recorded  in  the  county  bears 
date  the  1st  day  of  March,  1819,  and  is  a 
deed  from  Walter  Anderson  (his  mark)  and 
his  wife,  Chole  (Chloe?),  to  John  Anderson, 
and  conveyed  the  northwest  quarter  of  Sec- 
tion 13,  Town  1  south.  Range  It  east.  The 
consideration  was  $120.  This  deed  is 
acknowledged  before  Robert  Frazer,  Justice 
of  the  Peace. 

There  was  no  other  deed  made  in  the 
county  until  the  following  October,  when 
John  Anderson  and  Susan,  his  wife,  deeded 
to  Samuel  Anderson  the  northwest  quarter  of 
Section  13,  Town  1  south,  Range  '.»  east; 
consideration,  $600.     This  deed  was  acknowl- 


edged   before  John    Depew,    Justice   of  the 
Peace. 

The  next  document  is  a  lease  and  contract, 
whereby  Enoch  Wilcox  leases  on  the  shares 
the  farms  and  stock  ranch  of  A.  F.  Hubbard 
of  date  September  22,  1819. 

The  next  record  document  is  a  bill  of  sale 
of  "a  sorrel  horse  and  saddle"  for  $80  by 
Henry  L.  Cross  to  Thomas  Lee. 

On  November  8,  1859,  a  vote  on  the  ques- 
tion of  township  organization  resulted  as 
follows  :  For  township  organization,  952; 
against,  130,  as  appears  by  the  certificate  of 
the  two  Justices,  J.  G.  Barkley  and  AY.  W. 
George.  J.  W.  Barnhill,  County  Clerk  at 
that  time,  records  the  report  of  the  Commis- 
sioners, J.  G.  Barkley  and  W.  L.  Beeson, 
who  designated  the  township  boundaries  and 
their  names. 

At  a  regular  meeting  of  the  board  for  the 
purpose  of  organizing,  June  4,  1860,  there 
was  present  J.  B.  Borah,  Daniel  Wingate, 
William  Holmes,  Alexander  Campbell,  H.  D. 
Taylor.  Nathan  Crews,  William  Clark.  Na- 
than Atteberry,  Robert  T.  Forth,  William 
Beeson  and  Sylvester  Ryder,  J.  AY.  Barnhill, 
County  Clerk,  and  H.  A  Orgon,  Sheriff.  The 
board  adjourned,  and  the  next  day  A.  S. 
Hargraves,  H.  Holtzhauser  and  Nathan  Mer- 
ritt  appeared  and  took  their  seats  as  Super- 
visors. 

Daniel  Wingate  was  elected  permanent 
Chairman,  and  the  very  first  business  that 
the  new  board  took  in  hand  was  to  appoint  a 
committee  to  examine  a  trust  deed  and  mort- 
gage executed  1  ly  the  county,  which  was 
signed  by  S.  J.  R.  Wilson  and  Thomas  M. 
Scott,  and  to  make  report  of  the  same.  This 
was  the  first  movement  in  Wayne  County's 
causes  celebres  that  has  waxed  warm  in  all 
our  courts  from  that  day  to  this  with  ever- 
varying  fortune  (for  particulars  see  chapter 
on  railroads). 


60 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


Rigdon  B.  Slocumb  died  in  Fairfield, 
April  20,  1874,  aged  seventy  nine  years  two 
months  and  twenty -nine  days.  He  was  among 
the  earliest  men  here,  and  in  the  organiza- 
tion and  control  of  the  county  affairs,  stood 
second  only  to  Samuel  Leech.  He  was  a 
man  of  large  ability  and  was  esteemed  by  all 
the  people  of  the  county  for  ripe  judgment 
and  integrity  of  character.  He  filled  con- 
tinously  almost  one  or  more  of  the  county 
offices  for  years,  and  also  represented  the 
county  ia  the  Legislature.  He  was  the  can- 
didate in  1828,  on  the  ticket,  with  Gov. 
Reynolds,  for  Leiutenant  Governor,  but  was 
defeated  by  Zadoc  Casey,  who  was  a  candidate 
on  the  Kinney  ticket. 

This  election  showed  a  singular  state  of 
politics  in  the  State.  The  campaign  was  the 
longest  and  one  of  the  most  exciting  ever 
held  in  the  State.  Reynolds  and  Kinney 
were  the  opposing  candidates  for  Governor. 
Both  were  Democrats,  as  were  all  the  can 
didates  on  each  ticket,  and,  further,  they 
were  all  Jackson  Democrats,  but  at  this  day, 
a  similar  party  division  is  designated  by 
Stalwarts  and  Half-Breeds.  Kinney  and  his 
crowd  called  themselves  out-and-outer  Jack- 
son men,  while  Reynolds  and  his  crowd  went 
in  for  kissing  the  babies,  and  shaking  hands 
with  the  women  and  miklly  bragging  on  Old 
Hickory.  Kinney  was  a  preacher,  Baptist, 
and  so  was  Casey,  but  Methodist.  For  years 
after  it  was  said  that  Kinney  was  defeated 
because  he  was  a  preacher,  and  Casey  was 
elected  because  he  was  a  preacher. 

Samuel  Leech.  The  history  of  the  early 
official  life  and  the  biography  of  Samuel 
Leech  are  much  one  and  the  same  thing. 
All  the  early  record  books  and  official  papers 
are  in  his  familiar  writing,  and  in  this  way 
he  laid  the  foundations  for  the  young  county 
to  build  upon.  And  this  is  true  of  all  the 
early  county  courts.     As  the  presiding  officer 


of  the  Probate  Court  he  had  to  some  extent 
the  charge  of  estates  of  widows  and  orphans 
in  the  county,  and  he  was  here  as  everywhere 
else  their  true  and  trusted  friend.  He  was 
among  the  first  merchants  in  the  county,  and 
it  was  here  that  he  was  as  successful  in  lay- 
ing the  foundations  for  the  future  commerce 
of  the  county  as  he  had  been  instrumental 
in  its  official  affairs.  In  another  place  we 
speak  of  his  military  life  here,  and  of  his 
unjust  treatment  from  some  cause  in  the  part 
that  he  played  in  the  Black  Hawk  war.  His 
name  is  inseparably  connected  with  all 
the  early  history  of  Wayne  County,  and  they 
must  go  into  history  linked  inseparably  to- 
gether. We  much  regret  that  we  can  find  no 
one  here  who  can  give  us  the  facts  about  him 
before  he  came  here  and  after  he  left  in 
1S37.  We  are  told  that  he  resigned  his 
offices  in  the  county  to  accept  the  position 
in  the  Government  Land  Office,  at  Quincy,  111., 
where  he  acquired  wealth,  and  afterward  re- 
moved to  Wisconsin,  where  he  died. 

In  1806,  the  Board  of  Supervisors  of 
Wayne  County,  by  a  vote  of  the  full  board, 
responded  to  the  public  demand  on  the  ques- 
tion of  whisky  selling,  and  refused  to  license 
any  more  saloons  in  the  county. 

The  town  of  Fairfield,  being  the  heaviest 
sufferer  in  the  county,  had  gallantly  opened 
the  campaign  in  its  December  election  of 
1866.  The  question  was  plumply  submitted 
to  the  voters  of  the  town,  and  the  vote  re- 
sulted in  the  election  of  George  Scott,  Isaac 
Fitzgerald,  L.  D.  Bennett,  Edward  S.  Black, 
and  D.  AY.  Barkley,  a  straight-out  anti 
whisky  board.  This  vote  was  the  death 
blow,  as  after  events  proved,  to  the  How  of 
legalized  drunkenness  in  Wayne  County,  and 
from  that  day  to  this  the  principles  of  tem- 
perance have  gained  headway — not  that  all 
whisky  drinking  and  intemperance  have  been 
abolished — but    the    public    Haunting   of    a 


HISTOKY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


67 


legalized  traffic  in  the  accursed  drug  has 
been  made  to  hide  itself  away  from  the  daj 
light  of  public  life,  and  compelled  to  cany 
on  its  devilish  arts  of  robbery  behind  screened 
doors  and  closed  window  blinds.  It  is  not 
possible  that  this  has  worked  any*  real  in- 
jury to  the  material  interests  of  the  county 
or  to  the  welfare  of  the  morals  of  the  peoplo. 
On  the  contrary,  the  writer  of  those  lines, 
an  anti-States  prohibitionist  in  the  fullest 
sense  of  the  term,  yet  he  willingly  bears  tes- 
timony that  his  observation  after  several 
months'  temporary  residence  in  the  county, 
that  the  sobriety  and  morals  of  the  people 
are  a  most  eloquent  and  deserved  tribute  to 
those  noble  men  and  women  who  put  their 
shoulders  to  the  wheel  and  rolled  out  of  the 
county  the  infernal  monster  of  legalized  tip- 
pling-houses. 

November  28,  1822,  John  B.  Thrasher,  of 
Kentucky,  tiled  an  affidavit  with  John  John- 
ston, J.  P..  of  Wayne  County,  in  which  he 
made  oath  that  ho  had  a  just  claim  upon  two 
negro  women,  slaves,  who  owed  service  in 
Kentucky,  and  had  escaped  to  Illinois,  and 
were  secreting  about  the  town  of  Fairfield. 
On  the  day  above  named,  the  Justice  entered 
on  his  docket  the  following: 

State  op  [li  lnois,  Wayne  County. 

This  day  came  .1.  B.  Thrasher,  and  exhibited  his 
claim  as  specified  by  his  foregoing  affidavit  to  two 
female  slaves,  and  said  women  being  examined  be- 
fore me,  and  did  not  produce  a  certificate  of  free- 
dom, they  are  therefore  deemed  by  the  seventh  sec- 
tion of  the  act  entitled  "  An  act  respecting  free  ne- 
groes, mulattoe8,  servants  and  slaves,"  to  be  runa- 
way slaves 

L.  J.  S.  Turney  died  of  pneumonia,  at 
his  residence,  near  Barton.  111.,  May  20, 
1881,  aged  sixty-one  years. 

Mr.  Turney  was  for  many  years  a  resident 


of  Fairfield,  and  was  well  known  to  all  the 
old  settlers  of  the  county.  He  was  a  \r\ 
eccentric  man.  possessed  of  a  more  than  or- 
dinary amount  of  brain,  but  without  that 
practical  good  judgment  which  constitutes  a 
balance-wheel  necessary  to  a  successful  life. 
His  life  was  a  series  of  great  expectations 
and  bitter  disappointments.  He  was  a  law- 
yer, farmer,  speculator,  politician,  statesman, 
Governor  and  Secretary  of  a  Territory,  rich 
and  poor  man  in  one,  and  a  great  financial 
schemer,  and  ate  more  than  his  share  in  life 
of  Dead  Sea  apples. 

Speaking  of  his  death  in  a  letter  published 
in  the  Wayne  County  Press,  T.  G.  C.  Davis, 
of  St.   Louis,  says: 

"  I  knew  the  late  Leander  Jay  S.  Turney 
more  than  thirty  years  ago.  He  was  my  con- 
stant, personal  friend  during  the  whole  time 
of  our  acquaintance,  and  my  political  friend 
during  a  large  part  of  it.  It  rarely  happens 
in  the  experience  of  any  man  that  he  can 
name  a  friend  who  has  stuck  to  him  through 
all  the  vicissitudes  of  war  and  peace  for 
thirty  years,  but  such  a  friend  was  Leander 
J.  S.  Turney.  Mr.  Turney  tilled  various 
offices  in  the  State  of  Illinois  in  the  course 
of  his  life.  Ho  was  a  good  writer  and  at 
one  time  editor  of  a  Democratic  newspaper 
at  Shawneetown.  He  was  a  lawyer  of  good 
education,  and  held  the  office  of  State's  Attor- 
ney in  the  Shawneetown  district  one  or  two 
terms;  was  an  unsuccessful  candidate  for 
Congress  in  opposition  to  Hon.  S.  S.  Mar- 
shall in  1854.  He  was  appointed  Secretary 
of  the  Territory  of  Washington,  and  was  for 
awhile  acting  Governor  thereof  in  186  I    62." 

Mr.  Turney  was  the  first  born  son  of  the 
late  Dr.  Daniel  Turney,  of  Fairfield,  and 
the  brother  of  J.  J.  It.  Turney,  at  one  time  a 
Senator  in  the  Legislature. 


6S 


HISTORY   OF   WAYNE   COUNTY. 


CHAPTER     VI. 


THE  WARS  FOR  OUR  LIBERTIES— GEORGE  WASHINGTON  AND  HIS  WAYNE  COUNTY  HEROES— SEQUEL 
TO  THE  BOLTINGHOUSE  MASSACRE  AND  ITS  WAYNE  COUNTY  AVENGERS— THE  RANGERS  HERE 
AND  WHO  THEY  WERE— WINNEBAGO   AND   BLACK    HAWK   WAR— FIRST   CAMPAIGN  A 
BLOODLESS  ONE— MEXICAN  WAR  AND  THE  PART  THEREIN  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY- 
COL.  LEECH— OUR  CIVIL  WAR,  WHEN  ITS  REAL  HISTORY  WILL  BE  WRITTEN 
—THE  COMPANIES  THAT  WENT  FROM   WAYNE  COUNTY,  AND  SOME 
ACCOUNT  OF  THEM— WHO    WERE    KILLED   AND   WOUNDED  IN 
BATTLE— THE  ELEVEN  COMPANIES  FURNISHED  BY  WAYNE 
COUNTY— CAPTURE   OF  JEFF   DAVIS,  ETC.,   ETC. 


"And  all  the  clouds  that  lowered  upon  our  house 
Are  in  the  deep  bosom  of  the  ocean  buried." 

— Shakespeare. 


of  seeing  thern  tortured  to  death.  So  keenly 
was  this  sport  relished  that  they  would  cun- 
ningly extend  the  torture  to  the  verge  of 
THE  most  men  are  never  too  busy  to  stop  death,  and  as  often  as  they  could  would 
in  the  midst  of  the  most  exciting  work      restore  the  victim,  and  when  revived,  com- 


to  look  at  a  dog  tight  on  the  street.  An  emi- 
nent President  of  the  United  States,  it  is 
said,  indulged  much  in  cock  righting,  and 
would  at  any  time  brave  wind  or  weather, 
and  stake  his  last  dollar  on  the  result  of  the 
bloody  chicken  discussion.  The  Spaniards' 
great  national  holiday  is  a  bull  right.  Cock 
fights,  bull  fights,  dog  fights  and  fist  fights 
among  men  are  only  branches  and  relics  of 
the  earliest  tribal  wars,  when  little  com- 
munities killed  and  enslaved  each  other, 
purely  for  the  love  of  fighting,  the  excite- 
ment of  spilling  blood,  and  the  exquisite  joy 
and  glee  that  marks  the  savage  breast  in  look- 
ing upon  the  horrid  tortures  that  kill  the 
poor  victim.  Among  the  Indians  with  whom 
our  forefathers  contended  in  the  deadly 
struggle  for  their  new  homes,  it  is  said  that 
when  these  savages  had  captured  a  white  man, 
they  w-ere  rejoiced  to  take  him  alive  and  un- 
hurt in  order  that  they  might  keep  him  for  a 
gala  day  of  all  their  people — especially  the 
squaws  and  children — to  enjoy  tho  rare  sight 


mence  again  the  horrid  sport.  Many  of  our 
pioneer  fathers  saved  their  lives  by  escaping 
while  the  Indians' slept,  as  he  was  thus  being 
transported  to  the  Indian  village  for  a  glori- 
ous holiday  of  murder.  The  savage  instinct 
is  to  gloat  at  torture  and  the  crudest  death, 
and  the  relics  of  this  barbarism  are  now  to 
be  found  in  the  purlieus  of  the  highest  civ- 
ilizations yet  formed.  Among  our  fore- 
fathers in  the  West,  it  was  grown  and  flour 
ished  in  the  shape  of  drunken  frolics  and 
election  and  muster  day  fist  fights.  The 
neighborhood  and  county  bullies  then  were 
there  in  pristine  glory.  They  were  heroes, 
who  received  the  adulations  and  warm 
applause  of  a  community  that  had  the  seeds 
of  this  bloody  savagery  in  their  breasts. 
The  bully  was  nearly'  always  a  craven  cow- 
ard when  brought  face  to  face  with  genuine 
courage,  but  he  fought  for  glory,  and  in  his 
way  was  as  much  a  hero  as  was  ever  Napoleon 
or  Alexander.  And  to-day  the  self  same  ele- 
ment among  men  who  worship  the   memories 


HISTORY   OF    WAYNE  COUNTY. 


69 


of  great  war  fighters  is  much  of  the  same 
leaven  that  warmed  the  souls  of  those  stupid 

| pie  who  paid  their  disgusting  homage  to 

the  bullet-headed  country  plug-ugly.  In  the 
Northwest,  it  was  the  blood-tubs,  who  bit  and 
gouged  and  fought  like  wild  beasts,  that  pre- 
vailed and  was  the  admiration  of  the  hour. 
In  the  South,  it  was  the  cold-blooded  mur- 
derer and  duelist  that  flourished  unmolested, 
and  here  the  vendetta  sent  its  victims  to  their 
bloody  graves.  A  better  civilization  has 
rooted  out  much  of  all  this  barbarism  of  the 
world,  yet  the  cow-boy  remains,  and  aesthetic 
1  ti  -ton  is  the  proud  possessor  of  the  champion 
prize  tighter  of  the  world — Sullivan.  Wendell 
Phillips  and  baked  beans!  And  yet  who  shall 
say  that  Boston  is  not  still  the  "hub  "   from 

which  radiates  all    the   world's    intelligei , 

education  and  saetheticism  ?  The  great  man  in 
Boston  is  the  human  beast  who  tights  like  a 
bull  dog.  He  can  draw  a  bigger  house  and 
make  more  money  in  a  single  evening  exhi- 
bition of  his  fists  ihan  could  the  greatest  in- 
tellectual man  that  ever  lived,  was  he  now 
alive  to  open  an  opposition  show  to  Sullivan, 
and  pit  brains  against  the  gigantic  brute. 

It  is  a  common,  yet  a  grievous  mistake, 
that  all  men  who  tight  are  either  brave  men 
or  patriots,  and  in  either  case,  if  they  fall  in 
battle,  are  worthy  of  the  tendorest  admiration 
of  posterity.  As  a  rule,  this  estimate  is 
wrong.  The  history  of  mankind  is  full  of 
wars,  about  all  cruel,  bloody  and  infamous, 
too.  When  Gen.  Washington  and  his  com- 
patriots drew  their  swords  and  threw  away 
the  scabbards,  they  engaged  in  a  war  holy  in 
its  purposes,  and  sacred  to  the  dearest  rights 
of  all  mankind.  True,  it  was  a  war  with  the 
mother  country,  and  the  victory  was  with  the 
rebels,  and  yet  the  glories  and  advantages 
flowing  out  from  that  struggle  redounded  as 
much  to  the  permanent  welfare  of  England 
as  to  the  United  States. 


It  was  a  struggle  for  human  rights — to  re- 
pel invasion,  and  it  was  clothed  with  those 
attributes  that  alone  are  a  justification  for 
war  under  any  circumstances.  In  the  his- 
tory of  mankind  we  know  of  no  one  thing 
that  was  a  greater  blessing  to  the  human 
race  than  this  war  and  its  results.  It  freed 
America  from  the  tyrant,  but  it  freed  not 
only  England,  too.  but  the  whole  world  has 
felt  its  glorious  effects,  and  let  it  be  hoped 
that  they  may  go  on  forever.  The  true  les- 
sons of  the  American  Revolution  have  not  yet 
been  taught  the  rising  generations.  The 
facts  and  dates  and  names,  together  with 
the  usual  Fourth  of  July  spread-eagleism  is  all 
that  we  present  to  our  school  children's  eyes 
and  minds,  when  we  tell  them  the  great 
story  of  that  immortal  era,  and  we  leave 
them  with  no  proper  comprehension  of  the 
causes  and  the  [effects — effects  that  will  con- 
tinue the  immeasurable  boon  to  all  mankind 
forever.  The  glorious  freedom  from  a  be- 
sotted tyrant  to  the  little  speck  of  the  globe 
that  constitues  the  United  States,  was  but  as 
the  grain  of  sand  upon  the  sea-snore,  as  to  the 
enduring  effects  and  benefits  to  the  whole 
human  race  that  came  from  the  war  of  the 
Revolution.  Look  at  your  neighbor,  Can- 
ada, and  behold  she,  although  she  did  not 
join  the  colonies  in  the  rebellion,  and  is  to 
this  day  a  British  dependent,  yet  she  is  prac- 
tically as  free,  and  as  blessed  in  her  freedom, 
as  we  are.  When  we  remember  the  vast  pos- 
sessions of  the  British  Empire,  so  eloquently 
described  by  Webster,  when  he  said  of  it: 
"Whose  military  drum  beat,  starting  with 
the  morning  sun  and  keeping  step  with  the 
stars,  encircles  the  globe  in  one  continuous 
strain  of  martial  music,''  and  when  wo  re- 
member that  this  great  empire — the  greatest 
upon  which  the  sun  has  ever  shown — has 
ince  that  eloquent  description  of  Webster's 
added    many    millions    of  people   to  its  vast 


70 


IMSTOIiY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


possessions,  and  that  to  it,  as  woll  as  to  Amer- 
ica, but  especially  to  its  colonies,  were  trans- 
mitted the  benefits  of  this  great  war;  we  say, 
when  these  things  are  considered  and  re- 
fleeted  upon,  in  reference  to  the  life  of 
George  Washington,  then  indeed  does  his 
grand  character  and  his  great  purposes  begin 
to  dawn  upon  the  imagination  of  the  student 
of  history,  and  shine  out  like  the  great  cen- 
tral sun,  before  whose  light  the  other  innu- 
merable heavenly  bodies  hide  away  their 
faces,  and  bide  their  time  for  the  God  of  our 
universe  to  go  down  to  his  daily  rest,  before 
they  again  glint  their  glories  upon  the  vision 
of  man.  The  mass  of  Americans  think  of 
Washington  as  the  "  Father  of  his  Country," 
a  great  General,  who  commanded  the  army  of 
freedom,  or  more  generally  as  the  boy  who 
had  a  hatchet  and  could  not  tell  a  lie.  The 
real  character  of  the  man,  his  everyday  life 
about  home,  with  his  family,  and  friends, 
and  his  servants — going  to  market  with  his 
vegetables  to  sell  and  treading  with  contempt 
upon  that  foolish  general  pride  of  the  F.  F. 
V.'s,  and  this,  too,  when  he  had  retired  from 
the  first  honors  of  his  country  and  the 
world,  and  had  put  aside  the  proffered  crown. 
The  true  picture  of  this  man,  a  picture  pre- 
senting him  in  the  commonest  affairs  of 
every-day  life,  or  one  where  he  acts  the 
grandest  part  for  all  mankind  ever  given  to 
mortal  to  perform — a  picture  that  shows  him 
truly  as  he  was,  as  a  man  with  the  common 
frailties  of  his  kind,  wholly  human,  a  man 
that  the  common  herd  of  men  could  approach 
and  feel  that  he  was  mortal  and  as  human  as 
themselves,  and  yet  to  afterward  reflect  that 
they  had  held  familiar  intercourse  with  the 
man  who  had  performed  the  greatest  acts 
that  have  yet  been  chronicled  in  the  history 
of  the  human  race.  We  say,  when  such  a 
mental  picture  is  presented  of  the  greatest 
man  in  the  tide  of  time,  it  bears  a  lesson  the 


world  cannot  forget,   and 'that   time  should 
never  fade. 

Wayne  County  has  the  distinguished  honor 
of  once  being  the  home  of  a  little  band  of 
old  men  who  deserve  to  be  immortal,  because 
they  had  been  soldiers  under  Washington. 
In  18-40,  there  were  here  John  H.  Mills,  aged 
seventy-nine;  Thomas  Sloan,  aged  seventy- 
nine  years;  James  Stuart,  seventy-eight; 
George  Clark,  aged  eighty-four  years,  and 
James  Gaston,  all  of  whom  were  at  that  time 
pensioners  for  wounds  and  disabilities  in  the 
war  of  the  Revolution.      Immortal  men! 

James  Stuart  was  born  in  South  Carolina 
in  1763,  and  came  out  at  the  close  barely  a 
grown  man.  yet  he,  boy  as  he  was,  had  then 
identified  himself  with  an  immortal  life  work. 
He  lies  buried  in  the  old  fair  grounds  in  the 
north  part  of  the  town  of  Fairfield.  Of  his 
many  and  worthy  descendants  living  here  are 
Edward  and  Hugh  Stuart  and  Mrs.  John 
Moffitt. 

James  Gaston  was  from  South  Carolina, 
and  died  in  1S40.  His  grave  was  the  first 
one  in  Bovee  Cemetery,  where  his  bones  now 
rest. 

Thomas  Sloan  was  also  from  Carolina,  and 
died  in  1840.  He  lies  buried  also  in  Bovee 
Cemetery.  Of  his  descendants  living,  grand 
and  great-grandchildren,  are  John.  Albert 
and  Henry  Sloan,  and  Mrs.  Amanda  Gaston. 

The  few  who  remember  these  Revolutionary 
sires  will  tell  you  generally  that  they  did 
not  know  they  had  given  names,  as  Stuart  and 
Gaston  were  universally  called  "  Grandsir,' ' 
and  Sloan  was  universally  known  as ' '  Daddy' ' 
Sloan. 

Their  memories  must  not  be  forgotten.  It 
matters 'not  what  else  there  was  in  their  lives 
that  was  not  noble,  nay.  what  there  was  in 
their  careers  that  may  have  shown  them  to  be 
weak,  frail  or  even  ignoble,  the  one  grand 
fact  remains  that  may  wash  away  a  mountain 


BISTORT  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


71 


of  sins,  namely,  that  they  obeyed  the  orders 
and  were  a  portion  of  those  sublime  heroes 
who  liberated  the  minds  and  bodies  of  the 
human  race,  and  filled  the  world  with  dearly 
all  of  the  freedom  and  enlightenment  that  it 
now  enjoys.  Their  names  are  enrolled  in 
that  band  of  patriots  who  were  not  of  any 
particular  age  or  country,  but  for  every 
country  and  for  all  time. 

Then  there  was  Gen.  George  Rogers  Clark, 
who  has  been  aptly  called  the  ''Hannibal  of 
the  Northwest."  with  his  little  band  of  ho- 
roes,  who  truly,  amid  flood  and  field,  and 
blood  and  carnage,  fought  oft'  the  tyrant  and 
the  savage,  and  rescued  all  this  empire  of 
the  West,  that  is  now  the  happy  homes  of 
millions  of  prosperous  people,  from  their 
ungodly  grasp.  Here  were  grounds  trod  by 
a  portion  of  the  half  armed  and  almost 
starved  heroes  of  the  Revolution.  But  of 
this  we  refer  the  readers  to  the  history  of 
Clay  County  in  another  part  of  this  work. 

Then  in  the  order  were  the  rangers,  the 
firsi  of  whom  were  organized  as  early  as 
1809  in  this  State.  They  were  called  into 
existence  by  the  law  of  s»elf  protection  from 
the  Indians,  who,  in  1811,  commenced  their 
raids  and  perpetrated  many  terrible  massacres, 
burning  houses,  stealing  stock  and  capturing 
the  women  and  children.  The  Indians  were 
secretly  aided  and  encouraged  in  this  attack 
upon  the  whites  by  English  emmissaries,  and 
they  were  the  tirst  and  provoking  cause  that 
culminated  in  the  war  of  1812-15.  Nearly 
all  the  first  white  English  settlers  were  iden- 
tified with  these  rangers,  and  they  pursued 
the  murderous  midnight  marauders,  and  at 
times  visited  upon  them  summary,  terrible, 
but  deserved  punishment. 

Among  the  many  terrible  massacres  was 
that  of  Boltinghuse.  in  what  is  now  known 
as  Boltinghuse  Prairie.  The  Indians  that 
were  supposed  to  have  committed  this  out- 


rage, were  the  Kickapoos.  This  was  in  the 
year  1814.  Boltinghuse  Prairie  is  in  White 
County,  not  far  from  Albion.  The  Indians 
escaped  after  the  Boltinghouse  massacre  and 
were  not  overtaken  or  punished  by  the  aveng- 
ing rangers  that  were  put  upon  their  tracks. 
But  a  sequel  to  this  bloody  story  comes  to  us 
in  such  form  that  we  feel  justified  in  giving 
it  a  place  here.  Preacher  "  Jackey  "  Jones, 
who,  although  the  first  white  child  born  in 
what  is  now  Wayne  County,  is  jet  halo  and 
hearty  and  very  clear  in  his  recollections, 
tells  what  he  heard  Isaac  Harris  say  about  it, 
in  the  long  years  after  the  Indian  had  dis- 
appeared. 

There  was  a  party  of  hunters  camping 
out.  four  men,  Gilliam  and  Isaac  Harris  and 
two  others,  Boltinghouse's  relatives,  near  the 
mouth  of  King's  Creek,  in  Wayne  County. 
One  morning  they  heard  a  bell,  and  following 
the  sound  they  came  upon  the  horse  grazing, 
upon  which  it  was.  They  followed  the 
horses,  and  were  led  to  an  Indian  camp,  com- 
posed of  five  braves  and  three  squaws.  They 
had  recognized  the  horse  as  one  stolen  from 
poor  murdered  Boltinghouse,  and  they  warily 
approached  the  Indian  camp.  They  cau- 
tiously got  between  the  Indians  and  their 
guns,  and  finally  asked  where  they  got  the 
horse.  One  Indian  answered  that  he  killed 
"white  man  and  took  horse."  He  was  asked 
if  he  did  not  think  that  was  wrong.  "  No, 
them's  war  and  him  good  heap!"  and  he 
chuckled  at  his  prowess.  The  Indian  finally 
told  how  the  white  man  begged  for  his  life, 
but  he  killed  him.  When  he  had  told  all, 
he  was  then  made  aware  that  he  was  talking 
to  a  son  of  the  man  he  had  murdered,  who 
answered  the  Indian's  plea  for  his  life  that 
"if  that  was  war  then  this  is  war  " — as  he 
shot  him  dead.  The  two  other  Indians 
started  to  run,  but  one  of  them  was  shot 
dead,   and  the  dog  of   the  murdered  Bolting- 


HISTORY  OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


house  pursued  the  fleeing  Indian  and  seizing 
held  him  until  the  white  men  came  up  and 
dispatched  him.  We  regret  to  say,  yet  put 
yourself  in  his  place  and  only  then  judge, 
the  hot  moment  of  bloody  revenge  only 
ended  by  the  violent  and  swift  death  of  every 
Indian  in  the  camp.  When  these  hunters 
looked  through  the  Indian  camp  they  found 
the  vest,  clothes  and  other  articles  that  had 
belonged  to  whites  who  had  been  massacred 
by  the  Indians.  Of  course  the  young  man, 
Boltinghouse,  took  the  horse  home,  and  in 
the  family  it  always  went  by  the  name  of  the 
"  stray  filly." 

These  rangers  did  much  to  make  this 
country  habitable  for  the  whites.  They  in- 
timidated the  Indians,  and  in  their  marches 
and  pursuit  of  the  fleeing  marauders,  they 
were  led  to  view  for  the  first  time  many  por- 
tions of  this  beautiful  land,  and  after  their 
return  from  the  service  they  would  call  up 
the  pictures  here  and  there  where  they  had 
camped,  and  where  they  longed  to  make  their 
future  homes.  In  this  way,  Capt.  Willis  Har- 
grave's company  of  rangers,  by  camping  one 
night  just  north  of  the  present  town  of  Fair- 
field, furnished  the  first  settlers  for  this  por- 
tion of  the  county.  In  his  company  were 
some  of  the  Barnhill  family,  after  whom 
Barnhill  Township  takes  its  name,  and  they 
remembering  the  beautiful  camp  returned  and 
settled  here  as  soon  as  peace  was  proclaimed 
and  the  Indian  was  out  of  the  way.  The  fol- 
lowing is  a  list  of  Capt.  Hargrave's  company, 
of  whom  many  names  will  be  recognized  by 
the  old  settlers  as  familiar  names  here  among 
the  early  settlers:  Captain,  Willis Har grave; 
First  Lieutenant.  William  McHenry;  Second 
Lieutenant,  John  Graves;  Ensign,  Thomas 
Berry.  Enlisted  men,  James  Long,  William 
Maxwell,  David  Trammell  (a  spy),  James  Wil- 
son. Thomas  McKinney,  John  Smith.  Taylor 
Maulding,  Jeremiah  Lisenboe,  James  Small, 


Thomas  Trammell,  James  Hannah,  Charles 
Slocumb,  Edward  Covington,  Nathan  Young, 
Joseph  Upton,  James  Garrison,  Robert  D. 
Cates, Dickinson  Garratt,  Thomas  Boatwright, 
Richard  Maulding  (a  spy),  Aaron  Williams, 
John  Sommers,  Seth  Hargrave,  James  Tram- 
mel, Lee  Maulding,  Morris  May,  David 
Milch,  Henry  Wheeler,  Joel  Berry,  David 
Whoolley,  Thomas  McAllister,  John  Love, 
James  Davenport,  Thomas  Stonery,  James 
Carr,  Daniel  Boltinghouse,  Gilham  Harris, 
Abner  Howard,  Josiah  Dunnell.  Eli  Stewart, 
Phillipp  Sturn,  Needham  Stanley,  Charles 
Stewart,  John  Lawton,  Alexander  Hamilton 
(see  church  history  in  another  column  for  an 
account  of  Mr.  Hamilton),  David  Snodgrass, 
Phillipp  Fleming,  John  and  George  Morris, 
Thomas  Upton,  Martin  Whitford,  Joseph 
Love,  John  Dover,  Samuel  Cannon,  John 
Mitchell,  James  McDaniel,  Adam  Warkler, 
Wrilltam  Wheeler,  John  Bradberry,  Micheal 
Deckers,  Thomas  Williams,  Barnabas  Cham- 
bers, Ephraham  Blockford  (descendants  live 
in  Mount  Erie),  Rial  Potter,  Fredrick  Buck, 
Charles  Sparks,  William  McCormick  and 
William  Fowler.    • 

In  addition  to  this  company  of  Hargrave's. 
that  was  composed  of  men  from  this  portion 
of  the  State,  there  was  Capt.  Daniel  Bolting- 
house's  company,  which  is  remarkable  for  the 
fact  that  it  was  the  last  body  of  enlisted  men 
in  the  State  for  the  war  of  1812.  This  com- 
pany entered  the  service  September  8,  and 
served  to  December  8,  1814.  It  was  a  large 
company.  There  were  none  in  this  company 
that  went  from  Wayne  County,  but  many  of 
them,  influenced  as  were  some  of  Hargrave's 
men,  remembered  this  beautiful  land,  and 
when  peace  came  they  returned  and  fixed 
their  homes  here.  Of  these  were  Daniel  Mc 
Henry,  who  was  long  a  respected  preacher 
here,  and  of  whom  the  reader  will  find  a  com- 
plete account  in  the  chapter  on  church  his- 


HISTORY   OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


73 


tary.  Hugh  Collins,  James  and  Charles 
Hencely,  Jesse  Kirkendall,  Needbam  Stanley, 
Jonathan  Stewart,  Jarrard  Trammell  and 
others. 

Up  to  this  time  the  rangers  had  been  dis- 
banded, and  the  contest  with  the  savages  had 
been  forever  settled  in  this  part  of  Illinois, 
Wayne  County  bad  not  yet  come  in  existence, 
and  hence  of  all  the  soldiers  above  spoken  of, 
it  only  refers  to  those  men  who,  after  (he 
wars  mentioned  above,  had  become  matters 
of  history  that  they  came  to  Wayne  County, 
not  as  armed  warriors,  but  as  peaceful  pio- 
neers, leading  the  little  band  of  early  settlers 
who  were  destined  to  build  these  splendid 
homes  of  peace  and  plenty  that  now  decorate 
the  fair  face  of  the  land. 

The  Black  Hawk  War. — In  the  order  of 
events,  next  came  this  Indian  war.  But,  by 
way  of  explanation,  we  may  mention  that 
preceding  the  Black  Hawk  war  was  the 
Winnebago  war  in  1827,  in  which  the  Gov- 
ernor marched  tiOlt  troops  to  Rock  River,  but 
the  miners  at  Galena  had  organized  for  self- 
protection,  and  had  captured  Red  Bird  and 
also  the  then  unknown  Black  Hawk,  and  ended 
this  war  inside  of  thirty  days,  the  time  for 
which  these  soldiers  had  been  called  into 
service.  Red  Bird  died  in  captivity,  and 
other  chiefs  were  tried  and  some  executed  and 
others  acquitted.  Among  those  turned 
loose,  it  seems,  unfortunately,  was  Black 
Hawk. 

The  rolls  furnished  from  the  War  Depart- 
ment show  that  Illinois  furnished,  from  first 
to  last.  171  companies  of  volunteer  rangers 
and  spies,  which  were  mustered  into  the  serv- 
ice for  the  Black  Haw  k  war. 

The  Indians  had  agreed  to  abandon  the 
country  north  of  Rock  River.  About  this 
time  (182lli,  the  President  issued  his  procla- 
mation, according  to  law.  and  all  that  coun- 
try above  the  mouth  of  Rock  River  (the  an- 


cient seat  of  the  Sauk  nation)  was  sold  to 
American  families,  and  in  the  year  follow- 
ing it  was  taken  possession  of  by  them. 
Another  treaty  was  formed  with  the  Sacs  and 
Foxes  on  the  15th  of  July,  1830,  by  the  pro- 
visions of  which  the  Indians  were  to  peace- 
fully remove  from  the  Illinois  country.  A 
portion  of  the  Sacs  with  their  chief,  Keokuk, 
quietly  retired  across  the  Mississippi.  Black 
Hawk,  however,  a  restless  and  uneasy  spirit, 
who  had  ceased  to  recognize  Keokuk  as  chief, 
and  who  was  known  to  be  in  the  British  paj . 
emphatically  refused  to  either  remove  from 
the  lands  or  respect  the  rights  of  the  Ameri- 
cans to  them.  He  insisted  that  Keokuk  had 
no  authority  for  making  such  a  treaty,  and  he 
proceeded  to  gather  around  him  a  large  num- 
ber of  the  warriors  and  young  men  of 
the  tribe  who  were  anxious  to  distinguish 
themselves  as  "  braves."  and  placing  himself 
at  their  head,  he  determined  to  dispute  with 
the  whites  the  possession  of  the  ancient  seat 
of  his  nation.  He  had  conceived  the  gigan- 
tic scheme, as  appeared  by  his  own  admissions, 
of  uniting  all  the  Indians,  from  the  Bock 
River  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  in  a  war 
against  the  United  States,  and  he  made  use 
of  every  pretext  for  gaining  accessions  to  his 
party. 

In  the  meantime,  Gov.  Reynolds,  the  "old 
ranger,"  had  been  elected  Governor.  Black 
Hawk  notified  the  whites  to  depart,  ami  they 
refusing  to  comply  he  commenced  to  destroy 
their  property.  The  settlers  petitioned  the 
Governor,  setting  forth  their  grievances,  and 
he  at  once  called  for  volunteer--,  and  at  once 
the  whole  Northwest  resounded  to  the  clamor 
of  war;  L,600  men  were  accepted,  and  June 
15,  1831,  the  army  took  up  their  march  for 
the  seat  of  war,  and  went  into  camp  at  Fort 
Armstrong,  Gen.  Gaines  ami  (Jen.  Duncan, 
commanding.  Measures  of  attack  were  soon 
concerted,    but    the    wily    Black    Hawk,    no 


7-1 


HISTORY  OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


doubt  well  apprised  of  tbe  numbers  of  the 
force,  concluded  not  to  risk  a  fight,  and  he 
quietly  recrossed  the  river.  The  soldiers 
thin  were  so  chagrined  at  his  escape  that 
they  destroyed  the  Indian  village.  From 
this  retreat  he  was  finally  compelled  to  open 
negotiations  with  Gen.  Gaines  and  Gov.  Rey- 
nolds, and,  accompanied  by  thirty  "  braves  " 
and  chiefs,  he  returned  and  entered  into  a 
new  treaty.  Among  other  things  agreeing 
"no  one  or  more  shall  ever  be  permitted  to 
recross  said  river  to  the  several  places  of  res- 
idence, nor  any  part  of  their^hunting  grounds 
east  of  the  Mississippi,  without  permission  of 
the  President  of  the  United  States  or  the 
Governor  of  the  State  of  Illinois."  The 
troops  were  then  disbanded,  and  thus,  with- 
out bloodshed,  ended  tbe  first  campaign  of 
the  Black  Hawk  war. 

In  the  spring  of  1832,  Black  Hawk,  in 
the  face  of  this  treaty,  recrossed  the  Missis- 
sippi River  (April  8),  with  500  warriors,  and 
commenced  his  march  up  Rock  River  Valley, 
while  his  women  and  children  went  up  the 
river  in  canoes. 

April  16,  Gov.  Reynolds  called  for  1,000 
volunteers,  to  rendezvous  at  Beardstown  on 
the  22d  of  the  same  month.  Eighteen  hun- 
dred men,  in  answer  to  the  call,  met  at 
Beardstown  and  were  organized  into  a  bri- 
gade of  four  regiments,  and  an  aid  and  a  spy 
battalion.  On  the  10th  of  May  the  forces 
reached  Dixon.  Maj.  Stillman's  command 
was  ordered  by  Gov.  Reynolds  to  proceed  to 
Old  Man's  Creek,  and  on  May  the  14th  oc- 
curred the  battle  of  Stillman's  Run,  where 
his  forces  had  been  drawn  from  their  camp 
and  into  an  ambush  by  Black  Hawk,  and  a 
panic  among  the  soldiers  ensued,  and  eleven 
were  killed  before  they  could  reach  Fort 
Dixon.  This  defeat  alarmed  the  whole 
country,  and  the  night  following,  Gov.  Rey- 
nolds called  for  2,000  more  troops.      Gen. 


Scott  with  1,000  United  States  Troops  was 
sent  immediately  to  the  Northwest.  The  new 
levies  were  to  meet  on  the  3d  of  June  at 
Beardstown.  On  the  19th  of  May  the  whole 
army  marched  up  the  river,  and,  pursuing  the 
trails,  found  the  Indians  had  left  and  divided 
their  forces;  the  troops  returned  to  the  mouth 
of  Rock  River  where  they  were  discharged; 
and  thus  ended  the  second  campaign  of  1832. 

On  the  6th  of  June,  BJack  Hawk  made  an 
attack  on  Apple  River  Fort,  situated  a  quar- 
ter of  a  mile  north  of  the  present  town  of 
Elizabeth,  and  twelve  miles  from  Galena. 
This  garrison  was  only  defended  by  twenty- 
five  men,  and  there  were  150  Indians  attack- 
ing. 

The  new  levies  met  as  provided  at  Beards- 
town. but  were  ordered  to  Peru.  A  promis- 
cuous multitude  of  several  thousand  people 
was  gathered  there. 

On  the  17th  day  of  June,  Col.  Dement, 
with  his  spy  battalion  of  150  men,  was  or- 
dered to  report  himself  to  Col.  Taylor  (Pres- 
ident afterward)  at  Dixon,  while  the  main 
army  was  to  follow.  On  his  arrival  at  Dixon, 
he  was  ordered  to  take  position  in  Kellogg's 
Grove,  where  he  received  reports  that  there 
300  warriors  had  been  seen  northward  that 
day.  At  daylight  the  next  morning  he  sal- 
lied forth,  and  soon  discovered  spies  of  the 
enemy,  when  his  men,  regardless  of  his  and 
Lieut.  Gov.  Casey's  endeavors  to  the  con- 
trary, his  undrilled  and  undisciplined  men 
charged  on  the  foes,  and  recklessly  followed 
them  into  an  ambush  Black  Hawk  had 
planned,  where  they  were  suddenly  con- 
fronted by  300  howling,  naked  savages.  A 
panic  seized  upon  the  soldiers,  and  each  one 
struck  out  for  himself  iu  the  direction  of  the 
fort. 

In  the  confused  retreat,  five  of  the  whites 
were  slain,  while  those  who  reached  the  fort 
were  hotly  pursued  by  the  savages,  who  vig- 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


75 


orousiy  assailed  the  fort,  and  a  furious  fight 
for  over  an  hour  followed,  in  which  the  Indi- 
ans retired,  leaving  nine  of  their  number 
dead  on  the  field.  Col.  Dement  and  Lieut. 
Gov.  Casey  displayed  signal  coolness  and 
courage  here,  and  to  them  was  due  the  fact 
that  a  general  massacre  of  the  helpless  fugi 
tives  did  not  occur.  At  8  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  messengers  were  sent  fifty  miles  to 
Gen.  Posey  for  assistance,  and  toward  sun- 
down the  same  day.  that  General  and  his 
brigade  made  their  appearance.  The  next 
day  Gen.  Posey  started  iu  pursuit  of  the 
savages,  but  the  trail  soon  showed  they  had 
pursued  their  usual  tactics  of  scattering  their 
forces.  The  army  continued  its  march  up 
Rock  River,  expecting  to  find  the  enemy  near 
its  source.  Gens.  Henry  and  Alexander  were 
sent  to  Fort  Winnebago,  between  Fox  and 
Wisconsin  Rivers.  Here  learning  that  Black 
Hawk  was  encamped  on  the  White  Water. 
Gen.  Henry  and  Maj.  Dodge  started  in  pur- 
suit. After  several  days'  hard  marching,  and 
much  suffering  for  food  and  exposure,  on  the 
21st  day  of  July  the  enemy  was  overtaken  on 
the  bluffs  of  the  Wisconsin,  and  a  decisive 
battle  fought  in  which  Gen.  Henry  com- 
manded the  American  forces,  which  consisted 
of  Maj.  Dodge's  battalion  on  the  right,  Col. 
Jones  regiment  in  the  center,  and  Col.  Col- 
lins on  the  left,  with  Maj.  E wing's  battalion 
in  the  front  and  Col.  Fry's  regiment  in  the 
rear  as  a  reserve.  In  this  order  they  charged 
the  enemy  and  drove  him  from  every  position, 
inflicting  great  loss,  and  when  the  sun  went 
down  they  were  victors  everywhere. 

In  the  morning  it  was  discovered  the  Indi- 
ans had  fled,  leaving  160  dead  on  the  field, 
and  of  their  wounded  taken  with  them, 
twenty-five  were  found  dea.l  the  next  day  on 
their  trail,  while  Gen.  Henry  lost  only  one 
man  killed  and  eight  wounded. 

On  the    '25th,  the  whole   army  was   put  in 


motion — Gen.  Atkinson's  forces  having  ar- 
rived, making  now  the  entire  force  1,200 
strong — and  on  the  2d  of  August  reached  the 
bluffs  of  the  Mississippi  River.  The  Indians 
had  reached  the  river  and  were  preparing  as 
fast  as  they  could  to  cross.  A  portion  had 
got  over,  when  Capt.  Throckmorton,  who 
was  on  the  steamer  Warrior,  attacked  and 
killed  a  great  many,  he  refusing  to  recognize 
a  white  flag  they  displayed.  "When  Gen.  At- 
kinson fell  upon  the  savages  at  the  mouth  of 
Bad  Ax  Creek,  in  which  the  Indians  were 
routed  and  150  more  slam,  besides  many  that 
were  drowned.  The  American  loss  was  only 
seventeen  killed. 

This  battle  virtually  ended  the  war.  On 
the  7th  of  August,  Gen.  Wintield  Scott  ar- 
rived and  assumed  command. 

Wayne  County  furnished  two  companies — 
Capt.  James  N.  Clark's  and  Capt.  Berryman 
G.  Wells',  for  the  Black  Hawk  war.  These 
Wayne  County  companies  were  in  the  Third 
Regiment,  First  Brigade.  Illinois  Mounted 
Volunteers,  on  the  requisition  of  Gen.  Atkin- 
son, by  the  Governor's  proclamation,  dated 
May  15,  L832,  and  were  mustered  out  August 
15,  1832. 

The  roster  of  Capt,  Clark's  Company  is  as 
follows:  James  N.  Clark,  Captain;  David 
Roy,  First  Lieutenant:  Jesse  Laid,  Second 
Lieutenant;  Daniel  Sampler,  William  A. 
Howard,  Henry  Ooley  and  Isaac  Street,  Ser- 
geant-; Joseph  Walker,  John  A.  MeWhirter, 
Lewi-  Watkins  and  Nathan  E.  Roberts,  Cor- 
porals; Privates— Harris  Austin,  James  B. 
Austin.  David  Alexander,  Roberi  Lain.  Green- 
up Bradshaw  (died  r nth   mar  Edwards- 

ville),  Asa  Bui  lard,  Joseph  ML  Campbell  (now 
living  near  Springfield,  111.).  James  Clark, 
William  Clark,  Younger  11.  Dickinson,  George 
Dalton,  Andrew  C.  Dalton,  George  Farleigh, 
John  F.  Fitzgerald  (died  here  seven  years 
ago),   Joseph  L.  Garrison,  .James    (JarrisOD, 


76 


IIISTOKY    OF    WAYNE   COUNTY. 


William  Graham,  Jeremiah  Hargrave,  Will- 
iani  Harland,  Alfred  Haws,  Benjamin  Haws, 
John  Hanson,  Samuel  James,  Peter  Kenche- 
low,  David  Martin,  Andrew  Mays,  James 
Mays,  William  McCullutn,  Joseph  Morris, 
Chesley  Ray,  Asa  Ray,  Jacob  Raster,  Fenton 
Saunders,  Richard  Sissions,  David  D.  Slo- 
cumb  (brother  of  Rigdon  B.  Slocnmb),  David 
Smith,  James  Trotter,  Johalem  Tyler,  George 
Walker,  Greenbury  Walker,  Jefferson  War- 
rick, James  B.  Womack,  John  G.  Widdus, 
Hugh  L.  White  and  Arthur  Bradshaw  (now 
living  near  Decatur,  Methodist  Episcopal 
preacher). 

AY  ells'  Company  was — Captain,  Benjamin 
G.  Wells;  First  Lier.tenant,  John  Brown; 
Second  Lieutenant,  James  B.  Carter;  Ser- 
geants, Hugh  Stewart,  James  G.  Brawner, 
Leon  Harrys  and  Riley  T.  Serratt;  Corporals, 
Robert  S.  Harris,  Ransom  Harris,  Albert 
Butler  and  Elijah  Harris;  Drummer,  Nathan 
Franklin;  Trumpeter,  Jonathan  Wolsey;  Pri- 
vates, John  Bird,  Justis  Beach,  John  Brown- 
ing, John  Berry,  Robert  D.  Cates,  HowletH. 
Cook,  Isaac  Carter,  William  Carter,  Job 
Downing  (went  to  Missouri,  elected  Sheriff 
and  died),  Robert  H.  Gaston,  Jacob  Hall, 
Isaiah  Hodge,  Isham  Hodge,  Isham  Hodge, 
James  D.  Harlan,  Moses  Hart,  Joseph  Harris, 
William  Irvin,  Samuel  Lock,  Jonathan  Mc- 
Cracken,  Nathan  Martin,  Samuel  Neel,  An- 
drew Neel,  Henry  Neel,  Thomas  Phelps,  Nich- 
olas Smith,  John  G.  Shoemaker,  Job  Ste- 
phens (died  in  1880),  John  W.  Snider,  Wesley 
Staton,  Feilding  C.  Turner  (was  in  the  war 
of  1812,  in  Black  Hawk  war,  and  in  Mexican 
war,  and  was  quite  awhile  an  Illinois  ranger), 
James  Turner,  William  White  (now  living  a 
few  miles  east  of  Fairfield),  M.  C.  Wells  and 
Clement  C.  Y'oung. 

This  constitutes  a  complete  and  corrected 
list  of  the  Black  Hawk  soldiers  who  went 
from  Wayne  County,  together  with  explana- 


tory notes,  so  far  as  we  could  at  this  late  day 
ascertain  them.  It  will  be  noticed  that  Jacob 
Hall  and  William  White  are  the  only  sur- 
vivors who  are  now  left  who  now  reside  in 
Wayne  County.  Mi-.  White  lives  a  few  miles 
east  of  Fairfield,  is  now  over  seventy  years  of 
age,  and  is  one  of  our  most  widely  respected 
citizens.  He  is  a  thrifty  farmer,  genial  and 
social  in  his  habits,  and  his  home  and  pleas- 
ant family  is  a  favorite  resort  for  his  numer- 
ous admirers  and  old-time  friends.  For  his 
complete  biography,  see  the  biographical  de- 
partment in  this  work. 

Jacob  Hall  lives  in  the  town  of  Fairfield, 
a  cheery,  hale  and  active  old  man,  as  sprightly 
as  any  of  our  young  men.  A  green  and 
cheerful  old  age  is  his,  and  the  frequent  re- 
currence of  his  name  in  all  parts  of  this  work 
is  a  good  demonstration  of  the  great  value  he 
has  been  in  the  labors  of  building  up  this 
county  to  its  present  large  proportions.  A 
good  citizen,  an  elegant  man  in  all  respects, 
with  a  wide  circle  of  friends  and  acquaint- 
ances, not  only  in  Illinois  but  throughout 
the  West. 

The  following  account  is  almost  word  for 
word  as  they  were  given  to  us  by  Mr.  Hall, 
of  his  recollections  of  going  a  soldiering. 
He  was  only  a  little  over  eighteen  years  old 
at  the  time:  They  were  mustered  into  the  serv- 
ice at  La  Salle  June  15,  and  at  once  went 
into  an  election  for  officers.  Samuel  Leech 
was  elected  Colonel.  Three  days  after  the 
election,  was  marched  to  Dixon,  where  tiny 
remained  one  night,  and  then  moved  on  to 
Fort  Hamilton;  then  made  a  forced  march  to 
Kellogg's  Grove,  in  order  to  relieve  Dement's 
command  at  that  point.  This  is  the  march 
spoken  of  above,  when  couriers  started  to 
Fort  Hamilton,  a  distance  of  fifty  miles,  at 
8  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  before  dark  the 
succoring  army  appeared  at  Kellogg's  Grove; 
the   men   marched  the  fifty  miles  in  a  little 


HISTORY   OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


Ies3  than  eight  Lours.  Does  not  that  record 
stand  unequaled!  The  command  returned 
to  Fort  Hamilton,  and  started  up  White  River 
in  pursuit  of  the  enemy.  How  the  enemy 
eluded  them  and  fell  into  the  hands  of  Gen. 
Henry  is  detailed  above.  Mr.  Hall  says  that 
it  took  the  command  eleven  days  to  return 
and  join  Gen.  Henry's  forces,  and  some  idea 
may  be  drawn  of  the  suffering  and  depriva- 
tion of  the  men  in  his  account  of  how  he 
nearly  kdled  himself  from  eating  a  bacon 
skin  that  had  been  left  hanging  in  a  tree, 
which  was  the  first  thing  he  could  get  hold 
of  when  he  looked  about  for  something  to 
eat  It  had  buns  there  for  some  time,  and  so 
hungry  was  he  that  upon  sight  he  seized  and 
eat  it  immediately.  Of  course  it  made  him 
very  sick,  and  the  wonder  is  it  did  not  kill 
him.  and  he  was  therefore  in  the  hospital 
from  that  time  on  until  able  to  return  home. 
He  did  not  get  back  home  until  the  following 
September.  It  will  be  noticed  that  both 
companies  were  in  the  Bad  Ax  fight. 

Just  here  we  wish  to  correct  an  error  and 
a  gross  injustice  done  in  the  war  records  to 
one  of  the  worthiest  citizens  Wayne  County 
has  ever  had.  We  refer  to  the  omission  of 
these  records  to  even  mention  the  name  of 
Col.  Samuel  Leech,  who  was  an  active  and 
efficient  officer  in  the  Black  Hawk  war,  and 
his  name  is  wholly  omitted,  except  where  it 
once  or  twice  appears  incident  ly  in  a  note 
set  opposite  some  private's  name,  with  an  en- 
try of  "  furloughed  by  Col.  Leech."  We 
have  been  told  that  Col.  Leech  was  not  pop- 
ular with  Gov.  Reynolds,  and  as  an  evidence 
of  this  fact,  he  was  urged  to  stand  for  a  Gen- 
eral's commission,  and  this  was  the  wish  of 
nearly  all  the  men,  but  Col.  Letch  was  afraid 
to  resign  his  Colonelcy  lest  he  should  be  in 
some  way  euchered  out  any  position  at  all. 
It  is  not  justice  to  the  memory  of  Gov.  Rey- 
nolds to  believe  he  would  do  anything  of  the 


kind,  and  yet  there  can  be  no  excuse  for  the 
treatment  that  was  given  Col.  Leech  in  this 
war.  Reynolds  and  Leech  are  now  both 
dead,  and  for  years  their  bones  have  been 
peacefully  moldering  in  their  graves.  They 
were  compeers  and  each  in  his  place  was 
worthy  of  the  rank  of  the  great  and  good. 
Col.  Leech  died,  so  far  as  we  can  learn,  in 
Wisconsin.  He  was  the  most  prominent  man 
that  Wayne  County  has  ever  presented.  He 
was  the  architect  of  the  destiny  of  the  county 
and  bore  the  great  responsibilities  that  were 
devolved  upon  him  nobly  and  well,  up  to  the 
time  he  left  Wayne  County  to  take  a  position, 
we  believe,  in  the  Government  Land  Office  at 
Quincy.  But  of  Col.  Leech  we  refer  more 
fully  in  the  chapter,  giving  some  account  of 
the  legal  life  of  the  county. 

Mexican  War. —  This  war  demonstrated 
the  fighting  qualities  of  the  Illinois  soldiers. 
Prior  to  that  time  they  had  answered  the 
severest  demands  the  Government  had  ever 
made'upon  them,  and  were  known  as  a  brave 
and  chivalrous  people  whose  patriotism  had 
never  been  smirched  with  a  single  doubt. 
But  bright  as  was  this  record,  when  they 
rushed  upon  the  bloody  battle  fields  of  Mex- 
ico they  surpassed  themselves  so  far,  and  per- 
formed so  many  and  heroic  feats,  that  they 
stood  out  upon  every  page  of  the  modern  his- 
tory of  the  country  with  a  reputation  not 
excelled  by  the  memorable  Old  Guard  that 
had  so  often  bore  aloft  the  eagles  of  France, 
and  rescued  victory  from  the  very  month  of 
defeat. 

On  the  1  1th  day  of  May,  1840,  Congress 
passed  an  act  declaring  that  "  By  the  act  of 
the  Republic  of  Mexico,  a  state  of  war  exists 
|  between  that  Government  and  the  United 
States."  That  body  at  the  same  time  appro- 
priated SI 1 1. (it ii 1. 01 10  to  carry  on  the  war,  and 
authorized  the  President  to  accept  50,000 
volunteers.      Thirty  five    Illinois    companies 


78 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


responded  to  the  call,  and  the  place  of  ren- 
dezvous was  Alton.  There  had  been  seventy- 
five  companies  organized  and  reported. 
These  men  were  all  furious  to  go.  Four 
regiments  were  at  once  mustered  in,  to  wit: 
First,  Col.  Hardin;  Second,  Col.  W.  H.  Bis- 
sell;  Third,  Col.  Ferris  Foreman.  These 
included  the  thirty  companies  that  were 
accepted  under  the  first  muster.  Afterward 
Col.  Boten  was  accepted  with  the  Fourth 
Regiment. 

The  Wayne  County  company  was  assigned 
to  the  Third  Regiment,  Col.  Foreman  com- 
manding, and  were  mustered  into  the  service 
July  2,  1846.  The  First  and  Second  Regi- 
ments were  brigaded  together  and  the  Third 
and  Fourth  together.  The  last  were  in  Gen. 
Patterson's  division,  and  marched  from  Mat- 
amoras  to  Tampico,  where  they  formed  a  part 
of  Gen.  Shields'  force  while  he  was  in  com- 
mand of  that  city.  On  the  9th  of  March, 
the  Third  and  Fourth  Regiments  took  part  in 
the  descent  on  Vera   Cruz. 

In  the  battle  of  Cerro  Gordo,  the  Third 
Regiment,  in  which  was  the  Wayne  County 
company,  was  hotly  engaged,  and  gained 
great  credit  for  their  bravery.  It  was  here 
that  Gen.  Shields  received  his  wound  that  is 
now  celebrated  all  over  the  world  as  the  most 
remarkable  recovery  on  record.  Six  thou- 
sand prisoners  were  captured  in  the  fort,  to- 
gether with  Gen.  Santa  Anna's  carriage  and 
wooden  leg. 

The  Third  and  Fourth  Regiments  were  re- 
turned by  vessel  to  New  Orleans,  and  on  May 
25,  1847,  mustered  out. 

The  company  from  Wayne  County  was 
Company  F,  Third  Regiment  in  the  Mexican 
war,  and  the  roster  of  the  company  is  as  fol- 
lows: Captain,  John  A.  Campbell;  First 
Lieutenants,  Jacob  Love,  Ephraim  Merritt 
and  Samuel  Hooper;  Second  Lieutenant, Sam- 
uel  J.  R.  Wilson;    Sergeants,  Austin  Organ, 


William  Merritt,  James  Turner  and  Warren 
E  McMackin;  Corporals,  Daniel  Simpson, 
John  W.  Wallace,  William  B.  Wilson  and 
Joseph  J.  R.  Turney;  Musician,  Jefferson  W. 
Barnhill;  Privates,  William  R.  Armstrong, 
Rigdon  S.  Barnhill.  Nathan  Crews,  James  E. 
Cox,  Hiram  H.  Cook,  Howlet  H.  Cook,  Will- 
iam M.  Cook,  Benjamin  WT.  Clevenger,  John 
G.  Dorris,  David  H.  Day.  Sterlin  C.  B.  El- 
lis. John  Y  C.  Edwards,  John  Ewing,  Ben- 
jamin Funkhauser,  Samuel  Fitzgerauld. 
William  J.  Frazier,  William  Gray,  Ellis  S. 
Gray,  Sion  Harris,  William  D.  Ham,  Will- 
iam E.  Harlin,  Jqhn  Hulshcraft,  Riley  V. 
Johnson,  Silas  Johnson,  William  Kiinmels, 
Bluford  Lord,  James  Lacy,  William  T. 
Mathews,  Willis  Morris,  Davis  Murphy, 
James  W.  McCullough,  David  McCullum, 
Samuel  McCullum,  David  Owen,  Hosea  C. 
Phelps,  William  C.  Phelps,  James  Reid, 
William  Reed  (2d),  Jeremiah  Rasher,  Henry 
C.  Rusher,  William  C.  Simpson,  Andrew  J. 
Simpson.  William  Simpson,  Rowland  H. 
Shannon,  Jefferson  Sloan,  Ninian  R.  Taylor, 
James  H.  Taylor,  John  Tims,  John  White, 
Alfred  West,  Joseph  Copeland,  John  R.  Fra- 
zur,  William  J.  Lockhart.  William  H.  Ma- 
bry,  Benjamin  Merritt,  Abraham  Rister  and 
William  Reed  (1st). 

Jacob  Love  died  at  Camargo  October  5, 
1846.  Ephraim  Merritt  resigned  November 
'  28,  1846,  at  Matamoras.  Samuel  Hooper 
was  elected  Second  Lieutenant  from  Sargeant, 
October  1,  1846,  and  promoted  to  First 
Lieutenant  November  28,  1846.  Lieut. 
Samuel  J.  R.  Wilson  resigned  August  28, 
1846,  at  Camp  Patterson, Texas.  William  R. 
Armstrong,  William  J.  Frazier,  Silas  John- 
son, William  Kimme)  and  James  Lacy  were 
sick  at  Matamoras  December  14,  1846.  And 
Sterlin  C.  B.  Ellis  was  wounded  at  Cerro 
Gordo.  Joseph  Copeland  died  December  9, 
1846,   in  hospital   at  Matamoras.      John   R. 


£ 


Of 
UNIVt  NOIS. 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


31 


Frazur  died  December  7.  same  place.  Will- 
iam J.  Lockhart  died  August  14.  1847,  at 
Brazos  Island,  Texas.  William  H  Mabry 
died  August  10,  1846,  on  ship  while  crossing 
Gulf.  Benjamin  Merritt  shot  at  Battle  of 
Cerro  Gordo,  April  18,  1847.  Abraham 
Rister  died  September  24,  1848,  in  hospital 
at  Matamoras.  William  Reed  list),  died 
October  2,  1846.  at  Camargo.  Discharged 
for  disability,  Isaac  S.  Warmouth.  James 
H.  Farley,  William  Black,  Benjamin  Beech. 
David  Cox,  Moses  M,  Campbell,  Daniel  H. 
Clevenger,  Henry  Fitch.  James  M.  Harris, 
Thomas  J.  Harris,  John  B.  Holmes,  Abra- 
ham Linder,  James  McCrary.  George  W. 
Mathews.  Jacob  Palmer,  Henry  Reod.  Tyra 
Robinson  and  Shirley  Trotter. 

The  Civil  War. — Here  was  one  of  Ameri- 
ca's fatalities.  Our  people  had  fought  out  all 
their  wars  of  defense;  had  met  the  red 
man  "on  his  path  and  slew  him,"  and  had 
gone  on  with  such  splendor  and  success  that, 
perhaps,  in  God's  economy,  it  was  needed 
that  we  be  chastened.  And  sure  enough  we 
were  compelled  to  drink  the  bitter  cup  to  the 
■very  dregs.  But  it  is  no  purpose  of  this  chap- 
ter to  write  the  history  of  that  war.  It 
should  not,  it  cannot  be  written  now.  The 
dates  of  those  great  and  sad  events  may  be 
chronicled,  the  statistics  carefully  gathered 
and  the  tremendous  facts  compiled  and  tiled 
away  for  that  man  who  will  come,  long  after 
we  are  all  inhabitants  of  the  eternal  silent 
city,  and  who  will  have  no  prejudices  or 
passions  to  contend  with,  and  who  then  only 
will  be  able  to  see  the  real  effect  and  group 
these  and  the  real  causes  together,  and  show 
the  world  a  complete  picture  of  what  it  all 
was,  what  it  meant,  and  what  permanent 
evils  it  inflicted,  not  only  on  the  American 
people,  but  upon  the  civilization  of  our  times. 
The  reader  will  understand  that  we  mean 
much  more  than  is  commonly  understood  by 


the  term  History.  We  do  not  mean  the  sim- 
ple annals,  and  the  mere  order  of  events  as 
they  occured.  The  majority  of  people,  in 
loose  use  of  language,  call  such  things  his- 
tory, but  they  are  not.  This  is  mere  chro- 
nology, that  in  its  simplicity,  and  requires  but 
very  little  higher  order  of  talents  to  gather 
and  write,  than  the  rudest  of  nursery  stories. 
To  write  the  history  of  a  people,  the  true 
history  that  gives  events  and  demonstrates 
the  connection  of  causes  and  effects,  to  show 
the  farthest  reaching  of  circumstances  and 
their  intimate  connection  one  with  another, 
and  the  effects  that  apparently  widely  dis- 
connected facts  combined,  and  how  and  where 
they  influenced  for  good  or  bad  generations 
of  men  nho  were  not  born  until  long  after 
tbey  had  transpired,  is  the  province  of  the 
great  historian,  who  it  is  to  be  hoped  will 
some  time  come  and  write  the  world's  his- 
tory. This  would  be  the  greatest  book  ever 
given  to  man.  aud  if  it  is  ever  written,  then, 
it  is  no  extravagance  to  say,  that  you  may 
make  bonfires  of  all  else  that  has  so  far 
come  from  the  teeming  printing-press. 
There  is  wisdom  for  the  great  mind  in  statis- 
tics, more  here  than  anywhere  else  and  the 
fault  of  the  generations  that  have  passed 
away,  is  that  they  never  imagine  in  the  re- 
motest degree,  that  the  dry  statistics  of  civil- 
ized man  were  but  the  mere  husks  for  cranks 
and  specialists  to  pour  over  and  give  even 
the  slightest  consideration. 

We  deem  these  hints  appropriate  to  give 
the  reader  in  advance  of  our  short  account  of 
the  part  played  by  the  people  of  Wayne 
County  in  the  great  ami  unfortunate  war 
that  so  recently  drenched  this  fair  land  in 
fraternal  blood,  and  devastated  so  large  a 
portion  of  our  Union,  in  order  to  prepare  his 
mind  to  not  anticipate  that  wo  are  here  writ 
ing  any  portion  of  the  real  history  of  the 
late  war;  for  at  least  one  hundred  vears  must 


82 


HISTORY    OF    WAYNE  COT  XT  Y. 


yet  pass  away  before  all  the  far-reaching 
effects  of  that  bloody  issue  will  have  worked 
out  their  mission  and  ceased  to  be  an  influ- 
ence upon  men.  and,  at  least,  upon  American 
civilization. 

In  April,  1861,  Fort  Sumter  was  tired  on 
by  rebels,  and  the  lightning's  flash  carried 
the  gun's  reverations  to  nearly  every  hamlet 
in  the  land,  and  instantly  a  great  nation  was 
in  arms,  and  the  "  long  roll "  that  was  beat- 
en from  ocean  to  ocean  tilled  all  the  streets 
and  highways  with  excited  men,  weeping 
women  and  frightened  children.  By  day 
and  by  night  bands  of  music  paraded  the 
streets,  and  the  clang  of  the  church  bells 
added  to  the  universal  din,  and  upon  the 
surging  people  flared  the  bonfires  upon  "the 
puplic  squares,  and  then,  indeed,  did  the 
white-robed  angel  of  peace  fold  her  out- 
stretched wings,  and  war.  grim-visaged  war, 
stalked  abroad  in  all  the  land,  and  the  era  of 
strife  and  agony  and  death  was  inaugurated. 
All  over  the  land  it  was  the  same  grim 
story;  and  yet  how  difficult  it  was  for  the 
sober-minded,  reflecting  citizen  to  realize 
that  civil  war  was  upon  us — how  impossible 
for  them  to  comprehend  the  magnitude  of 
the  evil  hour.  "  Cry  havoc  and  let  slip  the 
dogs  of  war,"  was  answered  by  Seward's  call 
for  75.000  volunteers,  to  put  down  the  rebell- 
ion in  ninety  days,  and  is  it  a  wonder  lhat 
the  unthinking  people  concluded  that  such  a 
war  wasjbut  a  holiday  picnic? 

We  have  said  that  we  do  not  here  propose 
to  write  the  history  of  that  war.  but  there  is 
one  phase  of  those  times  that  are  so  extraor- 
dinary or  curious  that  we  cannot  refrain  from 
giving  it  to  the  reader,  and  it  may  start  a  train 
of  reflection  in  his  mind  that  he  has  not  yet 
thought  of.  The  rebels  claimed  that  they 
stood  upon  the  side  of  the  fundamental  law 
— the  constitution — the  supreme  law  of  the 
land.     Judge  Taney.  Judge  of  the  Supreme 


Court,  and  a  jurist  of  great  ability  and  in- 
tegrity, had  decided  that  by  the  plain  terms 
of  the  constitution,  the  South  had  a  right  to 
take  their  slaves  into  the  Territories,  and  the 
constitutionality  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law 
had  never  been  questioned.  The  Republican 
party  of  the  North,  it  seems,  could  only  an- 
swer that  there  was  a  Higher  Law  than  the 
constitution,  and  Republican  Legislatures 
nullified  the  fugitive  law. 

Yet,  after  thus  planting  themselves  upon 
the  constitution,  they  fired  upon  the  flag, 
levied  war  upon  the  Government,  because 
the  Republican  party  had,  in  accordance  with 
the  law,  elected  Mr.  Lincoln  President  of 
the  United  States.  And  thus  the  scenes  in 
the  panorama  shifted,  and  the  Higher-Law 
men  had  the  constitution  upon  their  side, 
and  the  once  fierce  defenders  of  the  strict 
letter  of  the  law  became  rebels  and  outlaws, 
whom  the  constitution  plainly  said  must  be 
hunted  to  the  death. 

But  to  refer  to  what  was  done  here  upon 
the  reception  of  the  news  of  the  tiring  upon 
Fort  Sumter.  Hon.  W.  H.  Robinson,  of 
Fairfield,  tells  us  he  was  in  Carmi  attending 
upon  the  Circuit  Court,  and  so  intense  and 
universal  was  the  excitement  that  the  court 
at  once  adjourned  sine  die,  and  he  returned 
to  his  home  in  Fairfield,  reaching  there  about 
midnight.  He  at  that  hour  found  the  people 
upon  the  street,  and  the  band  was  soon 
marching  to  inspiriting  music,  and  bonfires 
threw  a  lurid  light  over  the  strange  scene. 
The  flag  was  soon  run  up  on  the  court  house, 
and  the  people  wildly  cheered  it  as  the  wind 
lifted  its  folds,  and  in  its  dumb  language  ap- 
pealed to  the  hearts  of  all  patriots  to  protect 
it  and  avenge  the  insult  that  had  been  placed 
upon  it.  Soon  a  fifer  and  drummer  had  been 
secured,  and  when  the  band  rested  its  shrill 
notes  and  martial  drum  beat  rang  out  upon 
the  air.  and  contributed  not  a  little   to   swell 


HlsToliY    OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


83 


the  volume  of  hitont  patriotism  in  the  breasts 
of  those  who  were  soou  to  kindle  the  camp 
tires  that  nothing  could  extinguish  except  a 
restored  Union  and  the  stamping-out  of  every 
vestige  of  treason  in  the  land. 

In  a  short  time,  a  full  company  (Company 
G)  of  107  men  was  recruited,  the  active,  or 
perhaps,  rather,  the  most  active,  organizers! 
being  Dr.  W.  M.  Cooper,  N.  Crews,  P.  H. 
Gillison  and  W.  H.  Robinson,  Dr.  Cooper 
was  elected  Captain,  Nathan  Crews,  Firsi 
Lieutenant,  and  W.  Robinson,  Second  Lieu- 
tenant. The  company  was  ordered  to  Anna, 
and  became  a  part  of  the  Eighteenth  Illinois, 
Col.  Lawler's  regiment.  Mr.  Robinson  was 
detailed  as  Adjutant,  and  in  this  capacity. 
he  says  the  first  order  he  ever  received  was 
signed  ('apt.  U.  S.  Grant,  mustering  officer, 
who  had  mustered  the  Eighteenth  Regiment, 
and  at  once  issued  order-  for  an  election  of 
field  officers.  The  regiment  soon  went  to 
Bird's  Point.  Mo.  James  D.  Lichtenberger, 
J.  W.  Hill,  W.  A.  Reuben  and  S.  Boseman 
joined  the  regiment  in  July,  the  two  former 
as  musicians. 

July  15,  another  company  was  organized, 
called  the  Hicks  Guards,  Samuel  Hooper  was 
made  Captain,  and  William  Steward  First 
and  J.  P.  Rider  Second  Lieutenant.  Among 
the  privates  in  this  company  were  Adam 
Files.  James  Hearn,  H.  A.  Organ  and  Samuel 
Hooper,  who  were  veterans  in  the  Mexican 
war.  Among  the  young  men  who  joined 
here  were  James  Ellsworth,  A.  Humes,  Bates 
O.  H.  Owen,  G.  J.  George,  H.  D.  Pearce  and 
J ames  Jordan.  On  Monday.  the22dof  July, 
the  citizens  gave  the  company  a  dinner  in 
the  grove,  where  speeches  were  made  by  J. 
H.  Cooper,  W.  H.  Robinson  and  R.  P.  Han- 
nah. This  company  was  at  once  assigned  to 
the  Fortieth  Regiment.  About  this  time  a 
company  was  also  organized  at  JefFersonvillo, 
Capt.    Elm.      It    was    also    in    the    Fortieth 


Regiment.  The  two  companies  went  to 
Springfield,  where  they  went  into  training 
ipiarters.  They  were  accompanied  to  Spring- 
field by  a  large  number  of  citizens,  among 
whom  was  the  Fairfield  Sax-horn  Band. 
Capt.  Hooper's  company  was  transferred  to 
Charleston,  Mo.,  whore  ten  of  the  men  de- 
serted, when  Lieut.  Stewart  immediately 
returned  to  this  county  and  secured  the  new 
recruits  to  fill  thoir  places.  From  Charleston, 
a  portion  of  the  company  were  sent  on  a 
scouting  expedition  and  captured  a  rebel 
Lieutenant,  Sergeant  and  a  private.  The 
mi  \i  day.  twenty-six  of  the  boys  went  on 
another  scout,  and  instead  of  capturing  any 
rebels  they  were  suddenly  tired  upon  by  a 
hundred  of  the  enemy,  and  in  their  hasty 
retreat  lost  two  of  their  men  as  prisoners. 
In  August,'  H.  H.  Beecher  was  appointed 
Sutler  of  Hick's  regiment.  August  24,  R. 
S.  Barnhill  joined  the  company,  and  Col. 
Hicks  made  him  Adjutant  of  the  regiment. 
On  Monday.  August  26.  a  meeting  was  hold 
at  Mt.  Frio  for  the  purpose  of  organizing  a 
cavalry  company. 

Capt.  W.  M.  Cooper,  of  Company  G, 
Eighteenth  Illinois  Regiment,  died  at  Cairo 
September  11.  He  was  aged  twenty -five 
years  and  four  months.  His  body  was 
brought  home  for  burial.  Nathan  Crews 
wfis  then  chosen  Captain  by  acclamation. 
Capt.  Crews  addressed  the  men  after  his 
eleet  ion.  and  referring  to  their  great  loss  in 
the  death  of  Dr.  Cooper  hi'  began  to  cry.  and 
it  is  said  the  longer  he  talked  the  louder  he 
cried,  until  the  entire  company  joined  him  in 
sincere  sorrow.  October  21,  Lieut.  W.  H. 
Robinson  resigned  and  came  homo  on  account 
of  sickness.  November  1,  the  Eighteenth 
regirnent  was  sent  on  an  expedition  to  try 
and  capture  Jeff  Thompson,  who  was  sup- 
posed to  be  at  Bloomtield,   Mo. 

On  Sunday  evening,    September  29,  Will 


84 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


iain  Evans  was  found  murdered  in  camp  at 
Mound  City.  The  officer  of  the  guard,  hear- 
ing the  shot,  ran  to  where  the  man  lay  and 
discovered  Robert  Dickinson,  of  the  same 
company,  with  a  gun  in  his  hands,  and,  upon 
being  asked,  "'"Where  is  the  man  that  com- 
mitted the  murder?"  the  latter  answered, 
"  I  am  the  man. "  He  was  taken  to  the  guard 
house,  and  the  next  morning  objection  being 
made  to  having  the  prisoner  tried  by  the 
authorities  of  Mound  City,  it  was  decided 
that  he  be  tried  by  a  jury  of  twelve  men 
selected  from  his  own  company.  Capt. 
Crews  ordered  the  Orderly  Sergeant  to  select 
twelve  competent  men  to  act  as  jurymen,  with 
the  following  result:  S.  Stark,  William 
Crews,  Stephen  B.  Sibley,  James  Holmes, 
William  R.  Wood,  B.  T.  Atherton,  William 
R.  '  Thompson,  C.  W.  Gaston,  George  W. 
Powell,  William  Pendleton,  V.  L.  Wilson 
and  O.  D.  Schooley.  Sis  witnesses  were  sworn 
and  examined,  after  which  Capt.  Crews  in- 
structed the  jury  to  bring  in  a  verdict  in 
accord  with  the  evideuee.  After  a  short  de  - 
liberation  a  verdict  of  guilty  was  rendered, 
and  Capt.  Crews  proceeded  to  pass  "sentence 
of  death  upon  the  prisoner.  On  Wednesday, 
October  2,  the  man  was  hung,  Company  G 
acting  as  a  body  comitatus. 

All  through  October  and  November,  recruit- 
ing went  on  in  this  county,  Capts.  Organ 
and  Sebell  each  enlisting  a  respectable  squad 
of  men.  Capt.  Samuel  Hooper  also  enlisted 
some  men  in  the  county  at  this  time. 

In  Decembor,  Sergt.  A.  H.  Baker,  recruit- 
ing officer  of  the  Fortieth  Regiment,  came  to 
this  county,  and  enlisted  quite  a  number. 
Already  a  large  number  of  the  AVayne  County 
boys,  who  had  previously  enlisted,  were  at 
this  time  in  Company  A  of  that  regiment. 

In  the  early  part  of  1862,  the  Fortieth 
Regiment,  with  which  there  were  two  Wayne 
County  companies,  were  ordered  to  Paducah, 


Ky.,  where  they  spent  most  of  the  win 
ter.  In  December,  1861,  the  Eighteenth  Reg- 
iment, with  which  Capt.  Crews'  Company 
was  still  stationed,  was  ordered  into  active 
service,  and  was  in  the  Western  Department 
all  through  the  winter's  campaign.  On  Feb- 
ruary, 1862,  the  regiment  participated  in  the 
battle  of  Fort  Donelson.  In  the  fight,  Com- 
pany G  lost  twenty-nine  men  killed  and 
wounded.  Among  the  killed  were  W.  R. 
Thompson  and  O.  D.  Schooley,  of  Clay  City, 
and  John  Gallent,  Jefferson  Powless,  G.  W. 
Powell,  M.  St.  John,  Thomas  Green  and 
William  M.  Young.  Capt.  Crews  received 
two  shots  ;  one  broke  his  left  arm,  the  other, 
a  spent  ball,  only  stunned  him  slightly. 
Among  the  others  who  were  wounded  at  this 
battle  was  Sergt.  Fitzgerel.  Crews  and  Fitz- 
gerel  both  returned  home  on  a  short  furlough, 
but  returned  to  the  conflict  as  soon  as  their 
wounds  were  mended. 

In  the  spring  of  1862,  the  Fortieth  Regi- 
ment was  ordered  to  Savannah,  Tenn.,  and 
there  the  Eighteenth  soon  joined  them.  The 
Fortieth  Regiment  participated  in  the  battle 
of  Pittsburg  Landing,  also  Island  No.  10. 
Capt.  Cooper,  of  Company  D,  was  killed,  and 
twenty-nine  were  killed  and  seventy  wounded. 
Among  the  killed  were  Adam  Files,  William 
Newby,  E.  H.  Willett,  George  Gray,  John 
Reene  and  G.  H.  Baird. 

Among  the  privates  of  Company  E  reported 
killed  were  C.  W.  Windland.  WT.  W.  Eckman, 
William  Ward,  B.  F.  Shior,  T.  M.  Miller, 
James  Mays  and  F.  Stanley.  Among  those 
killed  in  Company  G  were  C.  C.  Hopkins. 
Jr.,  William  S.  Harlan,  G.  W.  Harlan,  D. 
W.  Proudfoot  and  J.  M.  Smith.  Of  Com- 
pany I,  there  were  three  reported  killed — 
Lieut.  Holmes,  Robert  Hurley  and  T.  B. 
Lee.  Capt.  Ulm,  who  was  at  first  reported 
killed  at  this  battle,  was  shot  in  the  mouth. 

Company  G,  of  the  Eighteenth  Regiment, 


HISTORY   OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


85 


did  not  suffer  very  much.  Ten  men  were 
wounded,  three  of  whom  were  severely — 
Lieut.  E.  George,  William  Crews  and  H.  Me 
White.  Lieut.  George  was  taken  to  Mount 
Vernon,  Ind.,  where  he  afterward  died.  His 
body  was  brought  home  and  buried  here. 
Lieut.  H.  H.  Cook,  formerly  a  resident  of 
this  county,  but  at  that  time  with  a  company 
from  Clay  County,  died  afterward  from  his 
wounds.  Capt.  Crews  acted  as  Major  on  the 
battlefield.  In  Jane,  1862.  in  writing  home 
to  a  friend,  he  said:  "  It  is  twelve  months  to- 
day since  we  were  mustered  into  service  for 
three  years.  Twelve  months  have  brought  a 
great  change  to  the  Eighteenth  Regiment. 
Out  of  1.030  men  that  started  with  us.  193 
have  gone  to  their  long  home,  to  rest  from 
the  toils  of  the  war;  69  are  disabled  for  life; 
87  are  on  detached  service,  leaving  but  317 
all  right  for  duty  and  a  tight."  From  the 
pen  of  R.  S.  Barnhill  we  have  the  following 
report  of  the  condition  of  the  Fortieth  Regi- 
ment at  this  time:  "On  entering  upon  the 
present  campaign,  the  regiment  had  874 
men,  rank  and  file.  The  battle  of  Shiloh 
reduced  the  aggregate  to  794;  since  then  we 
have  lost  92  men  by  wounds  and  disease; 
four-fifths  of  these  have  died  of  wounds  re- 
ceived at  Shiloh,  and  nearly  every  day  we 
hear  of  some  of  our  boys  being  dead  or 
wounded  or  in  the  military  hospitals. 

"  Of  our  loss  in  commissioned  officers,  four 
were  killed,  six  disabled,  and  seven  have  re- 
signed. Thus  our  aggregate  up  to  dale 
stands  702.  We  have  now  only  one  field  of- 
ficer with  us,  although  we  are  looking  for 
some  commissions  in  a  day  or  two  to  till 
some  of  the  vacancies." 

In  August,  1802.  Capt.  Organ  secured  a 
company  of  men  from  this  county,  and  about 
the  last  of  the  month  Capt.  Organ  again  re- 
turned here,  and  procured  quite  an  enlist- 
ment to  his  company  of  cavalry. 


In  September.  1862,  Maj.  CrewR  received 
pre  .motion  to  the  rank  of  Colonel,  but  after- 
ward  resigned  and  returned  to  Fairfield. 

The  Eighteenth  Regiment  was  in  the  cam 
paign  of  1S03   in   the  West,  and  assisted  in 
the    battles    of    Vicksburg,  Champion    Hill, 
Raymond,  and  other  fights  of  that  hard  cam 
paign. 

On  January  15,  1864,  Capt.  Andrew 
George,  of  Company  G,  Twenty-first  Illinois, 
died  from  a  wound  received  in  the  battle  of 
Chickamauga.  In  June,  1864,  the  time  <>f 
enlistment  having  expired  for  a  number  of 
Wayne  County  men,  three-fourths  of  the  men 
in  Company  M,  of  the  Fifth  Illinois  Cavalry, 
re-enlisted  for  another  three  years,  under 
Capt.  Jessup. 

January,  1S04,  the  Fortieth  Regiment, 
camped  at  Scottsboro,  Ala.,  also  enlisted  for 
another  three  years,  and  were  granted  a  fur- 
lough by  the  Government. 

About  the  1st  of  February,  1864,  Lieut. 
Col.  Howe,  of  the  One  Hundred  and 
Twenty-fourth,  proceeded  to  this  point,  and 
enlisted  quite  a  number  of  men  in  his  com- 
pany. In  February,  Brig.  Gen.  Harrow,  of 
the  Fortieth,  was  assigned  to  the  command 
of  the  Fourth  Division,  Fifteenth  Corps. 
He  was  from  this  part  of  Illinois,  and  was 
known  as  "Old  Bill  Harrow-' among  the  boys. 

On  January  4.  1864.  while  at  the  United 
Stairs  Marine  General  Hospital,  New 
Orleans.  William  H.  Haynes,  of  Company 
I).  Eighty  seventh  Regimont,  died.  The  de- 
ceased  was  born  in  this  county,  on  March  9, 
1844,  and  enlisted  in  the  Eighty-seventh,  on 
April  13.  180)3.  He  was  the  only  brother  of 
Capt  Dan  Haynes,  of  the  Eighteenth  Regi- 
ment, and  was  the  youngest  of  the  family. 

On  April  23,  18.54,  the  veterans  of  the 
Fortieth     and    the    Fifth     Illinois    Cavalry, 

which  were  hoi >n  a  furlough,  were  given 

a  reception  by  the  people  of  this  county. 


86 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


la  May,  1864,  Compainy  D  of  the  Eighty- 
seventh  Mounted  Infantry,  participated  in  the 
fighting  in  the  Red  River  region.  Among, 
the  wounded  from  this  county  were  G.  W. 
Creamer,  James  Shannon,  Julius  Smith  and 
Harrison  Frazier. 

In  May,  1864,  Capt.  Organ  secured  the 
enlistment  of  another  company  of  men  from 
this  county  for  100  days,  and  they  were  ac- 
cepted by  Gov.  Yates. 

In  May,  1864,  the  following  members  of 
Crews'  Company  G  of  the  Eighteenth  Regi- 
ment returned  home,  their  three  years'  enlist- 
ment having  expired:  Capt.  Dan  Haynes, 
William  Wood,  Joseph  Hooper,  Leander 
Knowles,  Sam  Sailor,  William  Pendleton, 
Wesley  Foreaker,  C.  W.  Gaston,  Wade 
Beach,  N.  S.  McCown,  Theodore  Edmonson, 
Alfred  Casper  aDd  Mark  D.  Smith. 

On  June  27,  the  Fortieth  Regiment  par- 
ticipated in  the  battle  of  Kenesaw  Mount- 
ain. Lieut.  Col.  R.  S.  Barnhill,  of  this 
county,  was  shot  through  the  head  and  in- 
stantly killed,  while  leading  his  column  in  a 
charge.  Jasper  Massey,  of  this  county,  who 
was  in  command  of  Company  I,  was  also  se- 
verely wounded,  and  fell  into  the  hands  of 
the  enemy.  Austin  Burroughs,  from  this 
county,  a  private  in  Company  E,  was  also 
killed  in  this  battle. 

On  July  10,  Lieut.  Col.  A.  T.  Galbraith 
was  severely  wounded  near  Atlanta,  Ga.  He 
was  shot  by  a  rebel  sharpshooter,  the  ball 
taking  effoct  in  his  ankle  and  breaking  both 
bones. 

On  July  23,  1S64,  the  people  of  Hickory 
Hill  and  adjoining  townships  gave  a  recep- 
tion to  Company  K,  of  the  Forty-ninth  Reg- 
iment Illinois  Veteran  Volunteers.  Over 
1,000  people  were  in  attendance. 

August  5,  1864,  Lieut.  Baker,  of  Company 
M,  Fifth  Illinois  Cavalry,  died  at  Vicksburg, 
Miss.,    where   the   regiment  was  encamped. 


In  the  fight  at  Atlanta,  Ga.,  Company  D,  of 
the  Fortieth,  lost  one  man  killed,  James  T. 
Butler,  and  five  wounded.  Among  those 
from  this  county  who  were  wounded  in  the 
campaign  that  summer,  were  Lieut.  G.  I. 
George,  Alfred  W.  Daisy,  Pleasant  Shores, 
who  afterward  died  on  July  8;  James  G- 
Price,  James  Lock,  Isaac  T.  Steed  and  Sam- 
uel T.  Chapman. 

Lieut.  George  was  reported  missing  at 
that  battle  of  Kenesaw  Mountain,  and  was 
for  a  long  time  thought  to  be  dead.  He  was 
taken  a  prisoner  and  sent  to  Charleston,  S. 
O,  where  he  slowly  recovered  from  his 
wound,  and  from  where  he  finally  communi- 
cated with  his  friends  here,  much  to  their 
joy.      (See  his  biography  elsewhere.) 

Maj.  Organ,  while  stationed  at  Cairo, 
died  there  in  the  last  week  in  August,  1864. 
His  body  was  afterward  brought  to  Fairfield 
where  it  was  interred. 

November  5,  6  and  7,  1864.  the  people  of 
Fairfield  and  vicinity  held  a  very  successful 
Sanitary  Fair  at  this  point.  The  fair 
netted  the  round  sum  of  $575  above  all 
expenses. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  Wayne  County 
furnished  during  the  war  twelve  full  com- 
panies, to  wit:  Company  G,  Eighteenth  Illi- 
nois :  the  officers  are  given  above.  Company 
D,  Samuel  Hooper,  the  first  Captain,  and 
William  Stewart,  his  successor;  at  different 
times,  the  First  Lieutenants  were  William 
Stewart,  Joseph  P.  Rider  and  William  C. 
Murphy;  and  the  Second  Lieutenants  were 
Joseph  P.  Rider  and  Gilbert  J.  George. 
And  Company  E,  Capt.  Daniel  N.  Ulm,  and 
the  First  Lieutenants  were,  in  succession, 
Andrew  F.  Nesbitt  and  William  H.  Summers; 
Second  Lieutenants,  in  the  order  given,  were 
William  H.  Summers,  Benjamin  F.  Best  and 
William  W.  Dunlap.  The  last  two  compa- 
nies were  in  the  Fortieth  Illinois  Regiment. 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


87 


Then  there  was  Company  I,  of  the  Forty- 
eighth  Regiment,  Capt.  Ashley  T.  Galbraith; 
First  Lieutenants,  in  the  order,  EHas  M. 
Holmes,  Stephen  F.  Grimes,  Thomas  L  B. 
Weems;  Second  Lieutenants.  Stephen  F. 
Grimes,  T.  L.  B.  Weeins,  William  M.  Gal- 
braith. In  the  Fifth  Illinois  Cavalry  were 
two  companies.  Company  D,  Capt.  Henry  A. 
Organ;  First  Lieutenant,  S.  J.  R.  Wilson; 
Second  Lieutenant,  Calvin  Schell.  Also 
Company  M,  Capt.  Robert  Schell,  who  was 
succeeded  by  Alexander  Jessup;  First  Lieu- 
tenant, Samuel  Burrell;  Second  Lieutenant, 
Albert  S.  Robinson.  Next  was  Company  H. 
Fifty-sixth  Illinois,  Capt.  James  P.  Files; 
First  Lieutenant,  Aaron  E.  Scott;  Second 
Lieutenant,  John  J.  Scott.  Then  there  was 
Company  D,  Eighty-seventh  Illinois.  Capt. 
Jacob  B.  Borah;  First  Lieutenant,  James  T. 
Price:  Second  Lieutenant,  Lewis  Mayo. 

Company  F,  Eighteenth  Regiment,  Capt. 
Jabez  J.  Anderson;  John  Olney,  Mordecai 
B.  Kelly  and  George  Miller,  First  Lieuten- 
ants; and  William  M.  Thompson,  George 
Miller  and  Samuel  P.  Carmer,  Second  Lieu- 
tenants. This  company  was  partly  composed 
of  men  from  other  counties  than  Wayne. 

In  18lH,  Capt.  Organ  enlisted  a  full  com- 
pany of  men  from  Wayne  County  for  the 
hundred-day  service. 

In  September,  1862,  Company  K,  One 
Hundred  and  Twenty- fourth  Regiment,  Capt. 
James  H.  Morgan,  was  organized.  The  First 
Lieutenants  were  Thomas  J.  William  and 
Stephen  N.  Saunders;  Second  Lieutenants, 
Stephen  N.  Saunders  and  Hiram  Hall. 
While  this  was  a  Wayne  County  company, 
yet  a  portion  of  the  men  were  from  other 
parts  of  the  State,  and  we  believe  the  com- 
pany was  finally  completed  by  being  consol- 
idated with  another  part  of  a  company  at 
Centra  li  a. 

In  addition  to  these  companies  there  were 


squads    in    the   Forty-ninth   Regiment,    and 
also  in  the  Ninety-eighth  Regiment. 

As  Fairfield  is  honored  by  having  among 
its  citizens  one  of  the  soldiers  who  was  "  in 
at  the  death  "  of  the  rebellion,  we  believe  we 
cannot  more  appropriately  close  this  chapter 
than  by  giving  the  following  documents  that 
fully  explain  themselves;  first,  however,  re- 
marking that  Col.  Thomas  W.  Scott  is  the 
present  urbane  and  efficient  Postmaster  of  tbia 
city. 

Macon,  Ga„  Ma>  12,  1865,  11  o'clock  A.  M. 
Hon.  Edwin  M    Stanton,   Secretary  of   War, 

\V  \sHINOTON.   I).  C.: 

The  following  dispatch, announcing  the  capture  of 
Jell'  Davis,  lias  jnsi  been  handed  me  by  Capt.  Scott, 
A.  A.  G.,  Second  Division  Cavalry. 

J.  H.  Wilson-,  Major  General. 

Headquarters  Fourth   Michigan  Cavalry,  i 

Cumberlandvili.e,  (Ja..  May  11.  1883.      \ 

Capt.  Thomas  W.  Scott,  A.  A.  G.,  Second  Divi 
sion    Cavalry,    Military   Division    of  Missis- 
sippi: 

Sir — I  have  the  honor  to  report  to  you  that  at 
daylight  yesterday  at  [rwinsville  I  surprised  and 
captured  Jeff  Davis  and  family,  together  with  his 
wife's  sisters  and  brother,  his  Postmaster  General. 
Reagan,  Ins  Private  Secretary,  Col.  Harrison,  Col. 
Johnson.  Aid-de-Camp  on  Davis'  Staff.  Col.  Morris 
Lubbeck  and  Lieut.  Hathaway;  also  several  import- 
ant names  and  a  train  of  five  wagons  and  three 
ambulances,  making  a  most  perfect  success. 

Had  not  a  most  painful  mistake  occurred,  by 
which  the  Fourth  Michigan  and  First  Wisconsin 
came  in  conflict,  we  should  have  done  better.  This 
mistake  cost  us  two  killed  and  Lieut.  Bouth  wounded 
through  the  arm.  of  the  Fourth  Michigan,  and  four 
men  of  the  First.  Wisconsin  wounded.  This  occurred 
just  at  daylight,  after  we  had  captured  t  he  ramp  b\ 
the  advance  of  the  First  Wisconsin,  and  they  were 
mistaken   for  the  enemy. 

I  returned  to  this  point  last  night  and  shall  move 
right  on  to  Macon,  without  waiting  orders  from  you 
as  directed,  feeling  that  the  whole  object  of  the  es 
pedition  is  accomplished. 

It  will  take  at  bast  three  days  to  reach  Macon,  as 
we  arc  at  least  seventy  five  miles  out.  and  our  stock 
much  exhausted.      I  hope  to  reach  Ilawkinsville  to- 
night. 
I  line  the  honoi  to  be  your  obedient  servant 
B.  D.  Richard, 
Lieutenant  Colonel  Fourth  Michigan   Cavalry,  Com- 
manding. 


88 


HISTORY  or  WAYNE  C0UN1  V 


CHAPTER    VII. 


MISCEL1  ANEOUS  ITEMS  OF  INTEREST— BIRTHS,  DEATHS  AND  MARRIAGES— CENSUS  OF  1845 
—LITERARY  SOCIETIES— OLD  STORE  ACCOUNTS.  ETC.,  ETC. 


THE  first  marriage  license  ever  issued  in 
the  county  was  dated  June  8,  1819,  to  i 
William  Clark  and  Peggy  Carson.  Then 
came  a  long  resting  spell  in  this  line,  until 
September  6  Elkana  Bramblett  and  Sally 
Lofton  were  authorized  to  marry.  On  the 
18th  of  same  month,  William  Clark  and  Ame- 
lia Hamilton  received  license.  This  was  all 
the  marrying  done  in  the  first  year  of  Wayne 
County's  existence.  There  was  no  other 
wedding  in  the  county  until  the  21st  of  July, 
1820,  when  John  Johnston  and  Hannah  Mc- 
Cormick  (widow)  were  married.  August  13, 
John  P.  Farley  and  Milly  Ramsy  were  mar- 
ried, Esquire  Anthony  Street  performing  the 
ceremony.  On  the  30th  of  July,  1820, 
Robert  Penick  and  Elizabeth  Clemmons  were 
married  by  Owen  Martin,  Justice  of  the  Peace; 
August  20,  John  Owen  and  Malinda  Vaughn 
were  married,  and  Joseph  Martin  and  Eliza- 
beth Bird  on  August  29.  On  the  24th  of  the 
same  month,  David  Monroe  and  Nancy  Crews. 
John  Moffitt  and  Sarah  Campbell  were  mar- 
ried on  the  7th  of  September,  1820.  and 
Samuel  MeNeal  and  Polly  Shepherd  on  the 
17th:  and  Zachariah  Hews  and  Sarah  Bain 
on  December  14.  This  was  all  the  mar- 
riages in  the  county  in  1820. 

The  next  year  the  business  commenced  by 
the  marriage  of  Joel  Ellidge  and  Mary  Close 
on  January  13.  On  the  1st  of  February, 
Thomas  C.  Gaston  and  Sally  Conner.  On 
the  19th  of  November,  1820,  James  Fitzger- 
ald and  Clara  Slocumb;  on  the  14th  day  of 
January,    1821,  Jeremiah   Job  and   Rachael 


Campbell;  on  March  4,  Nathan  Harris   and 
Nancy  Stanley;  on  the  25th,  Jonathan  Hart 
and    Cynthia    Turney;     on    the    6th,    James 
Clark   and  Sally  Bradshaw;  on  the  15th  of 
May,  Charles  Wood  and  Sarah  Dubois  (wid- 
ow); June  19,  James  Cyrus  Gaston  and  Peg- 
gy   Clark;    August    16,    Owen    Martin    and 
Mary  Crews;  September  2,  Samuel  Close  and 
Catharine  Coonrod;  September  8,  David  Ray 
and    Jane  Goode;  September  27,  Alexander 
C.   Mackay  and  Polly  Carson;  November  8, 
Alexander     Ramsey    and    Nancy     Thrasher; 
November  28,   "James  Bolen  and  Nancy   Tay- 
lor; October,  Joseph  C.  Reed  and  Mary  Cox. 
In    the   year   1822,    the  following  marriage 
licenses  were   issued:    January  10,  Stephen 
Merritt  and  Elizabeth  Harris;  April  2,  John 
Wyatt  and    Jane    Reed;  3d,   William  Cald- 
well and  Betsey  Martin;  6th,  Jonas  Habday 
and    Sally   McCracken;     May     10,     Joseph 
Campbell    and    Elsy  Campbell;  13th,   Abra- 
ham Beach  and  Anna  Price;  June   1,  Jacob 
M.  Borah  and  Pamelia  Fulkinson;  July  29, 
Zachariah  Simpson  and  Mary  Gray;  August 
26,  Joseph  Martin  and  Sally  Walker;  Nov- 
ember  5,  Joseph  White   and  Elenor   Woods; 
December  14.  Daniel  P.    Pennick  and  Coley 
Clement;  December,  James  Taylor  and  Mary 
Kelly:  January  4,  1823,  John  A.  Grant  and 
Abigail  Seward;  February  12,  John  David- 
son and  Sally  Travis,  and  George  Meritt  and 
Elizabeth  Files;  February   26,  Collins   Mc- 
Donald and  Nellie  Gallagher;  March  3,  Rob- 
ert   Fenton    and    Karah    Whitney;   June   3, 
George   Borah   and    Ellen   Bradshaw;   14th, 


HISTORY   OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


David  Martin  and  Elizabeth  Walker,  and 
William  Taylor  and  Margaret  Gray;  28th, 
Enoch  Wilcox  anil  Sebra  C'att  (widow);  July 
21,  Vbner  Ellis  and  Frauky  Drew;  Septem- 
ber 1").  Van  Lofton  and  Hilly  McHaws;  18th, 
Lewis  Black  and  Sally  .Martin:  October  9, 
Charles  <  iullagher  and  Sally  It.  Roberts;  Jan- 
uary, L824,  Richard  Berks  and  Winna  Will- 
iams; January  26,  William  McCormick  and 
Nancy  McCracken. 

The  Legislature,  by  act  of  February  10, 
1821,  created  the  "Courts  of  Probate''  in 
the  several  counties.  Previous  to  this  time, 
the  Circuit  Courts  granted  letters  testament- 
ary and  of  administration,  and  performed 
other  duties  of  a  probate  nature.  In  accord- 
ance with  this  law  an  election  was  held  in 
Wa\  no  County,  and  Samuel  Leech  was  elected 
Probate  Judge.  The  first  court  convened  at 
the  house  of  Samuel  Leech,  in  Fairfield,  on 
the  2d  day  of  July.  L821.  Samuel  Leech 
was  then  Circuit  and  County  Clerk  and  Pro- 
bate Jndgi 

The  first  business  in  this  court  was  the  ap- 
plication to  the  Clerk,  on  the  10th  day  Jan- 
uary, 1821,  of  Ann  Slocumb  for  letters  of  j 
administration  upon  the  estate  of  Samuel 
Slocumb,  deceased.  She  gave  bond  in  the 
sum  of  $300,  with  Rigdon  B.  Slocumb  and 
Ephraham  Meritt  as  sureties.  This  was  the 
total  of  the  business  of  the  first  term  of  this 
court. 

At  the  next  term  of  the  Probate  Court,  De- 
cember IS.  1821.  the  only  business  transacted 
was  the  proof  of  the  death  of  Joseph  Mar- 
tin, and  the  fact  that  his  wife  Betsey  had  re 
linquished  her  prior  right  to  administer  on 
the  estate,  whereupon  Owen  Martin,  Henry 
Martin,  and  Joseph  Martin  came  into  court 
and  applied  for  lotters  of  administration,  which 
was  granted  upon  their  entering  into  bond 
with  James  Baird,  Alexander  Jones,  John 
Barnhill  and  Rigdon  B.  Slocumb,  securities. 


in  the  penal  sum  of  Si  1,000.  Thomas  Brad- 
shaw.  John  B.  Gash  and  James  Baird  were 
appointed  appraisers.  These  two  cases  were 
al!  the  business  in  the  I'robate  Court  until 
the  term  of  June  IT,  L822,  when  Sarah  Mc- 
Wbirter,  administratrix  of  the  estate  of  Isaac 
Mc  Wbirter,  proceeded  to  make  settlement 
with  claimants  against  said  estate. 

On  the  18th  of  November,  1822,  Hu^'h 
Stuart.  John  Livergood  and  Sally  Warren 
came  into  court  and  applied  for  letters  upon 
the  estate  of  William  Warren,  which  was 
granted  upon  their  entering  into  bonds  of 
$4,000,  with  Owen  Martin,  William  B.  Daws 
and  Robert  R.  Gaston  as  sureties. 

On  the  26th  of  December,  1822,  Ann 
Bradshaw  was  granted  letters  upon  estate  of 
her  husband,  Thomas  Bradshaw.  Bond, 
$2,000.  Her  securities  were  James  Brad- 
shaw, John  B.  Gosh  and  Archibald  Roberts. 
In  February,  1823,  Hugh  Stewart  and  John 
Livergood  returned  inventory  into  court  of 
the  estate  of  William  Warren,  deceased.  The 
infant  heirs  of  Joseph  Martin,  deceased,  were 
Nathan  Martin.  Martha  Martin  and  Elizabeth 
Martin.  The  oldest  son  Joseph  being  over 
fourteen  years  of  age,  selected  Owen  Martin 
as  his  guardian.  Sally  and  Mary  Martin, 
two  other  heirs  over  fourteen  years  of  age, 
selected  Joseph  Martin  as  their  guardian. 

November  29,  L863,  Isaac  Harris  was 
granted  administration  of  the  estate  of 
Stephen  Vicars,  deceased. 

December,  1823,  Mary  Clark  and  Ronnah 
Wills  were  granted  letters  on  the  estate  of 
Joseph  Clark,  deceased.  Bond,  2,000,  with 
David  Wright  and  Cephas  A.  Parks,  securi- 
ties. 

April  13.  1824,  letters  were  granted  upon 
the  estate  of  Henry  Hall,  deceased,  to  Alfred 
Hall.  His  securities  were  Andrew  Kuyken- 
dall  and  John  Barnhill. 

On  the   l'.ith  of  April,  1824,  the  first  will 


90 


HISTORY  OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


was  probated,  that  of  John  Travis,  with  John 
Davidson  and  Thomas  D.  Travis,  subscribing 
witnesses,  also  Peggy  Travis,  and  Rebecca 
Travis,  Allen  Travis  and  James  Stephenson 
were  executors. 

September  25,  1824,  the  last  will  and  tes- 
tament of  James  Dickerson  was  probated. 
James  Jaggers  and  David  Thompson  were 
subscribing  witnesses.  Michael  and  Lewis 
Dickerson  were  executors,  and  they  declining 
to  act  the  court  appointed  Charles  Pugsley. 

On  23d  of  November,  1825,  Sally  Ellis 
was  appointed  administratrix  of  estate  of 
John  Ellis,  deceased. 

May  15,  1826,  Susanna  Wood  and  John 
Wood  were  appointed  administrators  of  es- 
tate of  Thomas  G.  Wood,  deceased.  The 
next  will  filed  was  that  of  Mary  Book,  De- 
cember, 1826,  with  Tyrey  Eobinson  and 
Alexander  Clark,  subscribing  witnesses. 

The  records  of  January,  1827,  on  records, 
note  the  fact  that  Sally  Martin,  late  Sally 
Ellis,  administratrix  of  estate  of  John  Ellis, 
was  no  longer  a  widow.  Also  that  Sara  Mc- 
Whorter  had  married  Daniel  Williams. 

On  May  24th,  1827,  George  Walton  was 
appointed  administrator  of  estate  of  Thomas 
Walton,  deceased.  The  same  year.  Green 
Lee  was  appointed  guardian  of  Nancy  Ann 
and  Elsey  M.  Clark,  heirs  of  Joseph  Clark. 

On  the  7th  of  January,  1828,  appeared  the 
following  minutes  on  the  probate  record: 
Joseph  Martin,  one  of  the  administrators 
of  Joseph  Martin,  deceased,  having  given  no- 
tice required  by  law  in  the  Illinois  Corrector, 
a  public  newspaper,  printed  at  Edwardsville, 
111.,  that  he  would  attend  the  Probate  Court 
in  Fairfield,  etc. 

In  April,  1828,  Robert  Jones  reported  to 
the  court  that  he  had  made  sale  of  the  per- 
sonal estate  of  his  brother,  James  Jones, 
without  letters  of  administration,  for  the  sum 
of  $300,  etc. 


In  October,  1828,  Richard  Owen  having 
departed  this  life,  and  his  widow,  Nancy, 
having  relinquished  her  prior  right  of  admin- 
istration, letters  were  granted  to  Epaphrody- 
tus  C.Owen  (and  the  Judge  and  Clerk,  Leech, 
wrote  the  name  in  full  and  survived,  without 
pension). 

On  the  3d  day  of  January,  1829,  proof 
was  made  of  the  death  of  Jacob  M.  Borah, 
and  Panela  and  John  Borah  were  granted 
letters  of  administration. 

In  April,  1829,  letters  were  granted  Eliza 
Block  on  the  estate  of  Robert  Block,  deceased. 

In  July  of  the  same  year,  Felix  H.  Barn- 
hill  was  granted  letters  upon  the  estate  of 
John  Barnhill,  deceased. 

In  November,  1829,  similar  letters  were 
granted  Polly  Ann  Holmes,  widow,  on  the 
estate  of  Zephaniah  Holmes,  deceased. 

In  October,  1830,  similar  action  in  estate 
of  Daniel  J.  Wilson,  deceased;  letters  to 
George  Wilson.  The  next  month,  Novem- 
ber, same  action  in  case  of  Samuel  Watkins, 
deceased;  letters  to  George  Close  and  Elijah 
Watkins. 

In  November,  1830,  last  will  of  John  J. 
Davis  probated. 

In  January,  1832,  Charles  Wood  was  ap- 
pointed administrator  of  Otho  Wood,  de- 
ceased; and  in  March,  same  year,  the  last 
will  of  Micajah  T.  Walker  was  probated,  and. 
same  day.  letters  of  administration  on  the  es- 
tate of  Jesse  McCracken,  deceased.  In  Au- 
gust, same  year,  letters  were  granted  on  the 
estate  of  George  Frazer,  deceased,  to  William 
Frazer.  In  November,  same  year,  Andrew 
T.  Stator  died,  and  letters  were  granted  to 
Peter  Stator. 

In  February,  1833.  the  last  will  and  testa- 
ment of  Thomas  Cox  was  probated;  Griffin 
T.  Snodgrass  and  Henry  Tyler  were  subscrib- 
ing witnesses.  On  the  14th  of  November.same 
year,  the  will  of  James  Lock  was  probated. 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


91 


Iu  February,  1834,  proof  of  the  death  of 
William  MoVay  was  made,  and  letters 
granted  Aquilla  McCracken. 

In  September,  1834.  George  Phenix,  an 
orphan  fourteen  years  old,  was  apprenticed 
to  Edward  West,  by  the  consent  of  Judge 
Leech  and  Thomas  Sloan,  his  grandfather. 
He  was  to  remain  uutil  twenty-one  years  old, 
and  then  to  have  a  new  Bible  and  two  suits 
of  clothes. 

In  October,  1834,  James  Clark  died;  let- 
ters granted  Naoma  Clark  and  B.  A.  Clark. 
Elsberry  Armstrong  died  iu  October,  1834; 
letters  granted  Abner  M.  Downer,  with  Jo- 
seph White,  Hugh  Stewart  and  James  Denney 
as  securities.  At  same  court,  similar  letters 
were  granted  Samuel  Hooper  upon  the  estate 
of  Dempsey  Hooper,  deceased.  Tirey  Robin- 
son's last  will  and  testament  was  probated  in 
April,  1835.  Alfred  Hall  died  in  June,  1835, 
and  letters  were  granted  Jane  Hall  and  Jef- 
frey Robinson,  with  R.  B.  Slocumb  and  Tyra 
Taylor  as  sureties.  September  of  the  same 
year,  letters  were  granted  Joseph  Wilson  and 
Nancy  J.  McLin  on  the  estate  of  David  Mc- 
Lin.  deceased. 

Iu  January.  1836,  letters  were  granted 
upon  the  estate  of  Peter  Kenshalo,"deceased, 
to  Daniel  Kenshalo.  February  20,  183(5,  let- 
ters were  granted  on  the  estate  of  Benjamin 
A.  Clark,  deceased,  to  James  N.  Clark.  On 
6th  of  June  of  the  same  year,  similar  action 
was  taken  in  case  of  Nathaniel  Cbilson,  de- 
ceased. 

Judge  Leech  continued  to  act  as  Probate 
Judge,  County  Clerk,  Circuit  Clerk,  and  Re- 
corder, as  well  as  Colonel  of  the  Wayne 
County  Militia  Regiment  from  the  formation 
of  the  county  until  the  early  part  of  1837. 
He  then  resigned  the  office  of  Circuit  Clerk, 
and  here,  as  well  as  in  nearly  all  his  other 
official  positions,  he  was  succeeded  by  Judge 
Rigdon    B.  Slocuml).       At    a'  court  held    in 


Fairfield,  March,  1837,  by  Judge  Harlan,  the 
following  is  the  opening  entry  upon  the 
records:  "I,  Justin  Harlan,  sole  Judge  of 
the  Fourth  Judicial  Circuit,  do  hereby  ap- 
point Rigdon  B.  Slocumb  Clerk  of  the  Cir- 
cuit Court  in  and  for  the  countv  of  Wayne, 
etc." 

On  the  26th  of  July,  1826,  Samuel  Leech 
and  Rigdon  B.  Slocumb  entered  into  a  part- 
nership for  the  purpose  of  vending  goods  in 
the  town  of  Fairfield.  Their  stock  on  hand 
invoiced!  1,508. 52£. 

Enoch  Wilcox  leased  Hubbard's  place, 
September  22,  1819. 

Census  of  1845  shows  a  total  population  of 
6,497;  of  these,  1,090  reported  as  subject  to 
military  duty.  There  were  eight  negroes, 
four  males  and  four  females.  The  total 
amount  of  machinery  or  manufactories  is  re- 
ported seventeen  horse  mills,  two  distilleries, 
one  carding  machine,  one  cotton  gin,  five  saw 
mills,  seven  tanneries,  one  steam  mill  for 
sawing  and  grinding,  and  four  water  grist 
mills.  Jesse  Lord  had  a  saw  and  gristmill; 
Horatio  P  Porter  had  a  tannery  and  bark 
mill;  Charles  Wood  had  a  water  saw  and 
grist  mill;  Abraham  Martin  had  a  horse 
mill;  Alexander  Ramsey,  Sr.,  and  Jesse  Fly 
had  each  a  horse  mill;  James  Martin  had  a 
bark  mill;  Newberry  Cline  had  a  water  saw 
and  grist  mill;  George  Campbell,  Sr.,  had  a 
horse  mill;  Hampton  Weed  had  a  steam  saw 
and  grist  mill;  John  Kimmel  had  a  distill- 
ery; David  Wright  a  horse  mill;  P.  L.  Funk- 
houser,  a  bark  mill;  Hiram  Stats,  a  tannery; 
R.  B.  Slocumb,  horse  mill;  H.  H.  Cook,  tan- 
no  -y;  James  Harper,  carding  machine  and 
cotton  gin;  John  Skelton,  horse  mill;  R.  F- 
Jenkins,  horse  mill;  Walter  Burch,  tannery; 
Enos  Maulding,  water  saw  and  grist  mill; 
Able  Dewitt  and  Francis  Hayney  had  each  a 
stum])  mill.  These  were  probably  the  last  of 
these  kind  of  mills  ever  in  use  in  the  county. 


93 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


Daniel  Gregory,  horse  mill;  William  Hallo- 
way,  horse  mill;  Moses  Garrison,  tannery; 
Wesley  Staton,  saw  mill;  Jonathan  Whit- 
stons  horse  mill;  C.  L.  Carter,  John  Bovee, 
James  Cooper  and  Benjamin  Haws  each  had 
a  horse  mill;  Lewis  Myers,  a  distillery. 

Literary  Society. — As  early  as  1823,  the 
leading  citizens  of  the  county  met  and  or- 
ganized a  debating  and  literary  society. 
Articles  were  drawn  and  signed  by  John  Mc- 
Makin,  A.  \V.  Sorgenfry,  J.  T.  Hefford, 
George  and  Richard  Grant,  A.  C.  McKay, 
Elihu  Farley,  John  Carson,  R.  B.  Slocumb, 
Jeffrey  Robinson,  Andrew  Carson,  Cephas  A. 
Parks,  George  Turner,  John  Johnston,  J.  R. 
Taylor,  Samuel  Leech,  Alexander  Campbell, 
and  John  Barnhill. 

C.  A.  Parks  was  appointed  President; 
Samuel  Leech,  Secretary. 

An  excellent  constitution  was  adopted, 
among  other  things  providing  that  nothing 
said  by  any  speaker  should  be  considered  his 
personal  sentiments. 

The  first  question,  "  Is  there  more  pleasure 
in  the  pursuit  of  an  object  or  actual  posses- 
sion?" Discussed  with  great  ability  and 
learning  for  possession  by  John  Barnhill, 
George  Grant,  George  Turner,  Elihu  Farley, 
Joseph  T.  Hefford  and  Samuel  Leech.  On 
the  negative,  Enoch  Wilcox,  John  McMackin 
and  Andrew  Carson.  The  records  say: 
"The  President,  after  mature  deliberation, 
gave  the  following  decision:  That  the  most 
forcible  argument  was  used  in  favor  of  pos- 
session." 

The  second  question  discussed  was:  "Are 
ideas  natural  or  acquired?"  This  must  have 
been  an  exciting  debate,  and  it  never  seems 
to  have  been  imagined  by  any  of  the  learned 
disputants  that,  generally  speaking,  ideas 
are  neither  natural  nor  acquired,  but  to  the 
most  of  men  the  Sheriff's  return  of  non  est 
invntus  would  apply,    and,   in  fact,  the  im- 


proved returns  of  the  Sheriff  when  he  said, 
'  •  in  swampum,  and  none  could  not  come  at 
him,"  would  not  be  much  out  of  place. 

The  third  question  was  unique  in  phrase- 
ology, as  follows  :  "  Does  a  man  possessed  of 
extreme  wealth,  or  one  moving  in  a  middling 
sphere  in  life,  enjoy  .the  most  real  happi- 
ness." The  next  question  was  a  stunner  in 
the  following:  "Which  are  the  most  happy,  a 
married  or  single  life?"  Then,  "  Which  is  the 
greatest  benefit  to  society,  a  penitentiary  or  a 
gallows?"  It  was  warmly  argued,  and  aroused 
a  deep  and  thrilling  interest.  These  people 
were  inclined_to  be  luxurious  and  ease-loving. 
The  elderly  members  said  there  was  more 
solid  comfort  in  the  rope,  while  the  younger 
and  more  hopeful  members  thought  the  ball 
and  chain  the  more  durable  of  the  two. 

The  society  amended  the  constitution  and 
provided  a  fine  of  50  cents  against  any  mem- 
ber who  might  be  appointed  to  any  duty  and 
failed,  and  the  record  of  nearly  every  meet- 
ing has  entries  against  members  for  absence, 
etc.,  etc. 

Weekly  meetings  continued  until  October, 
1823,  and  then  after  a  big  discussion  meet- 
ings were  abandoned  for  two  years,  when, 
pursuant  to  a  public  notice  by  Sam  Leech, 
Secretary,  the  society  again  met,  and  it  was 
unanimously  agreed  that  the  Fairfield  Debat- 
ing Society  be  ' '  organized  and  commence 
operations  immediately."  The  society  re- 
solved to  take  up  where  it  had  left  off  the 
great  question,  "  Which  are  the  most  benefit 
to  society,  a  penitentiary  or  a  gallows?"  and 
it  was  resolved  to  discuss  this  at  the  next 
meeting.  Of  this  meeting,  we  find  the  fol- 
lowing entry  on  the  record:  "Dr.  C.  A. 
Parks,  A.  C.  Mackay,  W.  F.  Turney,  James 
B.  Brown  and  F.  C.  Turner  spoke  in  favor  of 
the  penitentiary,  and  Samuel  Leech,  R.  B. 
Slocumb,  Jeffrey  Robinson,  John  Barnhill, 
George  Turner  and  John  Wood  in  favor  of 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


93 


the  gallows;  and  the  President  (Andrew 
Carson),  "after  due  deliberation,"  decided 
that  the  most  forcible  argument  was  used  in 
favor  of  the  gallows,  and,  tb  ere  fore,  that  the 
gallows  is  the  most  benefit  to  society,  from 
which  said  decision  Dr.  C.  A.  Parks  prayed 
an  appeal,  which  was  granted.  "It  is, 
therefore,  ordered  that  said  question  be  again 
debated  at  the  next  regular  meeting  of  the 
society."  The  excitement  continued  to  in- 
crease, and  men  and  women  took  sides,  anil 
in  the  houses  and  upon  the  loafers'  corners  it 
was  from  morn  till  night  gallows  and  peni- 
tentiary and  penitentiary  and  gallows,  and 
when  the  society  met  the  disputants  were 
"freighted  to  the  water's  edge"  with  the 
subject.  But  again  was  the  gallows  triumph- 
ant,, and  only  thus  and  thus,  after  nearly 
three  years  of  discussion  and  hot  contention 
was  the  great  question  permanently  settled. 
The  society  then  turned  to  the  more  peaceful 
and  quietiDg  question  of  "  Which  are  the 
most  benefit  to  community,  commerce  or 
agriculture?"  This  was  decided  in  favor  of 
agriculture.  Then  they  tackled  the  follow- 
ing: "Which  is  and  has  been  the  most 
advantage  to  the  United  States,  gunpowder 
or  printing?"  In  reference  to  this  discus- 
sion, we  find  the  following:  "  The  President, 
after  mature  deliberation,  decided  in  favor  of 
gunpowder  as  of  more  use  to  the  United 
States  than  the  press." 

The  society  moved  along  in  their  weekly 
meetings,  and,  in  18'27,  the  great  question  of 
the  comparative  benefits  of  the  penitentiary 
or  gallows  was  revived,  and  finally  the  old 
decision  in  favor  of  the  gallows  was  reversed, 
and  the  penitentiary  was  decided  to  be  the 
greater  blessing  of  the  two. 

The  Debating  Club  seems  to  have  kept  ac 
tively  alive,  and  thejpeople  showed  much  in- 
terest in  all  its  acts  and  doings. 

On  the  7th   day  of   November,   1837.    the 


town  of  Fairfield  had  a  Library  Room,  and 
on  that  day  a  meeting  was  called,  and  the 
Fairfield  Library  Society  was  organized. 
Joseph  Wilson  was  appointed  President,  and 
T.  A.  Wood,  Secretary. 

A  committee  of  three,  Jacob  H.  Love,  R. 
B.  Slocumb  and  T.  A.  WTood  were  appointed 
to  draft  a  constitution  and  by-laws  for  the 
society.  Their  report  was  adopted,  and  Jef- 
frey Robinson  was  appointed  Secretary. 

At  the  first  regular  meeting,  the  record 
says  William  F.  Turney  "delivered  an  able 
and  eloquent  lecture  on  the  subject  of  the 
Fairfield  Literary  Society-."  The  record  then 
recites  "the  following  subjects  were  assigned 
to  the  following  members,  to  speak  from  in 
turn:  Daniel  Turney,  Agriculture;  J.  Rob- 
inson, Mathematics  and  Geography;  J.  H. 
Robinson,  the  Propriety  of  Correct  Language 
in  Speaking;  T.A.  Wood,  the  Utility  of  Com- 
mon Schools  and  Education;  0.  J.  Ridgeway, 
Commerce;  N.  N.  Smith,  History;  William 
F.  Turney,  Anatomy;  J.  A.  Robinson,  G.  T. 
Snodgrass  and  J.  G.  Stuart  were  named  as 
lecturers,  but  their  subjects  are  not  given. 
Then  we  find  J.  H.  Robinson  assigned  to  a 
lecture  on  the  Inconsistency  of  Negro  Slav- 
ery; and  D.  Turney,  on  Agriculture,  a  sec- 
ond time;  T.  A.  Wood  lectured  on  the  Util- 
ity and  Advantages  of  a  Railroad  from  Mount 
Carmel,  via  Fairfield  to  St.  Louis;  N.  N. 
Smith,  history,  second  time;  W.  F.  Turney, 
anatomy,  second  time;  Joseph  Wilson,  on 
the  Truths  and  Evidences  of  Christianity, 
continued;  James  A.  Robinson,  ou  the  In- 
consistency of  Negro  Slavery,  continued; 
Leander  Turney,  Education. 

We  find  pasted  in  the  front  part  of  the 
record  book  a  letter  dated  "  Lebanon,  III, 
February  24,  1836,"  and  addressed  W.  F. 
Turney  and  Thomas  A.  Wood,  committee  in 
behalf  of  the  Fairfield  Library  Society.  The 
letter  is  signed   by  B.   F.  Kavanaugh.     The 


94 


HISTORY   OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


letter  is  written  on  foolscap  paper,  folded 
without  envelope,  and  is  sealed  with  an  old- 
style  red  wafer,  that  we  used  to  get  in  those 
round,  wood  boxes,  that  always  had  a  wafer 
stuck  on  the  top  of  the  box.  The  postage 
on  this  letter  was  25  cents.  It  seems  to  have 
been  written  by  Mr.  Kavanaugh,  in  response 
to  an  invitation  to  deliver  an  address  before 
the  literary  society.  We  give  a  paragraph 
from  the  letter  that  will  go  far  to  explain  its 
purport:  "Then,  sirs,  permit  me  to  con- 
gratulate you  in  the  successful  efforts  which 
have  been  made  by  yourselves  and  those  with 
whom  you  have  the  honor  to  be  associated  in 
the  organization  of  a  society  which  has  for 
its  objects  the  expansion  and  illumination  of 
the  immortal  mind.  *****  Take 
for  example  Herskill,  who  was  once  a  com- 
mon soldier  under  the  British  banner,  who, 
while  standing  sentinel  at  Dight,  had  the 
large  powers  of  his  giant  mind  wakened  into 
action,  while  he  gazed  upon  the  heavens,  and 
ere  its  labors  were  concluded,  the  science  of 
astronomy  was  extended,  and  the  learned 
were  informed  of  the  existence  of  a  large 
worlds  connected  with  the  sun,  of  which  ours 
is  a  member.  And  while  the  great  planet, 
which  now  bears  his  name,  shall  wheel  in  his 
course,  in  distant  space  around  the  sun,  the 
name  of  'Herskill'  will  be  carried  down  the 
tide  of  time,  till  the  heavenly  messenger  an- 
nounces that  'time  shall  be  no  more.'  And 
who  shall  say  his  praise  shall  cease  with 
time?" 

In  a  further  examination  of  the  records  we 
find  the  Debating  Society  by  resolution  were 
admitted  as  spectators  to  the  Literary  So- 
ciety. A  library  had  been  established,  and 
at  the  meeting  of  the  literary  society,  Janu- 
ary '!'•),  L836,  a  resolution  was  passed  in  which 
it  was  resolved  that  each  member  of  the  so- 
ciety "  in  order  to  promote  the  general  diffu- 
sion of  knowledge  be  requested  to  use  his  in- 


fluence to  obtain  new  members  to  the   Fair- 
field Library." 

The  moral  tinge  that  prevailed  in  those 
literary  works  is  made  evideut  by  the  follow- 
ing resolution,  passed  at  a  regular  meeting 
of  February  6,  1836.  "  On  motion  agreed 
that  this  society  will  read  Dr.  Blair's  lec- 
tures through  at  their  subsequent  meetings, 
each  member  to  read  a  suitable  number  of 
pages  at  each  meeting  to  take  it  in  turn  as 
they  speak,  and  on  motion  agreed  that  Dr. 
William  F.  Turney  read  the  first  evening, 
which  he  proceeded  to  do. 

From  an  old  file  of  the  Wayne  County 
Press  we  extract  the  following  items  in  the 
account  book  of  David  Wright;  the  entries 
were  made  just  fifty  years  ago. 

This  day  book  was  commenced  January  1, 
1834.  The  items  given  below  are  copied  ver- 
batim and  are  interesting  as  illustrating  life 
in  the  early  times  in  Wayne  County.  The 
first  item  in  the  book  is  suggestive  of  the 
habits  of  the  early  settler.  Here  it  is: 
Job  Chapman,  i  gal.  whisky .*....$    31} 

The  next  charge  is  of  the  same  character 
but  covers  more  historical  ground: 

Moses  Renfro.  By  10   lb.  Deerskins fl  00 

To  1}  yds.  bleached  muslin®  37f 
To  2}  yards  calico  @  43f. 

To  2  lb.  coffee 50 

To  2  lb.  shugar 33 

To  2  gal.  whisky 1  00 

The  next   customer  was  certainly  extrava- 
gant for  those  days: 
Peter  Staton,  to  5  yards  drab  cloth $14  31 J 

Those  were  the  times  before  Ayers,  Wake- 
field, Hostetter  et  al   supplied  almanacs,  for 
evidence  of  which  read  this  charge: 
Nathan  Attebury,  to  1  Almanack $      6} 

And  then  we  have  the  following: 

Henry  Pickering,  1  box  Lee's  Pils $     50 

William  Clevenger,   KJ  lbs.  honey ;i? J 

Presley  Simpson,  1  quart  whisky 25 

1  pint  molasses 10 

Thomas  Parmer.  1  casteel  aeks 3  00 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


95 


Caleb  Wilmans,  1  cow  ami  calf 0  00 

1  steer  -  years  old 6  00 

Jacob  Beard,  li  gunllinls 6} 

William  Robberta,  1  iir  hat 4  75 

Asa  Attepervy,  1  lb    pepper.... 43J 

C.  A.  Parks.  T  yards  ealieo 2  62} 

paper   pins 18} 

l  pair  [Hill  combs 25 

Pressley  Simpson,  I.  oven  and  lid 2  50 

Hugh  Steward.  ■">  weeks  hoard  for  .lames I   00 

David  Reed,  2  ounzes  sowing  thread 12J 

1  coon  skin 12 J 

2  ral'it  skins 8 

2  Hi.  feathers 50 

1  quart  whiskey 18} 

George  Tibs,  by  9}  lb.  Deerskin 92} 

3  pair  hams 1    12} 

4  Hi.  calfskin 50 

.lames  Turner,  2  pair  uppers 50 

William  Irvin,  2)  yards  janes .  2  50 

1  yard  flax  linen 18} 


William  Goodman.  1  quart  whiskey 18} 

1  spelling  book   18} 

David  Reed,  li  lb.  cotton 30 

James  Campbell,  1  tucking  comb 50 

Richmond  Hall,  2  gallons  whiskey 1  00 

1  yard  lase 12} 

8  fish   hooks 12} 

1  j  ard  riben 6} 

Caleb  Wilmans,  •  dozen  tea  spoons 25 

Low isa  Butler.    1  yard  lase 37  J 

1  comb 31} 

Josiah  ('.  Heed,  1  pair  shoes 1  00 

John  Cox,  1GJ  lbs.  butter.  @  6  cents. 

William  Clevenger,   1  lb.  nales 12} 

}  lb.  tea 50 

James  Butler,  1  deer  skin 75 

}  lb.  alum 12 

John  Attelmry,  1  oz  camfire 12} 

Andrew  Hall,  G  needles 6} 

Harmon  Horn,  by  3  days  work 2  25 

A.  C.  Wright.  4}  lbs.  coffee 1  00 


CHAPTER     VIII. 


A  COMPLETE  HISTORY  OF  ALL  THE  CHURCHES— THE  METHODIST— DIFFERENT  BAPTISTS 

—CHRISTIAN  -PRESBYTERIAN— CATHOLIC— WHO  ORGANIZED  THEM— 

SKETCHES   OF  THE   PROMINENT  CHURCHMEN,  ETC 


Saw  ye  not  the  cloud  arise, 

Little  as  the  human  hand  ; 
Now  it  spreads  along  the  skies  . 

Hangs  o'er  all  the  thirsty  land." 

— Old  Hymn. 

AMONG  the  early  pioneers  in  the  Illinois 
country  were  some  of  the  soldiers  of 
Gen.  George  Rogers  Clark,  who.  after  his 
successful  expedition  and  capture  of  this 
vast  domain,  returned  with  their  friends  and 
settled  in  this  Territory.  A  few  of  these 
had  been  trained  in  the  principles  of  Chris- 
tianity, though  we  have  no  positive  assurance 
that,  there  were  any  church  members  among 
them,  but  there  is  a  tradition  that  a  Mrs. 
Bond  had  once  belonged  to  the  Presbyterian 
Church. 


We  are,  however,  led  to  the  conclusion 
that  their  hungering  after  the  "  Word  of 
Life"  was  great,  inasmuch  as,  in  the  absence 
of  the  Gospel  ministry  and  all  sanctuary 
privileges,  some  of  them  were  in  the  habit  of 
assembling  at  private  houses  on  the  Sabbath 
day.  for  the  purpose  of  hearing  read  the 
Bible  or  any  other  good  books  that  could  be 
obtained  for  the  occasion. 

One  of  their  number  (generally  Judge 
Bond)  would  read,  after  which  they  would 
discuss  the  subjects  read  and  inquire  of  each 
other  the  meaning  of  the  different  passages 
that  had  attracted  their  attention.  It  is  not 
at  all  probable  that  there  was  any  public 
praying  at  these  meetings,  as  there  were  none 


96 


HISTORY  OF  WAYXK  COUNTY. 


so  far  advanced  in  the  cause  as  to  undertake 
so  great  a  task. 

The  tirst  Gospel  minister  to  visit  Illinois 
was  a  Baptist  by  the  name  of  Smith,  who 
preached  to  the  people  in  1787,  and  we  un- 
derstand that  there  were  some  conversions 
under  his  ministry,  among  whom  was  Capt. 
Joseph  Ogle,  who  afterward  became  a  Meth- 
odist class  leader  and  a  prominent  man  in 
the  commonwealth. 

Conspicuous  among  those  who  have  borne 
the  Btory  of  Calvary,  and  carried  the  glad 
tidings  of  salvation  to  the  pioneer  cabin, 
offering  in  the  name  of  the  Great  Master,  life 
to  fallen  men,  was  the  itinerant  Methodist 
preacher. 

Invincible,  untiring  ;  if  one  should  fall  by 
the  way  another  would  rise  up  to  take  his 
place.  In  the  frontiers,  without  roads  or 
bridges,  swimming  swollen  streams,  enduring 
cold  and  hunger,  with  other  hardships  and 
privations,  poorly  clad  and  often  without  the 
means  of  securing  adequate  covering  ;  keep- 
ing watch  with  the  stars  at  night,  far  away 
from  human  habitation,  with  no  sounds  to 
cheer  or  disturb  their  quiet,  save  the  winds 
or  storms  among  the  forests,  the  howl  of 
wild  beasts,  and  sometimes  the  echoing  war- 
crv  of  the  savages  ;  alone  in  the  world,  with 
poverty  as  a  constant  companion,  far  away 
from  loved  ones,  they  pressed  the  battle  to 
victory,  denying  themselves  that  others  might 
live.  Others  may  have  equaled  them  in 
zeal  and  good  works,  but  certainly  none  ever 
surpassed  them. 

So  far  as  is  now  known,  the  first  Methodist 
preacher  to  visit  Illinois  was  Joseph  Lillard, 
in  1793.  He  had  been  a  circuit  preacher  in 
Kentucky,  and  after  bis  location  came  to  this 
country,  and  after  preaching  to  the  people, 
organized  the  first  class  in  the  Territory,  and 
appointed  Joseph  Ogle  class  leader.  He  was 
a  crood  man  of  moderate  ability,  but  some- 


times afflicted  with  mental  trouble.  During 
one  of  these  periods  of  abberation  he  escaped 
from  his  friends,  and  while  wandering  in  the 
woods,  came  across  the  body  of  a  man  who 
had  recently  been  murdered  and  scalped  by 
the  Indians.  While  he  tarried  gazing  upon 
the  mangled  remains,  the  cloud  passed 
from  his  mind,  and  becoming  conscious  he 
returned  and  gave  the  alarm.  Thirty  years 
afterward  he  again  visited  Illinois  and 
preached  to  the  people,  finding  many  things 
changed  for  the  better. 

In  1796,  Rev.  Hosea  Riggs,  a  local  preacher, 
settled  in  Illinois,  where  he  became  of  great 
service  to  the  church  and  country,  dying  at 
the  advanced  age  of  eighty-one  years,  in  1841. 
He  was  a  Revolutionary  soldier.  Rev. 
John  Clark  came  to  Illinois,  and  preached 
and  taught  school,  being  loved  and  honored 
by  all  who  knew  him.  He  preached  the  first 
Protestant  sermon  west  of  tbe  Mississippi 
River.  In  his  old  age  he  joined  a  sect  of 
Baptists,  calling  themselves  "Friends  of 
Humanity,"  but  retained  the  confidence  of  his 
old  friends. 

Rev.  Thomas  Harrison,  settled  near  Belle- 
ville, in  Illinois,  in  1S04,  and  labored  with 
acceptability  for  more  than  fifty  years. 

In  1803.  Rev.  Hosea  Riggs  visited  the 
Western  Conference  in  Kentucky,  and 
secured  a  circuit  preacher  for  Illinois.  Ben- 
jamin Young  was  the  first  itinerant  circuit 
preacher  in  the  Territory,  commencing  his 
work  in  1S03.  He  reported  sixty-seven 
church  members  in  Illinois  at  the  end  of  the 
year. 

In  1804,  Joseph  Oglesby  was  appointed  to 
Illinois,  and  the  membership  was  increased 
to  140  daring  the  year.  He  was  a  man  of 
good  stock,  and  died  a  few  years  since  in 
Indiana,  greatly  respected. 

In  180r>.  William  MeKendree  was  Presid- 
ing Elder,  and  not  at  that  time  a  Bishop  as 


HISTORY  OF   WAYNE  COUNTY 


99 


Gov.  Reynolds  states.  He  was  a  soldier  in 
the  Revolution,  a  great  preacher,  the  peer  of 
any  man  in  the  nation,  and  was  receiving,  as 
any  other  itinerant  preacher,  a  salary  of  only 
$80  a  year.  He  was  soon  afterward  elected 
Bishop,  and  we  would  here  remark  tbat  a 
Bishop  is  the  only  member  in  the  M.  E. 
Church  that  is  entitled  to  neither  a  vote  nor 
a  veto. 

In  1805,  Charles  B.  Matheny  was  pastor 
this  year,  and,  on  account  of  ill  health,  lo- 
cated in  Springfield  in  1818,  where  he  left 
an  honorable  record  and  a  worthy  family. 

In  1806,  Jesse  Walker  came,  and  though 
volumes  might,  be  written  in  his  praise,  the 
want  of  space  admonishes  us  to  pay  more  re- 
gard to  their  chronological  order  than  the 
character  of  the  preachers. 

1MI7 — John  Clingan,  P.  C. ;  James  Ward, 
P.  E      272  members. 

1808— Jesse  Walker.  P.  C. ;  Samuel  Park- 
er,  P.  E. 

L809— Abraham  A.nios;  341  members  on 
Illinois  Circuit. 

1810— Cash  Creek  Circuit,  Thomas  Kirk- 
ham. 

1811 — Cash  River,  Baker  W rather;  James 
Axley,  P.  E. 

1812 — Illinois  Circuit  was  attached  to  the 
l  ■  rn'ssee  Conference.  Wabash  District, 
Peter  Cartright,  P.  E. ;  Little  Wabash  Cir- 
cuit. John  Smith. 

1813— Jas.  Porter.  P.  C. ;  Jesse  Walker,  P.  E. 

1814— John  C.  Harbison. 

1815 — Daniel  McHenry. 

1816 — Illinois  for  eight  years  formed  a 
part  of  the  Missouri  Conference.  John  Har- 
ris, P.  C. :   Samuel   H.  Thompson,  P.  E. 

1817— Daniel  McHenry. 

1818 — Charles  Slocumb,  P.  C. ;  Jesse 
Haile,  P.  E. 

1819-20— Thomas  Davis,  P.  C;  David 
Sharp,  P.  E. 


1821 — H.  Vredenburg  and   Thomas   Rice. 

1822 — Wabash  and  Mt.  Vernon,  Josiah 
Patterson  and  William  H.  Smith. 

1823 — Wabash  and  Mt.  Vernon,  William 
H.  Smith,  P.  C;  S.  H.  Thompson,  P.  E. 

1824  —  Illinois  Conference  established. 
Wabash  Circuit.  Cornelius  Ruddle. 

1825 — Wabash  Circuit,  Thomas  Davis,  P. 
C. ;  Charles  Holliday,  P.  E. 

L826— Robert  Delap. 

1827— James  Hadley. 

1828 — William  Mavity;  George  Lock, 
P.  E. 

1829— John  Fox  and  Alfred  Arriugton. 

1830— Thomas  H.  Files  and  Philip  T. 
Cordier. 

1831— Thomas  H.  .Files  and  James  M. 
Massey. 

1832 — James  McKean  and  J.  W.  Corbin; 
Michael  S.  Taylor,  P.  E. 

1833 — James  W.  Corbin  and  William 
Mavity. 

1834 -James  Walker;  John  S.  Barger, 
1'.  E. 

1835— John  Fox. 

1836— William  Taylor  and  William  Met- 
calf. 

1837 — Rhodam  Allen  and  John  Parsons; 
Hooper  Crews,  P.  E. 

1838— Arthur  Bradshaw;  A.  E.  Phelps, 
P.  E. 

1839— G.  W.  Strebling;  G.  W.  Robins, 
P.  E. 

1840 — William  Cummings  and  Ashael 
Brown. 

1841 — John  Shepherd;  Barton  Handle, 
P.  E. 

After  this  year,  the  work  in  Wayne  County 
was  called  Fairfield  Circuit. 

It  will  not  be  out  of  place  to  mention  a 
few  incidents  in  connection  with  some  of  the 
foregoing  preachers. 

The  fiery,  impetuous  and   fearless  Daniel 


100 


HISTORY   OF    WAYNE   COUNTY. 


McHenry  was  the  right  man  for  the  circuit 
during  the  Indian  war,  as  a  less  courageous 
man  would  have  failed  in  the  midst  of  dan- 
gers so  menacing.  He  was  a  terror  to  evil- 
doers and  entertained  a  great  antipathy  to 
slavery.  On  one  occasion  he,  with  his  son 
and  a  negro,  actually  whipped  and  drove 
back  into  Kentucky  a  company  of  kidnapers. 

After  an  absence  of  fifty  years,  William  H. 
Smith  visited  the  Conference  at  Mt.  Vernon 
and  met  a  few  of  his  early  parisnoners. 

Cornelius  Ruddle,  while  moving  from  his 
circuit  at  New  Haven  to  Equality,  with  both 
his  horses,  was  killed  by  a  falling  tree.  His 
wife  was  compelled  to  return  on  foot  four 
miles  to  the  settlement  to  procure  help. 
James  Hadley's  wife  died  in  the  vicinity  of 
Fairfield.  Father  Mavity  (pronounced  Mo- 
vit-ee)  died  and  was  buried  at  Mellrose's,  in 
Edward's  County,  on  the  place  now  owned 
by  Mr.  West. 

Alfred  Arrington  is  remembered  by  very 
few  now  living  here,  but  by  those  few  well 
remembered.  Though  unassiiining,  he  proved 
to  be  a  young  man  of  great  erudition,  and 
became  an  able  and  eloquent  preacher.  He 
was  expelled  from  the  church,  after  which  he 
studied  law,  became  an'  able  advocate,  and 
settled  in  Chicago,  where  he  was  elected 
Judge,  and  died  a  few  years  since.'XKoman 
Catholic. 

While  crossing  the  Little  Wabash  River, 
at  the  mouth  of  White  Oak  Creek,  a  little 
below  the  "Air  Line "  Railroad  bridge,  in 
1839,  William  Metcalf  was  drowned.  He 
lies  buried  in  the  Mathew  Crews'  Cemetery. 

More  than  sixty-seven  years  ago,  or  within 
a  few  weeks  after  the  first  settlers  had  come 
to  the  region  of  Burnt  Prairie,  in  1816, 
came  John  Harris,  the  Methodist  circuit 
rider,  following  the  wake  of  the  early  pio- 
neer, serving  the  flocks,  gathering  up  the 
scattered    fragments    that   had   strayed    into 


the  wilderness  waste,  carrying  the  glad  tid- 
ings to  the  lost,  administering  to  the  spiritual 
wants  of  a  people  widely  separated,  and  per- 
suading men  to  seek  a  better  inheritance  and 
live  better  lives.  At  his  first  appearance  in 
the  settlement,  in  August,  1810,  Mr.  Harris 
preached  at  the  house  of  Alexander  Hamil- 
ton, to  five  persons  as  his  congregation,  viz. : 
Mr.  Hamilton,  his  wife  and  two  nieces  and 
George  Meritt,  a  young  man  at  that  time. 

Early  in  the  winter  of  1817,  Archy  Rob- 
erts, a  talented  local  preacher,  settled  on  the 
southeast  quarter  of  Section  11,  Town  3 
south,  Range  8  east,  and  at  his  house  it  is 
thought  the  first  Methodist  society  was  or- 
ganized. It  is  also  stated  by  Mr.  Meritt  that 
it  was  several  years  before  the  ministers  of 
other  denomination  visited  these  settlements. 

In  1817,  Daniel  McHenry,  on  his  rounds, 
found  the  Gillison  family,  and  established 
preaching  at  their  house.  In  the  new  settle- 
ment the  necessaries  of  life  were  not  only 
costly,  but  hard  to  obtain.  Mrs.  Gillison 
had  carded,  spun  and  wove  a  piece  of  jeans, 
taken  it  on  horseback  to  Shawneetown,  and 
sold  it,  taking  in  part  pay  corn  meal  at  $1 
per  bushel,  which  she  brought  home,  and 
with  this  fed  the  circuit  preacher's  horse  on 
his  first  visit.  So  glad  were  many  of  the 
people  to  have  these  messengers  of  Christ 
make  their  monthly  rounds,  that  they  would 
endure  almost  any  hardship  and  undergo 
many  privations,  that  they  and  their  children 
might  obtain  the  "  Word  of  Life."  To  this 
society  belonged  the  Robertses,  Fileses, 
Pattens,  Gillisons  and  others. 

In  1820,  John  Bovee,  with  his  family,  re- 
moved to  Big  Mound  Prairie,  and  found  here 
an  organized  Methodist  society,  with  regular 
circuit  preaching  at  Hugh  Stewart's,  north 
east  quarter  of  Section  5,  Town  2  south, 
Range  7  east,  latterly  the  home  of  the  late 
Rev.   John   Chambers.      The   early   members 


HISTORY    OF   WAYNE   COUNTY. 


101 


were  Stewarts,  Robinsons,  Gastons,  Bovees 
and  Andrew  Hall's  family.  Rev.  James  A. 
Robinson  was  born  here,  and  Rev.  James  M, 
Massey,  step-son  of  Bovee,  grew  to  manhood 
in  this  settlement.  In  1831,  the  preaching 
was  removed  to  Bovees  house,  on  the  south- 
east quarter  of  the  northeast  quarter  of  Sec- 
tion 9,  where  it  remained  about  five  years, 
when  it  was  again  removed  to  the  Bovee 
Schoolhouse,  southwest  quarter  of  the  north 
west  quarter  of  Section  32,  in  Lamard  Town- 
ship, and  became  the  headquarters  for 
Methodism  for  many  miles  around.  About 
1859,  as  the  membership  had  increased  and 
the  house  would  no  longer  answer  the  de- 
mands of  the  congregation,  Mt.  Olivet 
Church,  a  substantial  log  house  was  built 
about  sixty  rods  west  of  this  place,  which 
amply  serves  the  society  at  the  present  time. 
The  cemetery  is  still  near  the  schoolhouse. 
Many  souls  have  been  converted  at  this  place, 
and  among  the  most  prominent  revivals  were 
those  resulting  from  the  protracted  meetings 
conducted  by  Revs.  Samuel  Walker,  C.  W. 
Sabine,  C.  A.  Young  and  Robert  D.  Ellis. 
Connected  with  this  society  at  present  are 
many  good  and  substantial  members,  and 
the  sabbath  school  has  been  in  a  flourishing 
condition  for  many  years. 

Ebenezer. — In  1819  or  1820,  the  untiring 
itinerant  appeared  at  Andrew  Crews,  in  Mas- 
sillon  Township,  and  the  organization  of  a 
Methodist  society  was.  shortly  afterward  ac- 
complished. Among  the  lirst  members  were 
Andrew  Crews  and  family.  Jonathan  Douglas 
and  wife,  McMackens,  Monroes,  George  Wil- 
son and  probably  some  others.  After  1829, 
the  place  of  worship  was  at  Matthew  Crews' 
dwelling  house  for  a  number  of  years,  and 
this  society  became  the  center  of  the  circuit, 
and  in  fact,  the  most  prominent  Methodist 
organization  in  Wayne  County.  James 
Crews  was  the  first  class  leader.     In    18  40, 


when  the  Crows'  dwelling  house  would  m 
longer  accommodate  the  increasing  congre- 
gations, it  was  determined  to  build  a  church 
house,  when  Matthew  Crews  remarked  that 
"it  must  be  ready  before  the  next  quarterly 
meeting."  This  declaration  gave  assurance 
that  the  work  would  be  done,  and  a  substan- 
tial log  house,  with  two  glass  windows,  a 
large  stove  (the  first  in  the  township),  and 
fine,  broad  plank  seats,  made  bench  fashion, 
was  erected  on  the  northwest  quarter  of 
the  southwest  quarter  of  Section  31,  in  Mas- 
sillon  Township. 

At  this  place  was  also  established  a  ceme- 
tery and  a  camp  ground.  The  church  was 
called  "  Ebenezer,"  a  name  by  which  the  so- 
ciety has  been  known  for  the  past  forty-four 
years. 

While  R.  H.  Massey  was  on  the  work  in 
1865.  the  society  erected  a  neat,  frame 
chapel,  24x36  feet,  at,  a  cost  of  $1,000.  on 
the  southeast  quarter  of  the  northeast  quarter 
of  Section  35,  Jasper  Township  (land  do- 
nated by  John  M.  Creighton),  and  this  house 
still  serves  as  a  temple  of  worship,  where  an 
active  society  still  offers  up  prayer  and  praise. 
In  1851,  under  the  ministry  of  Thomas 
Sharp,  at  the  camp  ground,  a  sweeping  re- 
vival visited  this  community. 

The  principal  revivals  at  this  place  since 
that  time  have  attended  the  labors  of  Revs. 
Hazen  and  C.  W.  Sabine,  although  there 
has  been  some  revival  influence  almost  every 
year. 

Woodland. — As  early  as  1826,  a  Methodist 
society  was  organized  at  the  dwelling  of 
John  McMackon,  northwest  quarter  of  the 
northeast  quarter  of  Section  21,  in  Jasper 
Township,  on  the  place  now  owned  by  Mr. 
G.  E.  Shank.  Among  the  first  members 
were  the  McMackens,  Bradshaws,  Douglases, 
and  George  Wilson.  Some  of  these  were 
transferred    from    the   Crews'  society.      The 


102 


IIISTOliY    OK    WAYXE   COUNTY. 


preaching  was  sometimes  at  the  house  of 
Jonathan  Douglas.  Clinton  McMacken, 
James  and  Thomas  Bradshaw  were  early 
class  leaders,  and,  in  fact,  five  sons  of  Mrs. 
Ann  Bradshaw  became  leaders  at  this  place. 

An  amusing  incident  occured  here,  shortly 
after  the  organization  of  the  society.  A 
boy  fell  asleep,  during  preaching  one  day, 
and.  dreaming  that  the  hogs  were  in  the 
yard  clapped  his  hands  and  hollowed,  to 
frighten  them  away,  when  the  preacher, 
mistaking  the  shout  for  a  conversion,  ex- 
pressed great  satisfaction  that  another  sinner 
had  turned  from  his  evil  ways. 

The  increase  in  the  congregation  at  this 
place,  had  placed  the  society  under  the 
necessity  of  providing  larger  accommodations. 
In  1843,  it  was  determined  to  build  a  church 
house,  and  the  only  question  agitating  the 
brethren  was  with  regard  to  the  location. 
J.  J.  Bradshaw  had  offered  an  acre  of  ground 
on  the  northwest  corner  of  the  southwest 
quarter  of  the  northwest  quarter  of  Section 
15,  when  Thomas  Bradshaw  terminated  the 
controversy  by  proposing  that  all  go  to  work 
in  the  morning,  with  axes  and  broadaxes. 
Some  hesitated  for  a  while,  but]by  the  next 
evening  the  woods  were  ringing  with  the 
sound  of  axes  and  falling  trees,  and  Wood- 
land, a  neat  log  church,  was  completed,  which 
serves  the  congregation  as  a  place  of  worship 
at  the  present  time,  though  they  greatly 
need,  and  ought  to  have  a  better  house  for 
the  worship  of  God. 

There  have  been  many  revivals  of  religion 
at  this  place,  and  many  have  found  peace 
and  rest  here,  that  have  entered  into  their 
great  reward. 

Rev.  Arthur  Bradshaw  of  the  Illinois  Con- 
ference entered  the  itinerancy  from  this  place, 
and  Rev.  Lewis  A.  Harper,  of  the  Southern 
Illinois  Conference,  preached  his  first  sermon 
here. 


From  information  that  seems  to  be  reliable, 
we  have  reason  to  believe  that  there  was  a 
Methodist  society  in  existence  at  Virden's  as 
early  as  1830. 

The  appointment  was  supplied  from  Mt. 
Carmel,  at  first,  and  latterly,  from  Albion 
Circuit.  Two  camp-grounds  were  established 
near  this  place,  many  years  ago,  and  the 
church  has  been  favored  with  good  revival 
influences,  at  different  times. 

Among  the  early  members,  were  the  Ver- 
dens,  Melroses,  Robinsons,  Scotts,  Ewings 
and  others.  Dr.  H.  G.  Thrall,  a  talented 
and  useful  local  preacher,  and  Rev.  L.  A. 
Harper  were  probably  licensed  to  preach  at 
this  place. 

Rev.  J.  A.  Robinson,  whose  wife  was  a 
Melrose,  from  this  society  entered  upon  his 
long  and  useful  career  as  an  itinerant  minis- 
ter. 

Many  years  ago,  the  society  built  a  log 
church  house  on  the  southwest  corner  of 
the  southeast  quarter  of  the  northwest 
quarter  of  Section  24,  Town  2  south,  Range 
9  east,  in  Leach  Township.  The  church  is 
still  flourishing  to  some  extent,  and  after  a 
long  course  of  usefulness,  is  still  in  the  field, 
but  we  are  unable  to  give  any  statement  as 
to  their  numerical  strength.  The  church  is 
sometimes  known  by  the  names  of  Scottsville, 
Wabash,  and  Brushy  Prairie. 

We  have  no  means  of  ascertaining,  at  pres- 
ent, when  the  first  Methodist  organization 
was  established  in  this  community,  as  Wayne 
County  formed  a  part  of  a  large  scope  of 
country,  known  as  Wabash  Circuit,  the 
records  of  which  are  not  now  known  to  be  in 
existence,  and  the  records  of  Fairfield  Cir- 
cuit did  not  commence  until  1842.  We  have 
been  able  to  ascertain,  with  certainty,  that 
there  was  a  society  in  existence  in  1830,  at 
Moses  Woods'  house,  in  the  southwest  quar- 
ter of  the  northwest  quarter  of  Section  30,  in 


HISTORY    OF    WAYNK   (OINTV. 


103 


Leach  Township,  the  place  now  owDed  by 
John  L.  "Wagner.  Preaching  was  sometimes 
at  Sion  Harris',  where  there  was'  once'  quite 
a  revival;  also  at  Harlan's. near  Beach  Bluff, 
and  at  Andrew  Neal's,  Benjamin  Mabry's  and 
Marcus  R.  Day's. 

The  early  members  were  the  Woods',  Mrs. 
Stanley,  Elizabeth  Hooper,  Frank  Day  and 
wife,  with  probably  others.  Minsey  James 
was  class  leader.  Rev.  Benjamin  S.  Mabry, 
from  Tennessee  united  with  this  society 
about  1840,  and  was  useful  in  building  up 
the  church. 

In  1873,  a  neat,  frame  church  house, 
28x48  feet,  was  erected  at  the  cross-roads,  on 
the  northeast  corner  of  the  southeast  quarter 
of  the  northeast  quarter  Section  14,  Town- 
ship 2  south.  Range  8  east,  in  Barnhill 
Township.  The  society  has  continued  to 
prosper  since  building  the  church.  Revs. 
Sabine,  Carter,  Owen  and  Houser's  labors 
have  been  blessed  in  the  conversion  of  many 
at  this  place.  James  H.  Hodges  was  the 
tirst  to  join  the  church  in  the  new  house,  and 
was  licensed  to  preach  while  a  member  of 
this  society.  William  Neal  was  long  ago  a 
local  preacher  here.  Dr.  Homer  G.  Thrall, 
a  local  preacher  of  no  mean  ability,  and  a 
thorough  Methodist,  though  a  lover  of  all 
Christians,  was  a  lender  in  building  the  new 
church,  and  died  here  greatly  lamented. 

At  a  period  not  later  than  1832,  a  society 
of  Methodists  was  in  existence  at  Lot  Greg- 
ory's, in  Hickory  Hill  Township,  and  still  re- 
mains as  a  distinct  organization,  although 
the  preaching  was  moved  around  from  place 
to  place  as  convenience  or  caprice  might 
suggest.  Sometimes  it  was  at  Thomas 
Buck's,  William  Ellis'  or  at  other  places, 
and  we  presume  of  late  years  has  been  held 
at  public  schoolhouses.  The  early  members 
were  Lot  Gregory, "Thomas  Buck,  William 
Ellis,  Albert  Brannon,  Garrison,  William  Ir- 


win, Samuel  Bradford,  Isaac  Milner,  with 
their  wives,  and  others. 

A  new  frame  church  worth  about  $800  has 
just  been  erected  on  the  southeast  corner 
of  the  southwest  quarter  of  the  northeast 
quarter  of  Section  28,  Township  1  south, 
Range  5  east,  in  Hickory  Hill  Township. 
This  work  has  been  accomplished  chiefly, 
through  the  labor  and  perseverance  of  Mr. 
Thomas  Bilbro,  who  did  not  live  to  enjoy 
the  anticipated  pleasure  of  having  a  house  of 
God  to  worship  in,  but  passed  away  to  the 
brighter  rest  in  the  church  triumphant 
above. 

About  fifty  years  ago,  we  are  informed, 
there  was  a  great  revival  at  this  place,  that 
was  so  general  in  its  influence  that  it  affected 
the  entire  community.  A  man  not  a  mem- 
ber of  the  church  states  that  it  was  impossi- 
ble to  resist  its  power;  that  they  got  him  and 
his  young  lady  friend  down  at  the  altar  be- 
fore he  knew  it;  that  he  came  very  near  join- 
ing church  in  spite  of  all  his  efforts  to  the  con- 
trary; and  that  the  power  of  the  meeting 
was  so  great  that  it  "  run  the  cattle  all  out 
of  the  country."  Under  the  labors  of  Mr. 
Helm,  there  was  also  a  gracious  revival  here 
many  years  ago. 

About  1842,  a  society  in  Six  Mile  Prairie, 
Four  Milej  Township,  was  organized,  but  it 
is  now  difficult  to  state  what  ministers  offi- 
ciated at  its  first  organization.  Revs.  Andrew 
Maulding,  John  Fox,  Williams  and  F-.'nn 
are  known  to  have  labored  here  in  an  early 
day,  and  Thomas  Cottingham  and  Charles 
Coker,  local  preachers  from  Hamilton  Coun- 
ty, did  good  service  among  tho  people  here. 
Among  tho  early  members  of  the  church  were 
the  Mauldings,  Mrs.  Mabry,  Mrs.  Abbott,  S. 
Boyd  and  wife,  Mrs.  Hopkins,  George  Ma- 
bry and  family,  Mary  Wood,  Simons,  Tyler, 
William  Harlan,  Walden,  with  their  wives, 
Calvin  Schell  and  others.      While  John  Fox 


104 


HISTORY  OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


was  pa6tor,  preaching  was  at  an  old  store- 
house, near  Maulding's  bridge,  a  little  north 
of  the  present  Wayne  City.  Meetings  were 
also  held  at  Maulding's  and  Mabry's.  There 
was  a  general  revival  in  this  society  in  an 
early  day.  so  sweeping  in  its  effects  that 
most  of  those  for  miles  around,  who  were  not 
already  members  of  some  society,  were  re- 
ceived on  trial  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  The  work  in  this  portion  of  Wayne 
County  was  probably  supplied  by  preachers 
on  the  McLeansboro  Circuit.  A  church 
house  is  greatly  needed  in  this  community, 
and  permanent  religious  prosperity  cannot  be 
expected  without  it. 

Middleton,  or  Long  Prairie. — Long  Prairie 
Methodist  Episcopal  Society  in  Four  Mile 
Township;  was  established  in  1S41  or  1842. 
Among  the  early  members  were  Mary  Ander- 
son, Frederic  Davis,  Andrew  Davis,  Jabez 
Anderson,  James  Boswell,  Howard,  William 
Johnson,  with  their  wives  and  others.  James 
Boswell  was  class  leader.  King  Allen,  Jesse 
Johnson,  McKinsey,  Hardy,  Laird  and  other 
local  preachers  labored  here. 

About  1860,  a  good  sized  frame  church 
was  built  in  the  village  of  Middleton,  but 
does  not  seem  to  have  been  well  constructed, 
and  was  abandoned  in  1875. 

A  neat  frame  chapel,  26x40  feet,  was  erect- 
ed in  1852,  on  the  southeast  quarter  j  of  the 
northeast  quarter  of  Section  9,  Township  3 
south,  Kange  5  east,  where  the  society  of 
eighty  members  now  worship.  Rev.  R. 
Oliver,  of  the  Middleton  Circuit,  is  the  pres- 
ent pastor. 

Frog  Island. — The  Methodists  organized  a 
society  near  the  old  town  of  ''New  Balti- 
more," in  Four  Mile  Township,  previous  to 
1844,  at  the  Gray  Schoolhouse,  nearE.  Gray's, 
on  Frog  Island,  which  still  exists,  with  a 
membership  of  twenty  or  more.  Among  the 
early  members    attached  to  this  society  were 


Stephen  Bradford  and  family,  Mrs.  Mauld- 
ing,  Mrs.  Crouch,  Mrs.  McMillan,  King 
Trotter,  John  Ballard,  Richard  Norman, 
AVilliam  Miller,  with  their  wives,  and  prob- 
ably some  others.  S.  Bradford  and  King 
Trotter  were  class  leaders. 

This  little  band  have  struggled  on  faith- 
fully, through  many  discouragements,  and  it 
is  to  be  hoped  that  a  brighter  day  in  the  near 
future  awaits  them. 

More  than  forty-five  years  ago,  in  the 
southern  portion  of  Barnhiil  Township,  the 
Methodists  had  a  society,  and  regular  circuit 
preaching  at  Henry  Mericle's.  The  first 
members  were  H.  Mericle  (class  leader), 
Presly  Simpson,  William  Boze,  and  their 
wives,  Mrs.  Conn,  Mrs.  Bradshaw  and  some 
others. 

Their  membership  was  transferred  some 
years  since  across  the  line  into  White 
County,  and  constitutes  in  part  what  is  now 
known  as  Union  Church,  about  two  miles  east 
of  Mill  Shoals.  There  have  been  some  re- 
vivals in  the  past  at  this  place,  but  the  old 
original  members  have  about  all  passed  away, 
and  I  do  not  think  there  is  regular  stated 
preaching  at  the  place.  A  few  very  worthy 
members  hold  on  to  their  integrity  with  un- 
swerving devotion. 

Brush  Creek  Toivnship. — About  1S50,  a 
Methodist  society  was  established  at  Mathew 
Warren's,  in  Brush  Creek  Township.  Lat- 
terly, the  services  were  conducted  at  Mr. 
Phillips'  house,  and  the  society  had  some 
prosperity  for  a  few  years,  but,  I  think,  is  not 
flourishing  at  present.  Among  the  earlier 
members  were  Rev.  Cook,  Anns,  Z.  Phillips, 
Joseph  Phillips.  Van  Sycles,  Borroughs, 
Lovelace,  with  members  of  their  families, 
and  probably  some  others. 

Probably  after  the  organization  at  Phillip's, 
fully  thirty  years  ago,  a  live,  active  little 
society  of  Methodists  was  established  at  the 


IIISTOKY   OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


105 


Copeland  Schoolhouse  in  Brush  Creek  Town- 
ship, and  seemed  to  be  in  a  flourishing  con- 
dition at  the  commencement  of  the  great  war, 
when  dissensions  and  divisions  occurred  which 
almost  destroyed  its  usefulness  as  a  Chris- 
tian body.  It  is  unnecessary  to  ask  how  any 
true  Methodist  stood  when  his  country  was 
assailed.  The  members  were  Rev.  A.  C. 
Gonterman  and  wife,  the  Sullivans,  Irvins, 
Moores,  Smothers,  and  others.  Our  infor- 
mation has  been  but  meager,  and  we  should 
not  court  a  severe  criticism  as  to  dates  and 
incidents.  Preaching  in  this  portion  of 
Wayne  County  was  supplied  by  the  pastors 
of  Xenia  Circuit. 

About  1842,  the  local  and  circuit  preach- 
ers established  a  Methodist  society  in  the 
Buckeye  neighborhood,  near  the  northeast 
corner  of  Laniard  Township.  At  different 
periods,  the  services  were  held  at  Rutger's, 
Swain's,  or  Hays',  according  to  the  conven- 
ience of  those  most  deeply  interested.  The 
society  existed  here  with  varied  success  until 
after  the  establishment  of  Jeffersonville  as  a 
flourishing  village,  when  John  Rutger 
preached  the  first  sermon  in  David  C.  Por- 
ter's house,  and  John  E.  Taylor  is  thought 
to  have  been  the  first  circuit  preacher  to 
minister  to  the  people  of  the  village,  and, 
during  a  protracted  meeting  under  his  labors 
in  1854,  a  good  little  revival  resulted. 

We  are,  at  present,  unable  to  state  who 
were  the  first  members  constituting  this  so- 
ciety, but  doubt  not,  like  the  present  mem- 
bership, they  were  stalwart  to  the  very  core. 

Among  the  most  noted  revivals  may  be 
mentioned  those  under  the  labors  of  Revs. 
Samuel  Walker,  J.  H.  Lockwood,  Hazen, 
Sabin,  Carter,  Owen,  Baldridge  and  Young- 
ling.  Under  the  administration  of  J.  C. 
Baldridge,  in  1872,  a  neat  and  commodious 
frame  church,  30x00  feet,  was  commenced, 
and  completed  the  next  year  at  a  cost  of 
about  $1,800. 


Brother  Baldridge  preached  tho  first  sermon 
in  the  new  house,  and  it  was  dedicated  by 
Rev.  William  Tilroe. 

There  are  a  number  of  substantial  Method- 
ists in  connection  with  this  church,  and  the 
outlook  is  promising.  The  parsonage  of  the 
Jeffersonville  Circuit  is  located  at  this 
place,  and  the  church  property  is  free  from 
debt.  The  pastors  of  this  circuit  since  its 
commencement  in  1803  have  been  Revs. 
Hazen,  J.  P.  Rutherford,  F.  M.  Woolard, 
William  Tilroe,  C.  W.  Sabine,  J.  C.  Green, 
J.  C.  Baldridge,  R.  M.  Carter,  William  M. 
Owen,   David   Moore,    C.    J.  T.  Tolle,    J.    D. 

Reeder,   W.    F.   Brown,  Houser,    J.  P. 

Youngling,  N.  Stauffer,  and  C.  D.  Lingen- 
filter,  the  present  pastor. 

Methodist  preaching  was  kept  up,  societies 
established  and  long  maintained  at  Faurote's 
and  Allen's  Schoolhouse,  near  Enterprise, 
for  many  years,  accomplishing  some  good; 
but  on  account  of  deaths,  removals  and  other 
causes,  the  organization  was  abandoned  some 
years  ago. 

The  societies  established  in  an  early  day  at 
Gaston's,  Capt.  John  Clark's,  Linn  Grove 
and  Boamer's,  have  been  absorbed  by  Bethel 
and  Fairfield,  or  scattered  by  death  and  re- 
movals. 

Near  Beamer's,  two  miles  south  of  Fairfield, 
was  once  a  society  of  about  thirty  members, 
who  commenced  and  partially  completed  a 
log  church  house,  but  the  title  to  the  prop- 
erty proving  defective,  the  enterprise  was 
abandoned. 

Organ's  Schoolhouse. — For  many  years  a 
flourishing  society  existed  at  Organ's  School - 
house,  two  and  a  half  miles  northeast  of 
Fairfield,  where  great  good  resulted  from  the 
labors  of  tho  preachers  in  that  community, 
but  it  is  no  longer  maintained  as  a  distinct 
organization,  its  members  having  been  trans- 
ferred to  Woodland,  Kbenezer  and  Fairfield. 
The  folly   of  establishing  societies  in  almos 


106 


HISTORY   OF   WAYNE   COUNTY. 


every  school  district,  thereby  dividing  their 
strength  so  as  to  render  them  unable  to 
build  houses  of  worship,  has  certainly  been 
demonstrated  among  our  people,  to  an  ex- 
tent that  ought  to  teacb  them  that  its  repeti- 
tion is  a  grave  mistake. 

Johnsonville  Circuit. — Our  information  is 
somewhat  meager  concerning  the  earlier  so- 
cieties on  this  work,  and  there  is  no  doubt 
much  of  value  that  unless  gathered  soon  will 
be  lost,  even  if  it  is  not  already  too  late  in 
many  instances. 

The  early  records  of  Fairfield  Circuit  meD- 
tion  Galbraith's,  Hills',  Tibbs',  Round 
Prairie,  Forackre's,  Watson's,  Baker's,  Lib- 
erty Schoolhouse,  and  probably  some  other 
places,  but  lest  we  should  cause  confusion  in 
attempting  to  classify  them  in  connection 
with  the  present  appointments  of  Johnson- 
ville Circuit,  we  would  prefer  passing  them 
by  with  the  mere  mention  of  their  names. 
The  following  from  Rev.  Lewis  A.  Harper, 
the  present  pastor  of  the  circtiit,  in  few 
words  and  very  much  to  the  point,  contains 
information  the  most  reliable  that  we  have  so 
far  been  able  to  obtain. 

"The  territory  now  embraced  in  Johnson- 
ville charge,  from  the  time  there  was  preach- 
ing in  it,  was  included  in  the  Fairfield  Cir- 
cuit until  the  fall  of  1858,  when  the  John- 
sonville Circuit  was  formed,  and  James  I. 
Richardson  appointed  to  the  work.  Under 
his  administration  the  parsonage  was  built 
that  still  stands.  In  1859,  J.  H.  Lockwood 
was  appointed  to  the  work,  and  remained  two 
years.  There  was  some  religious  prosperity 
during  his  term. 

"In  1861,  the  work  was  supplied  by  W. 
F.  Massey,  who  remained  till  near  the  close 
of  the  year,  when  he  enlisted  in  the  United 
States  Army.  In  1862,  J.  P.  Rutherford  was 
appointed.  He  made  some  improvements  in 
the   parsonage   property.      In    1863,   J.    \Y. 


Grant  was  appointed.  These  being  war  times, 
and  Brother  Grant  being  strongly  Union, 
there  was  some  trouble,  and  but  little  or  no 
revival.  In  1864,  Anderson  Meyers  was  ap- 
pointed, and  the  present  church  at  Johnson- 
ville was  commenced  and  nearly  finished,  at 
a  cost  of  nearly  $4,000. 

"In  1865,  'Uncle  Jimmy'  Johnson  was 
appointed,  and  continued  two  years.  In 
1867,  G.  W.  Brannine  was  appointed,  and 
remained  three  years. 

"  In  1871,  N.  E.  Harmon  was  appointed, 
and  had  some  revival  work. 

"  In  1872,  R.  M.  Carter  was  appointed. 
He  had  poor  health,  and  there  was  not  much 
done  in  revival  work.  In  1873,  J.  P.  Young- 
ling was  appointed.  During  his  administra- 
tion, the  brick  church  at  Rinard  was  bought. 
In  1874,  William  McMorrow  was  appointed, 
and  remained  two  years,  during  which  time 
there  was  some  revival  influence.  In  1876, 
L.  A.  Harper  was  appointed,  and  remained 
two  years,  during  which  time  there  was  con- 
siderable revival  work,  the  most  noted  of 
which  was  a  union  meeting  with  Rev.  Gaston 
at  Mt.  Zion,  which  resulted  in  about  sixty 
conversions.  In  1878,  A.  L.  Downey.  In 
1879,  M.  L.  King,  who  remained  two  years. 
Sixty  joined  the  church  during  his  first  year. 
In  1881,  WT.  R.  Bradley  was  appointed,  and 
remained  two  years,  and  there  was  consider- 
able revival  work  during  his  term.  In  1883, 
L.  A.  Harper  was  returned,  and  is  making  an 
effort  to  build  a  parsonage,  which  is  greatly 
needed. 

"  There  are  four  churches,  worth  about 
$4,000,  and  seven  appointments,  and  a  mem- 
bership of  about  230." 

Mr.  Harper  further  states  that:  "  The  first 
meetings  in  Arrington  Prairie  by  the  Method- 
ist Episcopal  Church  were  in  1859,  at  David 
Baker's  house,  by  Andrew  J.  Maulding,  Israel 
Turner  and  Jacob  O.  Feather,  then  a  member 


HISTORY   OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


107 


of  our  church.  About  that  time,  a  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  class  was  formed  at  the  old 
Liberty  Schoolhouse,  in  the  south  part  of  Ar- 
rington,  and  continued  until  L858,  when  the 
Zion  Church  was  built,  northwest  corner  of 
the  northwest  quarter  of  the  northwest  quar- 
ter of  Section  24,  Town  1  south,  Range  6 
east,  on  land  donated  by  Esq.  John  Cisne. 
This  church  is  a  frame  of  some  respectabil- 
ity, and  has  been  lately  repaired.  Among 
the  first  members  were  David  Baker.  Rev. 
Jacob  O.  Feather,  Jacob  Baker,  Alfred  Baker, 
Aaron  Graham,  with  their  wives  and  some 
others.  This  church  is  ten  miles  south  of 
Johnsonville. 

"Three  miles  southwest  of  Johnsonville 
there  is  a  society  of  over  twenty-five  years' 
standing,  with  preaching  first  at  the  houses 
of  H.  D.  and  John  Taylor,  and  then  at  school- 
houses,  when  they  built  a  log  church  (south- 
east corner  of  the  southwest  quarter  of  the 
southwest  quarter  of  Section  17,  Town  1 
north,  Range  6  east),  which  is  called  Wesley 
Chapel.  This  house  is  one  of  the  regular 
preaching  places  of  this  circuit.  Among  the 
first  members  were  John  Taylor,  H.  D.  Tay- 
lor, Nicholas  Borders,  Joseph  Spicor.  with 
their  wives  and  others. 

"  There  is  a  society  three  miles  southeast 
of  Johnsonville,  on  the  Dry  Fork,  of  more 
than  twenty-five  years' standing,  with  preach- 
ing for  many  years  at  the  Watson  School- 
house.  Eight  or  nine  years  ago,  a  frame 
church  east  of  the  Dry  Fork  was  put  up,  and 
used  for  some  time,  but  never  finished,  and 
the  preaching  is  now  in  a  log  church,  ownod 
by  the  Baptists.  Henry  Schell,  George 
Cariens,  Enoch  Greathouse,  Elias  Holmes, 
their  wives  and  others  were  early  members." 
ML  Erie  circuit. — We  are  somewhat  at 
a  loss,  from  the  fact  that  we  have  been  un- 
able to  obtain  adequate  information  concern- 
ing the  early  membership   of    tln>    church    in 


one  of  the  most  interesting  fields  of  labor  in 
Wayne  County,  feeling  that  an  injustice  has 
been  done  to  Mt.  Erie  Circuit,  for  which  no 
one  is  to  blame;  and  we  can  only  regret  that 
our  account  is  not  moi-e  full  in  detail  of  the 
unwritten  portion  of  the  history  of  the  church 
in  that  section. 

From  old  records,  we  obtain  the  names  of 
Vandaveor's.  Farmer's,  Walker's,  Ake's,  Lo- 
cust Grove,  Long  Prairie,  Bradshaw's  and 
Yohe's,  which  were,  doubtless,  the  nucleus 
from  which  sprang  the  towers  of  greater 
strength,  Mt.  Erie  Church,  McKendree  Chap- 
el and  other  modern  preaching  places. 

The  following  very  concise  official  account 
has  fallen  into  our  hands,  which  we  suppose 
was  written  by  Rev.  J.  P.  Youngling: 

'■  The  first  society  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church  in  Mt.  Erie  Township  was  or- 
ganized in  1839  or  1840,  by  Alexander  Blake- 
ly,  a  local  preacher.  Rev.  Guthrie  began  to 
preach  at  two  or  three  points  in  this  section. 
The  societies  until  1854  were  served  by  the 
same  pastors  as  those  of  Fairfield  Circuit. 

"I  copy  from  the  records:  At  the  session 
of  the  Southern  Illinois  Conference  in  Sep- 
tember, 1854,  the  New  Massillon  Mission 
was  formed  out  of  territory  formerly  belong- 
ing to  the  Fairfield  and  Louisville  Circuits. 
At  its  organization,  the  mission  consisted  of 
eight  appointments,  having  144  members 
and  sixty -two  probationers.  It  was  a  part 
of  Salem  District;  J.  I.  Richardson,  P.  E., 
and  Cavoy  Lambert,  P.  C.  A  parsonage  was 
commenced  and  so  far  completed  as  to  be 
occupied  by  the  preacher  in  the  winter. 

"  In  1855,  Brother  Lambert  was  returned, 
the  parsonage  debt  was  nearly  paid,  needed 
improvements  were  made  and  the  work  was  in 
good  condition  generally.  In  1850,  the 
mission  appropriation  of  $50  was  withdrawn, 
the  charge  named  Mt.  Erie  Circuit  and  Rev. 
James    M.    Massey    appointed  preacher    in 


108 


HISTORY  OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


charge.     He  was  a  man   of   more  than  ordi- 
nary preaching  ability. 

"  During  the  year  1856,  the  present  church 
building  was  put  under  contract,  but  not  en- 
closed until  the  spring  of  1857.  In  1857,' 
Rev.  R.  H.  Massey  was  appointed  P.  C. 
The  church  was  dedicated  October  3,  1858, 
by  Rev.  J.  M.  Massey.  It  is  a  frame  build- 
ing and  cost  $1,300.  The  following  preach- 
ers then  successively  served  the  charge:  J. 
H.  Lockwood,  J.  I.  Richardson.  R.  H.  Mas- 
sey, who  was  appointed  Chaplain  of  the 
Fortieth  Illinois  Regiment,  and  "Wilbur  F. 
Massey  supplied  the  charge  until  the  next 
session  of  the  conference.  (W.  F.  Massey 
died  a  prisoner  of  war  in  the  pen  at  Ander- 
sonville,  Ga.) 

"  In  1862,  the  Mt.  Erie  and  Flora  Circuits 
were  united,  and  Rev.  Cavey  Lambert  ap- 
pointed P.  C.  The  next  year  Mt.  Erie  and 
Flora  Circuits  were  restored  to  their  original 
bounds,  and  Rev.  C.  Lambert  was  appointed 
to  Mi  Erie.  Brother  L.  was  succeeded  by 
Rev.  Calvin  Gibbs,  and  in  1866,  Rev.  O.  Bru- 
nei- was  appointed. 

"In  1868,  Rev.  John  Thatcher  was  ap- 
pointed to  the  Mt.  Erie  and  Clay  City  Cir- 
cuits. He  died  March  3,  1869.  The  work 
was  then  divided,  and  Rev.  M.  L.  King  was 
placed  in  charge  of  Clay  City,  and  Rev. 
Richard  Thatcher  at  Mt  Erie. 

"  In  the  fall  of  1869,  Brother  King  was  ap- 
pointed toMt.  Erie;  1870  to  1873,  J.  C.  Bal- 
dridge;  1873  to  1876,  J.  B.  Ravenscroft;  1S76 
to  1879,  Caleb  D.  Lingenfelter;  1879  to 
1880,  V.  D.  Lingenfelter;  1880,  William 
Tilroe;  1881-82,  J.  P.  Youngling;  1883,  J. 
D.  Reeder,  the  present  pastor. 

"  There  are,  at  present,  five  regular  ap- 
pointments, with  occasional  "preaching  at 
two  others.  There  are  five  Sabbath  schools, 
doing  good  work.  The  society  three  and  one- 
half  miles  southeast  of  here  have  a  comfort- 


able church  house.  The  other  societies  are 
worshiping  in  schoolhouses  at  present.  But 
one  church  house  will  be  erected  this  year, 
and  others,  we  think,  will  be  in  the  near 
future." 

In  addition  to  the  above  account,  we  have 
learned    that    McKendree    Chapel,    a    good 
frame    house,   26x40    feet,    situated    on    the 
northeast  quarter  of  the  northwest  quarter  of 
Section  33,  in  Mt.  Erie  Township,  and  cost 
ing  $1,350,  was  erected   in  1876,  and  dedi 
cated,  free  from  debt,  by  Dr.  J.  W.  Locke 
The  Trustees  were  W.  H.  Portertield,   A.    L 
Wall,   James  Bradshaw,  W.  H.  Wells,  J.  F 
Troyer  and  Albert  Vandaveer. 

In  1849,  under  the  ministry  of  Rev.  James 
Johnson,  there  was  a  great  revival  in  this 
neighborhood  at  Ake's  Grove.  In  1877, 
Rev.  C.  D.  Lingenfelter  conducted  a  revival 
meeting  at  McKendree  Chapel,  during  which 
sixty- five  persons  were  converted. 

In  1881,  during  the  service  of  Rev.  J.  P. 
Youngling,  fifty  people  were  converted  at 
the  same  place. 

In  the  vicinity  of  the  places  formerly 
known  in  the  old  church  records  as  "  West's 
Schoolhouse  "  and  "  Massillon,"  a  new  frame 
church  house,  26x40  feet,  on  the  southwest 
quarter  of  the  northwest  quarter  of  Section 
10,  Massillon  Township,  is  now  under  con- 
struction, to  be  known  as  the  West  M.  E. 
Church.  Mrs.  Salina  West,  widow  of  the 
late  Mr.  Wayne  West,  died  in  1865,  leaving 
forty  acres  of  land  for  the  purpose  of  erect- 
ing this  chapel.  The  land  has  been  sold, 
and  through  the  liberal  contributions  of  a 
generous  public,  in  addition  to  the  bequest, 
a  small  society,  with  a  flourishing  Sunday 
school  and  good  prospects,  will  soon  have  a 
good  house  of  worship,  where  it  is  greatly 
needed.  We  suspect  that  through  the  energy 
of  A.  L.  Wall,  Esq.,  and  others,  this  work 
has  been  greatly  facilitated.     The  Trustees 


HISTOKY   (IF    WAYNE  COUNTY. 


109 


of  this  property  are  W.  V.  Goodall,  Sylves- 
ter I'rice,  John  R.  Trover,  A.  L.  Wall,  Yan 
E.  Price  and  W.  E.  Allison. 

Zif  Township. — In  JS87.  "Aunt  Hannah 
Husselton,"  like  Barbara  Heck,  went  in  quest 
of  a  preacher,  when  J.  I.  Richardson  came 
and  preached  at  her  house  on  his  last  round. 
Rev.  John  Fox  was  the  next  preacher,  and 
organized  a  society  there.  The  early  mem- 
bers were  Mrs.  Husselton,  John  Williams, 
Thomas  G.  Williams,  John  H.  Hill,  James 
Cochran,  John  Husselton,  and  their  wives. 
J.  H.  Hill  was  class  leader.  Preaching  was 
sometimes  at  the  dwellings  of  Hill  and  the 
Williams.  The  appointment  was  known  as 
"'  Williams,"  but  is  now  known  as  the  Grove 
Creek  Schoolhouse.  Rev.  J.  C.  Williams  is 
a  member  of  this  society. 

Rev.  John  H.  Hill  entered  upon  his  long 
and  useful  career  as  an  itinerant  minister 
from  this  place.  The  society  is  at  present 
connected  with  the  Mt.  Erie  Circuit.  Previ- 
ous to  the  establishment  of  the  Williams  So- 
ciety there  was  a  Methodist  organization  at 
Isaac  Creeks,  with  regular  circuit  preaching. 
The  pioneer  members  were  Creek  and  Jordan 
C.  ■  Patterson,  with  their  wives  and  other 
members  of  their  families.  Patterson  was  a 
useful  local  preacher.  John  Husselton  and 
his  wife  died  here.  Preaching  was  afterward 
held  at  Mrs.  Humes,  who  was  also  a  mem- 
ber, and  then  at  the  Patterson  Schoolhouse, 
until  a  neat  chapel  was  erected  in  the  neigh- 
borhood. 

Circuit  preaching  in  Zif  Township  must 
have  been  supplied  from  the  old  Maysville 
Circuit,  as  these  societies  were  established 
prior  to  the  organization  of  either  the  New 
Massillon  Mission  or  the  Mt.  Erie  Circuit,  and 
they  nowhere  appear  on  the  Fairfioldrecords, 
which  commence  in  1842.  The  society  is 
now  in  connection  with  the  Mt.  Erie  Circuit. 

Camp-meetings. — Realizing  fully   how  in- 


complete this  account  would  be  without  it, 
we  will  digress,  at  this  point,  to  give  a  brief 
sketch  of  the  early  camp-meetings  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  Wayne 
County,  in  which  strong  men  often  partici- 
pated, and  where  many  precious  souls  were 
converted. 

After  considerable  labor  and  inquiry,  we 
believe  the  dates  attached  to  each  may  be 
relied  on  with  considerable  certainty,  although 
there  are,  doubtless,  many  incidents  of  inter- 
est, which  have  long  since  passed  from  the 
memory  of  living  men. 

This  manner  of  conducting  public  worship 
in  the  early  days  of  the  church  in  the  West, 
when  people  would  travel  long  distances  on 
foot,  on  horses  or  in  ox-carts,  to  worship 
God,  when  the  country  was  little  less  than  a 
"waste,  a  howling  wilderness,"  was  almost  a 
necessity,  as  no  houses  in  the  country,  at  that 
time,  were  large  enough  to  contain  the  as- 
sembled throngs;  such  congregations  would 
not,  at  the  present  time,  be  considered  large, 
but  then,  when  the  nearest  neighbors  were 
ofteu  miles  apart,  a  few  hundred  people  were 
considered  a  very  large  assemblage. 

From  Uncle  George  Meritt,  who  certainly 
deserves  to  be  classed  as  the  "oldest  inhabi- 
tant," and  among  the  very  first  pioneers,  we 
learn  that  "  The  first  camp-meeting  in  Wayne 
County  was  held  by  the  Methodists  in  May, 
1818,  conducted  by  Charles  Slocumb,  Zadoc 
Casey,  John  Slocumb  and  Archibald  Roberts. 

"  Tho  meeting  was  hold  at  what  was  then, 
and  is  yet  known  as  the  Meritt  Springs,  in 
the  southwest  corner  of  Leech   Township." 

We  visited  this  ground  a  few  days  since 
in  order  to  definitely  locate  it,  before  those 
knowing  its  situation  should  all  pass  away. 
The  place  of  encampment  is  now  a  cultivated 
field,  and  the  springs  are  still  flowing,  but 
much  neglected. 

At  or  very  near  the  southeast  corner  of  the 


110 


HISTORY  OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


southwest  quarter  uf  the  southwest  quarter 
of  Section  7,  Town  3  south,  Range  9  east,  on 
the  spot  where  Ales  Stewart's  house  now 
stands,  was  the  place  of  the  encampment. 
About  forty  paces  ]  to  the  east  of  this  house, 
on  the  brow  of  a  small  hill,  in  the  field, 
stands,  at  present,  a  large,  black  gum  stump, 
from  which  the  tree  has  been  recently  cut, 
and,  under  the  shade  of  which,  facing  west, 
or  south  of  west,  was  erected  a  stand,  from 
which,  more  than  sixty-five  years  ago,  Charles 
Slocumb,  Zadoc  Casey,  men  of  giant  minds, 
with  others,  proclaimed  the  word  of  life  and 
salvation  to  the  assembled  pioneers;  and 
grand  results  were  attained  on  the  occasion, 
as  many  obtained  the  "  Pearl  of  great  price." 

It  is  no  disparagement  to  Gov.  Casey, 
though  a  great  and  talented  preacher,  to  say, 
that  he  was  not  by  any  one  regarded  as  the 
peer  of  the  eloquent  and  inimitable  Slocumb. 

This  most  sacred  spot  is  now  a  part  of  the 
domain  of  our  truly  worthy  friend,  Esquire 
Nathan  Meritt.  The  springs  thirty  or  forty 
rods  to  the  southeast,  on  Section  18,  are  on 
the  estate  of  Mr.  Charles  Winzenberger. 

South  of  the  Meritt  camp -ground  one  and 
one-fourth  miles,  and  east  of  Burnt  Prairie, 
was  the  Patten  camp-ground,  where  the  same 
preachers,  in  connection  with  some  others, 
conducted  a  meeting  in  1822.  Meetings 
were  kept  up  here  for  a  number  of  years, 
and  great  good  was  evidently  accomplished, 
as  this  means  of  gathering  the  people  to- 
gether was  continued,  until  houses  of  wor- 
ship were  built  of  sufficient  capacity  to  ac- 
commodate the  multitude.  Circumstances 
strongly  indicate  that  the  meeting  about 
which  Dr.  William  Beauchamp  writes,  and 
mentioned  in  Bangs  history,  occurred  on  this 
ground. 

At  these  early  meetings,  though  denomi- 
national in  their  character,  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterians  and  Methodists  usually  united 


in  bearing  the  burdens  for  the  occasion  and 
the  labors  of  the  altar;  sometimes  Methodists, 
at  others,  Presbyterian;  their  denominational 
features  were  only  determined  by  the  minis- 
ters in  charge. 

In  the  summer  of  1827,  and  for  some  years 
afterward,  the  Methodists  held  a  camp-meet- 
ing near  a  spring,  on  the  Porter  place,  one 
and  one-half  miles  northeast  of  Fairfield, 
under  the  charge  of  Jacob  Delap,  the  pastor. 
James  M.  Massey  first  exhorted  here.  It  was 
here  that  Charles  Slocumb  preached  the 
funeral  of  John  Barnhill  and  his  wife.  There 
were  many  converts  and  a  great  stir  on  the 
occasion.  Daniel  McHenry  and  Archy  Rob- 
erts were  active  at  this  meeting. 

Coming  to  this  meeting,  John  Y.  Brad- 
shaw,  then  a  boy,  was  driving  an  ox  team, 
when  approaching  the  creek  the  thirsty  oxen 
suddenly  made  a  dash  for  the  water,  upset- 
ting the  cart,  and  turning  the  box  upside 
down,  with  old  Mrs.  B.  and  the  camp  provi- 
sions on  the  under  side. 

A  vessel  of  honey  was  spilled  on  Mrs.  B., 
when  she  hollowed  lustily  for  dear  life,  de- 
claring that  she  was  already  killed  dead, 
mashed  flat,  every  bone  in  her  body  crushed 
into  splinters,  and  that  she  was  all  covered 
with  blood.  When  released,  unhurt,  she 
seemed  greatly  disappointed  at  finding  no 
real  blood,  and  left  in  high  dudgeon,  saying 
it  was  an  unpardonable  sin  to  attend  a  Meth- 
odist meeting  anyhow,  and  that  this  was  a 
judgment  sent  on  her  for  so  doing.  She  was 
never  afterward  seen  in  an  ox  cart  riding  to 
a  Methodist  camp-meeting. 

In  1835,  a  Methodist  camp-ground  was  es- 
tablished, and  continued  for  some  years  after- 
ward, as  such,  on  the  Jonathan  Douglas 
place,  one  and  one-half  miles  west  of  south 
of  the  Grinnell  Pond,  where  the  old  ceme- 
tery yet  remains.  Among  the  ministers  pres- 
ent were  Charles  Slocumb,  B.  F.  Kavanaugh, 


HISTORY   OF    WAYNE   COUNTY. 


Ill 


Thomas  Hinds.  James  Crews  and  John 
Thatcher,  then  a  young  man  on  his  way  to 
Missouri.  By  some  means,  Brother  Thatcher 
was  regarded  with  suspicion,  being  an  entire 
stranger,  and  so  unministerial  in  his  personal 
appearance.  With  what  very  different  feel- 
ings and  emotions  did  many  of  these  same 
people  regard  him,  when,  after  the  lapse  of 
nearly  thirty  years  this  truly  wonderful  man 
became  their  devoted  pastor. 

A  groat  work  was  accomplished  at  the  first 
meeting,  and  among  the  converts  was  a  lad 
fifteen  years  of  age,  who  afterward  was  aud 
is  now  known  as  Col.  Warren  E.  McMackin, 
of  Salem. 

About  1S38,  the  Methodists  held  a  camp- 
meeting  about  two  miles  north  of  Scottsville, 
in  the  eastern  portion  of  Wayne  County. 
The  encampment  was  afterward'made  about 
one-half  mile  west  of  that  village,  where 
similar  meetings  were  conducted  for  some 
years.  "We  know  nothing  definite  concerning 
the  outcome  of  these  meetings,  nor  who  were 
present  as  ministers.  It  is,  however,  not 
probable  that  camp-meetings  were  maintained 
here  for  a  series  of  years,  without  some  good 
being  accomplished.  Circumstances  strongly 
indicate  that  Methodist  preaching  was  es- 
tablished in  this  community  at  an  earlier 
period  than  we  have  been  in  the  habit  of 
placing  it.  The  Mt.  Carmel  Circuit  preacher, 
in  1820,  had  a  preaching  place  in  Wayne 
County;  and  as  the  territory  east  of  the  Lit- 
tle Wabash  was  connected  with  that  circuit, 
it  is  probable  that  this  is  the  place. 

In  1S44,  the  Methodists  commenced^hold- 
ing  camp-meetings  at  the  Mathew  Crews  en- 
campment, where  the  old  Ebenezer  Church 
stood,  in  the  southwest  corner  of  Massillon 
Township.  These  meetings  were  maintained 
for  about  eight  years,  and  this  place  became 
somewhat  noted  as  a  Methodist  center.  There 
were  some  sweeping  revivals  here,  by  which 


great  and  lasting  good  was  accomplished. 
It  was  said  to  be  a  custom  with  Mathew 
Crews,  when  people  came  from  a  distance  to 
attend  these  meetings, to  show  them  his  past- 
ures, his  corn,  hay  and  oats,  and  toll  them 
that  all  were  free,  and  to  help  themselves. 

About  thirty  years  ago,  a  camp-meeting 
was  conducted  by  the  Methodists,  one  mile 
and  a  half  southwest  of  Middleton,  in  Four 
Mile  Township,  on  the  land  of  Richard  Jen- 
kins, but  we  have  been  unable  to  ascertain 
any  facts  concerning  it,  except  that  Bev. 
Thomas  Casey  was  a  prominent  factor  dur- 
ing the  progress  of  the  meeting. 

There  was  a  camp-meeting  hold  about  one 
mile  north  of  the  town  of  Middleton,  shortly 
after  the  war,  but  our  information  concerning 
this,  is  even  more  meager  than  that  of  the  first 
one. 

These  short  accounts  cover  all  the  camp- 
meetings,  conducted  by  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church  in  Wayne  County,  so  far  as  we 
have  been  able  to  learn. 

After  his  return  from  the  Black  Hawk  war, 
in  1S32,  Mr.  Hugh  Stewart  removed  to  Fair- 
field, and  as  a  consequence,  regular  circuit 
preaching  was  commenced,  and  has  been 
mantained  to  the  present  time.  There  may 
have  been  a  society,  and  Methodist  preaching 
in  the  village  before  tho  coming  of  Mr.  S. 
but,  unless  possessed  of  more  definite  infor- 
mation on  the  subject,  we  should  hesitate  to 
state  this  as  a  fact. 

The  town  seems  to  have  been  largely 
given  over  to  hardness,  whisky  drinking, 
fighting,  gambling,  and  even  worse  things 
were  prevalont,  and  but  little  attempt  was 
made  to  conceal  the  dominant  wickedness  of 
the  place.  Mr.  Stewart  entertained  preach- 
ing at  his  ijwn  residence,  often  supporting 
the  quarterly  conference,  laboring  and  trust- 
ing, with  a  persistent  courage,  amidst  em- 
barrassments, that  would  have  made   a  less 


112 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


stout-hearted  men  quail,  until  a  few  addi- 
tional members  wore  added  to  their  little 
band.  Jonathan  Douglass,  living  five  miles 
in  the  country,  came  into  the  town  regularly, 
and  attended  to  the  duties  of  class  leader. 
An  attempt  was  made  to  build  a  church 
house,  and  a  log  pen  was  raised  for  that  pur- 
pose, but  they  were  unable  to  finish  it,  and 
the  enterprise  was  abandoned.  Preaching 
was,  for  a  time  conducted  in  the  court  house,  | 
and  there  were  a  few  additions  there,  among 
whom  we  may  mention  Mr.  John  Wilson,  but 
there  came  into  office,  men  "  dressed  in  a 
little  brief  authority,"  who  were  so  indignant 
at  the  public  building  being  desecrated  by 
Gospel  preaching,  that  the  little  band  had  to 
seek  quarters,  elsewhere.  Mr.  Stewart  held 
to  his  purpose  with  such  heroic  constancy, 
that  he  may  justly,  under  Divine  Providence, 
be  regarded  as  the  Fattier  of  Methodism,  in 
Fairfield.  He  has  long  since  passed  to  his 
reward,  but  his  memory  is  held  in  reverence 
by  the  few  now  living,  who  knew  him,  and, 
although  he  did  not  live  to  see  the  triumph 
of  his  work  here,  could  he  but  come  to  Fair- 
field to-day,  and  see  six  good  Christian 
church  houses,  each  with  a  respectable  hold- 
ing, the  saloons  banished,  iniquity  driven  to 
dark  corners,  and  Christ  triumphant,  his  soul 
would  be  satisfied. 

"Sow  iu  the  morn  thy  seed  ; 
At  eve,  hold  not  thy  hand  ; 
To  doubt  and  fear  give  thou  no  heed, 
Broadcast  it  o'er  the  land." 

In  1832,  the  Illinois  Conference  established 
what  was  then  called  Fairfield  Circuit,  with 
James  Hadley  as  pastor.  We  think  his  wife 
died  here.  Of  the  bounds  of  the  work,  at 
that  time,  we  have  no  record;  but  the  next 
year,  it  was  again  merged  into  the  Wabash 
Circuit,  and  so  remained  until  1842,  when 
Fairfield  again  appears  on  the  minutes,  and 
has  so  continued  to  the  present  time.     Fair- 


field charge  in  1842,  embraced  all  the  terri- 
tory lying  between  the  Skillet  Fork  and 
Little  Wabash  Rivers,  to  the  north  line  of 
Wayne  County,  with,  probably  the  exception 
of  two  societies  in  Zif  Township  and  some 
in  the  west  part  of  the  county.  Out  of  this 
territory  have  since  been  formed  Fairfield 
Station,  Jeffersonville,  Johnsonville,  Mt. 
Erie  and  Liberty  (Burnt  Prairiel  Circuits. 

Robert  E.  Guthrie  was  appointed  the  first 
pastor  of  the  new  Fairfield  Circuit,  and  Bar- 
ton Rande  was  Presiding  Elder.  Extensive 
revivals  prevailed  this  year,  and  "  Guthries 
revivals  "  are  often  spoken  of  by  old  citizens. 
During  one  of  these  meetings  some  young 
men  were  playing  cards,  in  the  woods  near 
by,  at  night,  when  a  meteor  passed  over, 
which,  they  thought,  dropped  close  by  them. 
They  ran  for  the  meeting  with  all  the  power 
that  was  left  in  them,  and  prayed  and  bel- 
lowed with  their  might,  as  though  his  brim- 
stone majesty  had  them  already  in  his 
clutches.  It  was  but  a  short  time,  however, 
until  their  pristine  bravery  returned,  and 
they  had  no  more  use  for  meetings,  until  a 
tornado  or  something  else  should  come  along 
and  give  them  another  fright.  In  1843,  James 
M.  Massey  was  pastor.  He  was  a  grand 
man,  a  workman  indeed  who  passed  to  his 
reward  in   1859. 

In  lS44,Ephraim  Joy, PC;  John  Van  Cleve, 
P.  E.  1845,  Daniel  Fairbanks.  1846,  T.  C. 
Lopas,  a  gifted  but  eccentric  man,  who  never 
married.  1847,  Jacob  E.  Reed.  P.  C. ;  W.  K 
Taylor,  P.  E. ;  Thomas  Parker.  A.  P.  1848-49, 
James  Johnson.  1850,  James  Haley.  1851, 
Moses  Shepherd,  P.  C, ;  W.  W.  Mitchel,  P. 
E.  1852,  Hiram  Sears.  1853,  Thomas 
Sharp,  P.  O;  J.  I.  Richardson,  P.  E. ;  John 
Wilson  was  elected  Recording  Steward  this 
year,  which  position  he  has  filled  to  the  pres- 
ent time.  1854,  James  Knapp.  1855-56, 
John  Gilham.      1857,  Wesley  Williams  and 


IIISTOKY    OF    WAYXE   COUNTY. 


113 


John  E.  Taylor;  G.  W.  Robbins,  P.  E. 
1858-59.  Samuel  Walker,  P.  C;  William 
Cliffe.  P.  E.  1860,  S.  E.  Willing  and  James 
Burke.  1861,  John  H.  Lookwood.  1862, 
John  Thatcher  and  William  M.  Owen;  T.  F. 
Houts,  P.  E.  1863,  James  A.  Thrapp.  1864, 
Richard  H.  Massey.  1S65,  Fairfield  was  made 
a  station  and  R.  H.  Massey,  preacher  in 
charge.  1866,  R.  H.  Massey."  1'.  C;  C.  J. 
Houts,  P.  E.  1867,  James  Johnson,  P.  C. : 
Z.  S.  Clifford,  P.  E.  1868,  William  B. 
Bruner.  I860,  J.  S.  Barnes.  1870-71, 
Simon  P.  Groves;  R.  H.  Massey,  P.  E. 
1872,  Calvin  Gibbs.  1873-74,  John  H.  Hill, 
William  F.  Davis,  P.  E.  1875,  •>.  A.  Baird; 
John  Leeper,  P.  E.  1876-77.  Caloway  Nash. 
1878,  James  L.  Wallar.  1879-81,  William 
F.  Davis,  P.  C;  Owen  H.  Clark,  P.  E. 
1882-83,  Milo  N.  Powers,  the  present 
pastor. 

For  convenience,  we  have  thought  it  best 
to  give  the  chronological  order  of  the  pas- 
tors without  disturbance,  and  recur  again  to 
the  records,  traditions  and  oral  testimonies 
for  a  brief  account  of  incidents  that  trans- 
pired from  time  to  time.  It  must  bo  remem- 
bered that  ever  since  Fairfield  became  the 
head  of  a  circuit,  pastors  and  people  lived  on 
a  more  meager  allowance  than  would  now  bo 
deemed  necessary  for  the  ordinary  day-labor- 
er's family's  support.  The  preacher's  disci- 
plinary allowance  was  $1(10  a  year,  with  a  like 
sum  for  his  wife  and  a  small  stipend  for  each 
child  under  fourteen  sears  of  age.  To  this 
was  added  by  the  "estimating  commit- 
tee "  whatever  sum  was  thought  necessary 
for  feeding  the  preacher's  family  and  horse, 
fuel,  etc.,  and  this  last  was  denominated 
"  table  expenses."  The  committee,  in  1851, 
reported  $70  as  table  expenses  for  Moses 
Shepherd  and  family.  At  a  later  time,  when 
$140  were  reported  for  John  Gilham,  he 
stated  that  it  was  more  than  was   necessary. 


so  it  was  reduced  to  $128.  In  1843,  the  fol- 
lowing, which  may  appear  unique  to  some, 
was  passed  by  the  Quarterly  Conference: 
"  Resolved,  That  the  stewards  of  this  circuit 
be  appointed  a  committee,  to  solicit  and  col- 
lect cattle,  for  the  purpose  of  purchasing  a 
horse  for  the  preacher  in  charge."  The  sub- 
ject was  up  again,  and  it  is  supposed  Brother 
Guthrie  obtained  a  horse,  for  in  those  days 
"  trade  and  barter "  was  the  rule,  and  as 
money  was  almost  out  of  the  question,  the 
preacher  took  in  paymeut  anything  that  him- 
self and  family  stood  in  need  of. 

At  the  first  Quarterly  Conference  this  year, 
the  public  collection  amounted  to  $1.52$,  and 
the  entire  sum  in  cash,  gathered  from  the 
seventeen  appointments,  footed  up  $5.62$, 
and  the  cash  receipts  for  the  year  for  Elder 
Randall  and  the  pastor  was  $87.85^. 

At  a  little  later  period,  as  an  evidence  of 
the  improvement  in  the  times  and  more  lib- 
eral ideas  among  the  people,  while  Elder 
Van  Cleve  and  Rev.  Joy  were  conducting 
the  meeting,  the  public  collection  amounted 
to  $2,  even. 

James  M.  Massey's  regular  appointments, 
besides  occasional  preaching  places,  in  1843, 
were  Fairfield,  Bovee's,  Hay's,  Thomas  Brad- 
shaw's.  Harris',  Massillon,  Ebenozer.Mabry's, 
Wood's.  Stewart's.  Hutchcraft's,  Staley,  W. 
W.  George's,  Powles',  Gillison's,  Harnil- 
ton's,  New  Schoolhouse,  N.  Harlan's,  G. 
Bradshaw's,  Capt.  Clark's.  Gaston's  and 
Reed's;  involving  not  less  than  300  miles 
travel  each  month.  In  some  instances  two  of 
these  may  have  been  classes  in  the  same  ap- 
pointment. 

Ebenezer,  a  log  house,  was  the  only 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  house  on  the 
circuit.  In  1850,  a  Board  of  Trustees  was 
appointed  for  a  church  house  to  be  built  in 
Fairfield.  In  1851,  under  the  pastorate  of 
Rev.    Moses    Shepherd,    the    frame    church 


114 


HISTORY    OF    WAYNE   COUNTY. 


house,  32x45  feet,  was  contracted  at  $700, 
and  commenced. 

In  1S52,  John  Gillison,  the  most  active 
member  of  the  first  society  in  Wayne  Coun- 
ty, passed  away.  At  the  Second  Conference 
in  1853,  [Rev.  Hiram  Sears  reported  that 
"  Ninety  have  joined  the  church  since  con- 
ference; eleven  by  letter,  and  seventy-nine 
on  probation;  seventy-five  have  professed  re- 
ligion; three  have  been  expelled  for  drani- 
drinking;  two  have  been  received  into  full 
connection,  and  one  died  and  gone  to 
heaven." 

This  year,  we  find  the  names  Galbraith's, 
Farmer's  Schoolhouse,  Locust  Grove.  Shaw's, 
White's,  Sampson's,  Hill's  and  Enterprise  as 
preaching  places,  or  classes.  In  1854, 
Thomas  Sharp,  at  the  Third  Conference  re- 
ported 101  received  on  probation.  In  1855, 
the  members  in  the  societies  were — Fairfield, 
44;  Bovee's,  20;  Tibbs',  4;  Hill's,  8;  Jeffer- 
sonville,  5;  Faurote's,  11;  Organ,  4'2;  Ebe- 
nezer,  42;  Woodland,  54;  George's,  10; 
Craven's,  4;  Staley's,  4;  Mabry's,  35;  in 
all,  287. 

A  number  of  appointments  had  been  at- 
tached to  other  circuits.  Jonathan  Douglas,  a 
very  prince  among  class  leaders,  died  this  year. 
John  M.  Walden  was  at  this  time  a  local 
preacher  at  Fairfield.  The  class  leaders  were 
Charles  Sibley,  John  Chambers,  Israel  For- 
acre,  Ellis  Evans,  William  Rutger,  Clinton 
McMacken,  Daniel  Creighton,  F.  George, 
David  Staley,  William  Sampson  and  J.  Mon- 
roe.  In  1856,  according  to  the  records,  the 
preacher's  claim  was  apportioned  for  the 
first  time,  among  the  classes,  which  secured 
more  satisfactory  collections.  At  the  same 
time,  the  conference  "approved  the  action  of 
the  board  of  trustees  of  the  church  in  Fair- 
field, in  borrowing  money,  to  save  the  house 
from  being  sold,"  and  $117  was  contributed 
at  the  same  time   by  persons  present.      The 


records  do  not  show  when  this  church  had 
been  completed. 

In  I860,  Samuel  Walker  reported  over  two 
hundred  accessions  to  the  church.  George 
Clinton  McMacken,  a  sweet  singer  in  Israel, 
died  this  year.  John  M.  Creighton  was  ap- 
pointed a  steward  this  year,  and  from  this 
time  until  his  triumphant  death,  the  finances 
of  the  church  were  looked  after  in  a  more 
business-like  manner.  The  exhorters  at  this 
time  were  Lewis  H.  Baker,  John  Russell, 
G.  Bradshaw— W.  C.  Borah,  O.  G.  Trussell, 
R.  D.  Ellis,  C.  A.  Young,  J.  W.  Wheeler,  and 
J.  Miligan.  Early  in  1861,  Brother  Willing's 
health  failed  and  James  Burke  was  appointed 
to  supply  his  place.  In  1S64  the  parsonage 
question  was  agitated,  the  final  result  of 
which  was  the  purchase  of  the  house  now  used 
for  that  purpose. 

We  will  state  here,  lest  the  matter  be  for- 
ever lost,  that  many  years  ago,  a  man  named 
Owen,  donated  the  lot  where  F.  M.  Woolard's 
barn  now  stands,  to  the  M.  E.  Church.  On 
this  was  a  shanty  of  some  kind,  fit  for  no  one 
but  a  Methodist  preacher  to  live  in.  There 
is  a  tradition  that  James  Hadley  lived  in 
this  shanty  when  his  wife  died.  The  lot  was 
sold  by  the  church. 

Fairfield  Station — In  1865,  at  the  annual 
conference  at  Olney,  Fairfield  was  made  a 
station,  and  at  the  first  quarterly  conference, 
January  6,  1866,  the  official  board  consisted 
of  Christopher  J.  Houts,  P.  E. ;  R.  H.  Massey, 
P.  C. ;  David  Campbell.  William  M.  Owen, 
J.  G.  McCoy,  M.  W.  Collins,  and  Fayette 
Turney,  local  preachers  ;  O.  G.  Trussell,  ex- 
horter  ;  John  Wilson,  W.  M.  Owen,  F. 
George,  Dr.  D.  Adams,  R.  Schell,  T.  T. 
Bonham  and  E.  C.  Owen,  stewards;  Charles 
Sibley,  and  Francis  George,  class  leaders, 
and  C.  Sibley,  Sabbath  School  Superintend- 
ent. 

•This  year,  a  centenary  fund  of  $180,  and 


g/?t>VL-+<-  ol*   S^t^y^- 


HISTORY   OF    WAYNE    ClU'NTV. 


117 


$10  for  church  extension  was  raised.  For 
bell,  repairs  on  church,  and  parsonage,  $837 
were  contributed,  besides  the  regular  church 
expenses. 

In  1872.  Mrs.  Nancy  Gillison,  an  old 
veteran  passed  away. 

During  the  pastorate  of  Rev.  Calvin 
Gibbs,  the  question  of  church  building  was 
agitated,  and.  near  the  close  of  the  year,  at 
aD  official  meeting,  Dr.  John  L.  Handley 
presented  the  following:  "  Resolved,  that  we 
build  a  new  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in 
Fairfield." 

A  committee  was  instructed  to  secure  Lot 
No.  58,  for  which  $650  was  paid. 

In  1874,  the  board  reported  the  sale  of 
the  old  church  for  $1,000,  reserving  its  use 
for  two  years,  also,  retaining  the  seats,  which 
were  finally  placed  in  the  basement  of  the 
new  church. 

In  1875,  John  Wilson,  John  L.  Handley, 

E.  Bonham,  Dr.  C.  W.  Sibley,  A.  H.  Baker, 
G.  J.  George,  R.  D.  Adams,  S.  M.  Staler  and 

F.  M.  Woolard,  were  elected  trustees  of 
church  property.  Mrs.  Esther  Harper, 
mother  of  Rev.  L.  A.  Harper,  died  this  year, 
at  a  great  age,  having  served  her  Master 
from  childhood. 

March  1,  1875,  a  contract  was  entered 
into  with  John  Barlow,  of  Olney,  and  Wells 
T.  Clark,  of  Fairfield,  for  the  construction 
of  a  brick  church,  101x45  feet  wide,  accord- 
ing to  plans  and  specifications,  furnished  by 
Barlow,  for  $9,455.  Darling  &  Ford  con- 
structed the  brick  work  for  contractors. 

It  was  then  determined  to  put  on  a  slate 
roof  at  an  additional  cost  of  $350,  and  this, 
with  the  cost  of  the  bell,  $325,  organ, 
$300,  chandeliers.  $225,  furniture,  $75,  car- 
pets and  matting,  $105,  with  some  minor 
expenditures,  brought  the  entire  cost  up 
to  $11,577. 

On  June   16,  1876,    the  new  church    was 


dedicated  by  Bishop  Thomas  Bowman,  on 
which  occasion  over  $4,000  was  subscribed 
for  the  liquidation  of  claims.  A  large  por- 
tion of  this  subscription,  however,  was  never 
realized,  and  a  debt  hung  over  the  church 
until  the  summer  of  1883,  when,  by  heroic 
efforts,  the  last  dollar  of  indebtedness 
against  Fairfield  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  property,  amounting,  principal  and 
interest,  to  $2,350  was  paid. 

The  first  substantial  revival  in  Fairfield, 
was  under  the  labors  of  Elder  Cliffe  and 
Samuel  Walker.  In  1864,  through  the 
labors  of  R.  H.  Massey,  there  occurred  a 
good  revival  among  the  Sabbath  School 
scholars. 

In  1869.  under  the  labors  of  W.  B.  Bru- 
ner,  there  was  manifested  general  seriousness 
in  the  congregation,  which,  by  the  Sabbath 
School  Convention,  immediately  following, 
was  turned  into  earnest  inquiry,  and  cnlmi 
nated  in  a  grand  work  under  J.  S.  Barnes, 
when  about  120  were  converted.  S.  P. 
Groves  and  J.  A.  Baird,  also  had  revivals. 
In  1880,  through  the  labors  of  W.  F.  Davis, 
assisted  by  Thomas  Massey,  there  was  a  re- 
vival in  the  new  church,  in  which  170  were 
converted. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  seldom  equaled,  we 
are  prepared  to  state,  that,  of  eighty-seven 
pastors  and  elders,  having  the  oversight  of 
this  work  since  1816,  Mrs.  Francis  George 
has  known  eighty-six  of  them,  while  John 
Harris,  the  first  one,  doubtless,  visited  her 
father's  (John  Gillison)  house,  in  her  early 
childhood.  Some  of  the  early  preachers  she 
knew  in  later  years. 

Among  the  local  preachers  who  have  la- 
bored in  Wayne  County,  we  have  secured  the 
names  of  Archibald  Huberts,  Andrew  Mauld- 
ing,  James  Crews,  Benjamin  S.  Mabry,  Amos 
Phelps,  Jacob  O.  Feather,  John  Rutger, 
William  Rutger,  Robert  H.  Ellis,  Robert  D. 

7 


118 


IUVrORY  OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


Ellis,  William  M.  Owen,  Asa  B.  Owen,  John 

Chambers, Carr.     George    Swain, 

Price,  Elliott  Robberts,  Greenup  Bradshaw, 
Cephas  A.  Young,  Joseph ,  Winchester,  Dr. 
William  Johnson,  Johnson  Monroe,  Abraham 
Johnson,  John  M.  Waklen,  David  Moore,  Sr., 
David  Campbell,  Minsey  James,  William 
West,  Thomas  Mason,  Thomas  Cottingham, 
James  Sloatt,  Dr.  Alex  Jessup,  David  Koontz, 
Joseph  Cook,  William  Neal,  J.  C.  Williams, 
S.  H.  Williams,  Jourdan  C.  Patterson,  Stan- 
ford Ing,  C.  McKelvey,  John  Griffith,  Joe 
Helm,  G.  G.  Helm,  William  C.  Borah,  Ed- 
ward Ulm,  Dr.  J.  B.  Hall,  David  Moore,  Jr., 

Dr.   J.   S.    Miligan,  Dr.  H.    C.  Thrall, 

Jaggers,  F.  M.  Woolard,  Dr.  E.  West,  Dr. 
A.  C.  Gonterman,  John  Cook,  W.  F.  Massey, 
J.  H.  Hodges,  Fayette  Turney,  Dr.  J.  G. 
McCoy,  M.  W.  Collins,  Alex  Blakely,  Fur- 
ney  Stanley,  Israel  Turner.  Dr.  George  Camp, 
Charles  Coker,  William  Smith. 

There  are,  doubtless,  others  whose  names 
we  have  been  unable  to  obtain. 

In  addition  to  the  list  of  local  preachers, 
the  following  have  entered  the  traveling  con- 
nection from  this  coiinty:  James  M.  Massej*, 
Arthur  Bradshaw,  Thomas  Parker,  James  A. 
Robinson,  John  H.  Hill,  Lewis  A.  Harper, 
Charles  E.  Creighton,  James  A.  Baird,  Will- 
iam M.  Owen,  Fayette  Turney,  David  Moore 
and  possibly  others. 

Feeling  that  this  work  would  be  incom- 
plete without  some  further  allusion  to  that 
most  wonderfully  gifted  man,  Charles  Slo- 
cumb,  and  fully  realizing  our  inability  to  do 
full  justice  to  the  subject,  we  can  only  hope 
to  so  far  rescue  his  memory  from  the  oblivion 
into  which  it  is  fast  falling,  as  to  preserve 
some  facts  worthy  of  the  attention  of  the 
future  historian,  that  will  enable  him,  who- 
ever he  may  be,  to  present  a  character  sketch 
befitting  this  truly  great  man.  We  have  been 
driven  to  the  conclusion  that  he  scarcely  had 


an  equal  as  a  preacher  in  the  West,  and  it  is 
doubtful  whether  his  superior  exists  there  to- 
day. However  strange  these  statements  may 
appear,  they  are  based  upon  the  fact  that 
when  he  stood  beside  men  of  such  recognized 
ability  as  William  Beauchamp,  S.  H.  Thomp- 
son, Hooper  Crews,  Zadoc  Casey  and  John 
Van  Cleve,  he  was  regarded  as  surpassing 
them  all  in  eloquence,  and  it  was  no  uncom- 
mon thing  for  some  of  these  men  to  put  Slo- 
cumb  forward  on  occasions  where  it  would 
have  been  considered  almost  presumptuous 
for  them  to  preach  when  he  was  present. 

Again,  we  have  conversed  with  men  of  in- 
telligence who  knew  Slocumb  well;  men  who 
have  kept  pace  with  the  times,  and  have 
heard  some  of  the  most  eloquent  men  of  the 
church  or  State,  and  they  all,  without  a  sin- 
gle exception,  unite  in  the  opinion  that  he 
was  not  equaled  by  any  of  them  as  an  orator. 

Charles  Slocumb  was  born  in  Kentucky 
(probably  Union  Count}*)  in  the  latter  part  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  and  came  with  his 
parents  to  White  County,  111.,  in  1812,  where 
he  entered  Gen.  Hirgrave's  rangers  against 
the  Indians  in  1814.  He  was  converted,  it 
is  thought,  in  1815,  in  White  County,  and 
joined  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and 
commenced  preaching  immediately,  as  we 
find  him  on  Vincennes  Circuit  in  1816.  We 
traveled,  in  connection  with  the  annual  con- 
ference, some  eight  or  ten  years,  at  different 
times  In  his  person  he  was  tall  and  erect, 
magisterial  in  his  bearing,  and  presented  the 
appearance  of  one  born  to  lead  men.  He 
was  of  dark  complexion,  with  dark  hair  and 
fascinating  black  eyes,  and  possessed  a  mag- 
netic influence  that  won  all  hearts  that  came 
in  contact  with  him,  and  retained  their  con- 
fidence to  the  last.  "  As  true  as  Slocumb's 
preaching."  became  a  by- word,  when  men 
wished  to  add  force  to  any  assertion  they 
had  made. 


HISTORY  OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


ill) 


In  reading  the  Scriptures  or  lining  the 
hymns,  his  emphasis  was  natural,  and  it 
was  done  with  such  elegance  and  grace  that 
the  true  force  and  poetic  meaning  were  im- 
pressed upon  his  hearers.  His  gestures  were 
easy  and  graceful,  and  so  true  to  nature  that 
they  were  said  to  almost  speak,  and  greatly 
contribute  to  the  interest  of  his  wonderful 
displays  of  eloquence.  His  voice  was  sonor- 
ous, possessing  great  scope  and  capable  of 
great  endurance.  In  prayer,  he  was  compre- 
hensive, earnest  and  reverent,  ;  with  no  as- 
sumed adulation  of  the  Deity  that  he  did 
not  feel  ;  no  attempt  at  personal  display  ;  nor 
did  he  presume  upon  God's  ignorance  by  ; 
telling  him  of  things  that  he  did  not  already 
know.  In  his  preaching  he  was  solemn,  pro- 
found, deeply  experimental  and  practical. 

His  eloquence  was  always  powerful,  some- 
times almost  irresistible,  and  in  its  effects 
upon  his  hearers,  learned  and  unlearned 
alike,  was  truly  wonderful.  He  challenged 
the  intelligence  of  his  audience,  and  spoke 
as  one  commissioned  by  the  Great  Kin«\ 
failing  not  to  bring  a  message  of  peace  and 
love.  Men  totally  indifferent  to  the  preach- 
ing of  others  would,  as  if  bound  by  some 
unseen  hand  or  magic  spell,  hang  upon  the 
words  of  Charles  Siocumb  with  a  rapt  atten- 
tion that  made  them  oblivious  of  all  that  was 
passing  around  them;  and  often,  without 
seeming  consciousness  of  the  fact,  would 
stand  leaning  forward,  as  if  fearful  that 
some  of  his  words  would  bo  lost.  So  pure 
was  his  life,  and  so  upright  his  walk,  that  he 
won  the  hearts  of  men,  even  those  who  re- 
garded not  his  teaching. 

His  religious  impressions  were  of  the 
deepest  cast,  and  of  that  intense  character 
that  fixed  them  as  settled  facts  in  his  mind 
and  heart,  and  were  so  indelibly  stamped 
upon  his  life,  that  their  influence  was  felt  by 
all  who  came  into  his  presence.     If  men  were 


boisterous  and  hilarious  before,  thej  became 
hushed  and  quiet,  as  he  passed  along.  If 
riotous  and  threatening,  a  motion  of  his 
hand,  or  a  word  of  admonition  from  Charles 
Siocumb,  would  calm  the  raging  sea  of  pas- 
sion. But,  in  the  midst  of  his  career  of 
great  usefulness,  in  the  prime  of  life,  as  it 
were,  he  was  stricken  down  by  the  fell  de- 
stroyer in  1844,  and  his  ashes  repose  on  his 
old  homestead  in  Concord,  White  County. 
With  his  life-loug  friend,  Rev.  John  Shrader, 
he  had  arranged  that  when  one  of  them 
should  die,  the  other  should  preach  his 
funeral,  and  Shrader  came  from  Indiana  on 
the  occasion,  and  attended  to  the  last  sad 
rites  of  his  lamented  friend.  It  was  re 
marked  of  him  at  the  time  of  his  death,  that 
"  the  sword  ivas  too  sharp  for  lite  scabbard." 
To  many  it  was  a  matter  of  wonder  why  one 
so  greatly  useful  in  the  world,  should  be 
called  away  so  early  by  an  overruling  Provi- 
dence. It  may  be  answered  that  "  death 
loves  a  shining  mark,"  and  that  Charles  Sio- 
cumb was  fully  ripe  for  the  kingdom,  and  it 
was  not  meet  that  he  should  longer  tarry,  or 
remain  away  from  his  Master's  abode. 

His  family  have  all  passed  away,  and  are, 
doubtless,  with  him,  enjoying  a  rich  reward 
and  brighter  rest  above.  His  life,  like  a 
celestial  meteor,  shown  with  brilliancy  upon 
all  the  surrounding  horrizon: 

■•  He  sleeps  the  sleep  of  the  just." 

Regular  Baptist  Church.*— In  attempting 
to  write  the  history  of  this  church  in  this 
county,  we  have  had  to  encounter  several  ob- 
stacles, among  which  is  the  loss  or  want  of 
sufficient  church  records,  and  the  treachery 
of  memory  in  the  older  persons.  If  this 
sketch  should  fail  to  come  up  to  what  some 
might  desire  they  must  attribute  the  failure 
to  the  want  of  sufficient  facts   on  which  to 

•John  Keene,  .Jr. 


120 


HISTORY   OF   WAYNE   COUNTY. 


base  it,  and  not  for  want  "of  a  desire  on  the 
part  of  the  writer  to  do  them  justice. 

The  earliest  organization  of  the  Baptist 
Church  in  this  county  which  we  have  been 
able  to  gather,  was  at  what  was  then  and  still 
is  known  as  Hopewell,  in  the  southern  part 
of  Barnhill  Township.  This  church  was  or- 
ganized August  5,  1820,  by  Elders  William 
Hanks  and  Benjamin  Keith.  The  persons 
entering:  into  this  organization  at  that  time 
were  James  Bird,  Snsan  Bird,  William  Wad- 
kins,  Polly  Wadkins,  Stephen  Coonrod,  John 
Coonrod,  Anna  Blissett  and  Naomi  Close,  all 
of  whom  most  likely  have  long  since  passed 
away.  The  church  record  from  which  we 
gather  these  facts,  after  giving  the  organiza- 
tion, articles  of  faith,  and  rules  of  decorum, 
makes  a  skip  of  some  twenty  years,  that  is 
from  1820  to  1840,  and  this  interval  we  are 
unable  to  supply,  except  from  what  few  stray 
items  we  have  been  able  to  gather  from  per- 
sons who  were  living  here  at  that  time.  We 
presume  this  congregation  had  no  house  of 
worship  at  the  date  of  their  organization,  as 
we  find  in  their  record  at  the  time  of  their 
organization  this  entry:  "Done  at  the  place 
of  George  Close's,  Wayne  County  and  State 
of  Illinois."  They  afterward,  however,  but 
at  what  date  we  do  not  know,  erected  a  house 
of  worship.  As  to  who  their  early  preachers 
were  we  are  not  informed.  We  find  in  1840 
that  William  Wadkine  was  their  pastor,  and 
Asa  Atteberry,  clerk.  This  parent  church 
flourished  and  prospered  for  some  years,  and 
the  membership  lived  in  harmony  until  prob- 
ably froin  1S30  to  1835,  when  one  Daniel 
L'arker,  from  somewhere  in  Illinois,  came 
amongst  them  and  began  to  preach  doctrines 
which  some  of  the  members  could  not  relish 
Just  what  those  doctrines  were  we  were  not 
advised,  but  one  thing  we  find  they  were  in- 
duced by  Parker  and  his  adherents  to  take 
upon  themselves  the  name  of  "  Regular  Bap- 


tists." By  what  name  they  were  known  be- 
fore this  we  are  not  advised.  From  a  short 
history  of  this  church  which  was  written 
some  years  after  this,  by  one  Carter  J.  Kelly, 
we  find  this  statement  made  by  him:  "The 
churches  were  then  known  universally  as 
United  Baptist,  the  original  having  emi- 
grated from  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  where 
they  were  universally  known  as  United  Bap- 
tist." We"  only  give  this  as  we  find  it.  and 
do  not  wish  to  be  understood  as  endorsing  or 
rejecting  it  as  true,  as  it  is  not  our  province 
to  attempt  (were  we  able  to  do  so)  to  settle 
church  disputes.  We  find,  however,  that  the 
breach  already  made  continued  to  widen,  until 
March,  1845,  it  culminated  in  a  division  of 
the  church,  one  party  taking  the  name  of 
United  or  Missionary  Baptist,  the  other  tak- 
ing to  themselves  the  name  of  Regular  Pre- 
destinarian  Baptists.  Both  factions  claim  to 
be  the  genuine  original  Baptist  Church,  and 
to  have  descended  in  a  regular  line  from  the 
Waldenses,  and  the  contest  has  been  long  and 
bitterly  contested,  and  is  still  unsettled,  and 
we  do  not  feel  called  upon,  neither  do  we 
desire  to  take  sides  in  the  matter,  but  to 
leave  it  where  we  find  it,  unsettled. 

After  the  organization  of  the  Hopewell 
Church,  we  have  no  record  of  the  organiza- 
tion of  any  other  church  of  this  denomina- 
tion until  July,  1S46:  at  this  time  there  was 
organized  by  Elders  Richard  Gardner,  Jere- 
miah Doty  and  C.  S.  Madding,  a  church  in 
Mt.  Erie  Township,  then  and  still  known  as 
Providence  Church. 

The  persons  entering  into  this  organization 
at  that  time  were  Jesse  Williams,  Thomas 
Traverse,  John  Meadows,  Nathaniel  Traverse, 
Reuben  Whitaker,  William  H.  Harrelson, 
Nancy  Williams,  Hannah  Vandaver,  Mary 
Rice,  Elizabeth  Collins,  Christina  Traverse, 
Catharine  Harrelson  and  Belinda  McCollum. 

From  the  best  information  we  can  get,  the 


IIISTOIiY   OF   WAYNE   COUNTY 


121 


larger  part  of  tbo9p  entering  this  organiza- 
tion are  now  dead;  but  others  have  united 
with  the  church  from  time  to  time,  and  it  is 
still  kept  ap.  They  have  a  house  of  worship 
and  regular  preaching. 

The  nest  church  organized  was  in  Decem- 
ber 1848,  in  Hickory  Hill  Township,  and 
known  as  Little  Flock.  This  church  was 
organized  by  Joseph  Hartley,  John  Martin, 
Barnes  Reeves,  Solomon  Blissett  and  Brady 
Meeks.  The  persons  entering  this  organiza- 
tion were  Sarah  M.  Crask,  Stout  Atteberry, 
Fanny  L.  Atteberry,  Alfred  Wilson,  Joseph 
Crask,  Nancy  Crask,  AbraLam  P.  Witter, 
Sarah  M.  Wilson.  Enos  K.  Wilson,  Wilkins 
Dewees  and  Eleanor  Dewees;  of  this  number 
only  three  are  now  living,  to  wit:  Fanny  L. 
Atteberry,  Joseph  Crask  and  Abraham  P. 
Witter. 

This  church,  like  many  others,  has  had  its 
days  of  prosperty  and  its  days  of  adversity. 
They  have  a  comfortable  house  of  worship, 
and  regular  preaching;  and  notwithstanding 
nearly  all  the  old  members  who  "bore  the 
heat  and  burden  of  the  day "  have  passed 
away,  yet  others  have  come  forward  and 
taken  their  places;  and  though  they  are  few 
in  number,  yet  they  may  be  said  to  be  in 
a  fair  condition  of  prosperity. 

There  have  probably  been  other  churches 
of  this  denomination  organized  in  the  county, 
but  they  have  gone  down,  and  only  these 
three  so  far  as  we  are  advised,  now  exist. 

As  to  who  the  earlier  preachers  were,  we 
are  at  quite  a  loss.  We  will,  however,  give 
the  names  of  a  few  we  have  been  able  to 
gather: — Dewey,  Robert  Eskiidge,  Samuel 
Dickens,  William  Wadkins,  Joseph  Hartley, 
Jeremiah  Doty,  Isaiah  Walker,  Charles  H. 
Clay,  William  Lawson  and  others. 

As  a  people  the  "old  Baptist,"  as  they 
style  themselves,  are  honest  and  sincere;  and 
whatever  the  world  may  think  of  their  doc- 


trines, manners  and  customs  as  a  church, 
still  all  must  admit  that  they  are  honest  in 
their  views. 

One  of  the  main  reasons  for  the  split  in 
the  Baptist  Church,  not  only  in  this  county, 
but  elsewhere,  was  on  the  missionary  ques- 
tion. The  "Regulars"  claim  to  be  the  true 
missionary  church  as  organized  by  Christ 
and  his  apostles.  They  maintain  that  when 
God  calls  a  man  to  preach,  that  the  man  so 
called  feels  that  a  necessity  is  laid  upon  him, 
and  that  he  feels  as  did  the  Apostle  Paul, 
"  Woe  is  me  if  I  preach  not  the  Gospel," 
and  that  feeling  thus,  they  are  compelled  to 
go  wherever  the  Lord  directs,  and  that  with- 
out "  stave  or  script."  So,  taking  their  own 
version  of  the  matter,  they  are  not  opposed 
to  missions,  but  to  the  manner  of  sending 
them  out;  or,  in  other  words,  they  believe  a 
preacher  should  go  and  preach,  and  not  be 
sent  out  by  a  board. 

Numerically  speaking,  they  are  a  weak 
church,  and  likely  to  remain  so,  as  their  doc- 
trines and  customs  are  not  in  keeping  with 
the  fast  age  in  which  we  are  living;  and  in 
churches,  as  in  all  other  institutions  the  ma- 
jority want  to  be  on  the  popular  side. 

Free-  Will  Baptists.  — The  first  church  was 
organized  in  this  county  about  two  miles 
west  of  Jeffersonville,  September  2,  1854, 
by  Rev.  S.  S.  Branch,  and  consisted  of  six 
members:  S.  S.  Branch,  Elizabeth  Branch, 
Densy  Tnbbs,  Samuel  Branch,  Jacob  S. 
Hawk  and  Mary  Hawk.  Of  this  number 
the  last  three  are  still  living,  and  active 
members  of  the  church.  S.  S.  Branch  was 
chosen  pastor;  J.  S.  Hawk,  clerk,  and  Sam- 
uel Branch,  deacon.  The  Saturday  before 
the  third  Sabbath  of  each  month,  was  ap- 
pointed for  covenant  meetings.  Regular 
services  were  held  on  the  Sabbath.  Rev.  S. 
S.  Branch  was  born  in  Vermont.Sin  1794,  re- 
moved to  Ohio  in   1820;  professed  religion 


122 


HISTORY  OF   WAYNE   COUNTY. 


in  April,  1831;  baptized  by  Rev.  Steadman, 
a  powerful  preacher  of  Southern  Ohio;  or- 
dained in  1841  j  removed  to  Illinois,  1853; 
died  January  29,  1862,  leaving  a  wife  and 
eight  children.  At  last  accounts  his  widow 
was  living  in  Rock  County,  Minn.,  with  her 
son,  Joseph.  Of  the  ten  children  of  this 
family,  four  are  living.  The  oldest,  Sirenus 
Branch,  is  living  in  the  northern  part  of  this 
county,  and  is  a  carpenter  by  trade.  The 
second  child  of  the  family  was  the  second 
wife  of  Titus  Buffington,  of  Xenia,  111.,  who 
is  well  known  to  many  of  our  readers. 
Stephen  Branch  is  living  at  Sandoval,  111.; 
Joseph  Branch  in  Rock  County,  Minn.; 
Levi  13 ,  in  Kansas.  Of  the  other  orig- 
inal members,  Densy  Tubbs  is  living 
another  life  in  the  "bright  beyond;"  J.  S. 
Hawk  is  living  on  a  good  farm,  enjoying  the 
rounds  of  life;  Samuel  Branch  is  living  in 
Jeffersonville,Wayne  County, in  aripe  old  age. 

The  church  flourished  for  a  time  under  the 
efficient  labors  of  its  pastor,  who  was  an 
earnest,  practical  preacher  of  Gospel  truths. 
After  his  death,  Rev.  John  Rhodes,  of  Bone 
Gap,  Edwards  Co.,  111.,  preached  to  the 
church  for  a  time. 

The  church  struggled  on,  but  removals, 
death  and  dissensions  ere  long  reduced  the 
number  and  disheartened  all. 

The  ' '  lions  by  the  wayside  "  caused  many 
to  retrace  their  steps  to  the  enticing  shades 
of  sinful  pleasure. 

Years  rolled  by,  and  although  the  church 
had  almost  lost  its  visible  form  there  were 
some  who  still  stood  firm  to  the  faith,  and 
kept  alive  the  coals  from  which,  since  then, 
a  bright  tiro  has  been  kindled. 

In  1872,  Rev.  G.  H.  Moon,  having  located 
in  the  county,  the  church  chose  him  as 
pastor,  but  its  progress  for  a  few  years  was 
not  rapid,  although  its  life  blood  pulsated 
with  more  regularity.     Dr.  Talmagehassa'd: 


"  A  prayer  never  goes  heaven  high  that  does 
not  go  pocket  deep,"  and  history  affirms  that 
the  progress  of  a  church  is  in  proportion  as 
its  means  are  consecrated.  In  the  early 
spring  of  1878,  the  church  enjoyed  a  sweep- 
ing revival  under  the  labors  of  the  pastor. 
Members  were  quickened,  back-sliders  re- 
claimed and  sinners  brought  to  Christ.  From 
that  time  on  it  has  been  such  as  to  merit  the 
best  regards  of 'all  Christians.  Upon  the  re- 
signation of  G.  H.  Moon.  Rev.  J.  C.  Gilliland 
was  chosen  pastor  in  January,  1880.  An- 
other revival  made  sad  havoc  among  the 
workers  of  iniquity,  and  the  church  was 
greatly  strengthened. 

A  church  house  was  soon  talked  of,  and 
soon  stood  upon  its  foundations  in  a  beauti- 
ful place,  about  two  and  three-fourth  miles 
west  of  Jeffersonville.  It  is  a  structure  that 
honors  the  church  and  the  community  where 
it  stands. 

J.  C.  Gilliland  having  moved  away,  Rev. 
W.  R.  Moon  was  selected  as  paBtor,  June, 
1883.  He  had  been  licensed  to  preach,  but 
on  October  21,  he  was  ordained  to  the  full 
work  of  the  gospel  ministry.  Another  revival 
was  now  enjoyed  under  the  labors  of  Rev. 
Harry  Thompson,  of  Lebanon,  111.  A  young 
man,  writing  to  the  pastor  said:  "  The  whole 
community  is  love."  The  Sunday  school 
which  was  already  large  was  tired  with  new 
zeal  and  interest.  A  public  praver  meeting 
was  held  every  Sunday  night,  and  a  young 
people's  prayer  meeting  every  Wednesday 
night.  The  membership  at  present  (January, 
1884)  is  ninety-two. 

In  June,  1872,  another  church  was  organ- 
ized at  Big  Mound,  by  Rev  A.  J.  Hoskin- 
son,  of  Odin,  111.,  consisting  of  ten  members: 
G.  H.  and  Mrs.  Moon,  Joshua  Davis,  Mrs. 
Elizabeth  Davis,  H.  N.  Moon,  Mrs.  Lillie 
Moon,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  E.  Scranton,  Betty  Vir- 
den  and  Flora  Moon. 


HISTORY  OF    WAYNE  COUNTY. 


123 


The  biography  of  some  of  these  will  bo 
found  in  another  chapter  of  this  volume. 

Of  this  number  four  have  removed  to  other 
localities,  one  has  died.  The  otber  live, 
Joshua  Davis,  Mrs.  Davis.  G.  H.,  Mrs.  M. 
B.  and  Flora  Moon  are  still  standing  with 
shoulder  to  the  wheel. 

H.  N.  Moon  has  removed  to  Ohio,  and  is 
residing  in  Marion  County.  E.  Scranton 
removed  to  Laniard  Township,  and  Betty 
Virden  silently  closed  her  eyes  and  fell  into 
a  peaceful  slumber  to  awake  again  on  the 
farther  shore. 

Q.  H.  Moon  was  chosen  pastor  at  the  time 
of  organization,  and  held  the  position  till 
1880,  during  which  time  different  revivals 
were  enjoyed  by  the  church.  Upon  his  res- 
ignation, Rev.  J.  C.  Gillilaud  was  chosen 
pastor,  but,  owing  to  ill-health,  his  labors 
with  the  church  were  not  regular.  After  his 
removal  to  another  locality,  G.  H.  Moon 
again  ministered  to  the  spiritual  wants  of 
the  church  until  the  spring  of  1881,  when  a 
good  revival  was  had,  and  W.  It.  Moon  was 
chosen  pastor. 

The  difficulties  through  which  this  church 
has  passed  have  been  many  and  grievous,  but 
they  have  only  cemented  more  firmly  togeth- 
er the  sturdy  hearts  that  crowd  around  the 
helm. 

Although  its  career  has  not  been  the  most 
brilliant,  yet  no  jar  of  discord  has  ever 
marred  its  ebb  and  flow.  It  now  numbers 
thirty-seven  members,  and  sustains  a  regular 
prayer  meeting. 

The  local  church  is  always  an  independent 
body  so  far  as  relates  to  its  own  government; 
chooses  its  own  officers,  and  disciplines  its 
own  members;  that  immersion  is  the  only 
mode  of  baptism;  do  not  believe  in  fore- 
ordination;  believe  in  unrestricted  communion 
with  all  true  believers;  takes  an  active  part 
in  educational  work,  as  it  shows  the  remark- 


able record  of  an  institution  of  learning  to 
every  6,000  members  of  its  order.  It  also 
stands  high  in  missionary  work,  and  has 
about  thirty  workers;  eleven  well  established 
schools,  and  also  a  printing  establishment  in 
the  foreign  held. 

General]  Baptist  Church.— The  religious 
organization  that  maintains  that  there  is  a 
possible  general  atonement  for  all  mankind, 
and  that  all  good  people  have  a  right  to  the 
communion,  regardless  of  whatever  religious 
creed  they  may  belong  to,  is  known  as  "  The 
General  Baptists,"  and  had  its  origin  in  the 
United  States  in  1637,  twenty-sis  years  prior 
to  any  organization  of  the  kind  in  England. 

The  first  church  of  the  above  denomination 
that  was  organized  in  Wayne  County,  was 
so  effected  by  Elder  R.  Stinson  in  the  fall  of 
1853,  and  was  known  as  the  "  Old  Arrington 
Prairie  Church."  The  original  members  were 
H.  H.  Brown  and  wife,  John  Wheeler  and 
wife,  James  W.  Gwin,  C.  C.  Ayres,  Thomp- 
son Fares  and  Samuel  Rogers.  At  this  or- 
ganization, James  W.  Gwin  and  Thompson 
Fares  were  ordained  Elders  by  Elder  Stin- 
son, assisted  by  Elder  Samuel  Branch. 

Elder  Givin  possessed  but  a  limited  edu- 
cation, yet  was  endowed  with  strong  natural 
qualities,  and  at  once  set  out  with  earnest  ef- 
forts in  his  ministerial  labors,  and  on  March 
26,  185'J,  he  organized  Mt.  Pleasant  Church, 
when,  assisted  by  Elder  S.  Branch,  he  or- 
dained H.  H.  Brown  and  VV.  M.  Montgall. 
Later,  by  the  efforts  of  H.  H.  Brown  and  W. 
M.  Montgall,  the  Johnson  Prairie  and  Wil- 
son Branch  Churches  were  organized  from 
persons  who  held  their  membership  with  the 
Liberty  Association,  General  Baptist  Church, 
in  Indiana.  It  was  in  1863  that  they  ob- 
tained permission  from  the  mother  church  in 
Indiana  to  effect  an  association  in  Wayne 
County,  and  accordingly  the  Union  Grove 
Association  was  organized  by  Elders  Brown, 


124 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


Branch  and  Stinson.  The  organization  has 
continued  to  grow  from  the  beginning,  and 
at  present  thirteen  churches  are  numbered  in 
its  list,  which  are  in  Wayne  County.  Elder 
Gwin,  who  was  instrumental  in  bringing 
about  the  above  organizations,  moved  to  Ar- 
kansas soon  after  the  Union  Grove  Associa- 
tion was  established,  where  he  subsequently 
died,  after  having  organized  other  associa- 
tions. Elder  William  M.  Montgall  was  an 
earnest  worker,  but  was  taken  with  consump- 
tion soon  after  having  been  ordained,  and 
his  short  but  useful  career  was  abruptly  end- 
ed. The  writer  could  obtain  but  little  data 
relative  to  the  life  of  Elder  Fares,  but  H.  H. 
Brown  is  living  in  Johnsonville.  and  has 
served  well  his  religious  organization  in  va- 
rious places,  and  has  been  entrusted  with 
some  small  but  important  offices  in  the  gift 
of  the  general  public  where  he  resides.  He, 
like  the  other  originators  of  the  General  Bap- 
tist Church  in  Wayne  County,  had  but  a 
limited  education,  but  with  such  energies  as 
he  could  "muster  up  "  he  has,  like  them, 
done  a  noble  work,  notwithstanding  the  mem- 
bership of  the  various  churches  where  they 
have  labored  in  this  county  is  composed  of 
persons  of  limited  circumstances,  such  that 
they  are  not,  even  now,  able  to  compensate 
the  various  Elders  as  largely  as  other  asso- 
ciations. Upon  the  whole,  the  vicissitudes 
of  the  church  in  this  county  have  been  vari- 
ous. Sometimes  they  had  marked  prosperity, 
which  would  last  for  a  short  time,  and  this 
frequently  followed  by  a  decade  of  lingering 
apathy,  or  at  least  a  state  of  comparative 
quiescence,  but  the  average  has  been  a  vital- 
ity that  is  not  at  all  discouraging  to  the  many 
members  who  in  the  long  ago  learned  to  love 
it  as  the  child  does  its  protecting  and  cher- 
ishing mother. 

United  Baptists.* — Pleasant  Grove  Church 

•D.  K.  Felix. 


was  organized  September  25,  1853,  with 
twelve  members,  as  follows:  Samuel  C. 
Pendleton.  James  Hearn,  John  R.  Carter, 
Eliza  R.  Pendleton,  Hannah  Carter,  Lidia 
Doris,  Susan  Fitzgerald,  Phebe  Butler,  Ma- 
hala  Boyce,  Rosanna  Meritt,  Mary  Butler, 
Sarah  A.  Robinson.  Two  of  these  are  still 
living,  James  Hearn  and  Rosanna  Meritt. 

The  ministers  composing  the  presbytery 
were  Elders  Joseph  P.  Ellis,  Carter  J.  Kel 
ley,  William  P.  Sneed  and  Solomon  M. 
Webb.  At  the  close  of  the  meeting,  which 
lasted  about  ten  days,  there  were  twenty-four 
converts  baptized  into  the  church,  and  eleven 
others  united  with  the  church  by  letter  and 
relation. 

There  have  been  about  rive  hundred  names 
enrolled  on  the  church  book  since  its  organi- 
zation. Three  churches  have  been  organized 
from  this  church,  viz.,  Bethel  Church,  in 
White  County,  Providence  Church  and 
Barnhill  Church  in  Wayne  County,  and  a 
portion  of  the  members  that  went  into  the 
third  organization  at  Fairfield,  were  from 
this  church  in  the  thirty  years  that  the 
church  has  had  an  existence.  A  great  many 
have  drawn  letters  and  moved  away;  some 
have  been  excluded  and  others  died,  leaving 
at  the  present  writing  about  one  hundred 
and  forty-six  members.  The  church  has  set 
apart  three  to  the  ministry,  viz..  Revs.  B.  S. 
Meeks,  D.  C.  Walker  and  S.  C.  Pendleton, 
all  of  whom  have  served  the  church  as  pastor, 
B.  S.  Meeks  for  a  number  of  years,  perhaps 
half  the  time  since  the  church's  organiza- 
tion. The  above-named  ministers  have  all 
departed  this  life. 

Three  other  ordained  ministers  have  be- 
longed to  the  church — Revs.  C.  J.  Kelley,  E. 
W.  Overstreet  and  Gideon  Tenison,  besides 
licentiates  that  have  been  ordained  by  other 
churches  after  receiving  letters  from  this 
church,   J.  M.  Madding  and  S.  M.  Tenison, 


HISTORY  OF  WAYXK  COUNTY. 


125 


while  others  have  been  licensed  and  or- 
dained since. 

Pleasant  Grove  Church  might  properly  be 
called  the  mother  of  the  Baptist  Churches  in 
the  southern  part  of  Wayne  County  and  the 
northern  part  of  White  County. 

Of  the  six  ordained  ministers  that  have 
belonged  to  the  church,  none  are  living.  The 
church  has  no  minister  of  its  own.  and  has  to 
be  supplied  from  abroad. 

We  give  the  names  of  the  ministers  that 
have  served  the  church  as  pastors  since  its 
organization  : 

Carter  J.  Kelley,  E.  W.  Overstreet,  B.  S. 
Meeks,  J.  B.  Smith,  S.  C.  Pendleton,  D.  C. 
Walker,  J.  H.  Murray,  K.  G.  Hay.  Elder  S. 
A.  Martin  served  as  pastor  a  few  months. 

The  following  deacons  were  ordained  : 

B.  S.  Meeks,  J.  R.  Carter,  D.  W.  Atte- 
berry  and  D.  K,  Felix.  William  P.  Whiting 
was  ordained  by  Salem  Church  of  White 
County,  and  is  a  member  of  this  church. 
Four  different  ones  have  served  as  clerk,  viz. : 

D.  C.  Walker,  D.  K.  Felix,  J.  R.  Carter. 
D.  W.  Atteberry. 

Christian  Church. — In  the  year  1839,  a 
number  of  families  emigrated  from  Colum- 
biana. Carroll  and  Stark  Counties.  Ohio,  to 
this  county,  and  settled  in  Lamard  Prairie 
and  vicinity.  All  of  these  families  belonged 
to  the  Christian  Church,  among  whom  we 
name  Jesse  Milner,  Isaac  Whitakor,  Edward 
Whitaker,  Jonas  Lumm,  John  Morlan,  Mar- 
tin Emmans,  Noah  Towers.  James  McNeely, 
John  Skelton  and  James  A.  Maslan,  Fenton 
Lumm  and  Townsend  Richards.  About  the 
same  time  a  few  families  settled  in  the  same 
neighborhood  from  Tennessee,  among  whom 
were  the  Butcher  family  and  the  Caudle 
family,  and  Edward  Puckett  and  others,  who 
were  members  of  the  Christian  Church.  At 
the  time  that  these  parties  settled  in  this 
neighborhood,  the  county  had  but  a  very  light 


population,  and  in  the  vicinity  of  this  settle- 
ment the  land  was  all  vacant,  being  but  a 
few  squatters  residing  in  a  radius  of  several 
miles.  No  schoolhouses  or  churches  within 
several  miles  of  this  settlement.  The  first 
work  was  to  locate  their  homes,  build  their 
houses,  and  get  a  little  land  opened  up  for 
cultivation.  As  soon  as  this  was  done,  the 
next  work  was  to  build  a  house  that  would 
answer  the  double  purpose  of  a  schoolhouse 
and  a  place  of  public  worship. 

The  church  was  not  properly  organized  un- 
til the  fall  of  1840.  The  writer  has  at  this  time, 
no  means  of  knowing  the  names  of  all  that 
went  into  this  organization.  With  this  first 
emigration,  there  were  a  number  of  preachers 
that  did  good  work  in  establishing  the  cause 
in  this,  and  adjoining  counties,  among 
whom  were  Jones  Lumm,  Fenton  Lumm, 
Isaac  Whitaker  and  Cornelius  Ades.  This 
church  at  its  first  organization,  besides  the 
labors  of  the  above  named  brethren,  had  the 
labors  of  the  Goodwin  brothers — Moses  and 
Elijah — of  William  Bristow  and  David  R. 
Chance,  although  these  brethren  have  all  long 
since  gone  to  their  long  home,  where  they 
are  resting  from  their  labors.  Three  names 
are  fresh  in  the  memories  of  all  the  brethren. 
As  these  old  soldiers  and  pioneers  have 
one  by  one  passed  away,  new  ones  have 
sprung  up  in  their  places,  among  whom  will 
name  Jeramiah  Butcher,  E.  J.  Hart,  Joseph 
Skelton,  and  more  recently  Brother  Rose, 
Brother  AVall  and  Brother  D.  Logan.  The 
school  that  was  first  taught  at  the  Buckeye 
Schoolhouse  (this  was  the  name  given  the 
house  and  also  the  name  given  the  church), 
was  taught  by  Gibson  B.  Davis  ;  he  taught 
there  for  several  years, and  by  his  labors  in  his 
school,  in  the  Sunday  school  and  the  church, 
assisted  largely  in  building  up  the  cause  of 
morality  and  religion  in  the  neighborhood. 

About  the  years  1850,  1851  and  1852,   an- 


126 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


other  large  emigration  came  into  the  county 
from  the  central  part  of  Ohio,  and  settled  in 
the  west  part  of  Lamard  Township,  among 
whom  we  will  name:  Isaac  Brock  and  family, 
George  Brock  and  family,  John  Burton  and 
family.  The  two  last  named  were  both 
preachers  and  assisted  largely  in  building  up 
the  Christian  Church.  This  old  Buckeye 
Church  by  emigration  and  proselyting  had 
spread  over  so  much  territory,  and  had  be- 
come so  strong  numerically,  that  it  was  thought 
advisable  for  the  convenience  of  its  members, 
and  for  the  purpose  of  extending  its  influence, 
to  organize  from  its  membership  other  or- 
ganizations. The  first  move  in  this  direction 
was  to  cut  off  the  west  portion  of  the  body 
and  organize  a  new  congregation  about  four 
miles  west  of  the  old  organization.  The  new 
organization  was  called  Pleasant  Grrove.  This 
took  place  about  the  year  1855.  After  this, 
several  years,  the  Cisne  congregation  was 
organized  first  at  the  schoolhouse  near 
Brother  Levi  Cisne's.  After  this,  when  the 
Shawneetown  branch  of  the  Ohio  and  Mis- 
sissippi Railroad  was  built,  and  the  town  of 
Cisne  was  laid  out,  the  brethren  built  a  neat 
church  house  at  the  town  of  Cisne  and 
moved  the  membership  there.  About  the 
same  time  the  brethren  in  and  around  Jeffer- 
sonville,  ^thought  it  best  to  establish  the 
cause  there  and  went  to  work  and  built  a 
good  house  of  worship  in  that  town,  and  or- 
ganized a  congregation  under  the  name  of 
the  Christian  Church,  at  Jeffersonville.  The 
membernhip  that  composed  this  new  organi- 
zation was  taken  from  the  membership  of  the 
old  Buckeye  Church  and  Pleasant  •  Grove 
Church,  the  same  year  that  the  church  was 
built  at  Jeffersonville.  The  brethren  at  the 
Buckeye  Church  erected  a  new  church  house, 
about  one-half  mile  north  of  the  old  school- 
house,  where  the  church  was  first  organized. 
About  the  year  1873,  a  little  band   of  breth- 


ren that  were  worshiping  at  what  was  called 
the  Gunion  school  about  four  or  five 
miles  northeast  of  Cisne,  built  a  neat,  frame 
church  house  and  organized  a  congregation. 
The  congregations  named  are  all  the  out- 
croppings  of  the  old  Buckeye  Christian 
Church.  All  have  good  houseB  of  worship 
and  are  in  good  condition,  no  two  of  the 
church  houses  being  more  than  seven  miles 
apart.  Another  fact  that  should  be  named 
in  this  connection  is,  that  the  territory  cov- 
ered by  the  membership  of  these  five  congre- 
gations has  always  been  noted  for  morality, 
industry  and  Christianity.  From  the  first 
settlement  of  the  country  the  membership  of 
these  five  churches  will  aggregate  about  800 
members  with  a  church  property  which  will 
aggregate  in  value  $8,000.  Soon  after  the 
organization  of  the  Buckeye  Church,  a  few 
brethren  from  Tennessee  settled  in  and 
around  Turnoy's  Prairie,  about  six  miles 
south  of  Fairfield  and  organized  a  congrega- 
tion at  what  was  called  the  Walker  School- 
house,  among  whom  the  writer  recollects  the 
names  of  William  Baze,  P.  J.  Pucket, 
Thomas  Pucket,  Joseph  Odell,  John  Shruse- 
berry  and  Anderson  Walker,  who  toiled  to- 
gather  under  great  opposition  to  build  up 
the  cause  of  primitive  Christianity;  the 
pioneers  of  this  organization  have  all  fought 
their  last  battle  and  won  the  victory  and 
gone  to  rest,  except  Brother  Odell  who  is 
still  lingering  on  the  shores  of  time,  waiting 
for  the  Master  to  call  him  home.  The  con- 
gregation still  has  an  existence  and  has  a 
comfortable  house  of  worship  and  a  live 
membership.  The  congregation  at  Barnhill 
was  organized  from  a  portion  of  the  member- 
ship of  this  congregation.  The  Barnhill 
congregation  has  a  comfortable  house  of  wor- 
ship and  a  live  membership. 

The  Fairfield  congregation  has  a  member- 
ship of  about   one  hundred  ;    at  present  is 


HISTORY  OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


127 


meeting  in  the  Opera  Hall:  is  building  a  brick 
house  of  worship  which,  when  completed,  will 
cost  about  §3,500.  The  congregation  has  a  live 
and  zealous  membership,  and  assist  largely  in 
throwing  restraint  and  religious  influence 
around  the  citizens  of  the  growing  little  city 
of  Fairfield.  There  are  many  other  small  con- 
gregations in  the  county  that  the  writer  is 
not  acquainted  with  the  history  of.  Thero  are 
two  organizations  in  Four  Mile  Township, 
two  in  Leach  Township,  one  in  Zif,  one  in 
Elm  River  Township,  one  in  Brush  Creek, 
one  in  Arrington  Township,  one  in  Indian 
Prairie.  There  are  in  the  county  fifteen 
or  sixteen  church  organizations,  with  an 
aggregate  membership  of  about  one  thou- 
sand five  hundred,  with  a  church  property 
that  is  worth  about  114,000.  These  peo- 
ple have  done  a  good  work  in  this  county, 
and  are  all  working  faithfully  to  restore  the 
apostolic  order  of  things,  discarding  creeds 
and  confession  of  faith,  taking  the  Bible  aad 
the  Bible  alone  as  the  rule  of  faith  and  prac- 
tice, pleading  for  a  union  of  God's  people  on 
the  one  foundation  of  Apostles  and  Prophets, 
Jesus  Christ  being  the  Chief  Corner  Stone. 

Zachariah  W.  Wood,  the  present  serving 
pastor  of  the  church,  was  born  in  Rocking- 
ham County,  Ya.  He  removed  to  Missouri 
with  his  father's  family,  and  in  1855,  came 
to  Wayne  County,  and  commenced  preaching 
in  1867. 

Catholic  Church  was  organized  in  this 
place  about  twenty- five  years  ago.  The  serv- 
ices were  first  conducted  by  Father  Fisher, 
who  in  passing  through  the  county  would 
serve  mass  at  the  residence  of  S.  Rider.  The 
first  organization  was  principally  of  the  Rider 
families,  and  John  and  William  Bowles  and 
their  families,  and  meetings  were  at  their 
houses. 

The  present  church  edifice^was  erected  by 
these  families,  assisted  greatly  by  James  Hil- 


lard,  James  Henings,  Miss  Josie  Cooper, 
Nelly  Barnhill,  John  Taafe  and  others.  The 
present  serving  priest,  L.  Reisner,  took  steps 
and  commenced  and  completed  the  building 
in  1881.  It  is  a  one  story  brick  and  cost  $3,000. 
The  Rider  brothers,  J.  and  A.  B.  were  made 
trustees,  in  which  position  they  are  now  ac- 
ceptably serving.  The  present  membership 
is  about  forty- five. 

Presbyterian  Church. — There  was  a  Pres- 
byterian Church  organized,  perhaps  as  early 
as  1825,  by  B.  F.  Spillman. 

It  was  called  by  three  or  four  different 
names,  Fairfield,  Franklin  and  Bethel,  aris- 
ing probably  from  as  many  different  places 

j  of  preaching.  The  principal  point  was 
Bethel,  or  New  Bethel,  now  Mount  Erie, 
about  twelve  miles  northeast  of  Fairfield. 
The  Elders,  so  far  as  now  known,  were  Isham 
B.  Rubinson,  aged  eighty,  still  living  ;  Alex- 
ander Ramsey  and  Samuel  McCracken.  It 
had  quite  a  considerable  membership.  Among 
them,  Mrs.  Gen.  Leach,  whose  husband  was 
quite  prominent  in  the  early  history  of  the 
county,  and  Mrs.  Slocum,  B.  F.  Spillman, 
and  Thomas  A.  Spillman  paid  them  occasional 
visits.   Rev.  Isaac  Bennet,  from  Eastern  Penn- 

'  sylvania,  Bucks  County,  and  a  graduate  of 
Jefferson  College,  Penn.,  with  the  highest 
honors  of  his  class,  also  a  graduate  of  Alle- 
gheny .Theological  Seminary  also  served  them. 
He  was  the  greatest  preacher — as  a  preacher 
— who  had  ever  appeared  in  this  part  of  the 
country;  and  the  impression  he  made  was 
worthy  of  his  talents.  He  was  devoted  and 
zealous  and  successful.  Rev.  Mr.  Bennet 
labored  here  during  1829,  and  probably  after- 
ward. He  was  at  this  time  only  a  licenciate 
and  was  not  ordained  for  some  three  years 
afterward  (April  13,  1833).  He  purchased 
hero  of  George  Russell  that]  famous  horse, 
"Jack,"  with  whom  he  lived  in  such  close 
intimacy  at  Pleasant  Prairie,  Coles  County. 


128 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


But  Mr.  Bennett  was  called  away  from 
them,  and  their  organization  was  lost.  But 
immediately  after  the  re- union  of  the  two 
largest  branches  of  the  great  Presbyterian 
family— -known  as  Old  School  and  New 
School — Father  Galbraith,  a  most  earnest, 
zealous  and  self-denying  missionary,  who 
was  then  preaching  at  Flora,  Clay  County, 
came  down  to  Fairfield,  and  after  repeated 
visits  and  after  earnest  invitation,  the  Pres- 
bytery of  Cairo  organized  or  reorganized  the 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Fairfield,  which  was 
done  on  the  '23d  day  of  April,  1871,  when 
the  following  persons  gave  their  names  and 
united  at  its  organization: 

John  Robinson,  Mrs.  E.  A.  Robinson,  A. 
R.  Robinson,  James  R.  Dales,  Susan  Dales, 
Mrs.  Belle  Ball,  Dr.  William  M.  Kerr,  Mrs. 
Grace  Fetherstone,  Henry  L.  Beecher,  Mrs. 
Eliza  Rea,  J.  C.  Claudy,  Alexander  Moore, 
Mrs.  Jane  Moore,  John  Rankin,  Mrs.  Eliza 
Rankin,  Mrs.  L.  Claudy. 

At  the  same  meeting,  Rev.  Robert  C.  Gal- 
braith was  called  as  pastor  for  half  his  time. 
The  other  half  of  his  time  was  occupied  by 
the  church  at  Flora. 

Mr.  Galbraith  was  ^born  in  Indiana  or 
Pennsylvania  February  26,  1814,  was  the 
son  and  grandson  of  ministers.  He  gradu- 
ated at  Jefferson  College,  Pennsylvania,  in 
1834,  and  at  Princeton  Theological  Seminary 
in  1837. 

Mr.  Galbraith  was  a  scholar  and  a  gentle- 
man of  the  old  school.  Most  of  his  minis- 
try had  been  in  Virginia  and  Baltimore,  Md. 
He  came  to  this  State  in  1865.  He  preached 
for  a  time  in  Odin,  Marion  County,  111.,  but 
the  cessation  of  business  and  travel  after  the 
war  closed,  resulted  in  his  removal  to  Flora, 
and  afterward  in  substituting  Fairfield, 
Wayne  County,  for  Odin,  which  led  to  his 
removal  to  Fairfield  in  1873,  giving  his  full 
time  there. 


He  remained  here  as  pastor  until  June, 
1880,  when  the  pastoral  relation  was  dis- 
solved by  the  Presbytery  of  Cairo. 

He  thence  removed  to  Metropolis  and  sup- 
plied the  church  there  for  one  year  and  a 
half.  He  is  now,  1S84,  pastor  of  the  church 
of  Golconda. 

At  this  first  meeting  of  the  church  for  its 
organization,  the  following  gentlemen  were 
elected  elders:  Messrs.  John  Robinson,  of 
Wayne  City;  James  R.  Dales,  now  of  Olney; 
J.  C.  Claudy,  now  of  Newville,  Penn.  Also 
the  following  gentlemen  were  elected  its  first 
Board  of  Trustees:  Messrs.  C.  A.  Beecher, 
Oliver  Holmes,  T.  L.  Cooper  and  Dr.  William 
M.  Kerr  to  serve  for  three  years,  and  Mr. 
Joseph  T.  Fleming,  William  H.  Robinson 
and  Adam  Rinard  for  the  term  of  five  years; 
and  also  that  said  Board  of  Trustees  act  as  a 
building  committee  in  the  erection  of  a 
church  building. 

Rev.  R.  C.  Galbraith  was  installed  pastor 
of  the  church  by  the  Presbytery  of  Cairo  May 
14,  1871. 

The  proposed  church  was  erected  during 
the  summer — a  very  fine  one  for  the  time; 
one  of  the  best,  if  not  the  very  best,  in  South- 
ern Illinois,  costing  about  S7,000,  the  last 
$1,000  not  being  paid  until  §1,000  had  been 
spent  in  interest,  just  ten  years  after,  in  Au- 
gust, 1881. 

Fairfield,  when  the  church  was  erected, 
was  a  village  of  less  than  1,000  inhabitants. 

The  years  have  mainly  been  years  of 
growth,  but  one  year  without  some  uniting 
on  profession  of  their  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ. 

The  church  was  organized  with  but  six- 
teen members.  Its  first  report  to  the  General 
Assembly  of  the  church  was  thirty- four.  It 
has  had  on  its  roll  about  135,  but  by  reason 
of  death  and  removals  it  has  now  sixty. 

Its  present  pastor,  Rev.  Edward  P.  Lewis, 


HISTORY  OF  WAYXE  COUNTY. 


129 


was  called  here  August  30,  1880,  when  he 
visited  the  church.  He  entered  regularly 
upon  his  work  tho  last  Sabbath  of  Septem- 
ber, the  26th,  1880,  since  which  time  there 
have  been  twenty-five  members  united  with 
the  church,  all  but  four  upon  profession  of 
faith  in  Christ,  as  Presbyterians  moving  into 
Southern  Illinois  are  few  and  far  between. 

Rev.  E.  P.  Lewis  was  born  in  Indiana  ' 
County,  Penn. ;  was  the  son  of  Rev.  David 
Lewis,  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of 
Lewisville,  Penn. ;  the  same  church  as  waB 
Rev.  Joseph  Henderson,  the  grandfather  of 
Rev.  R.  C.  Galbraith. 

After  the  death  of  his  father,  the  mother 
removed  to  Washington,  Penn.,  the  seat  of 
Washington  and  Jefferson  College,  for  the 
purpose  of  educating  her  three  sons  and 
daughter. 

Mr.  Lewis  graduated  at  the  college  in 
1860,  and  afterward  at  Allegheny  Theologi- 
cal Seminary  in  the  spring  of  1864. 

Immediately  afterward,  he  was  called  to 
the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Atchison,  Kan. 


He  resigned  this  church  in  1868,  on  account 
of  his  health,  and  returned  to  Pennsylvania, 
whore  he  remained  until  accepting  the  invi- 
tation to  the  church  at  Fairfield,  in  tho  sum- 
mer of  1880. 

This  church  in  all  its  history  has  been 
marked  for  its  special  liberality,  not  only  to 
homo  expenses,  but  to  outside  and  missionary 
objects,  its  gifts  amounting  annually  to  thir- 
ty-three and   one-third   dollars  per  member. 

Alexander  Moore  was  elected  an  elder 
January  3,  1875,  and  remained  an  elder  un- 
til his  death,  which  occurred  on  the  19th  of 
August,  1883. 

The  present  officers  are: 

Pastor,  Eev.  Edward  P.  Lewis. 

Elders,  John  Robinson,  Michael  Heid, 
Oliver  Holmes  and  J.  C.  Youngkin. 

Deacons,  Joseph  T.  Fleming,  John  Keen, 
Jr.,  and  William  J.  Sailor. 

Trustees,  Oliver  Holmes,  Joseph  Ball,  C. 
W.  Summers,  Joseph  Fleming,  Adam  Rinard, 
William  H.  Robinson   and   Thomas  Cooper. 


CHAPTER   XI. 


BENCH  AND  BAR  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY— THE  PEOPLE  OF  "  PRECEDENTS"— THE  COMING  LAWYER— 
THE  LAWS  AND  OTHER  LEGISLATION— FIRST  COURT,  GRAND  JURY  AND  LAWYER  IN 
THE  COUNTY— HUBBARD,  WILSON— EDWIN  AND  C.  A.  BEECHER— CAMP- 
BELL, IIANNA,   BOGGS  AND  MANY  OTHERS,  INCLUDING 
Til  E  PRESENT  ACTIVE  PRACTITIONERS,  ETC. 


THE  very  earliest  settlers  in  Illinois  bad 
neither  churches,  preachers,  doctors, 
nor  lawyers.  A  good  dog  and  a  trusty  rifle 
were  a  greater  necessity  than  any  of  these 
now  probably  necessary  evils  of  modern 
times,  and  refined  villainies  and  wide-spread 
demoralization  that  have  not  only  kept  pace. 


but  apparently  outstripped,  the  wonderful 
growth  of  schoolhouses  and  splendid  churches, 
whoso  bristling  steeples,  piercing  the  sky, 
and  are  kissed  by  tho  earliest  morning 
sun,  and  point  so  eloquently  the  way  to 
Heaven,  that  now  so  plentifully  are  dotted 
all  over   the   land.     At  one  time  in  tho  his- 


130 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


tory  of  the  early  settlement  of  Illinois,  was 
here  a  people  without  courts,  officers  of  the 
law,  churches  or  schoolhouses.  There  are 
some  astounding  truths  to  be  read  between 
lines  in  this  recital  of  a  simple  historical 
fact,  by  that  reader  who  has  the  comprehen- 
sion to  read  all  that  there  is  in  the  naked 
announcement  of  this  truth.  It  is  full  of 
food  for  the  unprejudiced  and  reflective 
mind.  Look  on  this  picture  and  then  on 
that. 

Gov.  Reynolds  has  given  us  the  following 
account  of  the  people  he  found  here  in  1800, 
the  year  he  came  to  the  Territory:  "They 
were  an  innocent  and  a  happy  people.  They 
were  removed  from  the  corruption  of  large 
cities,  and  enjoyed  an  isolated  position  in 
the  interior  of  North  America.  In  a  century 
before  1800,  they  were  enabled  to  solve  the 
problem  that  neither  wealth,  nor  splendid 
possessions,  nor  an  extraordinary  degree  of 
ambition,  nor  energy,  ever  made  a  people 
happy.  These  people  resided  more  than  a 
thousand  miles  from  any  other  colony,  and 
were  strangers  to  wealth  or  poverty;  but  the 
Christian  virtues  governed  their  hearts,  and 
they  were  happy.  One  virtue  among  others 
was  held  in  high  esteem  and  religiously  ob- 
served. Chastity  was  a  sine  qua  non,  and  a 
spurious  offspring  was  almost  unknown 
among  them.  *  *  *  *  Their  energy  or 
ambition  never  urged  them  to  more  than  an 
humble  and  competent  support.  To  hoard 
up  wealth  was  not  found  written  in  their 
hearts,  and  very  few  practiced  it.  They 
were  a  temperate,  moral  people.  They  very 
seldom  indulged  in  drinking  liquor  to  ex- 
cess, etc." 

Remember,  reader,  this  was  away  back  in 
the  year  1800,  and  the  old  ranger  waB  writ- 
ing his  recollections  after  he  had  lived  here 
fifty-five  years,  and  had  seen  and  been  a  part 
of  all  the  wonderful   changes  that   the  half 


century  had  wrought.  There  are  none  living 
here  now  who  saw  the  people  of  Illinois  at 
the  time  he  did.  And  the  traditions  that  we 
have  are  often  wholly  wrong  when  they  are 
called  upon  to  tell  us  what  manner  of  people 
these  were  who  lived  here,  sans  churches, 
sans  preachers,  sans  courts,  sans  everything. 
They  had  no  schoolhouses,  and  they  were,  as 
a  rule,  illiterate,  and  that  unthinking  man 
who  confounds  illiteracy  with  ignorance 
would  foolishly  say  that  they  were  very  ig- 
norant. Yet  the  truth  was,  that  the  promi- 
nent men  of  that  day  would  be  great  men 
now,  or  in  any  age  or  in  any  place. 

The  people  were  in  the  way  of  supersti- 
tious beliefs  more  ignorant  then  than  now — 
that  is,  than  some  are  now.  But  remember, 
the  whole  world  believed  then  in  witches  and 
spooks  and  a  literal  brimstone  and  hell  fire. 
Hideous  apparitions  universally  confronted 
men  in  every  turn  in  life,  projecting  their 
ghastly  presence  between  husband  and  wife, 
parent  and  child,  and  crushing  out  all  the 
highest  and  holiest  human  impulses  and  pas- 
sions. The  revolutions  of  the  earth  have 
brought  us  the  times  of  "universal  faith  among 
men — beliefs  and  so-called  moral  codes  en- 
forced by  tire  and  faggot,  by  the  headsman's 
ax  and  the  gibbet,  by  the  bloodiest  wars  in  the 
tide  of  time,  turning  this  bright  and  beautiful 
world  into  a  blackened  and  desolate  waste, 
when  men  became  moral  monsters  and  every 
fireside  was  a  penal  colony,  where  the  flesh  was 
punished  to  the  limit  of  endurance,  and  the  im- 
agination tortured  until  poor  suffering  men 
and  women  sought  refuge  in  suicide  and  a 
wild  plunge  into  the  literal  hell  and  the  in- 
conceivable tortures  of  the  damned.  Time, 
when  not  only  a  whole  nation,  but  all  so-called 
civilized  people  believed  the  same  belief, 
and  the  church  and  State  were  one  and  the 
same.  The  State  was  supreme  over  body  and 
soul,    and    persecution    had   completed    its 


HlvrOHY  OF   WAY  XI'.  I'lU'NTV. 


131 


slaughter,  and  the  permitted  science,  litera- 
ture and  philosophy  of  the  learned  world, 
consisted  only  of  the  Lives  of  the  Saints — of 
which  the  pious  and  learned  churchman  had 
gathered  many  great  libraries  of  hundreds 
of   thousands  of   volumes. 

Here  then  are  the  two  extremes — the  ear- 
liest pioneers  without  church  or  State — the 
old  world  with  nothing  else  but  church  and 
State,  that  laid  waste  a  world  and  dried  up 
the  fountains  of  the  human  heart,  and  made 
the  wholo  earth  desolate  and  sterile.  One 
producing  death  and  desolation,  the  other 
wresting  the  desert  wilderness  from  the  sav- 
age and  the  wild  beast,  and  literally  making 
the  solitude  to  blossom  with  intelligence  and 
bear  abundantly  the  immortal  fruit  of  glo- 
rious civilization.  These  stateless,  church- 
less,  schoolless  people  blazed  the  way  and 
prepared  the  ground  for  the  coming  of  the 
school  teacher,  the  preacher  and  the  lawyer, 
the  .hospitals,  the  insane  asylums  and  the 
penitentiaries,  the  problems  of  life,  the  knot 
of  the  hangman,  the  saloon  and  the  gambler, 
the  broken-hearted  wife  and  the  bloated  sot, 
the  great  sob  of  innocence  betrayed,  and  the 
leer  of  human  goats  as  they  wag  their  scut 
and  caper  upon  their  mountain  of  offense, 
the  millionaire  and  the  starving  tramp;  and 
then,  too,  with  all  these,  come  the  comforts 
of  wealth,  refinement  and  culture.  And  with 
that  highest  and  most  enduring  pleasure  of 
all  life,  the  acquisition  of  new  truths.  With 
these  lazaroni,  these  goats  and  monsterB  of 
civilization,  thank  God,  there  came  also  the 
man  of  doubts  and  questions,  the  star  of 
hope  in  the  universal  gloom,  the  world's 
beacon  lights  that  shine  out  upon  the 
troubled   waters. 

The  hardy  and  illiterate  pioneer  awoke 
here  the  resting  echo,  and  following  them, 
when  they  had  fought  out  the  battle  with  the 
plumed  hereditary  lords  of  America,  and  his 


congener,   the    wild    beast 
viper,  came  together   into 


and  the  deadly 
one  plot  all  the 
ends  of  the  world,  and  all  the  degrees  of 
social  rank,  and  now  they  offer  to  the  same 
great  writer,  the  busiest,  the  most  extended 
and  the  most  varied  subject,  for  an  enduring 
literary  work.  For  is  not  their  simple  story 
a  sublime  epic?  Their  lives  a  tremendous 
tragedy — their  present  struggles,  their  vast 
schemes,  their  whited  sepulchers,  a  perpetu- 
al comedy?  The  travail  of  ages — of  the  rev- 
olutions, wars,  beliefs  and  bloody  reforms 
and  revivals — things  that  seem  to  retard,  but 
really  are  the  demonstration  of  the  progress 
of  the  race.  The  creation,  molding  anil 
building  up  of  that  philosophy  that  reaches 
out  to  the  great  mass  of  mankind,  and  re- 
sults in  that  culture  and  experience  which 
deepens  and  strengthens  the  common  sense 
of  the  people,  rectifies  judgments,  improves 
morals,  encourages  independence,  and  dissi- 
pates superstitions.  In  the  prolonged  human 
tragedy  of  the  ages  —this  chaos  of  ignorance 
and  wild  riot  of  bigotry — there  has  been 
born  now  and  then  the  great  thoughts  of  the 
world's  few  thinkers,  and  they  are  growing 
and  widening  slowly  but  forever,  as  truth 
alone  is  eternal,  and  is  beginning  to  yield 
the  world  a  philosophy  that  worships  the 
beautiful  only  in  the  useful,  and  the  relig- 
ious only  in  the  true.  A  philosophy  that  is 
the  opposite  and  the  contradiction  of  senti- 
ment as  opposed  to  sense,  that  requires  a 
rational  personal  independence  of  thought  on 
all  subjects,  whether  secular  or  sacred,  and 
that  equally  rejects  an  error,  whether  it  is 
fresh  and  novel,  or  gloriously  gilded  by  an- 
tiquity. A  philosophy  that  yields  no  homage 
to  a  thing  because  it  is  a  mystery,  and  ac- 
cepts no  ghostly  authority  administered  by 
men,  and  the  root  of  which  lies  in  a  florid 
mysticism.  There  is  a  perceptible  intellect- 
ual activity  that  marks  the  present   age,  and 


132 


HISTORY  OF  WAYXE  COUNTY. 


that  prevades  all  classes,  asking  questions  and 
seeking  causes.  It  is  practical,  not  theoret- 
ical, and  its  chief  end  is  to  improve  the  arts 
and  industries,  to  explore  and  remedy  evils 
and  to  make  life  every  way  better  worth  liv- 
ing. Its  types  are  the  electric  light  and  the 
telephone,  better  ships  and  railways,  cleaner 
houses  and  habits,  better  food  and  wiser  in- 
stitutions for  the  sick,  insane  and  destitute, 
and  that  has  already  scored  upon  its  side  of 
victories,  that  immeasurable  boon  of  length- 
ening the  life  of  a  generation  to  forty  years, 
where  a  few  years  ago  it  was  scarcely  more 
than  thirty  years.  In  the  history  of  the  hu- 
man race,  all  its  advances,  all  its  victories 
compared  to  this  one,  are  as  the  invisible 
moat  to  the  wheeling  world.  Let  the  mind 
dwell  upon  this  magnificent  miracle,  and 
call  these  practical  philosophers  what  you 
please,  but  what  coronet  is  fit  to  crown  their 
memory  save  that  of  the  divine  halo  itself. 
Thev  taught  mankind  the  sublime  truth  that 
God  intends  us  to  mind  things  near  us,  and 
that  because  knowledge  is  obtainable,  it  is 
our  duty  to  obtain  it,  and  that  the  best  re- 
ligion is  that  which  abolishes  suffering  and 
makes  men  and  women  better  and  healthier. 

The  disputes  of  the  schoolmen  and  theolo- 
gians are  regarded  as  a  jargon  of  the  past, 
and  to  listen  to  them  is  time  wasted.  Noth- 
ing is  considered  worth  studying  but  what 
can  be  understood,  or  at  least  sufficiently  un- 
derstood to  be  usefully  applied.  This  is 
kindly,  tolerant  and  courageous  thought,  free 
from  the  disfigurement  of  bigotry  and  preju- 
dice. This  is  where  we  can  see  the  advance- 
ment in  the  school,  the  press,  in  the  pulpit 
and  everywhere.  It  is  irresistable,  and  its 
inflowing  tide  is  sun-lit  with  hope,  like  the 
blue  iEgean,  when  the  poet  spoke  of  "  the 
multitudinous  laughter  of  the  sea  waves." 
This  is  the  meaning  of  Bacon's  idea,  that  the 
growth  of  truth  is  like  the  "  delivery  "  of  the 


body  of  a  tree.  "  It  draws  its  sap  and  growth 
from  the  soil  of  ages,  and  its  fruitage  and 
perfection  will  be  displayed  in  a  distant  but 
glorious  summer." 

In  the  slow,  dreary  centuries,  the  world 
looked  to  the  learned  professions — by  some 
strange  twist  of  the  tongue  called  "  learned  " 
— the  law,  medicine  and  theology  for  their 
wisdom,  that  is,  the  bread  of  life,  and  re- 
ceived the  stones  and  husks  that  were  cast  to 
them;  swallowed  them,  and  thus  puffed  out, 
they  thought  they  grew  strong  and  fat. 
Theology  appealed  to  the  strong  arm  of  the 
law  and  the  bloody  sword  to  make  people 
moral,  and  in  the  faith,  if  their  morals  were 
strictly  attended  to,  their  intelligence  would 
take  care  of  itself.  The  medical  men  ap- 
pealed to  Esculapius,  in  the  belief  that  he 
knew  all  that  could  be  known  about  "  hot 
water  and  bleeding."  And  the  lawyers  ap- 
pealed to  ancient  precedent,  and  told  the 
world  that  here  was  the  concentrated  wisdom 
of  the  ages.  Each  one  of  these  learned  pro- 
fessions had  their  special  followers,  who  put 
their  faith  exclusively  in  them,  while  the 
great  unthinking  mass  of  mankind  implicitly 
believed  in  the  infallibility  of  all  of  them. 
This  self-constituted  trinity  of  wisdom  was 
agreed  upon  one  thing,  namely,  that  all 
worldly  or  other  wisdom  must  come  through 
them,  in  order  to  be  "  regular."  Any  thought 
or  jtheory  that  was  not  "  regular "  in  their 
judgment  was  to  be  ostracised,  to  the  extent 
of  being  burned  at  the  stake,  if  milder  means 
failed  to  kill  it  off.  They  were  all  theorists, 
whose  methods  were  exclusively  metaphysical, 
and  the  greatest  man  among  them  was  in- 
variably the  wildest  theorist,  who  talked  the 
most  about  which  he  knew  the  least.  Hence, 
medicine,  theology  and  law  became  in  the 
largest  affairs  of  life  coparceners,  and  one 
entrenched  the  other,  and  all  wared  upon 
poor,  suffering  mankind. 


HISTORY  OF   WATXE   COUNTY 


135 


To  this  bloody  triumvirate  came  the  orator 
and  the  poet  "  crooking  the  pregnant  hinges 
of  the  knee,  that  thrift  might  follow  fawn- 
ing," singing  their  praises  in  word  and  song, 
and  thus  finally  church  and  State,  law  and 
medicine  and  poetry,  and  eloquence  and  lit- 
erature were  so  braced  and  interwoven  that 
they  were  nearly  all-powerful  in  worldly 
matters,  and  they  held  high  carnival  over 
their  possessions  over  men.  They  compla- 
cently deified  the  old  and  the  mysterious,  and 
they  gave  the  world  their  unchanging  ukase, 
and  emblazoned  their  own  glories  across  the 
face  of  the  sky.  They  esteemed  their  victory 
over  the  thoughts  of  men  as  complete  and 
perpetual  ;  they  had  put  shackles  upon  the 
human  mind,  and  imprisoned  it  in  the  im- 
penetrable cells  of  the  gloomy  dungeons. 
But  at  all  times  in  the  world's  history  there 
were  other  men,  men  who  had  never  been  of 
the  "learned  professions."  or.  if  having 
been  once  members,  had  quit  them,  and 
turned  their  faces  away  from  the  ancient 
precedent,  and  looked  ahead  and  not  behind, 
and  saw  the  slow,  yet  resistless  power  of 
truth  as.it  has,  through  these  men.  fought 
back  ignorance  enthroned  in  power,  which 
has  at  last  compelled  even  the  learned  pro- 
fessions to  begin  to  look  and  learn — to  inves- 
tigate and  study  for  themselves.  This  is  the 
one  great  page  in  the  book  of  life — the  most 
important  lesson  in  the  world's  history.  In 
all  organized  governments  of  laws  and  con- 
stitutions the  lawyers  are  a  component  part 
of  the  government  itself.  A  lawyer  is  in 
one  sense  an  officer  of  the  government  under 
which  he  lives.  Differing  greatly,  it  may  be 
true,  from  any  other  official  of  the  ruling 
power,  yet  his  status  is  as  fixed  as  any  of 
them.  Upon  him  rests  the  highest  of  the 
temporal  duties  toward  men  that  flow  out  to 
them  from  the  government.  Their  cast  of 
thought  should  have  grown  in  a  larger  mold 


than  did  any  of  the  other  so-called  learned 
professions.  Possibly  it  did.  Yet  it  was 
never  of  that  sufficiently  large  and  ennobling 
quality  that  could  fill  a  supreme  mission  and 
help  the  world  to  true  freedom  in  the  great 
fight  between  right  and  wrong.  They  not 
only  left  her  to  fight  her  battles  with  ignor- 
ance, but  too  often  joined  in  the  unholy 
crusade  against  truth — we  mean  that  perse- 
cuted minority  who  asked  questions  and 
sought  out  causes.  They  who,  if  they  looked 
at  the  old.  it  was  to  point  out  its  errors  as 
well  as  to  perpetuate  its  few  demonstrated 
truths.  Their  great  concern  was  for  the 
Now,  and  they  conld  see  no  more  reason  for 
deep  concern  for  a  future  that  they  could 
know  nothing  about  than  for  the  past, 
when  "  all  was  without  form  and  void." 
And  the  work  of  these  men  is  the  adding  of 
ten  years  to  the  average  life  of  man.  These 
were  the  men.  when  a  man  announced  a 
new  truth  from  nature's  arcana,  who  never 
stained  their  hands  in  his  blood  for  making 
the  discovery,  but  if  he  could  demonstrate 
his  fact,  they  gave  it  a  patient  examination, 
and  without  prejudice  for  or  against,  yielded 
to  their  unbiased  judgments. 

The  extent  of  the  labors  required  of  these 
men  who  thus  gave  the  world  this  new  lease 
of  ten  years  of  life  to  the  individual,  was  a 
long,  a  great,  a  patient,  dangerous  and  im- 
measurable one.  Their  innocent  aDd  heroic 
blood  stained  the  stream  of  time  from  its 
source  to  the  present  hour.  They  worked 
out  their  inventions,  proclaimed  their  im- 
mortal discoveries  and  were  killed  at  once,  or 
became  hiding  fugitives  from  the  inappeas- 
able  wrath  of  mankind.  The  brutal  mob 
tore  their  quivering  bodies  into  shreds,  and 
then  complacently  erected  those  immortal 
monumental  piles  to  baseness  and  ignorance 
that  pierced  the  heavens  and  disfigured  the 
face  of    the  earth.       This  was  the   unequel 


13G 


HISTORY   OF   WAYNE   COUNTY. 


fitrbt  between  truth  and  ignorance.  To  look 
at  the  world  in  its  travails,  to  reflect  how 
pure  and  good  and  stainless  is  truth,  and  how 
very  weak  it  seems  when  brought  face  to 
face  with  panoplied  ignorance  and  brute 
force,  is  to  despair  and  believe  that  creation 
itself  is  a  mere  horrible  nightmare,  but  in 
the  long  centuries  that  reach  down  to  us,  her 
victories  are  marvellous,  and  in  return  for 
the  cruel  tortures  and  death  that  were  lying 
in  wait  upon  every  foot  of  the  pathway  of 
these  children  of  thought,  they  have  given  us 
all  these  glories  of  this  gilded  civilization 
we  now  enjoy.  "  Return  good  for  evil," 
saith  the  command  of  heaven,  but  here  is 
more,  it  is  the  blessing  to  all,  and  that  en- 
dureth  forever,  that  transcends  as  infinity 
does  the  tick  of  the  clock,  all  the  earnest 
and  united  supplications  of  the  just  and  holy 
that  ever  ascended  toward  the  Great  White 
Throne.  Their  blessings  are  not  only  the 
comforts,  pleasures,  wealth  and  holy  love  of 
one  another  that  we  see,  but  it  is  life  itself 
purified  and  exalted  beyond  the  comprehen- 
sion of  the  ignorant  receivers  of  the  inesti- 
mable boon.  No  lash  was  ever  raised,  no 
law  was  ever  enacted,  no  pain  was  ever  in- 
flicted, no  schoolhouse  was  ever  built,  no 
policeman  was  ever  starred,  no  judge  was 
ever  ermined,  no  diploma  was  ever  granted, 
no  law  was  ever  invoked  in  the  interest  and 
in  behalf  of  these  outlawed  children,  who 
thought,  who  invented,  who  discovered  these 
immortal  truths  that  are  great  enough,  strong 
enough  to  lift  up  and  bear  aloft  civilization 
itself. 

When  the  "learned  profession"  secured 
the  protection  of  the  State,  and  enacted  a 
law  that  no  one  should  practice  or  compete 
with  them,  except  he  be  first  licensed  by  au- 
thority, they  admitted  away  all  their  claim 
to  be  of  the  "  learned  profession."  The 
idea  of  a  license  to  labor,  to  earn  your  living 


by  the  sweat  of  you  brow  is  an  open  confes- 
sion of  barbarism.  Protection!  From  whom? 
The  •'  learned"  from  the  ignorant;  the  lawyer 
from  the  lout;  the  doctor  from  the  quack, 

"Like  a  weak  girl,  the  great  Coesar  cried. 
Help  me  Cassius,  or  I  sink." 

When  the  lawyer  has  set  the  example,  and 
claimed  a  license  to  protect  his  guild  from 
the  outside  and  unlearned  poacher,  the  doe- 
tor  is  certainly  not  to  blame  for  claiming  a  sim- 
ilar protection  for  himself.  The  lawyer  who 
studies  the  law  should  be  the  first  man  in  the 
community  to  begin  to  see  the  plain,  first 
principles  of  political  economy.  He  should 
not  have  waited  to  be  told  by  a  non-lawyer, 
that  one  of  the  most  glaring  oppressions  that 
have  afflicted  men  in  all  governments,  is  over- 
legislation.  This  applies  to  every  govern- 
ment of  which  history  gives  any  account. 
And  always  it  has  been  the  newest  govern 
ments  that  have  suffered  the  least.  Time 
only  gives  the  legislative  bodies  the  oppor- 
tunity to  pile  up  these  evils,  the  new  upon 
the  old,  Pelion  upon  Ossa,  until  human 
endurance  ceases,  and  with  the  sword,  the 
insurgent  people  cut  their  way  out.    ' 

Ignorance  feels  an  imaginary  or  real  op- 
pression, and  it  cries  out  for  some  new  law  to 
remedy  the  wrong,  when  there  can  be  no  safer 
assertion  than  that  there  is  not  one  remedial 
law  in  a  thousand  but  that  aggravates  the  evil 
it  was  intended  to  cure.  So  wide-spread  is 
this  ignorance,  that  almost  every  man  who 
gets  elected  to  the  Legislature,  understands 
his  constituents,  will  measure  his  greatness 
and  value  by  the  number  of  new  laws  that 
be  can  have  passed  that  have  his  trade  mark 
upon  them.  Success  here  will  constitute 
him  a  leading  legislator,  and  make  him  a 
great  man  at  home  and  abroad.  Ignorance 
and  demagogism  have  so  pushed  this  in  this 
country  that  our  immeasurable  statute  laws 
are  a  marvel  to  contemplate.      There  is  not  a 


HISTORY   OF    WAYNE  COUNTY. 


137 


lawyer   alive  that    ever    even   cursorily  read 
them  all,  and  yet  the  most  practical  and  in- 
flexibly   enforced    maxim   is    "  every   man    is 
presumed  to  know  the  law."     Indeed,  an  in- 
stance happened  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  this 
State  recently,  wherein,  without  knowing  it, 
it  gave  one    opinion  that  was  exactly  opposite 
to  a  recent   preceding  one.      An  opinion  of 
the    Supreme  Court  is  law.     An  act  of  Con- 
gress is  law.      So  of  the  Legislature.       V  city 
ordinance  is  law.      A  custom   is  law.      Con- 
tracts,   agreements   and    transactions  among 
men  are  quasi  laws.     The  United  States,  the 
State,  the  County,  the  city  and   village,   the 
township  and  the  road  district,  all  have  exec 
utive  and  to  some  extent  law-making  powers. 
Then    there    are    the    multitudinous    courts 
pouring   out   their    printed   volumes   of   laws 
annually  by  the  hundreds  of  volumes.     And 
next  month  the  high  courts  will  reverse  each 
decision  upon  every  contested  case  made  last 
mouth.      To  all  these  are  charters,  constitu- 
tions, treaties,  great   libraries  of  commenta- 
tors, laws   fundamental,  general,  public   and 
private.      Decisions    and    orders    of    depart- 
ments, civil  and  military.     Revenue,  postal, 
and    excise    laws,  criminal,  civil  and    chan- 
cery,   written    and    unwritten    laws,    worlds 
without  end.      Upon   nearly  every  contested 
question  of  law  may  be   found   hundreds  of 
decisions,  no  two  of  which  will  exactly  agree, 
and  the  proposition   has  been   seriously  ail 
vanced   for  the  State  to  commission  a  board 
of  lawyers  to  attend  upon  the  Legislature  to 
act  as   a  surpervising  committee  upon  every 
new  law  brought  forward  by  our  great  states 
men,  to    see    how  many  other    laws    it    may 
come   in  direct  conflict,  or  agreement  with. 
In  the  mad  whirl  of  folly  we  cannot  imagine 
why  such  a  commission   is  not  in  existence. 
It  might   be  a  good  thing.     Who  can  tell? 
Let  this  commission    be  provided  with  clerks, 
auditors,    judge    advocates,  and    a    hundred 


or  so  of  the  leading  attorneys  of  the  State. 
at  a  fat  salary,  as  counsellors,  and  a  suffering 
world  that  is  always  weeping  for  more  law — 
forever  more, may  temporarily  be  made  happy, 
until  some  other  good  scheme  is  thought  up. 
The  thing  of  appointing  a  board  of  commis- 
sioners, is  a  modern  invention.  It  relieves 
the  strain  for  more  new  laws  by  the  cord  and 
ton  every  hour  from  the  legislative  solons. 
Its  a  kind  of  side-show  possessing,  wo  sup- 
pose, a  mixture  of  the  legislative  and  execu- 
tive powers  and  duties.  Illinois  is  now 
blessed  with  commissioners  on  taxes  and  on 
railroads.  Why  not  follow  this  up  with  one 
on  forms  and  another  on  tooth-pick  shoes  for 
our  dudes?  In  short,  there  need  be  no  limit 
to  this  new  patent  process  of  multiplying 
laws  and  law  makers,  and  it  is  a  thing  that 
would  only  exhaust  itself  when  every  man. 
woman  and  child  in  the  State  was  in  some 
way  a  part  ami  parcel  of  a  board  of  com- 
missioners. 

The  unthinking  people  do  not  realize  the 
evils  that  come  to  them  from  the  folly  of  the 
law  makers.  They  are  taught  that  it  being 
the  highest  duty  of  a  good  citizen  to  obey 
and  respect  the  law,  therefore,  law  is  of  it 
self  a  good.  And  from  here  springs  much 
of  the  flood  of  foolish  and  mostly  bad  laws. 
And,  hence,  the  evils  are  now  great  from  this 
source,  and  a  mere  reference  to  the  whole 
stupendous  fabric  is  but  little  else  than  a 
biting  satire  upon   the  common  intelligence. 

For  much  of  these  evils  we  lay  the  charge 
at  the  door  of  the  lawyers,  not  that  they  have 
any  more  than  the  average  intelligence  as  a 
mass,  but  their  study  and  investigation 
should  have  shown  them  tirst  of  all,  and  they 
should  have  warned  the  people  that  it  is  not 
quantity  in  laws  that  is  good,  but  that  the 
fewer,  simpler,  and  more  stable  the  laws,  the 
happier  and  better  the  people.  Upnn  the 
threshhold  of  their  reading,  this  simple  fact 


138 


HISTORY   OF    WAYNE    COUNTY. 


should  have  been  patent  to  the  law  student, 
and  we  do  not  doubt  had  such  convictions 
ever  entered  his  mind,  he  would  have  at  once 
so  proclaimed  to  the  world  We  are  aware 
it  has  not  been  a  willful  fault  of  the  profes- 
sion, but  the  law  student,  like  nearly  all  other 
students,  when  he  was  first  placed  in  position 
to  study  and  prepare  himself  to  master  his 
profession,  universally  had  his  face  turned 
exactly  the  wrong  way,  and  that  he  would 
look  only  in  the  direction  pointed  out  to  him 
was  to  be  expected.  Hence  it  has  been  that 
the  world  is  at  last  being  taught  the  true 
philosophy  of  law  by  biologists  and  philoso- 
phers that  have  come  not  of  the  ' '  learned 
professions.' 

It  will  take  many  years  to  teach  the  mass 
of  mankind  to  unlearn  the  lessons  that  have 
been  instilled  into  it  on  this  subject.  The 
average  man  clings  to  the  old;  he  reverences 
only  long  accepted  ideas  of  things,  and  he 
resenis  as  a  personal  indignity,  as  well  as  a 
slur  upon  the  memory  of  his  forefathers,  any 
innovation  upon  the  way  that  they  thought, 
and  the  ideas  they  accepted  and  approved. 
When  schools  are  founded  and  run  upon  this 
idea,  the  world  will  soon  be  much  better  ed- 
ucated than  it  now  is.  Better  scholars  will 
come  from  our  colleges,  and  better  lawyers 
and  doctors  from  the  universities.  Then  the 
great  doctor  will  be  he  who  teaches  mankind 
how  to  best  live;  how  to  conquer  contagious 
diseases  and  epidemics,  and  to  avoid  disease 
and  suffering  in  all  its  forms,  and  meet  and 
overcome  them  in  a  better  way  than  did  our 
progenitors.  He  will  then  cease  to  be  an 
empiric  (that's  all  there  is  in  medicine  now), 
and  his  greatness  will  not  consist  in  these 
miraculous  cures  that  are  so  coinrnon,  and 
that  bring  such  notoriety  and  so  much  money 
to  the  lucky  ones  in  life's  lottery.  Empiri- 
cism and  quackery  are  a  mere  play  upon 
words — tweedle-dum  and   tweedle-dee.       To 


the  money-getters  in  the  profession  these 
will  be  words  worse  than  wasted.  They  will, 
as  they  ought  to,  resent  and  condemn  them 
without  stint.  But,  nevertheless,  while  it 
has  always  been  true,  it  will  always  remain 
true  that  the  world's  truly  great  men,  its 
sublime  benefactors,  its  givers  of  all  good, 
have  received  neither  money  nor  fame  for 
their  grand  labors  in  behalf  of  mankind. 
Their  immortal  work  came  like  the  gentle 
dews  of  heaven,  silent  and  unseen,  aud  no 
more  appreciated  by  men  than  they  were  by 
the  dull  cattle  upon  the  hills. 

The  coming  great  lawyer  will  be  also  not 
the  great  compiler  or  the  brilliant  student  of 
ancient  precedents  and  hair-splitting  decis- 
ions; not  the  magniloquent  orator,  nor  the 
successful  and  rich  practitioner,  with  his 
troops  of  rich  clients;  and  the  mob,  with 
greasy  caps  and  stinking  breaths,  shouting 
at  his  heels,  but  he  who  frankly  tells  them 
the  truth,  and,  mayhap,  therefor  receives  their 
blows;  he  who  teaches  the  people  that  law  is 
not  a  blessing,  but  a  necessary  and  oppressive 
evil.  It  is  immaterial  whether  this  truly 
great  man  has  a  license  and  is  called  a  law- 
yer by  authority  or  not.  He  will  compel  ig- 
norant man  to  know  that  his  welfare  consists 
in  the  fewest,  plainest,  simplest  possible 
laws;  so  few  and  so  plain  and  so  simple  that 
the  school  child  may  be  able  to  master  them 
all  in  a  day,  and  once  mastered  they  will 
never  be  forgotten  and  they  will  not  be 
changed.  This  Utopia  may  never  come — we 
do  not  at  all  believe  it  a  possibility — but  its 
smallest  approach  is  a  boon  for  which  let  the 
praying  pray,  and  the  militant  tight  to  the 
death. 

Gov.  Hubbard. — The  first  lawyer  that 
ever  filed  a  paper  in  the  Circuit  Court  of 
Wayne  County  was  Adolphus  F.  Hubbard. 
As  further  noted  above,  there  were  but  two 
civil  cases,  both  of  debt,   at  this  first  court, 


HISTORY   OF   WAYNE  COUJNTY. 


139 


and  the  declaration  in  each  case  was  signed 
by  Hubbard.  He  was  the  second  Lieutenant- 
Governor  of  the  State,  succeeding  Pierre 
Menard  December  5,  1822.  His  residence 
was  Gallatin  County. 

Concerning  Gov.  Hubbard  we  tind  the  fol- 
lowing interesting  items  in  the  current  his- 
tory  of  the  State: 

"In  the  summer  of  L825,  emigration  ro- 
vived  considerably.  A  great  tide  set  in 
toward  the  central  part  of  the  State.  Through 
Yandalia  alone,  250  wagons  were  counted  in 
three  weeks'  time,  all  going  northward. 
Destined  for  Sangamon  County  alone,  eighty 
wagons,  and  400  persons  were  counted  in 
two  weeks'  time.  Sangamon  Couuty  was  at 
that  time,  without  doubt  the  most  populous 
county  in  the  State.  All  the  northern  coun- 
ties were  most  disproportionately  represented 
in  the  General  Assembly.  While  such  coun- 
ties as  Randolph  and  White  had  each  a  Sen- 
ator and  three  Representatives,  Sangamon 
had  one  Senator  and  one  Representative. 

"  It  happened  at  this  time  that  Gov.  Coles 
was  temporarily  absent  on  a  visit  to  Virginia, 
and  Lieut. -Gov.  Hubbard  was  acting-Gov- 
ernor. His  excellency,  <ui  interim,  struck 
with  the  injustice  of  this  unequal  representa- 
tion, issued  his  proclamation  for  an  extra 
session  of  tho  Legislature,  to  convene  at  the 
seat  of  government  on  the  first  Monday  in 
January,  1S26,  for  the  purpose  of  apportion- 
ing the  State  and  for  business  generally.  He 
was  not  loth  to  claim  power.  Gov.  Coles 
returned  on  the  last  day  of  October,  and  re- 
sumed his  office,  but  tho  acting-Governor 
was  not  inclined  to  yield  up,  claiming  he  had 
superceded  the  former,  and  to  be  Governor 
de  jure  under  Section  18,  Article  111,  of  the 
constitution  which  read: 

In  case  of  an  impeachment  of  the  Governor,  his 
removal  from  office,  death,  refusal  to  qualify,  resig- 
nation or  absence  from  the  State,  the  Lieutenant- 
Governor  shall  exercise  all  the  power  and  authority 


appertaining   to  the   office   of  Governor,  until  the 
time  pointed  out  by  the  Constitution  for  the  elect 
ion  of  a  Governor  shall  arrive,   unless  the  General 
Assembly  shall  otherwise  provide  by  law   for  the 
election  of  a  Governor  to  fill  such  vacancy. 

"  After  the  arrival  of  Gov.  Coles,  Hubbard, 
as  a  test,  issued  a  commmission  to  W.  L.   D. 
Ewing,   as  Paymaster- General  of  the  State 
militia,  which   was  presented   to  the   Secre- 
tary of  State,  George  Forquer,  for  his  signa- 
ture, who  refused  to  sign  and  affix  the  signa- 
ture thereto.     In    December   following,    the 
Supreme  Court  being  in  session,  Ewing  ap- 
plied  for  a  rule  on   the  Secretary  to  show 
cause    why    a    mandamus    should    not    be 
awarded  requiring   him  to  countersign  and 
affix  the  seal  of  the  State  to  his  commission 
issued     and    signed  by    Adolphus    Fredrick 
Hubbard,    Governor  of   Illinois.       The   rule 
being  granted,  the  Secretary  answered,  stat- 
ing   the   facts,  whereby  the   whole    question 
was  brought    before  the  court,  and  argued 
at    length    with    much    ability    by    talented 
counsel    on    both    sides.     The    judges    after 
much  deliberation,   delivered  separate  opin- 
ions of  great  learning  and  research,   but  all 
agreed  in  the  juelgment  pronounced,  that  the 
rule  must  be  discharged.     Hubbard  was  still 
irrepressible,    and     next    memorialized    the 
Legislature    in    reference  to   his   grievance. 
But  the  Senate  decided  that  the  subject  was 
a  judicial  one,  inexpedient  to  legislate  upon, 
and  the    House    laid  his  memorial  upon  the 
table." 

In  this  connection,  we  cannot  refrain  from 
giving  a  remarkable  [incident  in  the  State's 
history,  a  part  of  which  arose  out  of  this 
contest  of  Hubbard'a 

The  census  of  the  State,  for  1825,  returned 
a  population  of  72,817,  being  considerably 
less  than  the  sanguine  expectations  of  many 
led  them  to  hope  for.  The  State  was  duly 
apportioned  anew  at  the  special  session  of 
January,  1826,  with   reference  to  the  distri- 


140 


HISTORY  OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


bution  of  population,  in  accordance  with  the 
call  of  Gov.  Hubbard.  The  question 
was  also  mooted  at  this  session  of  repeal- 
ing the  Curcuit  Court  system,  not  that  the 
court  did  not  subserve  a  great  public  need, 
but  that  the  politicians  in  their  disappoint- 
ment in  obtaining  office  the  winter  preceding, 
sought  to  redress  their  grievances  tirst  by  de- 
priving the  Circuit  Judges  altogether  of  of- 
fice, and[next  by  loading  the  Supreme  Judges 
with  additional  labors  by  remanding  them 
to  circuit  duty.  The  latter  being  life  mem 
bers,  could  not  be  otherwise  reached  as  objects 
of  their  vengeance,  wherefore  they  were 
charged  with  having  too  easy  a  life  as  a 
court  of  appeals  for  a  State  so  embarrassed 
as  was  Illinois.  The  house,  however,  struck 
out  of  the  bill  to  repeal  all  after  the  enacting 
clause,  and  as  a  piece  of  pleasantry  inserted 
a  section  to  repeal  the  wolf-scalp  law,  in 
which  the  Senate  did  not  concur. 

In  March,  succeeding  this  special  session 
of  Hubbard's  legislature,  svithin  five  miles  of 
where  this  body  sat,  a  five-year  old  child  of 
Daniel  Huffman,  which  had  wandered  from 
home  into  the  woods  a  mile  or  so,  was  at- 
tacked and  killed  by  a  wolf.  The  animal 
was  seen  leaving  its  mangled  and  partly  con- 
sumed body,  by  the  neighbors  in  search  of  it 
on  the  following  day. 

In  the  race  for  Governor  of  the  State  in 
1826,  the  candidates  were  A.  F.  Hubbard, 
Thomas  Sloo  and  Ninian  Edwards.  The  first 
named  had  just  been  Lieutenant  Governor 
and  he  supposed  it  was  a  matter  of  course 
he  would  be  elected  Governor.  It  turned  out 
however,  that  the  real  contest  lay  between 
Sloo  and  Edwards.  Sloo  had  been  a  member 
of  the  General  Assembly  for  years,  from 
Gallatin  County,  and  possessed  a  wide  and 
favorable  acquaintance  over  the  State,  that 
he  attracted  to  him  by  his  agreeable  manners 
and    irreproachable    character.      He    was    a 


merchant,  and  was  not  accustomed  to  public 
speaking,  while  Edwards  was  a  fine  talker, 
polished  and  courtly  in  manners,  vain  and 
gifted.  The  vote  was  close  between  the  last 
mentioned  two,  but  Edwards  was  elected, 
and  Hubbard's  faith  in  the  people  was  pro- 
bably much  impaired. 

Gov.  Hubbard  was  a  better  lawyer  than 
politician.  He  was  a  genial,  open-hearted 
and  generous  companion  and  friend.  Very 
liberal  in  money  matters,  and  altogether  warm- 
hearted and  impulsive,  and  generally  im- 
pecunious. The  latter  arising  from  his  in- 
attention to  financial  matters  and  his  open- 
handed  liberality.  An  instance  related  by 
Judge  George,  throws  much  light  on  his 
characteristics  in  this  respect.  Mr.  George 
had  gone  to  Shawneetown  on  his  way  to  Ken- 
tucky, and  for  expense  money,  depended 
upon  collecting  a  due-bill  which  he  held  on 
a  prominent  business  man  of  Shawneetown. 
Upon  arriving  there  and  telling  his  wants  to 
his  friends,  the  fact  came  out  that  the  debtor 
did  not  have  the  money,  and  after  making 
several  efforts,  had  failed  to  raise  it,  and 
the  disappointment  of  the  two  men  was  very 
great.  After  repeated  failures  Mr.  George 
had  concluded  to  return  home  to  Fairfield, 
and  await  a  while  before  making  the  Ken 
tucky  trip.  The  two  men  were  bewailing  their 
fate  when  Gov.  Hubbard  came  in,  and  when 
he  learned  the  situation  of  affairs,  he  was 
much  concerned,  and  finally  run  his  hand  in 
his  pocket  and  jingling  the  ten  or  twelve 
silver  dollars  he  possessed  remarked,  I've  got 
some  money,  and  I  wish  I  could  loan  it  to 
you.  I  would  do  so  in  a  minute,  but  the  fact 
is,  I  owe  this  and  at  least  fifteen  hundred 
times  more,  and  I  must  pay  my  creditors 
some  or  they  will  begin  to  get  uneasy.  His 
auditors  knew  he  was  telling  the  truth  and 
they  warmly  thauked  him  and  took  the  will 
for  the  deed. 


HISTORY   OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


HI 


To  complete  the  story  of  Mr.  George's  finan- 
cial trouble  we  will  say  that  while  they  were 
thus  talking  and  bewailing  the  bad  luck  all 
around,  a  man  rode  up,  called  out  the  debtor 
and  paid  over  just  $25,  that  he  owed  him, 
and,  as  in  the  move  all  were  made  happy, 
and  the  Judge  did  not  have  to  retrace  his 
long  ride  to  Fairfield  in  vain.  Judge  George 
informs  us  that  Gov.  Hubbard  was  a  great 
snuff-taker,  especially  when  deeply  engaged 
in  the  court  room,  and  he  was  constantly  tak- 
ing snuff  or  else  getting  rid  of  it,  and  that 
he  could  blow  the  loudest  nasal  blasts  that 
were  ever  heard  in  a  court  room. 

Gov.  Hubbard  came  to  Illinois  about  1809, 
and  fixed  his  permanent  abode  in  Gallatin 
County.  He  was  intimately  known  to  all  the 
early  settlers  in  Wayne  County,  at  one  time 
owning  an  extensive  stock  farm  here,  which 
he  would  from  year  to  year  lease  out  to  some 
citizen  on  the  shares. 

Circuit  Courts.  —  The  first  Circuit  Court 
ever  held  in  Wayne  County,  commenced  on 
Monday  the  13th  day  of  September,  1819,  at 
the  house  of  Alexander  Campbell  (between 
eight  and  nine  miles  south  of  the  present 
city  of  Fairfield |;  Judge  Thomas  C.  Browne 
was  the  Presiding  Judge.  Samuel  Leech 
was  the  Clerk.  He  hail  been  appointed  by 
Judge  William  P.  Foster,  and  his  commis- 
sion bore  the  date  of  June  19,  1819,  and  was 
issued  at  Kaskaskia.  Andrew  Kuykendall 
was  the  first  Sheriff,  and  on  the  opening  day 
of  the  court  produced  his  bond  as  such  offi- 
cer, with  George  Borah.  Archibald  Roberts, 
John  Johnston,  Enoch  Wilcox,  Tirey  Robin- 
son and  Alexander  Campbell  as  sureties, 
which  bond  was  approved  and  the  following 
grand  jury  was  reported  and  sworn:  Enoch 
Beach,  foreman;  William  Frazer,  Alexander 
Clark,  John  Young,  Robert  Gaston,  Andrew 
Clark.  William  Clark,  Solomon  Clark.  James 
Clark,    Alfred    Hall,    Seth    Cayson,    George 


Close,  John  Turney,  William  Davis,  Andrew 
Carson,  Robert  Gray.  William  Simpson, 
Thomas  Cox,  Ephraham  Meritt  and  Caleb 
Ridgeway.  John  M.  Robinson  was  Circuit 
Attorney,  and  came  into  court  and  took  the 
several  oaths  of  office. 

Samuel  Leach  gave  bond  with  Enoch  Wil- 
cox, Archibald  Roberts  and  Andrew  Kuyken- 
dall as  sureties;  which  bond  was  approved 
by  the  court. 

The  first  case  entered  on  the  docket  was 
Benjamin  Dulany  vs.  James  Brown;  in  debt. 
This  suit,  on  motion  was  dismissed  at  the 
cost  of  the  plaintiff.  The  papers  in  this 
and  the  second  case  of  Cardwall  vs.  Hooper 
and  Slocumb,  are  each  in  the  name  of  A.  F. 
Hubbard.  P.  Q.  Just  what  kind  of  an  attor- 
ney that  is  the  writer  does  not  know,  but  one 
thing  is  evident,  Mr.  Hubbard  was,  by  the 
papers,  a  first-class  common  law  pleader,  and 
his  papers  iudicata  he  was  a  thorough  master 
of  Chitty's  pleadings. 

The  labors  of  the  grand  jury  at  this  first 
term  consisted  in  the  finding  of  a  single  bill 
of  indictment  against  Alexander  Campbell, 
for  assault  and  battery.  When  he  was  tried 
at  the  succeeding  term  of  the  Circuit  Court 
he  was  acquitted. 

Daniel  I.  Wilson  was  a  Constable,  and 
attended  upon  this  court  as  Deputy  Sheriff, 
and  he  was  made  a  regular  Deputy  Circuit 
Clerk  by  Samuel  Leech. 

The  second  term  of  the  Circuit  Court  con- 
vened at  the  house  of  Samuel  Leech  on  Mon- 
day, April  10,  1820.  At  this  court  William 
Wilson  was  the  Presiding  Judge.  He  con- 
tinued to  hold  every  Circuit  Court  in  Wayne 
County  until  1824,  when  Judge  James  Hall 
held  several  terms,  and  then  James  O.  Wattles 
held  court,  and  Judge  Hall  again  was  pre- 
siding; and,  1827,  Judge  William  Wilson 
again  appeared  as  Judge,  and  for  years,  until 
1835,  he  presided  as  Judge  at  every  term  of 


142 


HISTORY  OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


the  court.  At  tbe  March  term,  1335,  Justin 
Harlan  was  the  Presiding  Judge.  At  the 
September  term,  1835,  A.  F.  Grant  was 
Judge.  Then  Judge  Harlan  held  the  courts 
until  April  term,  1841,  when  Judge  William 
Wilson  again  was  presiding  officer.  Of  all 
the  remarkable  jurists  of  Illinois,  Judge  Wil- 
son will  take  rank  as  pre-eminent  in  history. 
He  came  to  Illinois  a  very  young  man.  and 
had  nothing  of  the  politicians'  tricks  about 
him,  and  yet  at  the  age  of  twenty- four  years 
he  was  elected  Associate  Justice  of  the  Su- 
preme Court,  and  lacked  only  a  few  votes  of 
beating  Gov.  Reynolds  for  the  office  of  Chief 
Justice,  and  in  1825  he  was  elected  over  Rey- 
nolds to  that  office  by  an  overwhelming  ma- 
jority. He  continued  to  be  Chief  Justice  of 
the  Supreme  Court  until  he  was  legislated 
out  of  office,  in  1848,  by  the  Constitution  of 
that  date.  He  was  an  eminent  and  just  Judge, 
a  great  man,  his  grandeur  of  character  at 
once  impressing  itself  upon  all  with  whom 
he  came  in  contact.  He  was  a  Whig  in  pol- 
itics, though  never  a  politician,  and  the 
Democrats  did  a  very  unwise  thing  when  they 
legislated  him  out  of  office.  It  was  a  mis- 
erable political  victory  over  this  great  jurist, 
who  for  nearly  thirty  years  was  Supreme 
Judge  of  Illinois,  and  who  was  as  innocent 
as  a  babe  of  all  political  intrigue.  He  had 
held  his  place  solely  by  his  strength  of  in- 
tellect and  the  purity  of  his  convictions  of 
duty.  His  education  was  such  as  he  had  ac- 
quired by  dilligent  reading  and  self  culture. 
As  a  writer,  his  diction  was  pure,  clear  and 
elegant,  as  may  be  seen  by  reference  to  his 
published  opinions  in  the  court  reports. 
With  a  mind  of  rare  analytical  power,  his 
judgment  as  a  lawyer  was  discriminating  and 
sound,  and  upon  the  bench  his  learning  and 
impartiality  commanded  respect,  while  his 
own  dignified  deportment  inspired  decorum 
in  others.     He   was    an  amiable  and  accom- 


plished gentleman  in  private  life,  with  man- 
ners most  engaging  and  friendships  strong. 
He  died  at  his  home  in  Carmi,  on  the  banks 
of  the  Little  Wabash,  in  the  ripeness  of  age 
and  the  consciousness  of  a  life  well  spent, 
April  29,  1857,  in  his  sixty-third  year. 

At  the  second  term  of  the  court  in  Wayne 
County,  the  grand  jury  was  composed  of 
Anthony  B.  Turney,  foreman;  Benjamin 
Sumpter,  John  Johnston,  David  Wright, 
James  Butler,  William  Simpson,  Toliver 
Simpson,  Michael  Turney,  William  Watkins, 
Robert  H.  Morris,  William  Penix,  Jacob 
Borah,  James  Dickeson,  Richard  Hall,  Wal- 
ter Owen,  Nathan  Owen,  James  Patterson, 
Daniel  Bain,  Sr. ,  John  Elledge,  Joel  Elledge, 
and  John  Young.  This  grand  jury  returned 
fourteen  indictments  against  nearly  every 
prominent  man  in  the  county.  All  for  as 
sault  and  battery. 

John  Darrah  appears  upon  the  records  at 
ihis  term  as  the  first  citizen  naturalized  in 
the  county. 

At  the  September  term,  1820,  tbe  grand 
jury  was  dames  Bird,  foreman;  William 
Clark,  James  Gaston,  Thomas  Cox,  Thomas 
Lee,  John  Turney,  Stephen  Coonrod,  Daniel 
Kenshelo,  Robert  Gaston,  Epraham  Merritt, 
Richard  Locke,  John  Owen,  Robert  L.  Gray, 
Solomon  Shane,  George  Close,  Tirey  Robin- 
son, Thomas  Ramsey,  John  B.  Gash,  Rennah 
Wells,  George  Turner,  Andrew  Carson  and 
John  Waiker. 

At  the  September  term  of  the  court,  Enoch 
Wilcox  presented  his  bond  as  Sheriff  and 
entered  upon  the  duties  of  that  office.  His 
sureties  were  Tirey  Robinson,  John  Carson, 
Solomon  Clark,  Samuel  Leech.  Andrew  Kuy- 
kendall  and  Andrew  Carson.  John  Walker 
was  the  County  Coroner. 

The  first  lawyer  to  locate  here  was  a  man 
named  Osborn.  He  came  here  from  Clay 
County.      This  was  about  1840,  it  is  supposed. 


HISTORY   OF    WAYNE   COl'NTY. 


143 


He  was  meager  and  somewhat  stunted,  and 
his  career  was  insignificant  and  it  is  said  was 
cut  short  by.  an  order  of  Judge  Wilson's. 
About  1842,  a  lawyer  named  Selby,  from 
Portage  County,  Ohio,  came.  He  was  a  fine 
looking  man,  and  a  fair  lawyer.  He  remained 
only  a  short  time  and  loft. 

The  third  was  a  man  named  Ward.  He 
was  from  Memphis,  Tenn.  Died  in  early 
part  of  1845.  His  widow  and  family  event- 
ually returned. 

Judge  Edwin  Beecher  camo  in  April,  1844. 
Born  in  Herkimer  County,  N.  Y. ,  which 
place  he  left  when  eighteen  years,  and  in 
company  with  father's  family  removed  to 
Licking  County,  Ohio,  remaining  there  until 
1844,  when  he  came  to  Wayne.  Bead  law 
with  Henry  Stanberry  and  Van  Trump,  rela- 
tives of  Judge  Beecher.  When  he  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar,  he  turned  his  eyes  west- 
ward, and  through  the  solicitations  of  an  old 
schoolmate,  came  to  Salem  and  thence  to 
Fairfield.  The  coming  to  Fairfield  through 
a  letter  from  Bigdon  B.  Slocumb,  the  then 
County  Clerk  of  Wayne  County.  He  found 
office  with  the  Circuit  Clerk,  J.  G.  Barkley. 
The  first  court  he  remembers,  or  was  at  here, 
was  in  August,  1844.  Wilson,  Judge,  Fieklin 
and  Linden,  from  Coles  County.  Bat  Webb, 
S.  F.  S.  Hago,  Albert  Shannon,  were  attor- 
neys from  Carmie.  and  Charles  H.  Constable 
from  Mt.  Carmel;  Kitchell,  of  Olney,  was 
Prosecuting  Attorney.  Gov.  A.  C.  French, 
from  Palestine,  was  also  an  attendant.  He 
says  the  average  length  of  a  court  then  was 
two  days;  recollects  no  jury  trial  at  the  term. 

The  first  case  the  Judge  had  was  an  assault 
and  battery  before  John  H.  Brown.  Justice 
of  the  Peace.  Daniel  Wheeler  made  an  as- 
sault on  a  woman.  Was  elected  Probate 
Justice — now  called  County  Judge — in  Au- 
gust, 1840,  and  served  until  the  constitu- 
tional amendment  of  1848,  which  created  the 


new  office  of  County  Judge.  On  the  4th  of 
June,  1855,  he  was  elected  Judge  of  the 
Twelfth  Judicial  Circuit.  This  circuit  then 
consisted  of  Wayne,  Edwards,  Wabash,  Ma- 
rion, Jefferson,  Hamilton,  Saline,  Gallatin, 
and  White  Counties.  The  term  served  was 
six  years. 

Judge  Beecker  was  appointed  Paymaster 
by  President  Lincoln,  on  the  19th  of  Novem- 
ber, 1862,  in  the  army,  and  entered  upon 
active  duties  of  the  office  in  January,  follow- 
ing. He  was  mustered  out  about  1872.  He 
had  been  retained  under  some  orders  in  ref- 
erence to  the  Freedmen's  Bureau. 

John  Trousdale  came  in  1845,  from  White 
County.  He  had  read  law  in  Carmi.  and 
was  there  admitted  to  the  bar.  He  died  in 
1864,  in  Fairfield,  leaving  a  widow  and  six 
children,  three  girls  and  three  boys.  Trous- 
dale was  a  fair  lawyer.  He  was  a  much  bet- 
ter lawyer.before  a  jury  than  before  a  court. 
He  went  to  California  in  1850,  as  much  for 
his  health  as  anything  else.  He  died  of 
consumption. 

Louis  Keller,  from  Indiana;  Bob  Bell 
came  from  Mt.  Carmel.  These  men  were 
partners  here.  Keller  was  a  very  fine  young 
man,  universally  popular,  and  promised  well 
in  his  profession.  He  died  in  Mt  Carmel 
when  young,  to  which  point  the  firm  had  re- 
moved after  practicing  hero  nearly  two  years. 
Bob  Bell  is  still  in  Mt.  Carmel — a  good  law- 
yer, very  clever  and  pompous  gentleman.  It 
is  said  that  on  the  smallest  occasion  he  could 
start  a  covey  of  spread  eagles  and  soar  them 
all  up  at  once,  and  send  them  higher,  and 
spread  their  pinions  wider  than  any  other 
lawyer  in  the  Wabash  "deestrict. " 

Joe  Conrad,  a  partner  of  Judge  Constable, 
was  located  a  short  time  here. 

Jacob  Love,  of  whom  we  can  learn  noth- 
ing, except  that  at  one  time  in  the  early  day 
he  was  here  a  short  time  as  an  attorney. 


144 


HISTORY   OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


Tom  Houts,  before  he  got  to  be  a  reverend, 
was  one  of  the  regular  practicing  attorneys 
who  visited  the  Fairfield  courts.  He  was  a 
good  lawyer,  and  rapidly  laid  the  founda- 
tions for  an  extensive  and  lucrative  practice. 
But  when  young  in  life,  and  especially  in 
the  practice  of  the  law,  he  laid  down  the 
law  and  turned  bis  attention  to  theology,  and 
was  soon  ordained  a  minister  of  the  Method- 
ist Church.  His  commanding  talents,  and 
his  power  and  force  as  a  preacher,  has  here 
singled  him  out  from  bis  brethren  even 
more  strongly  than  it  did  in  the  law.  He  is 
still  actively  at  work  in  his-  chosen  path  of 
life,  and  was  recently  made  Chaplain  to  the 
Southern  Illinois  Penitentiary. 

A.  B.  Campbell,  the  temperance  lecturer, 
came  here  ten  or  twelve  years  ago  from  Indi- 
ana, and  formed  a  partnership  and  practiced 
law  for  a  while.  When  business  would  be 
dull  with  him  in  the  law  line,  he  would  en- 
liven things  generally  by  a  lordly  spree. 
He  left  bere  and  went  to  Bloomington,  where 
we  believe  he  now  makes  his  home.  He  is  a 
relative  of  Campbell,  the  founder  of  that 
church.  In  person  he  is  large  and  inclined 
to  be  portly,  very  brilliant,  and  at  times  elo- 
quent when  speaking,  and  always  forcible 
and  commanding.  For  the  past  few  years, 
he  has  given  up  all  other  business,  and  has 
traveled  and  lectured  over  many  of  the  West- 
ern States  in  the  cause  of  temperance.  The 
writer  saw  Mr.  Campbell  at  the  general 
United  States  Conventions  of  the  "  Murphy 
movement "  at  Decatur,  111.,  and  Bismark, 
Kan.,  and  has  always  remembered  him  as 
much  the  most  conspicuous  figure  at  either 
one  of  these  gatherings  of  the  lights  of  tem- 
perance. In  his  private  confidences,  he  tells 
his  friends  that  when  his  law  practice  would 
keep  him  busy — always  when  his  work  would 
literally  rush  him' along — he  then  had  no 
desire  for  stimulants,  but   the  moment  a  lull 


came  and  he  had  nothing  to  do,  then  he  must 
have  drink.  That  it  was  only  upon  such  oc- 
casions that  the  uncontn  lable  desire  would 
come  upon  him,  but  that  when  it  came  at 
such  times  he  could  no  more  restrain  him- 
self than  he  could  control  his  heart  beating, 
etc.  Then  he  went  down,  down,  down,  un- 
til the  b  itter  cup  would  be  drained  to  its 
bitterest  dregs.  For  him  to  tell  the  simple 
story  of  his  horrible  sufferings  that  would 
follow  such  a  debauch,  was  always  a  power- 
ful temperance  lecture,  that  would  impress 
the  hearer  like  a  hideous  nightmare.  But  it 
has  always  been  a  serious  question  in  the 
writer's  mind  whether  such  recitals  by  these 
gifted  but  unfortunate  erratics  were  not  of 
evil  tendency  in  their  final  results  upon  the 
minds  of  our  young  people  or  not.  Their 
commanding  eloquence  in  their  recitals — 
their  erratic  genius  and  its  loud  applause, 
are  ever  returning  to  take  their  places  in  the 
mind  of  the  young  listener,  and  unconscious- 
ly, in  the  end  he  will  clothe  the  drunk  and 
the  genius  in  one  and  the  same  glamour,  and, 
in  the  end,  that  which  is  low,  beastly  and 
horrible,  is  in  some  indefinite  way  mixed 
with  the  gifted  and  admirable:  and  then  he 
saw  the  open  way  to  win  the  world's  pity  and 
applause  by  making  of  himself  a  drunken 
genius.  They  can  command  the  drunk, 
but  the  gifts  of  genius  are  as  far  out  of  their 
reach  as  the  farthest  star,  and  they  are  the 
simple,  disgusting  drunken  beasts  that  po- 
lute  the  pure  air  of  Heaven  and  defile  the 
fair  face  of  the  earth.  How  many  youths, 
think  you,  have  been  made  drunk  by  reading 
the  story  of  Daniel  Webster  and  his  fond- 
ness for  wine  in  his  boyhood"?  Webster's 
transcendant  genius  made  him  a  nation's 
idol,  and  the  only  way  a  boy  can  be  like 
Webster  is  to  drink,  and,  therefore,  in  the 
language  of  Bjron,  "  Man  being  a  reasoning 
being  must  get  drunk." 


HISTORY  OF    WAYNE   (  (HXTY. 


U5 


I.  S.  Warmoth  was  at  one  time  one  of  the 
regularly  enrolled  attorneys  of  Fairfield.  He 
came  here,  we  believe,  a  harness-maker,  and 
for  some  time  carried  on  his  trade.  He  was 
from  Kentucky,  and  was  born  a  little  over 
seventy  years  ago,  and  came  to  Illinois  when 
a  young  man.  At  one  time  he  kept  a  hotel 
here,  and  the  Judge  and  lawyers  often 
stopped  with  him  during  the  term  of  courts. 
He  was  for  years  a  Justice  of  the  Peace,  and 
his  attention  being 'thus  directed  to  the  stat- 
ute laws,  he  soon  became  sufficiently  ac- 
quainted with  the  practice  to  be  licensed  by 
the  court  as  a  regular  lawyer.  His  son  Hen- 
ry, now  a  citizen,  and  ex-Governor  of 
Louisiana,  was  reared  in  Fairfield.  He  was 
always  a  bright,  though  very  mischievous 
boy.  He  attended  the  public  schools,  played 
"  hookey,"  and  went  tithing  and  swimming, 
and  thus  successfully  passed  through  the 
eat-killing-bird-nest-robbing  age  of  boyhood 
successfully,  and  heroically  encountered  the 
usual  assortment  of  measles,  whooping-cough 
and  mumps,  and  when  eighteen  or  nineteen 
years  old  commenced  reading  law  with  W. 
B.  Cooper,  of  Effingham.  The  mischievous 
boy  at  once  became  the  attentive  student,  and 
he  set  about  seriously  preparing  himself  for 
the  battle  of  life.  He  was  soon  admitted  to 
the  bar,  and  removed  to  St.  Louis,  and  here 
he  actively  engaged  in  politics,  and  became 
the  editor  of  a  paper  that  soon  commanded 
considerable  influence.  Here  he  soon  at- 
tracted the  notice  and  patronage  of  Gen. 
Frank  Blair  and  other  leading  anti-slavery 
men  of  Missouri.  Then  came  the  late  war, 
and  this  was  the  ripened  opportunity  of 
\oung  Warmoth's  life.  He  raised  a  regi- 
ment, was  made  Colonel  of  it,  and  soon  was 
widely  and  favorably  known  to  the  country. 
While  in  the  South  with  the  army,  he  looked 
about  him  and  saw  here  a  most  inviting  held 
for  ambitious  young  men  from   the   North. 


The  war  over,  he  located  in  New  Orleans, 
and  in  the  work  of  reconstruction  he  was  the 
one  commanding  figure.  He  was  soon  made 
Governor  of  the  State,  and  tilled  the  posi- 
tion, even  in  the  most  trying  time  in  the 
State's  history,  with  ability,  so  much  so, 
that  to  this  day  his  administration  is  remem- 
bered with  respect  by  his  political  friends 
and  foes. 

Hon.  Charles  A.  Beecher  was  born  in  Her- 
kimer County,  N.  Y.,  August  25,  1829,  and 
with  his  family  removed  to  Licking  County, 
Ohio,  September,  1836,  and  located  in  Fair- 
field June  8,  1854.  He  had  been  a  pupil — 
irregular  attendant — in  the  Wesleyan  Uni- 
versity, Delaware. Ohio,  from  September,  1849, 
to  December,  1853,  and  during  vacations  he 
taught  school  during  the  winters  and  attended 
school  during  the  summers,  and  sometimes 
performed  hard  manual  labor  during  vaca- 
tions. He  attended  the  Law  Department  of 
the  Farmer's  College,  College  Hill,  near  Cin- 
cinnati, Ohio,  from  December  1,  1853,  to 
June,  1854,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
February,  1856,  and  at  once  entered  actively 
upon  a  lucrative  and  successful  practice. 
During  five  years,  from  1870  to  1875,  he  was 
out  of  the  active  practice  of  the  law,  and 
was  bending  all  his  energies  toward  the  con- 
struction of  the  Springfield  Branch  of  the 
Ohio  &  Mississippi  Railroad.  In  December, 
1868,  he  had  been  elected  Vice-President  of 
that  road,  which  position  he  held  until  the 
property  was  sold  to  the  Ohio  &  Mississippi 
Railroad  in  January,  1875.  In  September, 
1873,  he  was  appointed  Receiver  with  Alex- 
ander Storms  by  the  United  States  Circuit 
Court  of  Illinois,  of  the  Springfield  &  Illi- 
nois Southeastern  Railway,  and  this  position 
he  continued  to  fill  until  the  sale  of  the  road 
by  a  decree  of  the  court  in  September,  1874. 
Mr.  Beecher  was  then  appointed  the  agent  of 
the  bondholders,  and  operated  and  controlled 


146 


HISTORY   OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


the  road  in  their  behalf  until  the  formal 
transfer  of  the  road  to  the  Ohio  &  Missis- 
sippi Railroad  March  1,  1875.  He  was  then 
made  Division  Superintendent  of  the  Ohio  & 
Mississippi,  in  which  capacity  he  acted  until 
June  1,  1875,  at  which  time  he  was  appointed 
General  Solicitor  of  the  Ohio  &  Mississippi 
Railroad  and  branches.  This  road  was  placed 
in  the  hands  of  a  receiver  in  November,  1876, 
and  Mr.  Beecher  has  continued  to  the  present 
time  its  general  solicitor.  October,  187(5,  he 
was  elected  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Di- 
rectors of  the  Ohio  &  Mississippi  Railroad 
and  is  still  a  member,  and  his  term  of  office 
to  this  position  will  not  expire  until  1886. 

The  charter  of  the  Illinois  Southeastern 
Railway  was  granted  in  1867,  and  Mr. 
Beecher  was  made  one  of  the  incorporators, 
and  upon  the  original  organization  of  the 
company  he  was  elected  Treasurer.  In  1872, 
the  duties  of  his  office  required  him  to  move 
his  residence  to  Springfield,  111.,  where  he 
remained  for  three  years,  and,  in  1875,  he 
removed  to  St.  Louis,  and,  in  1879,  the 
growth  of  the  work  in  his  office  as  General 
Solicitor  of  the  great  corporation  of  the 
Ohio  &  Mississippi  Railway  required  his 
removal  to  his  present  residence  in  Cincin- 
nati, Ohio.  These  are  the  dates  and  figures 
that  are  the  strong  outline,  when  well  stud- 
ied, of  the  career  of  Mr.  Beecher  since,  as  a 
very  modest  and  unassuming  young  attorney, 
he  commenced  life  in  Fairfield.  The  dates 
and  figures  tell  much  of  the  story  of  a  man 
who  was  destined  to  rise  by  the  inherent 
power  that  was  within  himself.  He  entered 
the  corporation  of  the  Springfield  &  Illinois 
Southeastern  Railway  as  one  of  its  most  un- 
assuming corporators.  A  stranger  would 
uotice  in  the  young  attorney  but  little  else 
than  a  pleasant,  smiling  face,  affable  man- 
ners and  a  retiring  modesty.  He  was  given, 
much  by  accident,  an  obscure  and  unimport- 


ant office — Treasurer  to  a  corporation  without 
a  dollar,  and  with  but  little  hopes  of  ever 
being  more  than  a  paper  railroad.  His 
nature  was  not  self- asserting,  and  yet  no 
great  progress  had  been  made  in  putting  the 
enterprise  on  its  feet  until  it  was  most  mani- 
fest he  was  the  master  spirit  of  the  scheme, 
and  many  men  from  Shawneetown  to  Spring- 
field soon  came  to  know  that  if  the  road  was 
ever  built  it  would  owe  this  good  fortune 
largely  to  Beecher.  His  genius  and  untiring 
energy  gave  all  that  part  of  Southern  Illinois 
the  railroad  now  running  from  Shawneetown 
to  Beardstown.  The  ordinary  rule  in  life  is 
for  the  big  fish  to  swallow  the  little  ones,  but 
it  is  a  very  easy  matter  to  read  most  plainly 
between  lines,  as  we  give  the  dates  and  facts 
above  of  Mr.  Beecher's  connection  with  the 
great  corporation  at  which  he  now  stands  at 
the  most  important  post,  that  he  controlled  its 
destinies.  From  his  first  connection  with 
the  railroad  interests  he  was  thrown  in  con- 
tact with  some  of  the  ablest  financiers,  as 
well  as  some  of  the  most  eminent  attorneys 
in  this  country  as  well  as  in  Europe,  and 
yet  he  came  in  conflict  with  none  that  in 
either  law  or  in  large  and  intricate  financial 
schemes  that  ever  overreached  him,  or  that 
probably  did  not  retire  in  the  faith  that  in 
some  way  the  rural  attorney  from  Wayne 
County  had  left  them  at  the  foot  of  the  class. 

Mr.  Beecher  cast  his  first  vote  for  Presi- 
dent in  1852,  for  Gen.  Scott.  In  1856,  he 
voted  for  Fremont,  and  has  since  voted  reg- 
ularly with  the  Republican  party.  From 
1862  to  1868,  he  was  a  member  of  the  Re- 
publican State  Central  Committee.  In  1867, 
he  was  one  of  five  Commissioners  appointed 
by  Gov.  Oglesby  to  locate  and  build  a  South- 
ern Illinois  Penitentiary,  but  the  Legislature 
failing  to  make  the  necessary  appropriation, 
therefore  nothing  further  was  done. 

Such  are  the  outlines  of  the  career  of  no 


HISTORY  OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


147 


common  man,  and  of  all  the  attorneys  who 
have  ever  pitched  their  tents  in  Wayne 
County  we  strongly  incline  to  the  belief  he 
will  go  into  history  as  the  prominent  central 
figure  in  the  entire  list.  He  is  bnt  now  upon 
the  threshold  of  his  professional  life,  and 
has  already  accumulated  a  large  fortune,  and 
a  fame  and  name  among  the  attorneys  of  the 
country  that  cannot  be  gainsaid. 

Judge  C.  C.  Boggs  was  born  in  Fairfield 
in  1842.  He  attended  the  Law  Department 
of  Ann  Arbor  University,  and  read  law  with 
Judge  Beecher,  and  was  admitted  to  the 
practice'in  1867.  Was  at  one  time  State's 
Attorney  from  1872  to  1876,  aud  the  year  fol- 
lowing was  elected  County  Judge  of  Wayne 
County.  He  was  married,  in  Fairfield,  to 
Miss  Sarah  Shaefer  in  1870.  A  strong  and 
brilliant  attorney,  a  Mason,  an  A.  O.  U.  W., 
and  a  stanch  and  unflinching  Democrat,  and 
don't  you  forget  it. 

A.  M.  Funkhouser  was  also  a  native  of 
Wayne  County.  He  attended  the  public 
schools  here,  and  was  awhile,  we  believe,  a 
student  in  Ann  Arbor  University.  He  was 
at  one  time  County  Attorney  of  Wayne  Coun- 
ty, and  had  built  up  an  extensive  practice, 
but,  deeming  his  opportunities  here  circum- 
scribed, he  went  to  St.  Louis,  where  he  is 
now  engaged  in  the  practice  of  the  law. 

W.  J.  Travis,  a  native  of  Kentucky,  came 
to  the  county  and  taught  school  and  studied 
law;  was  admitted  in  1879.  Was  City  At- 
torney, and  in  the  early  part  of  1883  removed 
to  Kansas,  where  ho  is  now  practicing. 

M.  H.  Bacon,  of  White  County,  came  here, 
studied  law  with  Robinson  &  Boggs,  married 
Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Thomas  L.  Cooper,  of 


this  place.  She  died  soon  after  marriage, 
and  Mr.  Bacon  left  the  county  and  located  in 
Florida. 

James  A.  Creighton,  born  in  WThite  Coun- 
ty, came  to  this  county  when  very  young. 
Studied  in  the  office  of  C.  A.  Beecher.  He 
removed  to  Springfield  in  1877,  where  he 
now  resides. 

W.  J.  Sailor  was  among  the  ante-bellum 
times.  Was  a  student  at  McKendree  Col- 
lege, and  with  some  other  students  stole 
away  from  school  and  enlisted  in  the  army 
in  the  late  war.  He  practiced  for  some  time 
in  the  firm  of  Beecher,  George  &  Sailor,  and 
finally  he  relinquished  the  active  practice 
and  became  the  cashier  of  the  bank,  a  posi- 
tion he  now  holds. 

Col.  H.  Thompson,  formerly  of  New  York, 
and  later  of  the  northern  portion  of  Illinois, 
came  to  AVayne  County  about  1877. 

Ben  S.  Organ,  now  of  Carmi,  was  for  some 
time  a  prominent  lawyer  here.  He  recently 
removed  to  his  present  homo,  where  we  un- 
derstand ho  has  already  a  good  practice. 

James  McCartney,  the  present  Attorney 
General  of  the  State  of  Illinois,  is  a  resident 
of  Fairfield — the  only  man  ever  elected  to  a 
State  office  from  Wayne  Count}-.  His  com- 
plete biography  may  bo  found  in  another 
chapter. 

The  present  bar  of  Wayne  County  is  com- 
posed of  the  following:  J.  G.  Crows,  W.  H. 
Robinson,  C.  C.  Boggs,  G.  \V.  Johns,  R.  P. 
Hanna,  R.  D.  Adams,  Edwin  Beecher,  John 
Keene,  Jr.,  Jacob  R.  Creighton,  C.  E.  Sib- 
ley,  G.  J.  George,  W.  P.  Bunch,  Edward 
Kramer,  N.  S.  McCown,  F.  P.  Hanna,  J.  I. 
Montray,  H.  Tompkins  and  Z.  B.  West. 


148 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


CHAPTER    X 


THE  PRESS  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY— MANY  SALUTATORIES  AND  AS  MANY  FAREWELLS— WILMANS.  JOE 

TRIOR,  BAUGH,  TILDEN,  SIBLEY,  SCHELL,  SMITH,  WALDEN,  STICKNEY,  LITZENBERGER, 

P.ARKLEY,    McCLUNG,  TRACY,    HOLMES— SOME   ACCOUNT   OF  THE    MANY 

PAPERS    THAT    STARTED    AND    PERISHED,     ETC.,    ETC.,    ETC. 


AT    the  first  view  one    would  think  the 
story  of  the  printing  press  in  a  county 
would   be  an  easy  one  to  compile,  from  the 
fact  that  each  paper  is  its  own  printed  record, 
and  all  the  writer  would  have  to  do  would  be 
to  run  over  the  old  files,  and  there  gather 
exact  and  full  dates  and  records.      But  these 
files  can  never  be   found.      Like  many  other 
things,  when  they  were  made  the  people  could 
not  imagine  that  they  could  ever  become  of  any 
value,  and  hence   their  existence  was  short. 
Then,  when  the  first  newspaper  in  a  coun- 
ty were  started,  it  generally  took  only  about 
three  months  to  starve  out  the  printer-editor, 
when  the  office  would    be  closed,  and  some- 
times no  files  would  be  kept,  and  then  others 
who  had  kept  files  would   carry   them  away 
when  they  left.     Thus  the  average  experience 
of  nearly  every  county  is  that  no  early  files 
of   the  local   papers  can  now  be  found,  and 
hence  no   very  accurate  history  of  the   first 
newspaper  men    of  any  county  can  now  be 
given.   It  is  only  in  the  time  when  the  county 
improves  and  the  patronage  of  the  paper  ex- 
tends and  begins  to  pay  at  least  a  scant  liv- 
ing to  the  printer  that  it  assumes  the  form  of 
a  permanent  institution,  and  then  men  come 
into  possession  of  the  office  who   are  careful 
to  preserve  their  issues,  and  who  realize  that 
as  these   grow  in  age  so  will   they  grow  in 
value. 

We  incline  to  the  opinion  that  the  first  ad- 


venturous   spirit  to  come    here    and  start  a 
paper  was  Augustus  A.  Stickney,  a  native  of 
St.    Clair    County,  in   this   State,  where  the 
family   were    early    settlers    and    prominent 
people.     They  were  related  to  the  Omelveny 
family.     A.    A.    Stickney  went   to  Jefferson 
County  in   1852,  and   formed  a  partnership 
with  John  S.  Bogan,    now   Circuit   Clerk  of 
the  county,  and  perhaps  the   veteran  news- 
paper man  in  Southern  Illinois.     He  learned 
type  setting  in  the  Congressional  Globe  office, 
Washington,  and  followed  his  trade  there  un- 
til 1840,  when  he  was  induced  by  Gov.  Casey 
to  come  to  Illinois.      Of  Stickney  Mr.  Bogan 
gives    us  this   account.      He  was    a    man  of 
brains    and    vim,    but    not    much    physical 
strength.      He  worked  the  old  Ramage  press 
in    Mt.  Vernon,  which  required  tremendous 
power  to  pull  its  four  impressions  to  every 
paper,  and  used  inked  balls  instead  of  rollers, 
which  was  too  much  for  Stickney  and  caused 
him  to  commence  spitting  blood.      He  retired 
in  a  short   time  and  came  to   Fairfield,  and 
started  in  June,  1852,  the  Independent  Press, 
in  Fairfield,   a  six-column  paper.     John  M. 
Walden  became  editor  for  Stickney.  the  pub- 
lisher.     They  had    anything    but    a   paying 
success,   jet    as  they  did   almost   the  entire 
labor  themselves,  and   could  get  some  little 
credit    on    the    paper    and    ink   used,  they 
struggled  along  and  kept  the  paper    alive, 
probably  waiting  in  great  patience  for  some 


HISTORY   OF    WAYNE   COUNTY. 


149 


ambitious  man  to  come  along  and  be  willing 
to  buy  out  the  establishment  and  pay  the 
bills  for  the  pleasure  of  seeing  in  print  his 
inward-surging  great  thoughts  that  were  to 
turn  the  world  upside  down  and  spill  out  all 
this  outrageous  ignorance  of  men.  In  1855, 
C.  T.  Lichtenberger  bought  out  Stickney  and 
Walden,  and  Stickney  went  South,  and  from 
thence  to  San  Francisco  where  he  commenced 
publishing  the  Alaska  Herald,  and  for  ought 
we  know  he  is  still  publishing  bis  icy  organ, 
and  pouring  ice  cannon-balls,  "  blizzards," 
and  other  iced  condiments  into  the  sacri- 
ligous  Bible  revisors  for  extirpating  from  the 
language  the  genial  glow  of  the  lake  of  fire 
and  brimstone. 

Walden  is  now  the  senior  member  of  the 
firm  of  Walden  &  Stow,  of  Cincinnati,  agents 
of  the  M.  E.  book  concern. 

Lichtenberger  soon  tired  of  the  name  of 
Independent  Press  and  at  a  serious  outlay 
for  streaked  job  type,  changed  it  to  the  Illi- 
nois Patriot.  The  Press  had  been  demo- 
cratic, and,  of  course,  the  Patriot  was  only 
more  so,  only  it  was  solicitous  upon  the  sub- 
ject of  the  genuineness  of  its  patriotism. 
We  were  enabled  to  find  a  few  stray  copies 
of  this  paper,  that  are  now  in  the  possession 
of  D.  W.  Barkley,  the  latest  date  being  Sep- 
tember 17,  1856. 

There  is  a  tradition,  but  not  sufficiently 
confirmed,  that  Lichtenberger  first  changed 
his  paper's  name  to  Pioneer  and  then  Patriot 
If  this  should  prove  to  In'  true,  it  only  is  an 
additional  evidence  that  the  poor  fellow  was 
always  beset  by  the  great  question  of  how  to 
keep  his  paper  from  starving  to  death,  and 
perhaps  the  gallant  commander  going  down 
with  his  flag  ship.  At  all  events,  in  the  lat- 
ter part  of  1855  or  the  early  part  of  185G,  he 
put  away  the  Patriot's  little  slippers  and 
went  to  Chicago,  induced,  no  doubt,  by  the 
more    alluring    and    lucrative    business    of 


"  blowing  up "  water  lots  and  assisting  the 
denizens  in  putting  up  ten-story  buildings, 
with  a  mortgage  on  each  floor.  In  the  ex- 
citement we  enjoyed  in  following  the  patriotic 
changes  in  names,  we  forgot  to  mention  that 
Lichtenberger  was  a  doctor,  and  while  he 
poured  drastic  Democratic  editorials  into  a 
deluded  world,' ho  also  compounded  pills  and 
potations  for  the  sick  and  afflicted,  and  that 
now  he  is  engaged  in  the  practice  in  Cook 
County,  near  Chicago. 

Rev.  J.  M.  Walden  was  strongly  anti- 
slavery  in  sentiment,  and  in  politics  he  was 
a  Republican  before  the  party  came  into  ex- 
istence. 

J.  D.  Lichtenberger  was  here  among  the 
earliest  of  the  printers  and  publishers.  He 
died  three  years  ago  in  the  Government  Hos- 
pital in  New  Orleans. 

The  Fairfield  Weekly  Kpics,  James  H. 
Smith,  editor  and  proprietor,  was  started  in 
1856.  .  It  was  strictly  neutral  in  politics; 
was  a  four-column  folio,  and  the  columns 
being  long,  gave  the  paper  about  as  slim- 
waisted  an  appearance  as  Sara  Bernhardt. 
Volume  I,  No.  l,of  this  paper  has  a  long  and 
high-sounding  salutatory,  and  promised  a 
great  deal,  and,  as  usual,  we  presume,  found 
the  pay  too  small  to  encourage  such  mighty 
efforts.  In  1857.  Smith  enlarged  the  Neivs 
to  a  six-column  paper  and  otherwise  made 
many  improvements  in  the  general  make-up 
and  its  contents. 

June  22,  1858,  appeared  the  first  number 
of  the  Fairfield  Gazette,  Alfred  S.  Tilden, 
proprietor.  In  his  bow  to  the  patrons  he 
said,  "I  came  to  Wayne  County  to  purchase 
the  printing  press  here  which  has  been  lying 
idle  for  nearly  two  years."  And  he  an- 
nounced that  his  politics  were  "like  those 
propagated  by  every  lover  of  State  Sovereign- 
ty and  Popular  Rights." 

In  a  copy  of  the  Press  of  1854,  are  the  ad- 


150 


HISTORY  OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


vertisements  of  the  I.  O.  O.  F.'s,  Dr.  J.  M. 
Whitlock,  N.  G. ,  and  J.  W.  Barnkill,  R.  S. ; 
then  Charles  Wood,  Drainage  Commissioner, 
has  a  card;  Joseph  G.  Barkley,  Circuit 
Clerk,  gives  a  notice,  and  John  Trousdale, 
County  Clerk,  a  swamp  land  notice;  the  Mt. 
Carmel  Academy,  H.  C.  Wood,  Principal, 
also.  John  Moreland  advertises  for  poultry 
and  eggs  for  his  store.  Henry  R.  Neff,  ad- 
ministrator of  the  estate  of  Ephraim  Hay- 
wood, has  a  notice.  D.  Bear  advertises  his 
store.  William  Powless,  administrator  of 
Dagg's  estate  has  a  notice.  T.  T.  &  E. 
Bonham  say  "  Clear  the  track  for  the  wheel- 
barrow express."  Jeremiah  Hargrave,  ad- 
ministrator of  John  Kirkpatrick's  estate,  gives 
notice.  Dr.  J.  D.  Cape,  of  the  Fairfield 
drug  store,  has  a  say.  B.  Bailey,  of  Jeffer- 
sonville,  advertises  his  store.  Dr.  J.  W. 
Whitlock's  card  as  physician  appears.  He 
removed  to  New  Mexico,  and  in  1861,  he  was 
most  brutally  shot  down  and  murdered  in  the 
streets  of  Las  Vegas  by  a  company  of  sol- 
diers. He  had  been  drawn  into  a  discussion 
with  an  officer,  and  hot  words  and  a  blow 
had  passed,  but  they  were  separated  by 
friends  and  no  injury  inflicted,  when  the 
officer  left  to  arm  himself,  and  Whitlock  had 
started  for  his  office  for  the  same  purpose  it 
is  supposed,  in  order  to  defend  himself  from 
the  threatened  attack,  and  just  as  he  was 
about  to  enter  his  office  he  was  attacked  by 
over  a  hundred  armed  men,  who  beat  him 
down  with  their  guns  and  then  riddled  his 
body  with  bullets — one  of  the  many  dis- 
graceful, cowardly  and  brutal  murders  that 
marked  too  frequently  that  era  of  crime  and 
lawlessness. 

Next  in  order  appears  the  card  of  Dr.  J.  J. 
R.  Turney  and  Dr.  S.  W.  Thompson,  and 
as  attorneys,  E.  Beecher,  L.  J.  S.  Turney 
and  John  Trousdale.  E.  S.  Aylos  advertises 
a  new  tin-shop.      In  the  candidates'  column 


appears  S.  S.  Marshall,  for  Congress,  and 
L.  J.  S.  Turney,  as  an  Independent  Consti- 
tutional candidate  for  Congress.  Austin 
Organ,  Alexander  Campbell  and  William 
Beeson,  for  Sheriff,  and  C.  C.  Hopkins  and 
J.  W.  Wheelock,  for  Representatives. 

February  22,  1859,  was  issued  the  first 
number  of  the  Prairie  Pioneer,  by  William 
Loyd  Carter,  and  November  10,  1860,  Car- 
ter retired  from  the  paper  with  a  valedictory 
of  over  a  column,  in  which  he  says  he  has 
"  stood  at  the  helm  through  nearly  two  years 
of  the  storms  of  adversity,"  and  he  was  evi- 
dently tired   and  wanted  to  quit  with  a  big 

Q. 

His  successor  was  B.  T.  Atherton,  who 
overhauled  the  paper  generally,  and  pro- 
claimed that  he  would  make  it  strictly  neu- 
tral in  politics. 

In  March,  1859,  Miles  B.  Friend  entered 
into  partnership  with  Carter  in  the  publica 
tioti  of  the  Prairie  Pioneer.  He  opens  out 
with  a  lengthy  salutatory,  in  which  he  says, 
in  "  assuming  the  oditorship  and  management 
of  the  Pioneer"  etc.,  that  he  will  enforce  his 
new  departure  and  go  upon  the  cash  plan  ex- 
clusively, and  he  says:  "There  will  be  no 
further  prodigal  display  of  talents  in  the 
paper  without  the  cash  on  the  counter."  Mr. 
Friend  is  still  living,  and  is  publishing  a 
paper  in  McLeansboro.  He  propably  never 
in  all  his  life  since  he  came  to  Fairfield  has 
written  such  a  long  bow  to  the  public  as  he 
did  here.  It  must  have  been  too  long,  be- 
cause we  find  in  March  15,  1859,  he  publishes 
the  following,  his  "  Obquitatory,"  as  he 
facetiously  calls  it,  and  retires  leaving  the 
paper  in  Carter's  hands:  "Under  financial 
stress  I  have  quit."  This  is  followed  by  an 
article  from  Carter's  pen.  from  which  we 
take  the  following:  "  A.bout  the  only  good 
county  paper  ever  published  in  the  county 
was  the  Wayne  County  Herald,  by  Stickney, 


XcUL 


,  \\H\ 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


158 


the  Independent  Press,  by  F.  C.  Manley, 
and  the  Illinois  Patriot,  by  C.  T.  Lichten- 
berger,  the  immediate  successors  of  the  Pa- 
triot, each  of  which,  after,  a  short  struggle 
for  public  favor,  failed.  *  *  Probably  no 
paper  in  Southern  Illinois,  established  no 
greater  length  of  time,  has  passed  through  so 
many  different  hands,  or  changed  proprietors 
so  often." 

October  20,  1859,  Carter  left  the  editorial 
chair,  and  was  succeeded  by  J.  D.  Lichten- 
berger.  son  of  T.  C.  Lichteuberger.  In  his 
farewell.  Carter  thus  refers  to  his  successor: 
"For  us  to  attempt  to  say  anything  in  his 
extolation.  would  be  simply  superfluous." 
March  15,  I860,  Theo  Edmondson  be- 
came the  publisher,  and  W.  L.  Carter  was 
again  editor.  Edmondson  retired  in  August 
following,  and  Benson  T.  Athorton,  from 
Wabash  County,  became  publisher.  October 
12,  1862,  the  Prairie  Pioneer  suspended 
publication,  to  be  revived  by  J.  D.  Lichten- 
berger,  who  had  reduced  it  to  a  four  column 
concern,  and  then  again  Atherton  tried  to 
make  it  live  and  grow,  but  it  continued  to 
grow  smaller  and  smaller,  and  in  September, 
1st',:;,  it  breathed  its  last. 

We  should  have  stated  in  the  proper  place 
above,  that  in  1858,  Joe  M.  Pryor  came  to 
Fairfield  and  as  printer,  publisher  and  editor 
took  charge  of  the  Pioneer.  He  retired  Feb- 
ruary 2,  I  859,  and  says:  "Good  Bye!"  He 
then  confesses  he  was  too  much  of  a  '"nig- 
gerite"  to  publish  a  paper  in  Fairfield,  and 
then  he  throws  up  his  head  and  "gives  one 
long,  loud,  terrific  yell  forW.  H.  Seward  and 
Abe  Lincoln,  our  next  President  and 
Vice  President."  He  then  repels  with  scorn 
the  slanders  that  some  of  the  ■"Fairfield  pop 
enjays"  bad  started  on  him.  namely,  that  he 
was  an  "  abolitioni.-t  " 

Poor  Joe,  witty,  jolly,  vigorous  and  whole- 
souled,  a  man  of  much   natural   newspaper 


ability,  and  at  times  a  very  pungent  para- 
graphist,  yet  eratic  and  restless.  He  floated 
about  the  country  until  1862,  when  he  died, 
having  in  life  been  appreciated  for  his  full 
worth  by  few  of  the  many  who  knew  him  or 
were  associated  with  him. 

We  have  spoken  of  Alfred  S.  Tilden.  He 
wound  up  his  career  in  Fairfield,  and  became 
what  nature  intended  him  for,  a  roving  tramp 
printer,  smart  and  wholly  reckless  and  dis- 
sipated, and  thus  soon  wound  up  a  short  and 
reckless  life. 

In  the  Fairfield  Gazette  of  July  1,  1858, 
we  find  the  following:  "  The  tri-weekly  stage 
line  from  Mt.  Vernon,  Ind.,  to  Xenia  and 
return,  goes  into  operation  this  afternoon. 
The  establishment  of  this  route  gives  us  mail 
connection  with  the  O.  &  M.  Railroad  every 
Tuesday,  Thursday  and  Saturday,  and  will 
expedite  all  our  business  transactions.  The 
heart  of  Wayne  County  is  now  open  for 
traverse  by  her  business  men  and  the  traveler, 
and  we  look  from  this  time  forward  for  a 
stead}'  improvement." 

March  22,  1860,  the  Pioneer  had  a  stun- 
ning editorial  article,  vindicating  Hon.  John 
A.  Logan  from  the  vile  aspersions  of  the 
Abolitionists.  It  said  he  was  "  the  eagle- 
eyed  orator  of  Egypt,  and  ably  repels  the 
vile  epithet  of  '  Dirty-work  Logan,' "  and 
proclaims  that  this  "  virtuous  statesman  is  in 
favor  of  carrying  out  the  laws,"  especially 
the  "  fugitive  slave  law." 

In  this  same  paper  appears  the  law  card 
of  D.  T.  Linegar.  and  the  same  year  it  an- 
nounces that  he  is  the  "  loyal  "  candidate  for 
Congress  against  John  A.  Logan,  the  Demo- 
cratic nominee.  It  is  said  that  politics 
makes  strange  bedfellows.  There  are  yet 
voters  living  who  well  remember  this  great 
one-sided  Congressional  race.  Linegar  was 
an  out-and-out  Republican.  Logan  was  a 
better  Democrat  than  Douglas  "  or  anv  other 


154 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


yallerhainmer,"  in  the  language  of  the  Bu- 
chanan-Danites  of  the  country.  Dave  chal- 
lenged John  for  a  joint  discussion.  He  bad 
neither  money  nor  friends,  but  he  could  an- 
noy the  great  "eagle-eyed  orator"  immense- 
ly. In  fact,  some  irreligious  Republicans 
said  that  the  only  two  times  they  met,  that 
Dave  knifed  him  from  the  word  "  go  ;"  and 
now  comes  the  curious  fact,  that  Dave's  logic 
drove  Logan  into  "  loyalty  "  and  himself  into 
being,  of  all  in  the  "traitor's  camp,"  the 
one  altogether  lovely.  Linegar  is  well  re- 
membered by  all  the  leading  early  Republi- 
cans of  Wayne  County.  Linegar  left  the 
county  on  receiving  the  appointment  from 
Lincoln  of  Postmaster  in  Cairo,  where  he 
has  lived  ever  since,  and,  except  that  his 
character  was  stained  by  being  indicted  with 
Dan  Munn  as  one  of  the  notable  whisky 
thieves,  he  has  pursued  his  profession  suc- 
cessfully, and  now  for  the  past  four  years  he 
has  been  regarded  as  one  of  the  ablest  Repre- 
sentatives in  the  Illinois  Legislature.  A 
man  of  strong  mind,  resplendent  genius  and 
incorruptible  politics. 

In  1862  Dr.  Sibley  purchased  James  D. 
Lichtenberger's  paper,  and  run  it  on  the  red- 
hot  loyal  platform.  He  soon  associated  with 
himself  R.  B.  Schell,  and  off  and  on  contin- 
ued the  paper  urtil  1868.  The  Democrat,  in 
the  meantime  had  been  brought  here  by  Joe 
V.  Baugh,  and  the  excitement  ran  high,  and 
the  paper  pellets  of  the  bruin  at  times  fairly 
made  it  lightning  all  around  the  sky.  The 
Democrat  was  published  in  the  bar-room  of  a 
hotel,  where  Scott's  store  now  is,  but  when 
it  passed  into  Joe  Baugh's  possession  he 
moved  it  to  the  Sailer  property. 

In  1S04,  about  all  the  many  paper  ventures 
had  ceased  to  vex  the  gentle  air  of  heaven 
about  Fairfield,  except  the  War  Democrat, 
by  Sibley,  when  he  finally  caught  the  war 
fever  and  sold  to  D.  W.  Barkley,  the  present 


proprietor  of  the  Wayne  County  Press,  noted 
for  its  public  spirit,  liberality  and  enterprise, 
which  under  Mr.  Barkley's  able  management 
have  long  made  it  conspicuous  among  the 
Republican  journals  of  Southern  Illinois. 
The  War  Democrat  in  D.  W.  Barkley's  hands 
started  in  life  neutral  in  politics.  For  some 
time  his  partner  was  M.  G.  Revill,  who  re- 
tired and  went  to  Salem,  111.,  and  started  a 
paper,  and  afterward  merchandising,  which 
he  continued  until  a  few  years  ago,  when  he 
died. 

In  1865,  C.  Sibley  announced  his  farewell, 
and  was  succeeded  by  D.  W.  Barkley,  who, 
in  his  announcement,  says  :  "  This  is  my 
first  attempt  to  serve  the  people  in  the 
capacity  of  an  editor,  and  in  January.  1866, 
he  took  Revill  into  paitnership,  who  says  in 
his  "  announcement  "  that  he  had  been  for- 
merly connected  with  the  Union  Banner  of 
Carlyle,  and  he  very  pointedly  asserts  that 
this  fact  "  warrants  us  in  the  assertion  of  our 
competency  for  our  present  position."  The 
title  of  the  paper  was  changed  to  itB  present 
name,  the  Democrat,  and  afterward  the 
Press,  was  in  the  new  management  for  a 
while  neutral  in  politics.  After  Revill  re- 
tired Barkley  associated  with  himself  his 
brother,  O.  F.  Barkley,  and  for  some  time 
the  two  published  the  paper.  Then  D.  W. 
purchased  his  brother's  interest,  and  he  is 
now  and  has  since  been  an  employe  in  the 
office. 

The  War  Democrat  had  been  started  by 
C.  J.  Wilmans  January  14,  1S64.  He  had 
purchased  the  old  Pioneer  office.  In  Febru- 
ary, 1864,  Wihnans  associated  C.  W.  Sibley 
in  the  publication. 

Under  this  new  arrangement,  the  paper 
threw  off  all  disguises  about  being  democrat- 
ic, and  fairly  "  went  in  Dugan  "  in  the  way 
of  peppery  articles  about  traitors,  rebels  and 
copperheads.     It   struck  from  the  shoulder, 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COI'XTV. 


155 


and  denounced  treason  without  mercy,  and 
flambagantly  took  its  place  in  the  ranks 
where  "  -John  Brown's  soul  is  still  marching 
on."  Particularly  was  this  so  after  Wil- 
raan'a  early  retirement,  and  when  Sibley  was 
left  alone  in  his  glory.  In  August,  1864,  C. 
J.  Wilmans  returned  as  Sibley's  associate,  and 
it  was  agreed  that  this  arrangement  should 
continue  for  one  year.  January  l'_\  lN(i5. 
the  paper  was  reduced  in  size  to  a  half  sheet, 
and  in  February,  Wilmans  again  retired, 
and  C.  Sibley,  the  father  of  C.  W.  Sibley  ran 
it  awhile  and  sold  to  D.  W.  Barkley,  as  stated 
above. 

Barkley  started  his  paper  on  the  neutral 
side,  and  so  published  it  for  awhile,  and  then 
it  was  made  a  strong  Republican  organ,  es- 
pecially in  1868.  But  then  it  left  the  Re- 
publican party  and  was  a  "  Granger,"  and 
battled  with  the  "broad  horns"  manfully 
until  1876,  when  it  was  again  in  its  old  place 
with  its  party  and  where  it  has  apparently 
settled  to  stay. 

In  1878,  the  Republican  was  started  by 
Robinson.  It  was  an  out-and-outer  radical 
paper,  and  it  made  so  much  noise  in  the 
Wayne  County  political  world,  that  Barkley 
finally  bought  it  out  and  swallowed  it  up  in 
his  Press  office. 

In  1SGS,  George  W.  Bates  started  the 
Fairfield  Democrat.  He  got  out  the  paper 
occasionally,  and  he  got  "  off  his  base"  with 
wonderful  regularity.  A  presidential  elec- 
tion was  on  hand,  and  the  leading  Demo- 
crats induced  John  Moffitt,  who  was  then  in 
the  Clerk's  office,  to  take  the  paper  and  "  save 
the  country."  John  says  he  had  never  been 
in  a  printing  office  but  once  in  his  life  be 
fore  he  was  installed  as  "Editor  in  Chief." 
He  wrote  his  editorials — started  up,  as  it 
were,  his  screaming  political  eagles — 
launched  his  thunderbolts,  to  put  it  mildly, 
at  the  heads  of  his  devoted  country,  and  with 


bated  breath  awaited  the  result.  He  says 
his  amazement,  after  the  issue  of  his  first 
paper,  at  seeing  the  world  move  on  in  its 
regular  orbit,  may  be  imagined,  not  described. 
He  was  dumbfounded  —  paralyzed,  so  to 
speak — and  in  a  dazed  kind  of  way  looked 
around  him.  He  picked  his  flint  and  tried 
it  again  the  aexl  week — a  little  stronger,  if 
possible--and  yet  the  sun,  moon  and  stars 
bowled  along  in  their  usual  way — the  earth 
even  did  not  fly  off  its  handle  and  go  spin- 
ning recklessly  around,  and  bobbing  against 
stray  comets  and  things  generally.  Queen 
Victoria  did  not  resign  and  become  a  dairy 
maid,  and  Bismark  took  his "  swei  glass'' 
regularly  and  without  choking,  and  even  Eli 
Perkins  continued  to  peddle  his  lies  to  liter- 
ary and  religious  clubs,  at  $35  a  night,  and 
John  was  editorially  demoralized  slightly. 
At  all  events,  in  a  couple  of  months  the  elec- 
tion was  over,  and  Moffitt  retired  with  a  sar- 
castic farewell  from  the  newspaper  World, 

Joseph  Carter  and  Will  Goudy  started  the 
Dci/ister  September  11,  1SN0.  a  democratic 
folio  paper,  of  some  ability  and  sprightliness, 
which  they  ran  for  about  three  months,  and 
sold  to  McClung.  of  the  Record.  Goudy  is 
now  a  postal  route  agent,  and  has  quit  his 
trade-  of  printer. 

The  Fairfield  Weeldy  Democrat,  an  eight- 
column  folio.  Democratic  paper,  was  started 
by  Bates  &  Holmes.  .Inly  3,  L868.  The  of- 
fice had  been  purchased  by  l\.  F.  Brown  and 
shipped  here,  and,  as  Brown  abandoned  the 
enterprise  before  it  was  fairly  launched,  it 
was  run  awhile  by  Moffitt,  and  then  by  C.  J. 
Wilmans,and  Stanley,  and  Schell,  and  Friend, 
and  then  Bauj'h.  In  1S71  and  1872,  C.  E. 
Sibley  and  Et.  B.  Schell  were  proprietors. 
In  1875,  Brown,  who  was  a  noted  newspaper 
starter,  again  was  in  possession,  and  he  sold 
about  this  time  to  Oliver  Holmes.  Then  Sib- 
ley  ran    it    awhile    for    Joe  Crews,  and    for 


156 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


these  years  it  was  run  by  Wilmans,  who 
owned  it  twice  and  was  in  and  out  a  number 
of  times;  by  Baugh  twice,  Brown  twice,  and 
finally  Wilmans  sold  to  Ed  McClung,  the 
present  proprietor.  McClung  entered  the 
office  in  1876  as  an  humble  boy  apprentice, 
under  Stanley  &  Schell.  While  he  was  in  the 
office,  it  was  sold  under  mortgage,  and  Wil- 
mans  was  the  purchaser.  McClung  then  be- 
came foreman,  and  so  continued  until  he  pur- 
chased the  office  three  years  ago.  Wilinans 
and  Joe  Prior  were  the  two  most  remarkable 
men  developed  among  the  early  scribes  of 
Fairfield.  When  Wilmans  sold  out,  he  went 
to  Texas,  and  for  some  time  was  connected 
with  different  papers  in  that  State.  He  is 
now  a  resident  of  St.  Louis,  and,  we  under- 
stand, is  temporarily  out  of  the  newspaper 
business.  His  talents  as  a  writer  were  above 
the  average. 

In  looking  over  our  notes  of  the  innumera- 
ble changes  of  ownership  of  the  Democrat, 
we  learn  that  R.  D.  Adams,  and  James  Mc- 
Cartney were  at  one  time  the  owners,  and 
they  leased  it  to  E.  B.  Renard,  of  the  Olney 
Times,  who  tried  the  experiment  of  running 
the  two  papers.  He  soon  got  enough  of  it, 
and  the  concern  reverted   again  to  Wilmans. 

As  stated  elsewhere,  McClung  purchased 
the  Register  in  December,  1879,  and  at  once 
changed  the  name  to  the  present  Record. 
Wilmans  was  in  1881,  still  running  the  Demo- 
crat, and  McClung  purchased  it  at  that  time 
and  consolidated  it  with  the  Record.  In  the 
early  part  of  1883,  he  added  a  new  Campbell 
power-press,  and  new  type  and  material,  and 
commenced  the  publication  of  a  first-class 
country  paper.  In  the  fall  of  1883,  he 
changed  the  paper  from  an  eight-column 
folio  to  a  six-column  quarto,  and  again  made 
great  improvement  in  a  paper  that  already 
deservedly  ranked  well. 


The  two  men  now  conducting  the  Fairfield 
papers  ar9  admirably  fitted  to  supply  the 
wants  of  the  people  of  the  county  in  their 
line,  as  well  as  a  further  illustration  of  the 
law  of  the  "survival  of  the  fittest,"  as  the 
record  we  have  given  above  shows  that  all  of 
the  many  rivals  have  passed  away,  and  most 
ly  have  been  transferred  to  the  Record  or 
Press,  and  in  each  instance  going  to  the  one 
they  were  struggling  to  supplant  or  rival. 

Papers  in  Jeffersonville. — In  April,  1ST'.!, 
George  P.  Slade  removed  the  Christian  In- 
structor from  McLeansboro  to  Jeffersonville. 
This  was  an  eight-column  paper,  devoted  to 
the  cause  of  the  Christian  Church — Slade, 
editor,  and  C.  E.  Wolfe,  publisher.  It 
dealt  in  church  dogmas  and  launched  thun- 
derbolts at  all  who  differed  from  its  church 
tenets.  It  commenced  in  April  and  died  from 
exhaustion  in  December  following. 

Then  Wolfe  and  R.  A.  Moss  started  from 
this  office  the  Wayne  County  Central,  a  polit- 
ical paper  of  the  Republican  persuasion.  It 
was  an  eight-column  folio,  and  about  every 
issue  it  would  politically  "  Whereas,  the 
earth  and  all  offices  therein  contained  belong 
to  the  political  saints,  and,  therefore,  Re- 
solved, that  we  are  the  political  saints."  And 
thus  it  fought  out  the  great  battles  of  the 
country  after  the  cruel  war  was  over.  The 
paper  was  continued  under  this  arrangement 
until  1873,  when  Moss  retired  and  J.  M. 
Tracy  took  his  place,  who,  after  six  months, 
took  the  office  to  Fairfield,  and  in  a  short- 
time  Israel  &  Wolfe  sold  it  to  Prof.  W.  S. 
Scott,  now  of  White  County. 

The  second  paper  started  at  Jeffersonville 
was  by  Wall  &  Tracy — the  Evangelist  at 
Work.  This  was  in  pamphlet  form,  and  was 
thus  run  for  one  year,  when  it  was  changed 
to  a  four-column  folio.  This  was  another 
church  organ,  and  after  a  year  of  varied  fort- 


s*. 


HISTORY   OF    WAYNE   COUNTY. 


157 


unes  the  office  was  closed.  The  old  press 
and  types  of  this  office  are  still  in  Jefferson- 
ville  and  belong  to  Tracy  &  Wolf. 

The  third  and  only  other  paper  started  in 


this  place  was  a  Sunday  school  organ,  in 
pamphlet  form,  sixteen  pageB,  by  E.  J.  Hart, 
editor,  and  Tracy,  publisher.  It  died  when 
only  eight  months  old. 


CHAPTER  XI. 


SCHOOLS— AN  ACCOUNT  FKOM  THE  FIRST  ONE  TO  THE  PRESENT  DAY— A  COMPARISON  OF  THE  IM- 
PROVEMENTS—SUNDAY SCHOOLS  AND  THE  FIRST  FREE  SCHOOLS— DIFFICULTIES 
ATTENDING  EDUCATION  AT  AN  EARLY  DAY— THE  CHANGES  OF 
FIFTY  YEARS— DISCUSSIONS  OF  THE  SCHOOL 
SYSTEM— STATISTICS.  ETC. 


SCHOOLS.  —In 
have  given   a 


preceding  chapters  we 
genera]  account  of  the 
first  feeble,  but  heroic  efforts  here  to  estab- 
lish and  maintain  the  cause  of  education 
among  the  rising  generation.  We  use  the 
word  education  in  the  common  acceptation  of 
the  term  as  synonomous  with  schools.  Our 
forefathers  here  had  no  "  free. "  or  State 
schools,  and  the  result  was  they  employed 
only  teachers  who  were  willing  to  work  for 
very  small  pay  and  "  board  round,"  as  they 
expressed  it  in  their  written  contracts.  To 
"  board  round,"  meant  the  teacher  would,  at 
his  own  discretion,  divide  up  his  time  among 
the  families  of  the  pupils,  and  thus  they  would 
all  contribute  their  equal  share  of  the  keep 
of  the  teacher.  The  writer  has  a  distinct  re- 
collection of  how  the  different  young  men  who 
taught  the  schools  of  those  days  would  ad- 
just this  problem.  He  would  select  some 
boarding  place  where  there  were  the  most 
pretty  girls  and  the  fahest  table  fare,  and  by 
helping  get  wood  of  an  evening,  making 
fires  in  the  cook-stove,  and  sometimes,  we 
blush  to  say,  a  flame  in  the  eyes  and  heart 
of  the  buxom  belle  of  the  rancbe.  he  would 
almost  be  one  of   the   family,   and  here  he 


would  6tay,  and  the  less  comfortable  places 
were  but  little  annoyed  by  his  presence,  while 
the  very  poor  never  once  would  see  him  on 
their  premises.  But,  in  justice  to  the  best 
farmers,  we  believe  there  was  never  any 
complaint  from  them  on  account  of  this  in- 
equality  in  the  "  board  round  "  of  the  differ- 
ent teachers,  and  in  return  the  other  patrons 
were  never  known  to  complain  if  this  favor- 
ite's family's  children  had  all  the  teacher's 
partiality — especially  the  big  girls. 

The  first,  and  for  that  matter,  the  only 
real  "  free  schools  "  our  people  ever  had  were 
the  Sunday  schools,  that  were  invented  about 
sixty-five  years  ago  in  this  part  of  the  world. 
They  were  originally  much  better  institu- 
tions than  the  same  things  are  now.  They 
came  in  response  to  the  great  need  and  de- 
mand of  a  pioneer  people,  who  were  sparsely 
settled  over  the  broad  land  and  who  were  too 
poor  to  import  school  teachers  or  build  Bplon- 
did  houses  for  school  rooms,  and  further 
they  had  but  few  books  for  their  children, 
and  hence  their  families  had  not  the  neces- 
sary facilities  often  to  teach  the  children  at 
home  to  read  and  write.  We  said  the 
schools  then  were  better  than  they  are  now. 


158 


HISTORY  OF  WAYXE  COUNTY. 


We  are  convinced  that  this  is  true  upon  an 
investigation  of  their  mode  of  management 
of  the  early  schools  and  a  comparison  with 
the  manner  now.  The  original  idea  was  to 
enable  the  chileren  to  learn  to  read  and  write 
— not  to  till  with  foolish  dogmas  and  to  pros- 
elyte to  some  special  church.  In  these  early 
Sunday  schools,  the  only  lessons  were  to  learn 
to  read  and  spell,  and  the  only  mark  between 
that  and  the  secular  school  was  that  the  ex- 
ercises were  opened  with  a  prayer  and  song, 
suitable  to  the  sacred  day.  Here  the  whole 
family  assembled,  and  young  and  old  partic- 
ipated in  the  exercises  of  the  day. 

The  scattered  condition  of  the  inhabitants 
over  a  large  area  of  country,  the  difficulties 
of  travel  through  the  prairies  in  consequence 
of  the  luxuriant  growth  of  vegetation,  with 
paths  only  leading  from  one  neighbor's 
cabin  to  another,  made  it  very  difficult  for 
children  to  get  to  school  alone.  In  the  fall 
the  prairies  were  swept  by  lire — adding 
another  danger.  In  winter,  travel  was  hin- 
dered by  lack  of  bridges  on  either  large  or 
small  streams.  The  latter  at  that  time  rose 
to  a  much  greater  height  and  remained  up 
longer  than  now.  These  troubles,  to- 
gether with  the  great  respect  we  had  for 
wolves  and  other  wild  beasts,  made  the  pro- 
curing of  an  education  impossible. 

But  the  difficulties  enumerated  were  not 
all  they  had  to  contend  with.  If  the  com- 
mon school  happened  to  be  in  winter,  two- 
thirds  of  the  children  were  not  sufficiently 
clothed  and  shod  to  attend.  And,  again, 
should  the  school  be  in  summer,  when  it  was 
suitable  for  them  to  go  on  account  of  the 
weather,  all  the  boys  large  enough  to  work 
could  not  be  spared  by  their  parents,  for  the 
reason  that  all  were  poor  and  must  work. 
Our  work  was  not  then  done  on  large  farms 
as  at  present,  but  on  "  truck  patches  "  such  as 
cotton,  flax,  turnip    and    all    other    kinds  of 


patches  that  we  have  now,  and  a  corn  patch 
of  five  to  fifteen  acres.  In  the  latter  part  of 
the  summer,  they  would  commence  clearing 
a  good-sized  turnip  patch,  and  so  add  patch 
to  patch  until  after  many  summers  they  had 
considerable  farms,  say  forty  acres.  Our 
poor  sisters  could  not  be  spared  by  our  moth- 
ers if  they  were  only  high  enough  with  a 
wheel-peg  in  their  hands  to  turn  a  spinning- 
wheel  and  draw  a  pair  of  cotton-cards.  Poor 
girls,  they  had  no  one  but  their  mothers  for 
music  teachers,  and  good  teachers  they  were, 
too.  All  the  daughters  graduated  in  their 
profession — manufacturing  from  the  raw  ma- 
terial taken  from  the  cotton  patch,  picked 
out  the  seeds  with  the  fingers — carded  and 
spun  four  cuts  per  day,  and  so  followed  up 
the  profession  until  the  copperas  stripe  ap- 
peared in  the  cloth,  and  the  maple-bark-col- 
ored hunting  shirt  was  perfected  into  a  gar- 
ment. Great  skill  was  exercised  in  cutting 
garments,  five  yards  being  allowed  for  a  dress 
pattern  for  a  grown  woman,  not  that  five 
yards  was  a  scant  pattern,  but  the  main  point 
was  to  save  some  portion  of  the  five  yards  to 
use  when  the  garment  was  found  to  retro- 
grade, not  exactly  bustle  attachments  as  it  is 
the  custom  at  the  present  day,  but  rather  the 
reverse,  to  strengthen  the  garment,  to  make 
it  pass  through  a  certain  period  of  time  to 
make  a  connection  with  the  fruit  of  the  loom, 
which  was  periodical. 

But  in  slow  process  of  time  our  people 
came  to  possess  what  we  now  call  free  or 
public  schools,  and  for  fifty  years  the  only 
question  that  has  concerned  the  advocates  of 
schools  has  been  to  get  enough  of  it.  True,  they 
sometimes  talk  about  the  quality  of  the  thing, 
and  you  can  generally  hear  much  of  graded 
schools,  magnificent  and  costly  school  houses, 
and  high -salaried  teachers,  and  the  county 
that  has  these  in  the  greatest  abundance, 
plumes   itself  and  brags  mightily  upon  its 


HISTORY  OF    WAYNE  COUNTY. 


159 


wonderful  strides  in  civilization.  Fifty  years 
has  witnessed  a  wonderful  change  in  this 
country  on  this  subject.  The  rise  and  spread 
of  the  public  schools  has  has  been  almost  a 
marvel,  and  already  it  has  in  some  portions 
of  the  country  been  pushed  to  what  many 
think  is  a  legitimate  conclusion,  namely,  a 
demand  for  compulsory  education.  And  all 
over  the  land  now  we  hear  the  cry  for  this 
summum  bonum.  It  is  powerfully  advocated 
by  the  leading  school  teachers  and  school 
men  in  the  country.  The  schools  are  free, 
say  they,  that  is  the  people  of  Illinois,  for 
instance,  are  taxed  annually  about  $10,000,- 
000  to  support  free  schools,  and  now  the 
great  question  is  how  to  compel  the  people  to 
send  their  children  to  these  free  schools.  A 
kind  of  compulsory  freedom,  as  it  were. 
And.  American- like,  the  whole  thing  has 
been  pushed  to  its  utmost  extremity  from  the 
beginning,  and  in  the  midst  of  all  this  wild 
clamor  for  more,  more,  more,  of  this  the  only 
entirely  good  thing  on  earth,  reading  and  re- 
flecting men  were  recently  startled  by  an 
able  scholar  and  strong  writer,  but  not  a 
teacher,  propounding,  in  the  North  American 
Review,  the  ominous  proposition,  which  he 
sustains  with  a  strong  array  of  facts  and  fig- 
ures,"Are  the  Public  Schools  a  Failure  tn  He 
boldly  says  they  are,  and  appeals  to  the  United 
States  Census  Reports  for  proof  of  the  pre 
raises  he  lays  down.  This  article  started  a 
warm  discussion  in  the  public  press,  the 
school  teachers  taking  up  the  gauntlet  with 
eagerness  and  great  ability,  and  then  the 
friends  of  the  writer  in  the  Review  stepped 
forward  boldly  in  his  defense,  and  it  is  no 
uncommon  thing  now  to  pick  up  a  daily  pa- 
per and  read  there  able  and  sometimes  savage 
editorials  denouncing  the  whole  scheme  of 
public  schools  as  they  are  now  taught,  and 
arraigning  them  severely,  and  as  many  good 
people  believe,  justly. 


The  school  men  say,  "  Give  us  compulsory 
education,  then,  indeed,  will  we  show  the 
rich  fruits  of  our  public  schools."  To  this 
is  answered:  "  You  have  had  public  free 
schools  already  more  than  a  generation,  and 
show  us  what  you  have  done."  They  claim 
it  is  no  answer  to  say  look  at  our  tine  school- 
houses  all  over  the  land,  or  the  many  teach- 
ers, and  the  buildings  all  crowded.  These, 
of  themselves,  are  nothing.  They  are  not 
responsive  to  the  question,  cui  bono?  that  is, 
where  is  the  good  in  advancing  our  civiliza- 
tion. And  they  triumphantly  quote  this 
passage  from  the  greatest  writer  on  political 
economy  the  world  has  yet  produced,  as  fol- 
lows: "•How  do  we  measure  the  progress  of 
our  civilization,  by  work  and  thoughts  of  our 
great  geniuses  who  discover  new  truths  in 
the  mental  or  physical  laws,  new  and  useful 
inventions  in  the  arts  and  the  promise  and 
expectancy  of  others  still  greater  to  follow 
these — by  the  freedom  of  the  people — free 
dom  from  oppression  and  government  med- 
dling— freedom  from  errors,  freedom  from 
prejudices,  and  freedom  from  supersti- 
tions." 

These  discussions  are  a  healthy  sign  of  the 
times.  They  call  the  attention  of  the  people 
to  the  question  of  supreme  importance  to 
men  in  this  life.  If  it  results  in  getting  the 
people — the  masses,  so  to  speak — to  once 
really  understand  what  is  education,  it  will 
have  done  more  for  mankind  than  have  all 
the  public  schools  in  Christendom.  That  is, 
it  will  put  the  people  in  the"  way  of  taking 
matters  in  their  own  hands — for  the  people 
are  always  wiser  than  their  State  government 
— and  evolving  from  this  chaos  of  inanity  a 
system  of  real  schools  where  brains  will  be 
trained  and  developed,  and  not  a  hothouse 
yielding  largely  vagabonds  and  tramps. 

Freedom  of  discussion,  and  freedom  for 
men  to  do  their  own  thinking  sometimes,  are 


160 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


of  themselves  good  schools,  probably  the  best 
in  the  world. 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  future  of  the 
schools  in  the  county  may  be  as  full  of  prom- 
ise as  tbe  past  has  been  prolific  of  the  growth 
and  increase  that  has  come  here  in  the  sixty 
years  since  the  first  log  cabin  was  dedicated 
to  the  purpose  of  education. 

The  School  Commissioner  in  1860,  E.  A. 
Johnson,  reports  total  school  moneys  received 
$7,681,  and  that  he  paid  out  $7,907. 

County  School  Commissioner,  1864,  Cal- 
vin A.  Cooper,  reported  total  amount  of 
money  received,  $7,068. 

In  1868,  J.  B.  Mabry  was  County  Com- 
missioner, and  reported  the  whole  school 
moneys  for  distribution  that  year  at  $8,958.31. 

William  A.  Vernon  was  School  Superin- 
tendent, and  retired  from  the  office  in  1873. 

F.  M.  Woolard  elected  in  1873,  and  was 
succeeded  by  Ben  F.  Meeks,  and  at  the  end  of 
his  term  Z.  B.  West  was  appointed  by  the 
board  to  serve  one  year,  and  in  1882  was 
elected  for  the  term  he  is  now  serving.  His 
report  for  1883  shows  the  following:  Number 
males  under  twenty-one  in  the  county,  6,039, 
number  females,  5,985.  Total  under  twenty- 
one  years  of  age,    12,024;  number  of  males 


between  the  ages  of  six  and  twenty-one, 
3,928;  number  of  females.  3,834;  total  be- 
tween those  ages,  7,762.  There  are  two 
school  districts  in  the  county  that  have  no 
schools.  Total  number  of  schools  in  the 
county  is  121,  and  of  these  five  are  graded 
schools.  Total  number  of  teachers  em- 
ployed, 199.  There  are  112  schoolhouses, 
two  brick,  101  frame  and  fourteen  log 
houses.  Four  districts  have  libraries.  There 
are  two  private  schools,  and  in  these  are 
fifty. eight  pupils  and  three  teachers.  The 
highest  monthly  wages  paid  any  male 
teacher  being  $125,  and  the  lowest  $16;  high- 
est monthly  wages  paid  female  teacher,  $40, 
lowest  $16.  Total  amount  paid  male  teach- 
ers, $17,079;  total  paid  females,  $8,356. 
Total  amount  of  district  tax  levy  for  the 
year,  $20,693.  Total  estimated  value  of 
school  property,  $76, 508.  There  are  reported 
as  illiterate,  between  the  ages  of  twelve  and 
twenty-one  years,  thirty-one.  The  "  inci 
dental  expenses  of  treasurers  and  trustees  "  is 
reported,  P96.31.  Amount  of  interest  paid 
on  district  bonds,  $1,247.  Total  expendi- 
tures for  the  year  $35,880. 10.  The  County 
Commissioner  reports  his  total  compensation 
for  the  year  ending  June  30,  1883,  at  $641.75. 


^S 


HISTORY  OF   AVAYNE  COUNTY. 


1G1 


CHAPTER     XII. 


RAILROADS— INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENTS  FOLLIES— SOME  THOUGHTS  ON  MUNICIPAL  AID— VOTERS 
AND  THEIR  DEMAGOGUES— MONOPOLIES  AND  PAUPERS— THE  UNWISDOM  OF  LAWMAK- 
ERS—IGNORANCE    IN    BULK    CONSIDERED— THE     FIVE    HORSE    COURT- 
SWAMP  LANDS— SHARP  FIGURING— 0.  &  M.  ROAD— AIR  LINE— 
D.   &   0.  LINE— NARROW  GAUGE,    ETC.,    ETC.,   ETC. 


RAILKOADS.—  As  far  back  as  1837  this 
county  was  deeply  engaged  in  the  grand 
scheme  of  building  railroads  through  the 
county.  That  was  more  than  a  generation 
ago,  and  while  at  first  there  was  nothing  but 
loss  and  grievous  disappointment,  yet  their 
children  when  they  came  on,  joined  their 
fathers  in  the  generous  spirit  of  public  enter- 
prise, and  took  up  the  work  as  soon  as  the 
debris  of  the  splendid  wreck  of  the  old  in- 
ternal State  policy  had  been  cleared  away, 
and  while  then  there  was  not  a  county  in  the 
State  that  could  boast  its  mile  of  railroad  track, 
now  there  is  scarcely  a  county  but  that  is 
fairly  gridironed  with  these  highways  of 
wealth  and  commerce. 

Judge  S.  J.  R.  Wilson  tells  us  he  was  a 
member  of  the  surveying  party  that  surveyed 
the  line  of  a  railroad  through  Wayne  County, 
in  1837.  It  was  intendid  to  build  a  line  from 
Mt.  Carmel  to  Alton.  The  people  of  Illinois 
were  filled  with  extravagant  day  dreains,  and 
they  went  wild,  and  the  State  went  daft,  and 
the  State  commenced  not  only  to  make  itself 
and  each  voter  rich,  but  it  would,  by  a  kind  of 
Chinese  home  pi-otection,  build  its  own  great 
cities  and  have  them  here  in  Illinois.  And  the 
wisdom  of  the  law-makers  was  exquisitely 
manifested  when  they  selected  Alton.  Shaw- 
neetown,  Cairo,  Mt.  Carmel  and  a  few  other 
places  that  are  not  now  designated  on  the 
maps,  and  determined  that  here  the  world's 


great  cities  should  and  would  be  built. 
These  were  great  statesmen,  and  they  flour- 
ished mightily,  and  the  few  members  of  the 
Legislature  who  had  sense  enough  to  forsee 
the  calamities  that  awaited  their  folly,  were 
pooh-poohed  down,  and  a  glorious  constitu- 
ency retired  them  at  the  first  opportunity,  to 
private  life.  But  the  bubble  burst,  and  not 
a  mile  of  railroad  track  was  built,  and  yet 
millions  of  the  people's  money  A*as  squan- 
dered, and  worse  than  wasted,  and  bankrupt- 
cy and  pinching  poverty  were  wide  spread  over 
the  land.  A  remarkable,  yet  a  common  fact  in 
history,  was  that  at  that  time  a  commercial 
panic  ran  round  the  civilized  world,  thus 
demonstrating  that  it  was  the  age  that  these 
people  lived  in,  more  than  the  special  igno- 
rance and  folly  of  the  people  of  Illinois  that 
evolved  this  calamity  to  the  young  State  at 
that  time,  and  it  will  sometime  become  the 
historian's  duty  to  con  the  statistics  of  that 
age,  and  tell  what  movements  it  was  in  states 
and  societies  that  produced  this  culminating 
era  of  blindness  and  ignoi-ance  on  these  vital 
questions.  The  chastisment  of  the  people  was 
long  and  severe,  and  it  taught  them  a  most 
wholesome  lesson,  and  in  the  end  perhaps  was 
the  best  thing  that  could  have  haj>pened  to 
them.  There  is  danger  that  this  generation 
>may  forget  the  story.  If  the  schools  that  the 
State  runs  at  such  an  enormous  expense  would 
only  hold   such   lessons  as  these  up   to  the 


162 


HISTORY   OF   WAYNE   COUNTY. 


minds  of  the  young  that  are  placed  in  their 
hands,  it  would  tend  to  recompense  somewhat 
for  the  outlay  of  the  people's  money.  It  is 
simply  in  other  words,  that  proper  knowledge 
of  the  past  that  should  enable  us  to  avoid  the 
errors  of  those  who  have  gone  before  us- 
Teach  the  young  more  of  these  practical  les 
sons  of  life,  and  less  of  that  glittering  and 
fundamental  folly  of  the  fathers  that  "  all 
men  are  equal."  The  truth  is  all  men  are 
unequal  in  every  thing  and  in  every  way, 
and  governments  are  instituted  solely  to 
increase  this  natural  unequality.  One  of  the 
most  wonderful  things  in  nature  is  that  there 
are  no  two  things  in  existence  that  are  ex- 
actly alike — either  hairs,  grains  of  sand  or 
blades  of  grass,  letters  in  a  book  or  any  con- 
ceivable thing,  and  this  is  the  very  life,  the 
essence  of  the  cosmic  worlds  and  the  universe 
itself. 

There  are  strong-minded  men  who  now 
doubt  that  the  lesson  Illinois  had  in  its 
young  days  on  the  subject  of  internal  im- 
provements has  not  been  misread  to  the  ex- 
tent at  least  that  these  great  improvements 
are  or  should  be  any  more  the  care  of  the 
State  or  municipalities  to  build  than  dairies, 
cheese  factories,  corn-fields,  or  cattle  and 
sheep  ranches;  that  the  transportation  of  the 
commerce  of  the  country  is  a  private  business, 
and,  like  all  such  things,  it  should  be  left  to 
private  enterprise,  that  always  in  due  time 
meets  the  public  wants  with  a  prompt  supply. 
A  hue  and  cry  runs  over  the  land  about 
crushing  monopolies — gigantic  combinations 
of  capital  that  sap  the  people  of  their  staff 
of  life,  and  breed  wide  dish-ess,  financial 
panics  and  pinching  poverty  among  the  la- 
boring classes,  and  something  of  this  public 
complaint  arises  from  the  railroads;  and  it  is 
not  mere  foolish  babbling.  At  present,  per- 
haps what  we  see  of  this  public  disturbance 
is  mere  smoke,  but  certain  the  tire  is  some- 


where below,  and  fortunate  will  it  be  indeed 
if  the  time  would  soon  come  when  this  pub- 
lic alarm  about  monopolies  in  this  country 
should  cease  for  the  want  of  any  solid  basis 
of  facts  to  rest  upon.  A  now  growing  evil 
has  arisen  in  the  last  twenty  years,  and  so 
swiftly  has  it  come  that  now  three  men  are 
said  to  control  the  commerce,  railroads,  bank- 
ing, and  the  business  of  the  western  slope  of 
the  continent.  And  without  a  blush  they 
boast  that  they  own  the  State  legislatures  of 
their  vicinage,  and  recent  confidential  let- 
ters that  have  found  their  way  to  the  pub- 
lic prints,  show  that  their  grasping  ambi- 
tion has  extended  to,  and  been  met  with 
smiles,  too,  by  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States.  Could  more  testimony  be  wanted 
when  it  is  an  open  secret  that  already  the 
office  of  United  States  Senator  has  been  pur- 
chased more  than  once,  and  the  rich  scoun- 
drels have  filled  their  terms  in  the  high 
chamber  of  justice  instead  of  the  penitentiary 
where  they  belonged.  The  monopoly  com- 
bination of  capital  is  made  possible  in  this 
country  only  by  foolish  laws,  that  were  orig- 
inally made  in  the  great  mistake  that  it  was 
the  jirovince  and  duty  of  the  Government  to 
aid  in  developing  the  business  of  the  country. 
These  monopolies,  when  they  have  been  made 
strong  and  rich,  and  when,  as  in  California, 
they  have  every  business  man  and  the  labor 
of  the  State  by  the  throat,  are  answered  by 
that  feeble  and  often  foolish  scheme  of  labor 
combination — the  very  thing  combined  cap- 
ital wants  to  see,  as  it  gives  them  a  pretext 
for  their  open  attacks  upon  the  public,  and 
apparently  justifies  the  grievous  exactions 
that  they  demand  and  collect  in  the  name  of 
the  strong  arm  of  the  law.  So  long  as  they 
can  control  the  legislation  of  Ihe  country,  so 
long  may  they  laugh  at  the  voters — that  pal- 
ladium of  the  laborer  of  universal  suffrage, 
"Vote,    vote,  vote    on    forever,"     say   they, 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


163 


"  and  we  will  tax  you  to  the  poorhouse  and 
the  potter's  field." 

In  looking  over  American  law  books,  no 
intelligent  man  could  ever  for  a  moment  sup- 
pose that  this  country  had  produced  a  soli- 
tary political  economist — a  single  writer  who 
understood  anything  of  the  science  of  politi- 
cal economy — how  best  to  govern  a  people, 
and  yet  in  the  mountains  of  foolish  laws  ev- 
ery man  is  supposed  to  know  the  law,  and, 
supremest  of  all  other  nonsense,  in  every  ig- 
norant noddle  in  the  land  is  faithfully  en- 
grafted the  fact  that  he  is  not  only  equal  to 
the  wisest  and  best,  but  that  he  is  in  the  race 
for  every  office  in  the  land,  especially  that  of 
President  of  the  United  States.  Universal 
suffrage  is  worth  nothing  to  ignorance — in- 
deed it  may  be  the  weapon,  wielded  by  its 
own  hands,  for  its  destruction — not  the  de- 
struction of  ignorance,  for  this  seems  to  be 
indestructible,  but  the  ignorant. 

If  the  schools  of  the  country,  instead  of 
contributing  to  these  evils  of  mankind,  would 
turn  about  and  begin  to  systematically  instill 
into  the  children  of  the  nation  a  few  simple 
axioms  of  life  such  as  would  enable  them  to 
better  regulate  not  only  their  own  affairs, 
but  enable  them  when  they  reached  the  age 
of  majority  to  go  to  the  ballot  box  and  there 
deposit  an  intelligent  vote — a  vote  that  would 
contribute  to  the  bettering  of  the  Government 
and  the  condition  of  all  the  people,  it  would 
be  a  happy  consummation,  and  would  soon 
give  a  sublime  solution  of  the  now  mooted 
question,   "  Are  the  schools  a  failure?" 

Our  law-makers,  in  other  words,  believe 
they  possess  the  wisdom  to  make  laws  that 
will  more  rapidly  develope  the  country,  and 
thereby  make  the  people  rich  and  happy. 
That  they  can  pass  friendly  laws  for  railroads, 
canals,  rivers  and  harbors  and  lines  of  ocean 
steamers  is  readily  granted,  andj  that  the 
laws  that  aid  these  enterprises  by  the  public 


money,  or  by  special  privileges  and  favors 
from  the  Government,  can  and  do  stimulate 
into  a  quicker  existence  these  great  measures 
there  can  be  no  doubt,  and  they  lend  an  ap- 
pearance to  the  world's  splendor,  wealth  and 
glittering  prosperity.  But  the  pomp  and 
glitter  may  be  there  and  yet  the  people  may 
be  miserably  oppressed — the  suffering  victims 
of  mistaken  laws— the  starving  slaves  of 
pampered  monopolies.  The  dreariest  paths 
in  the  long  past  history  of  the  human  race 
are  to  be  found  in  the  impartial  story  of 
these  meddlings  of  Government  in  affairs 
that  it  should  let  alone.  At  one  time  in  the 
name  of  a  divine  king;  at  present  and  for  a 
hundred  years  in  this  country,  in  the  name 
of  the  divine  mob, which  with  "greasy  hands 
and  stinking  breaths  "  can  vote.  The  cruel- 
lest taskmaster  was  always  the  fellow  slave; 
he  always  wielded  the  bloodiest  lash,  and 
laid  on  its  pitiless  tortures  with  the  most 
unsparing  hand.  And  now,  following  the 
thoughtful  question  in  reference  to  the 
schools,  will  come  eventually  the  greater 
question,  "  Does  universal  suffrage  make  un- 
iversal wealth  or  happiness."  The  dema- 
gogue, the  combination  of  capital  and  the 
ignorance  of  the  voters,  are  the  menace  to 
democracy  and  freedom  in  America,and  if  fifty 
years  of  our  public  schools  is  slapped  in  the 
face  with  the  astounding  fact  that  ignorance 
has  spread  faster  than  the  free  school  system 
itself — not  illiteracy,  mind  you,  but  ignor- 
ance that  is  duped  by  demagogues  to  voting 
for  its  own  men — if  this  has  even  kept  step 
with  the  growth  of  schools,  and  the  result  is 
that  in  a  hundred  years  we  have  degenerated 
in  the  scale  of  a  poor,  happy  and  contented 
and  innocent  people,  to  a  rich,  prosperous 
and  demoralized  nation,  what  account  can 
the  annual  institutions  give  to  such  facts  as 
these. 

Wo  are  arguing  none  of  the  problems  of 


164 


HISTORY   OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


political  economy.  We  are  merely  hinting 
at  a  few  things — suggestions  that  may  cause 
some  minds  of  a  thoughtful  tendency,  to  in- 
vestigate those  subjects  which  vitally  concern 
every  voter  ia  this  land  of  much  voting  and 
more  law  making.  It  is  simply  a  ciime  to 
vote  upon  matters  you  know  nothing  about. 
and  the  evil  will  fall  upon  the  head  of  the 
ignorant  voter  always.  This  penalty  cannot 
be  detached  from  ignorance.  In  the  econo- 
my of  God.  this  is  inflexible,  and  hence  that 
man  is  troubled  with  a  hopeless  idiocy  who 
believeB  that  he  can  be  made  great,  good  or 
happy  by  much  voting  and  much  law  making. 
It  was  a  non- voting  English  woman,  who, 
from  a  simple  interest  in  the  human  family, 
studied  and  investigated  into  the  science  of 
governments,  and  wrote  books  on  the  subject 
that  are  worth  more  to  men,  than  have  or 
will  all  the  votes  that  may  ever  be  cast.  It 
is,  therefore,  the  thinker,  and  not  the  voter, 
who  benefits  his  fellow  man.  The  most 
ignorant  man  that  ever  voted  may  be  told, 
and  he  may  be  made  to  understand  the  re- 
markable fact  that  since  governments  have 
been  instituted,  the  masses — the  voters  in 
this  country,  have  always  furiously  voted 
against  and  often  violently  resisted  at  first 
every  human  scheme  and  invention  that  gen- 
ius offered  for  their  sole  behoof  and  benefit. 
The  superfical  demagogue  and  the  dishonest 
politician  is  ever  proclaiming  as  a  political 
axiom,  that  the  people  are  always  infallible, 
where  the  plain  truth  is  they  never  ap- 
proached that  perfection,  but  have  nearly 
always  been  wrong  or  mistaken.  So  true  is 
this  that  a  wise  and  just  government  cannot 
be  found,  and  cuuld  not  exist  over  any 
nation  in  the  world  for  an  hour.  Because  a 
government,  either  monarchic  or  democratic, 
is  a  reflex  of  the  people's  intelligence  over 
whom  the  government  exists.  It  is  nonsense 
to  talk  about  the  tyranny  of  governments  that 


exist  for  centuries  in  their  cruel  oppressions 
— it  is  the  ignorance  of  the  people  who  are 
governed,  that  is  at  fault.  That  kind  of 
ignorance  that  in  the  voter  in  some  way 
thinks  the  government  can  meddle  in  men's 
private  affairs,  and  do  better  by  its  subjects 
than  they  can  do  by  themselves;  that  stolid 
assininity  that  pushes  forward  its  long  ears 
and  listens  to  the  demagogue,  who  tickles 
them  with  promises  that  when  he  gets  to  the 
legislature  he  will  pass  laws  to  make  them 
all  rich  and  happy;  that  he  will  lay  a  tax,  so 
smart  and  cunning,  too,  it  will  be,  that  it 
will  take  money  from  bloated  wealth  and, 
under  the  name  of  work  and  big  pay,  fill  the 
coffers  of  all  the  poor.  The  dupe  does  not 
realize  that  his  innate  dishonesty  is  alone 
appealed  to,  but  thinks  it  is  his  patriotic 
love  of  his  fellow  man,  and,  therefore,  he  is 
a  patriot  and  the  government  that,  in  his 
imagination, .  allows  him  to  rob  somebody 
else,  is  the  greatest  and  best  government  on 
the  planet. 

We  dismiss  this  subject  with  this  simple 
proposition,  that  is  so  plain,  and  to  the  writ- 
er's mind  so  true,  that  it  will  do  much  to 
better  the  condition  of  men,  and  advance 
civilization  if  ever  it  comes  to  be  generally 
understood.  That  is  this.  Every  society 
in  all  times  and  all  places  is  good  or  bad 
exactly  as  it  is  wise  or  ignorant — nay,  fur- 
ther, a  people  is  moral  or  immoral,  chaste,  or 
base,  upright  or  dishonest,  sober  or  drunken, 
good  or  bad,  exactly  as  it  may  be  wise  or 
ignorant.  And  the  only  way  under  heaven 
to  make  good  men  is  to  store  their  minds 
with  the  simple  and  divine  truths  of  nature  -- 
this  Holy  Writ  must  be  read,  studied  and 
obeyed,  or  otherwise  its  penalties  will  have 
to  be  endured. 

Swamp  Lands.  — September  28,  1850, 
Congress  passed  an  act  entitled  "  An  act  to 
enable  the  State  of  Arkansiis  and  other  States 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


165 


to   reclaim   the    swamp    lands    within    their 
limits." 

The  Legislature  of  Illinois,  Juno  22,  1852, 
passed  "  An  act  to  dispose  of  the  swamp  and 
overflowed  lands,  and  pay  the  expense  of 
surveying  and  selecting  the  same"  and  vest 
ing  the  title  in  these  lands  to  the  respective 
counties  in  which  they  were  situated. 

By  these  acts,  Wayne  County  became  pos- 
sessed of  about  100.000 acres  of  swamplands. 

November  5,  1855,  the  voters  of  Wayne 
County  voted  in  favor  of  the  proposition 
"  For  appropriating  the  swamp  and  over 
flowed  lands  of  Wayne  County,  as  a  bonus 
to  any  company  for  building  a  railroad 
through  the  county. 

March  13,  1N[>(>,  the  county  conveyed  the 
lands  to  Charles  Wood,  Trustee,  to  the  use 
of  the  Belleville  &  Fairfield  Railroad  Com- 
pany, the  Mount  Carmel  &  New  Albany 
Railroad  Company,  or  to  any'railroad  com- 
pany which  should  build  a  railroad  through 
the  county,  conditioned  that  work  should 
commence  on  the  execution  of  the  deed. 
Nn  work,  or  expenditures  were  ever  done  by 
any  railroad  under  this  deed  during  the  two 
years  of  its  limitation. 

September  24,  1857,  the  county  again  con- 
veyed the  same  land  to  Thomas  Cooper,  and 
eleven  other  citizens  of  the  county  (desig- 
nated sometimes  as  the  twelve  apostles  of 
Wayne),  on  condition  that  they  build  a  rail 
road  through  the  County  W  ayne  and  town  of 
Fairfield  to  the  Wabash  and  Ohio  Rivers, 
within  two  years,  with  the  right  of  exten- 
sion of  three  years.  Nothing  was  ever  done 
under  this  deed,  and  it  is  not  cancelled  ex- 
cept by  its  terms. 

November  10,  1S5S,  the  county  entered 
into  a  contract  with  Yanduser,  Smith  &  Co., 
to  construct  a  railroad  through  the  county 
by  November  10,  1SG0,  the  county  to  pay 
$12,500  for  each  three  miles  of  grading,  and 


when  the  road  was  completed,  to  pay  $6,000 
per  mile  in  swamp  lands  at  $5  per  acre, 
the  land  to  be  conveyed  to  the  contractors 
when  the  road  was  completed.  If  the  con- 
tractors failed  to  complete  the  contract  in 
time,  then  to  forfeit  to  the  county  all  they 
had  done,  and  receive  nothing. 

While  this  contract  was  in  force,  the 
Mount  Vernon  Railroad,  which  only  had  a 
charter  from  Ashloy  to  Mt.  Vernon,  but 
which  had  this  curious  provision  in  its  char- 
ter: 

Any  county  through  which  any  other  railroad 
may  run  with  which  this  road  may  join,  connect  or 
intersect,  may,  ami  arc  hereby  authorized  and  em- 
powered to  aid  in  the  construction  of  the  same  or  of 
such  other  mad  with  which  it  may  so  connect,  and 
for  this  purpose  the  provision  of  the  seventh,  eighth 
and  ninth  sections  of  this  act  shall  extend,  include 
and  be  applicable  to  every  said  county  and  every 
said  railroad. 

On  the  20th  of  April,  1S59,  the  Mount 
Vernon  Railroad  Company  claiming  to  have 
acquired  the  contract  made  with  Vanduser, 
Smith  &  Co.,  by  assignment  and  by  agree- 
ment to  fulfill  the  conditions  of  the  agree 
ment  as  a  consideration,  procured  two  of  the 
County  Judges  of  Wayne  County,  to  execute 
a  deed  and  mortgage  of  said  lands  to  Isaac 
Seymour  as  Trustee,  to  the  use  of  the  Mount 
Vernon  Railroad  Company,  as  security  for 
$800,000  of  bonds  to  be  issued  by  the  Mount 
Vernon  Railroad  Company,  for  the  construc- 
tion of  the  said  railroad.  The  Mount  Ver- 
non Railroad  Company,  at  the  same  time 
agreeing  to,  and  did  execute  to  Isaac  Sey- 
mour, Trustee,  a  mortgage  on  the  franchise 
and  "  all  property "  of  every  character  and 
description,  whatsoever  and  wheresoever, 
and  of  the  kind  of  title  acquired,  or  to  be  ac- 
quired, that  they  might  have,  to  secure  the 
payment  of  said  bonds  covenanting,  also  at 
thr  same  time  to  pay  all  tax  assessed  against 
heir  property,  when  due.      Nothing  was  done 


166 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


under  this  contract  or  assignment,  nor  under 
the  deed  and  mortgage,  when  at  March  term 
of  County  Court,  1860,  the  Mt.  Vernon  Rail- 
road Company  appeared  and  asked  an  exten- 
sion of  the  time  to  commence  and  complete 
the  railroad  under  the  Vanduser,  Smith  & 
Co.,  which  was  granted.  The  conditions  of 
which  were,  that  they  were  to  file,  plat  and 
survey  of  location  of  the  railroad  in  twenty 
days,  and  keep  fifty  men  at  work  and  more 
if  necessary  to  its  completion  in  two  years, 
failing  in  either,  the  contract  and  all  there- 
under done  or  had,  should  be  null  and  void. 
Nothing  was  done  under  this  extension  of 
time,  when  in  August,  1860,  Isaac  Seymour 
abandoned  his  trust,  and  the  railroad  com- 
pany abandoning  all  effort  to  construct  a  rail- 
road, and  Seymour  having  died  in  1861,  all 
was  at  sea,  when  the  County  Court  at  De- 
cember term,  1862,  passed  the  order  directing 
the  Swamp  Land  Commission  to  proceed  and 
sell  the  said  lands  as  heretofore  by  preemp- 
tion or  otherwise,  which  was  done,  the  last 
being  sold  October  13,  1868. 

March  7,  1865,  suit  was  commenced  by 
John  W.  Kennicott,  et  al,  claiming  that  they 
held  the  bonds  for  the  payment  of  which 
these  lands  were  mortgaged. 

In  the  meantime,  a  large  portion,  perhaps 
all  these  lands  had  been  conveyed  to  private 
parties,  many  of  whom  were  citizens  of  the 
county  and  who  had  thus,  as  they  supposed, 
secured  a  homestead. 

These  suits  that  have  gone  on  for  the  past 
eighteen  years  will  go  into  history  as  its 
celebrated  cases.  They  have  run  the  gant- 
let of  about  all  the  courts,  and  only  just  now 
has  it  been  settled  in  favor  finally  of  the 
people. 

The  whole  thing  was  a  fine  piece  of  sleight- 
of-hand  by  which  the  county  was  to  be 
euchered  out  of  its  lands  and  to  receive 
nothing  in  return.      The  people    expected  a 


railroad  to  be  built,  and  they  were  liberal 
enough  to  give  all  they  had  for  it,  and  the 
sharpers  appeared  and  plucked  the  goose. 

The  gift  of  a  hundred  thousand  acres  of 
land  to  the  county  was  simply  its  greatest 
misfortune  ;  and  yet,  there  are  people  silly 
enough  to  believe  and  to  vote  that  their  own 
government  possesses  only  much  money, 
great  wisdom,  and  all  the  virtues,  and  in 
some  way  or  another  they  never  doubt  but 
that  if  they  fail  to  take  care  of  themselves 
the  paternal  government  will  certainly  do  all 
that. 

The  Five  Horse  Court. — The  session  of  the 
Illinois  Legislature  of  1867  met,  and  the 
whole  people  of  the  State  were  wild  and  en- 
thusiastic over  the  subject  of  new  railroads. 
Wayne  County  was  represented  by  a  strong 
lobby  at  Springfield,  and  the  Springfield  & 
Southeastern  Railway  Charter  was  passed, 
and  as  the  county  was  under  the  control  of 
fifteen  Supervisors,  and  for  fear  that  this 
body  was  too  large  to  handle  well  in  the  mat- 
ter of  submitting  propositions  to  the  voters 
to  aid  railroads,  a  cunning  scheme  in  the  way 
of  an  act  of  the  Legislature  was  submitted 
and  passed  the  Legislature.  This  was  exclu- 
sively a  Wayne  County  law,  and  it  was  due 
to  the  wisdom  alone  of  Wayne  County  men 
that  the  law  was  conceived  and  brought  forth. 
This  was  known  as  the  ' '  Five  Horse  Court '» 
law.  It  was  passed  under  the  modest  title 
of  "  An  act  to  change  the  time  of  electing 
certain  officers  in  a  county  therein  named." 
It  simply  abolished  the  Board  of  Supervisors, 
consisting  of  fifteen  members,  in  Wayne 
County,  and  divided  the  county  into  four  dis- 
tricts, and  for  five  Supervisors,  two  to  be 
citizens  of  Fairfield.  The  two  in  town,  of 
course,  were  in  favor  of  any  road,  east  and 
west,  or  north  and  south,  and  the  cunning 
act  so  arranged  matters  that  three  controlled, 
and    hence,   no    matter    what  direction  any 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE   COUNTY. 


167 


road  might  want  to  take  there  would  be  three 
certain  to  favor  all  propositions  for  subscrip- 
tions in  aid  thereof. 

The  act  was  to  continue  in  force  four  years 
and  then  the  county  would  return  to  its  old 
fifteen  Supervisors. 

O.  &  M.  Ra il road.— February  25,  1867, 
the  Legislature  passed  the  act  incorporating 
the  Illinois  Southeastern  Railway  Company; 
the  incorporators  were  Charles  A.  Beecher, 
Joseph  J.  R.  Turney,  Robert  P.  Hanna,  Car- 
roll C.  Boggs,  Joseph  T.  Fleming,  Henry 
Halthausen,  Edward  Bonham,  all  of  Wayne 
County,  and  John  W.  Westcott,  "William  B. 
Wilson,  Daniel  McCauly  and  William  H. 
Hanna.  of  Clay  County. 

The  charter  designated  the  track  of  the 
road  might  commence  at  some  suitable  point 
on  the  Chicago  branch  of  the  Illinois  Cen- 
tral Railroad,  and  run  by  way  of  Fairfield  to 
some  point  on  the  Ohio  River,  not  south  of 
Metropolis  nor  north  of  Shawneetowu.  An- 
other provision  provided  it  should  not  join 
the  Central  at  a  point  north  of  the  town  of 
Mason,  nor  south  of  Kinmundy.  The  char- 
ter provided  for  eight  members  for  the  Board 
of  Directors,  with  power  to  increase  the  num- 
ber to  thirteen. 

The  charter  provided  that  Charles  A. 
Beecher,  Joseph  T.  Fleming,  William  H. 
Hanna,  Edward  Bonham,  William  B.  Wil- 
son and  John  \Y .  Westcott,  should  be  the 
first  Board. 

February  24,  1869,  the  Legislature  passed 
an  amendment  to  this  charter,  giving  it  in- 
creased powers,  and  legalizing  certain  acts  or 
doings  of  the  Board. 

In  February,  1857,  the  Legislature  had 
passed  a  charter  for  the  Springfield  &  Pana 
Railroad.  This  road  was  provided  to  run 
from  Springfield  to  Pana  via  Taylorville. 

[n  April  1869,  was  passed  the  act  incor- 
porating the  Pana,  Springfield  &  Northwest- 


ern Railroad,  or  rather  an  amendment  to  this 
charter  was  passed  at  that  time,  and  among 
other  things  it  provided  the  Pana  &  North- 
western Railroad  might  build  a  road  from 
Pana  to  some  point  on  the  branch  of  the  Illi- 
nois Central  Railroad. 

December  7,  1859,  articles  of  consolidation 
of  the  Pana,  Springfield  &  Northwestern 
Railroad,  and  the  Illinois  Southeastern  Rail- 
way Company  were  entered  into,  and  formed 
the  Springfield  &  Southeastern  Railway  Com- 
pany. 

The  first  directors  of  the  new  company 
were  D.  D.  Shumway,  S.  W.  Priest,  C.  W. 
Matheny,  George  H.  Black,  Alexander  Starne, 
Thomas  S.  Ridgeway,  W.  B.  Wilson,  Edward 
Bonham,  Charles  Carroll,  W.  H.  Hanna,  W. 
H.  Robinson,  C.  A.  Beecher  and  William  P. 
Cutler. 

Dodge,  Lord  &  Co.,  and  William  P.  Cut- 
ler, had  contracted  to  build  the  Illinois 
Southeastern  Railway,  and  Cutler,  Dodge  & 
Co.  had  contracted  to  build  the  Pana,  Spring- 
field &  Northwestern,  and  the  articles  of  con- 
solidation provided  that  as  soon  as  the  con- 
tractors had  completed  and  have  ready  for 
equipment  any  part  of  the  road  between 
Shawneetown  and  Beardstown,  for  the  dis- 
tance of  five  continuous  miles,  the  railroad 
should  issue  to  them  $100,000  of  capital 
stock,  or  an  equal  amount  of  bonds  converta- 
ble  into  stock. 

The  work  of  construction  was  pushed  for- 
ward to  completion  from  Beardstown  to 
Shawneetown.  Wayne  County  and  certain 
townships  had  subscribed  $150,000  in  bonds, 
which  were  duly  paid  over,  except  $20,000 
subscribed  by  Fairfield  and  Barnhill  Town- 
ships, which  was  never  paid,  and  upon  suit 
the  road  was  defeated,  because  the  conditions 
of  the  donation  had  not  been  complied  with 
by  the  railroad  company,  the  paramount  fail- 
ure being   in  not   putting  up  two  depots  in 


163 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


Barnhill  Township,  which  had  been  made  a 
condition  precedent  in  the  vote. 

July  3,  1874,  upon  the  suit  of  the  Farm- 
er's Loan  &  Trust  Company  against  the 
road,  a  foreclosure  was  had  and  a  sale  de- 
creed, and  on  September  15,  1874,  a  sale  by 
John  A.  Jones,  Master  in  Chancery,  the 
franchise  was  sold  to  M.  H.  Bloodgood,  and 
a  deed  of  conveyance  executed.  The  amount 
of  the  indebtedness  for  which  the  road  was 
sold  was  83,895,099.59.  The  amount  bid  at 
the  sale  by  Bloodgood  was  the  sum  of  $500,- 
000.  On  this  it  appears  he  paid  in  cash 
$118,015.94,  and  the  residue  in  bonds  of 
the  company.  This  cash  payment  was  the 
amount  of  interest  due  in  coin  on  the  first 
mortgage  bonds. 

Exceptions  were  filed  to  this  decree  by  W. 
H.  Miller,  Williams  &  Orton  Manufacturing 
Company,  M.  D.  Carlyle,  William  Gillmore 
and  T.  D.  Craddock.  The  court  allowed  the 
claims  of  these  parties,  and  January  18, 
1875,  the  Master  in  Chancery  issued  a  deed 
of  confirmation  to  M.  H.  Bloodgood. 

January  28,  1875,  M.  H.  Bloodgood  con- 
veyed by  deed  to  Fredrick  S.  Schuchardt, 
and  John  Bloodgood  conveyed  the  entire 
franchise,  and  on  January  29,  1875,  these 
parties  conveyed  by  deed  the  property  to 
Daniel  Torrence.  The  next  day,  these  par- 
ties transferred  the  road  to  the  Ohio  &  Mis- 
sissippi Railway  Company,  and  it  then  be- 
came what  it  now  is,  the  Springfield  Division 
of  the  Ohio&  Mississippi  Railway  Company. 

The  Air  Line. — We  have  already  stated 
that  as  far  back  as  1837.  a  survey  was  made 
through  the  county  of  a  road  to  run  from 
Alton  to  Mt.  Carmel.  The  State  was  bank- 
rupted, as  stated  above,  and  the  schemes  fell 
through.  But  this  Alton  &  Mt.  Carmel  road 
had  interested  Gen.  William  Pickering,  and 
the  road  passed  into  his  hands.  He  under- 
took to  finish  it  and  spent  his  fortune  upon 


it,  but  only  succeeded  in  getting  a  road 
built  from  Princeton,  Ind.,  to  Albion,  111. 
He  had  arrangements  made  with  Eastern 
capitalists  to  complete  the  road,  but  about 
this  time  the  political  excitement  of  the 
North  and  South  on  the  subject  of  slavery 
culminated  in  the  death  of  Owen  Lovejoy  at 
Alton,  and  capitalists  became  alarmed  and 
withdrew  their  promised  support,  leaving 
Gen.  Pickering  unable  to  go  any  further. 
He  clung  to  his  road  until  he  was  appointed 
Governor  of  Washington  Territory,  when  he 
sold  out  his  road  to  Bluford  Wilson  and 
others.  The  agreed  price  was  only  nominal, 
and  Pickering  got  none  of  that,  but  we  un- 
derstand about  $14,000  was  paid  his  heirs 
after  his  death. 

In  April,  1869,  the  St.  Louis,  Mt.  Carmel 
&  New  Albany  road  was  chartered,  and  also 
the  Louisville,  New  Albany  &  St.  Louis  Air- 
Line  Railway.  Under  the  latter  name  the 
company,  by  Augustus  Bradley,  President, 
and  George  Lyman,  Secretary,  executed  a 
mortgage  to  Calhoun  &  Opdyke  for  $4,525,- 
000,  due  in  1902,  but  it  is  not  known  that 
any  money  was  ever  got  under  this  mortgage. 
At  all  events,  very  little  was  done  until  May, 
1881,  when  the  stockholders  met  in  Mt.  Car- 
mel, and  resolved  to  issue  $3,000,000  first 
mortgage  bonds,  and  $3,000,000  four  per  cent 
fifty-year  cumulative  income  bonds,  and 
$1,000,000  second  mortgage  bonds.  Robert 
Bell  was  President,  and  Burr  and  Wilson 
held  about  all  the  stock.  This  meeting  in- 
creased the  capital  stock  from  $3,000,000  to 
$5,000,000.  In  November  of  the  same  year 
the  name  was  changed  to  Louisville,  Evans- 
ville  &  St.  Louis  Railway  Company.  But  in 
June,  1881,  the  company  had  executed  a 
mortgage  to  the  Mercantile  Trust  Company 
and  Noble  C.  Butler,  in  which  the  route  is 
described  as  being  from  New  Albany,  by 
Huntington,  Ingleton,  Oakland  City.  Prince- 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


171 


ton.  Mount  Carmel,  Albion  and  Fairfield  to 
Bit.  Vernon,  about  192  miles;  forty-five  miles, 
from  Ingleton  to  Albion,  had  been  then  fin- 
ished. The  change  Of  name  was  made  neces- 
sary by  a  consolidation  with  roads  from 
Evansville  to  Jasper.  Ind.,  and  from  Rock- 
port  to  Gentryville,  Ind.,  making  now  a  total 
of  260  miles.  March  1,  1882,  the  road  was 
completed  from  Bit.  Vernon,  111.,  to  Hunting- 
ton, in  all  202  miles,  and  by  a  mortgage 
$1,000,000  was  secured  to  complete  the  road 
to  New  Albany.  Jonas  H.  French  succeeded 
Mr.  Bell  as  President,  and  he  was  succeeded 
in  turn  by  John  Goldthwaite,  the  present 
incumbent.  This  road,  one  of  the  best 
equipped  and  best  run  in  Southern  Illinois, 
has  cost  the  people  of  this  section  compara- 
tively nothing.  Blost  of  the  money  used  in 
its  construction  was  furnished  by  Ballou,  of 
Boston.  After  it  was  completed,  the  road 
was  much  damaged  by  high  water,  and  lay 
quite  awhile  before  trains  run  regularly,  but 
the  result  was  a  settling  of  the  earth,  which 
made  it  from  the  start  one  of  the  best  road- 
beds in  the  State.  Its  business  at  once  was 
a  paying  one.  The  Air-Line  is  at  present 
using  the  Louisville  &  Nashville  track  to  St. 
Louis  from  Mt.  Vernon,  but  it  is  the  inten- 
tion soon  to  have  its  own  track  to  St.  Louis, 
and  by  a  consolidation  with  the  Chesapeake 
&  Ohio  it  will  become  one  of  the  great  trunk 
lines  from  the  Blississippi  to  the  Atlantic. 


Coming  Roads. — Southern  Illinois  is  so 
full  of  roads  building  and  projected  that 
hardly  a  county  in  this  portion  of  the  State 
but  may  point  to  one  or  more  new  roads 
either  just  completed,  or  soon  to  be  completed. 
The  time  will  come  when  this  portion  of 
country  will  sustain  as  many  first-class  rail- 
roads as  will  any  section  of  equal  extent  in 
the  world. 

Two  unfinished  roads  are  now  on  their  way 
to  Wayne  County.  The  Danville  &  Ohio 
road  is  in  the  hands  of  a  Receiver,  and  we 
are  informed  the  court  has  ordered  the  Re- 
ceiver to  issue  his  certificates  to  complete  the 
road  from  Danville  to  Fairfield.  This  will 
fill  a  long-felt  want  of  a  direct  road  to  Chi- 
cago. Such  a  road  will  do  wonders  in  devel- 
oping the  entire  country.  And  it  is  hoped 
that  work  will  commence  in  the  early  spring 
and  be  pushed  to  a  rapid  completion. 

The  Toledo,  Texas  &  Rio  Grande  road  was 
begun  in  June,  1882,  and  has  a  fifty-year 
charter.  The  route  is  from  Charleston  or 
Danville,  111.,  to  Cape  Girardeau,  and  thence 
to  an  intersection  of  the  Texas  &  St.  Louis 
road,  and,  when  built,  will  complete  a  chain 
of  road  from  Mexico  to  New  York  City. 
Much  work  was  already  done  on  this  road  in 
the  latter  part  of  1883,  and  it  is  expected 
that  it  will  bo  completed  the  present  year 
(1884). 


172 


HISTORY  OF   WAYNE   COUNTY. 


CHAPTER     XIII. 


RECAPITULATION— SOME   GENERAL   AND    SPECIAL    ACCOUNTS    OF    THE   PEOPLE— EARLY   WILLS 

AND  ADMINISTRATIONS— PRESENT  COUNTY  WEALTH— WAYNE  FORMED  FROM  EDWARDS, 

AND  THEN  THE  SOUTH  LINE  CHANGED— THEN  A  PORTION  SET  OFF  TO  CLAY 

COUNTY— FULL     LIST    OF    OFFICERS— SOME    OF    THE    LITERATURE 

OF    THE     EARLY     AND    PRESENT    DAY  — AN     IMMORTAL 

SPEECH  — ISRAEL     DEWEY,     ETC.,     ETC..     ETC. 


TO  conclude  the  story  of  the  people  of 
Wayne  County  is  the  scope  and  purpose 
of  this  last  chapter,  and  to  do  this  it  is  not  im- 
proper to  give  a  rapid  and  short  review  of 
the  people  who  came  in  the  slow  accretion  of 
population  that  marked  this  section  down  to 
the  year  1860,  and  an  account  of  the  early 
and  modern  officials  of  the  town  to  the  pres- 
ent time.  To  this  we  propose  to  add  a  brief 
account  of  the  legislative  department,  inso- 
far as  the  State  Legislature  was  appealed  to 
and  did  act  in  behalf  of  the  people  of  Wayne 
County,  and  finally,  but  not  least,  the  reader 
need  not  be  amazed  or  scandalized  if  there 
are  some  general  deductions  that  may  tend 
to  indicate  the  class  of  men  who  in  early  and 
modern  times  have  had  their  say  in  the  gen- 
eral control  and  the  shaping  of  the  State 
legislation,  insofar  as  the  same  affected  the 
county. 

In  visiting  through  the  county  and  in  the 
presence  of  old  settlers,  the  writer  had.  the 
pleasure  of  meeting  Susan  Jane  Cook,  who 
came  to  the  county  in  1821,  a  well  preserved, 
high  spirited  and  outspoken  woman,  with 
such  nerve,  independence  and  a  natural  com- 
manding nature  that  she  is  sometimes  de- 
scribed as  the  "Queen  of  Barefoot."  By 
way  of  explanation,  it  may  be  necessary  to 
explain   that    "  Barefoot  Nation "  is   in  the 


east  and  northern  portion  of  the  county,  and 
derives  its  name  from  the  early  habit  of  the 
pioneers,  who  never  saw  a  pair  of  tooth-pick 
shoes,  or  a  live  dude  in  their  lives.  She  dis- 
tinctly remembers  all  the  first  settlers  of  the 
county,  particularly  Harris,  Richard  and 
Sam  Locke  and  the  Carters,  and  says  the 
first  preacher  she  ever  heard  was  a  man 
named  Finley,  who  came  from  somewhere 
South.  Then  she  describes  the  first  Camp- 
bellite  she  ever  heard  of  as  a  "  little,  old, 
sour,  cross  man,"  but  "he  had  a  voice  like  a 
bell."  When  very  young,  she  says  she  heard  a 
negro  (called  colored  men  nowadays)  preach, 
and  he  "was  powerful  for  to  hear"  is  her 
recollection.  She  remembers  it  was  common 
those  days  at  meetings  for  several  to  have  the 
"  jerks,"  and  in  this  business  she  credits  the 
"nigger  with  as  much  power  as  the  best  of 
'em;"  she  remembers  hearing  Merritt  preach 
once,  and  he  announced  that  "  Christ  was  in 
the  camp,"  and  then  the  shouting  raged  like 
mad.  The  first  school  she  attended,  "  in  a 
slip,  and  barefoot,"  was  "over  in  the  Statt's 
settlement,"  where  old  man  Kennedy  handled 
the  long  hazel,  and  then  "old  man  Taylor 
taught  there,"  who  was  considered  •"the 
smartest  man  in  the  world  ''  at  that  time. 
The  first  wedding  she  remembers  was  wh-n 
her  elder  "  sister  Nancy  married  Bill  Carter.'' 


HISTORY   OF    WAYNE  COUNTY. 


173 


Charles  Carter  is  now  an  old  man  and  is 
still  living  in  Fairfield,  verging  on  sixty-nine 
years  of  age.  He  was  born  in  Kentucky  and 
came  to  Wayne  County  in  1831  and  settled 
in  Turner's  Prairie.  He  remembers  Samuel 
Leech  as  the  first  merchant  in  the  county. 
and  he  thinks  Caleb  Wilmans  the  second. 
and  R.  B.  Slocumb  the  third.  Carter  says 
he  worked  for  and  lived  with  Wilmans' fam- 
ily for  six  years.  Wilmans  wont  to  Califor- 
nia in  1849,  and  soon  after  died  there. 
Carter  informs  us  that  R.  B.  Slocumb  was 
married  twice,  his  second  wife  beiug  Caleb 
Ridgeway's  daughter,  and  that  he  left  chil- 
dren, Mrs.  Seth  Crews,  of  Chicago,  Mrs. 
James  Stanley,  Mrs.  Woodward,  of  Jit.  Ver- 
non, and  sons  Eugene.  Clarence  and  a  mar- 
ried daughter,  Ibey  Groesbeck,  now  in  New 
York. 

When  he  first   remembers  Fairfield,  Will- 
iam Patton,  who  died  years  ago,  lived  here. 
Andrew  Mays  was  then   in  what  is  now  Elm 
River  Precinct.      Presley  Simpson  lived  five 
miles  south  of  town.      He  was  a  Tennessean, 
and   had   a  son,  John   D.,  now  living  in  the 
county.     In    1S3'2,  Wilmans  &   Weed,   who 
were     relatives,     were    merchandising    here. 
They   finally  built  a  steam  saw  mill  on  the 
Little   Wabash,  near  Beach  Bluff.      He  re- 
members William  Irvin   as    a  good    farmer 
and  a  quiet,  peaceable  man ;  also  James  Massey  ( 
a  preacher.     He  left  a  son.  also  a  preacher. 
Richard  Massey.     Elijah  Harlan  was  one  of 
the   principal    citizens  on  Skillet  Fork,  near 
Mill  Shoals.      He  had  a  large  family,  but  all 
are    supposed    to    be    dead.       Samuel    Close 
lived   in   Tnrney's  Prairie;  had  a  large  fam- 
ily; was    a  Kentuekian.     Removed   to  North 
somewhere.     His  father  died  here  at  an  ad- 
vanced age.    Gambril  Bartlett  lived  near  En- 
terprise;   moved   away    about    1838.     James 
Houston    lived    near    Fairfield;  had   an   old 
tread  mill  and  distillery;  died  in  1840.  leav- 


ing a  son,    Rigdon,    still  living  here.     The 
patriarch  of  the    celebrated    Turney    family 
was  Michael.      His  sons    were    Moses,    Di\ 
Daniel,  Isaiah,  Anthony  B.  and  Dr.  William 
F.       The   last   lived    in    Fairfield;    was    in 
Black  Hawk  war,  and  died  at  Leech's  Mills 
in    1838.     Anthony  B.,    father    of    Thomai 
Jefferson    Turney,    who    now  lives    at    Mill 
Shoals,    and    also    father    of    Jackson    and 
Washington    Turney,    removed    to    Wabash 
County,   and    then  emigrated  West.     Isaiah 
Turney,  in  1834,  went  to  Jersey  County,  and 
Moses  went  to  Texas   in   1840,  and  Thomas 
moved  North  in  1846,      Dr.  Daniel  Turney's 
son,   Lafayette,   went  West  twelve  years  ago. 
John    Clark,    Sr.,    was    a    Kentuekian;    was 
here    at    a  very    early    day.     (See    previous 
chapters.)     He  died  in  1838.      His  brothers 
were  Andrew  and   Alexander.      David  McLin 
was    an    early    Cumberland    preacher.       His 
surviving   son   was    William.      Alfred    Hall 
lived    in    Big   Mound — a   rollicking   fellow. 
Wesley  Staton  was   a  Black  Hawk  war  sol- 
dier.     He  was  a  hatter    in  Fairfield;  finally 
went  onto   a    farm    in  Arriugton  Township. 
He  was    stung  to  death    by    bees.       Joseph 
Morris  lived   in   Long  Prairie;  left   a  large 
family.     "William  Cray   lived  in   Four  Mile 
Prairie.     Miles  Morris  and  Greenbury  Wal- 
ker lived  in   Lontr   Prairie.      When   he  first 
saw  Fairfield  he  remembers  there  were  then 
here  Hugh   Stewart   and  family,  Dr.  Parks, 
Sam    Leech,     Archy    Roberts,    AVesley  Sta- 
ton,     John     Brown,      the     Wilmans,     Dan 
Turney,  David  McLin,  John  W.  Snyder  and 
W.    F.    Turney.      These  all   had  families  ex- 
cepi    W-    F.    Turney  and    Staton.      Mathew 
Franklin  was  the  chief  carpenter.     He  was 
a  great  crony  of  C.  C.  Young.      Mr.  Carter, 
in    1838,  married  Louisa  M.  Wilson,  daugh- 
ter of  Joseph  and  Nancy  Wilson,  who  died 
January,  1881,  leaving  three  boys   and    two 
girls. 


174 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


At  June  term,  1836,  letters  of  adminis- 
tration were  graQtedto  Rhoda  Ray  and  Jesse 
Lord,  upon  the  estate  of  Asa  Ray,  deceased. 
October,  1836,  was  probated  the  last  will  of 
Enoch  Beach.  Witnesses:  James  Crews 
and  Minzy  James.  Justice  Beach  was  ap- 
pointed administrator. 

February,  1837,  administration  granted 
upon  the  estate  of  James  Clark,  Jr. ;  Joseph 
Campbell  appointed  administrator. 

The  bold  and  striking  signature  of  Judge 
Leech  appears  to  all  the  meetings  of  the 
Probate  Court,  from  the  time  of  the  organi- 
zation of  the  county  until  the  14th  day  of 
February,  1837,  without  break  or  interrup- 
tion. 

At  the  term  of  the  Probate  Court  com- 
mencing on  the  22d  day  of  May,  1837,  ap- 
pears for  the  first  time  the  name  of  R.  B. 
Slocumb,  Probate  Judge.  His  first  act  as  such 
officer  was  granting  letters  testamentary  to 
Edward  Puckett  and  Martha  Fulton,  upon 
the  nuncupative  will  of  James  B.  Fulton, 
deceased. 

On  the  10th  day  of  August,  1837,  Mathew 
Crews  was  appointed  guardian  for  the  fol- 
lowing minor  heirs  of  Enoch  Beach,  to  wit: 
Jennett  E.,  Judith  A.,  Zenas,  Minerva, 
George  M.  and  Margaret  Beach. 

At  the  same  time  Jacob  Gregory  was  ap- 
pointed guardian  for  Crockett  Holiday. 

On  the  26th  of  August,  1837,  the  nuncu- 
pative will  of  Reuben  Atteberry  was  pro- 
bated. It  was  attested  by  Nathan  Atteberry 
and  John  G.  Meeks.  At  the  November 
twenty-fifth  term,  of  the  court  the  estates  of 
Robert  R.  Gaston  and  Jesse  Reed  were  ad- 
ministered upon. 

On  the  6th  [day  of  September, ^1838,  the 
will  of  Michael  Turney  was  probated.  At 
the  same  term,  the  will  of  Robert  R.  Smith. 
William  Patterson  was  appointed  executor. 

January,  1839,  letters  granted  on  the  es- 


tate of  George  Harlan.  Same  month,  Daniel 
Turney  and  Moses  Turney  appointed  execu- 
tors of  the  will  of  William  F.  Turney.  In. 
February,  same  year,  Alexander  Clark,  Pub- 
lic Administrator,  granted  letters  upon  the 
estate  of  James  Gibson,  deceased.  In  March, 
William  Merritt  and  Sarah  Huston  granted 
letters  upon  the  estate  of  James  Huston.  At 
same  time,  letters  granted  upon  the  estate  of 
James  Turner,  Sr. 

On  the  16th  day  of  November,  1840,  Judge 
John  Brown  was  holding  a  term  of  court. 

The  following  is  a  complete  list  of  the 
county  officers,  from  the  organization  of  the 
county  to  date  (1884): 

Sheriffs — -Andrew  Kuykendall,  1819  to 
1820;  Enoch  Wilcox,  1810  to  1824;  Andrew 
Kuykendall,  1824  to  1827;  Joseph  Campbell, 
182*7  to  1832;  Ben  A.  Clark,  1832  to  1834; 
Charles  Wood,  1834  to  1838;  George  W. 
Wilson,  1838  to  1842;  Allen  M.  Downen, 
1842  to  1844;  George  W.  Wilson,  1844  to 
1846;  William  L.  Gash,  1846  to  1848;  Alex- 
ander Campbell,  1848  to  1852;  James  Clark, 
1852  to  1856;  C.  L.  Carter,  1S56  to  1858; 
H.  A.  Organ,  1858  to  1860;  Alexander  Camp- 
bell, 1860  to  1862;  Richard  Childers,  1862 
to  1864;  Alexander  Campbell  (died  1865), 
1864  to  1865;  William  C.  Murphy  (to  fill 
term),  1865  to  1866;  N.  J.  Odell,  1866  to 
1868;  L.  D.  Bennett,  1868  to  1870;  J.  B. 
Tidball,  1870  to  1872,  Lowry  Hay,  1872  to 
1874;  Martin  E.  Bozarth,  1874  to  1876; 
Adam  Rinard,  1876  to  1880;  L.  D.  Bennett, 
1880  to  1882;  Isaac  B.  Carson,  1882  to 
1886. 

County  Judges  (prior  to  1821  was  County 
Commissioners) — Samuel  Leech,  1821  to 
1837;  Rigdon  B.  Slocumb,  1837  to  1840; 
John  H.  Brown,  1840  to  1849;  R.  B.  Slocumb, 
1S49  to  1854;  Daniel  Turney,  1854  to  1857; 
S.  J.  R.  Wilson,  1857  to  1861;  William  W. 
George,  1861   to  1865;  William  L.  Beeson, 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


175 


1865  to  1873;  Copelin  McKelvy,  1873  to 
1877;  C.  C.  Boggs,  1877  to  1882;  John 
Keen,  Jr.,  1882  to . 

County  Clerks — Samuel  Leech,  1S19  to 
1840;  Joseph  G.  Barkley,  1840  to  1847; 
Caleb  Wilnians,  1847  to  1849;  Francis  Mc- 
Cown,  1849  to  1854;  John  Trousdale,  1S54  to 
1858;  Jeff  W.  Barnhill,  1S58  to  1865;  Oliver 
Holmes.  1805  to  1873;  John  Morris,  1873  to 
1877;  Joe  D.  Shaeffer,  1877  to  1882;  Joseph 
E.  Wilson,  1882  to . 

County  Treasurers — Samuel  Leech,  1819 
to  1824;  James  Bird,  1824  to  1826;  Andrew 
Kuykendall,  1826  to  1S27;  James  Butler, 
1827  to  1828;  Charles  Wood,  1828  to  1844; 
Andrew  Wilson,  1S44  to  1847;  John  C. 
Gash.  1847  to  1853;  C.  L.  Carter,  1853  to 
1857:  William  L.  Gash,  1S57  to  1863;  John 
Keen,  Jr.,  1863  to  1865:  John  C.  Alexander, 
1865  to  I860;  John  A.  Moffitt,  1869  to  1873; 
Alonzo  M.  Cable,  1873  to  1877:  John  Mor- 
ris, 1877  to  1879;  Benjamin  S.  Organ,  1879 
to  1882;  O.  P.  Patterson,  1882  to . 

School  Commissioners — Jacob  Hall,  1842 
to  1844;  Jacob  H.  Love,  1S44  to  1S45;  Rob- 
ert  Wilson,  1S45  to  1849;  David  Wright, 
1849  to  1852;  John  A.  Campbell,  1S52  to 
1854;  E.  A.  Johnson,  1854  to  1864;  Calvin 
Cooper,  1864  to  1871;  William  A.  Vernon, 
1871  to  1S73:  Francis  M.  Woolard,  1873  to 
1877;  Benjamin  F.  Meeks,  1877  to  1881; 
Z.  B.  West,  1881  to . 

Circuit  Clerks — Samuel  Leech,  1832  to 
1836;  R.  B.  Slocumb,  1836  to  1840;  J.  G. 
Barkley,  1S40  to  1850;  R.  B.  Slocumb,  1856 
to  1804;  William  L.  Gash.  1864  to  1868; 
John  L.  Handley,  180S  to  1870:  R.  E.  Ma- 
bry,  1876  to  1884. 

State's  Attorneys — O.  B.  Ficklin,  for  dis- 
trict ;  Aaron  Shaw,  for  district:  Alfred  Kit- 
chell,  for  district;  James  S.  Robinson,  for 
district:  L.  J.  S.  Turney,  acting  for  district ; 
E.  B.  Green,  acting  for  district;  T  S.  Casey, 


for  district;  W.  H.  Robinson,  acting  for  dis- 
trict; C.  S.  Conger,  acting  for  district;  Et. 
\V.  Townshend,  1868  to  1872;  C.  C.  Boggs, 
1872  to  1876;  A.  M.  Funkhouser,  1876  to 
1880;  J.  R.  Creighton,  1880  to  1884. 

The  present  county  assessment  will  show 
something  of  what  the  people  have  been 
doing  since  the  first  settlers  here  in  the  way 
of  building  up  the  country: 


PROPERTY. 

4SSESSED 

VALUATION. 

EQUALIZED 

1:1    mi    MV 
BOARD. 

EQUALIZED 

BY  STATE 

BOARD. 

Lota 

{1,303,729 

141,717 

81,307,1  83 

143,000 
542,545 

$1,620,118 

ITT.i  32 
672,451 

Total 

81,987,971 

81,992,578 

$2,469,601 
278,822 

Railroad  ami  Telegraph 

Total 

S2.74S.423 

State  Tax $  9,799  13 

County  Tax 18,18101 

Town  Tax 3.150  89 

Road  and  Bridge  Tax 4,784  87 

County  Bond  Tax 14,017  45 

Town  Bond  Tax 2,682  72 

Incorporation  Tax 1,773  27 

School  Tax 25,511  00 

District  Road  Tax 2,304  81 

Dog  Tax 3,142  00 

Back  Tax 35  57 


Total §83.332  22 

Horses,  6,034;  valuation  each,  $23.39  Cattle, 
14.484;  valuation  each,  f  6.72.  Mules  and  at  i  s 
1.330;  valuation  each.  $22.60.  Sheep,  14,51 4;  valu- 
tion  each,  $1.00.  Hogs,  19,759;  valuation  each, 
$1.16. 

Wayne  County  was  formed  out  of  Edwards, 
and  it  seems  there  grew  up  some  misunder- 
standing between  the  two  counties  as  to  the 
exact  southern  line  of  the  former  county,  and 
therefore,  in  1829,  the  Legislature  passed  an 
act  to  exactly  define  this  line.  See  laws, 
1829,  page  32.  And  another  law  was  passed 
in  1831,  giving  the  county  its  full  pro  rata 
share  in  the  Gallatin  salines.  In  1837,  the 
county  applied  to  the  Legislature,  and  pro- 
cured an  act  changing  the  original  applica- 


176 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


tion  of  this  saline  donation.     In  1855,  the 
county  was  in  the  throes  of  the  greatest  finan- 
cial troubles,  largely  by  the  death  of  stock 
and    failure   of  crops,   and  it  procured  the 
authority  and  did  borrow  $5,000  to  "  purchase 
breadstuff's  for  the  unfortunates."     A  small 
portion  of  the  territory  of  Wayne  was  taken 
and  added  to  Clay  County  in  1863.     On  the 
28th    of   February,    1867,   the  act  virtually 
abolishing  the  Board  of  Supervisors  (which 
consisted  of  fifteen  members),  and  had  what 
was  known  as  the  "  Five  Horse  Act,"  passed. 
This  law  cannot  readily  be  found  in  the  laws 
of  1867,  simply  because  by  its  strange  title  it 
never   would    be    recognized.       The  curious 
reader,   however,  will  find  the  document  on 
page   102.     When    the  matter  got  into  the 
courts,   the   great  joke  on   the  lawyers  was 
that  they  could  not  find  the   act,   although 
they  were  well  aware  one  had  been  passed. 
Another  remarkable  fact  was  that  every  law- 
yer as  soon  as  he  examined  it,  knew  it  was 
unconstitutional,   and  yet  it  was  secured  to 
literally  gouge  the  people  out  of  large  sums 
of  money  for  railroad  purposes,  and  this  part 
of  the  scheme  was  really  more  shrewdly  car- 
ried out  than  the  first,  for  the  simple  reason 
that  before  the  question  was  taken  into  the 
courts,  the  bonds  had  been  issued  and  parties 
had  purchased   in  good   faith,   and  the  Su- 
preme Court  was  compelled  finally  to  decide 
that  although  the  act  was  unconstitutional, 
yet   the  "  Five  Horse  Court, "   upon  a  suit 
upon  the  bonds  was  a   de  facto  court,    and 
therefore  bonds  were  good.      We  consider  this 
whole  transaction  one  of  the  sharpest  that  is 
to  be  found  in  the  legislation  or  the  law  re- 
ports of  our  State. 

Burnt  Prairie  Manual  Labor  Seminary 
(this  was  partly  in  Wayne  only)  was  char- 
tered as  early  as  1836.  The  next  year,  the 
Fairfield  Library  Company  was  made  a 
charter  institution.      In   1839,   the   Fairfield 


Institute  was  chartered  and  the  Library 
Company  was  merged  into  the  same,  and  the 
Ewing  Seminary  was  chartered  in  1845. 

We  have  noticed,  at  considerable  length  in 
another  and  preceding  chapter,  that  at  the 
very  earliest  day,  when  usually  other  counties 
of  the  same  age  had  hardly  reached  the  day 
of  house-raisings  yet,  that  Fairfield  was  dis- 
cussing, among  other  questions,  with  hammer 
and  tongs,  those  and  all  great  literary  prob- 
lems, "  Which  is  the  most  beautiful,  art  or 
nature  ?" 

This  question,  as  well  as  others  we  have 
noticed  elsewhere,  was  the  theme  of  hot  de- 
bates for  many  years.  From  week  to  week 
and  from  season  to  season  the  debate  would 
go  on,  gather  in  interest,  intensity  and  mag- 
nitude like  the  rolling  snow-ball,  and  they 
were  brought  down  to  comparatively  modern 
times;  so  recent  in  fact  that  we  are  enabled 
to  give  almost  the  complete  effort  of  one  of 
these  budding  Demusthenes.  We  were  told 
the  gentleman  is  still  living,  but  we  did  not 
learn  his  name.  But  the  mighty  effort  ran 
as  follows: 

"  Mr.  President:  What  are  (I  want  to 
know!!)  more  beautif idler,  that  was  ever  seed 
in  this  great  nateral  world!!  than  a  nateral 
steamboat    running    up    a    nateral    river!!!" 

And  the  man  sat  down  exhausted  and  im- 
mortal. It  is  supposed  that  the  great  con- 
troversy that  had  run  so  high  and  for  so 
many  years  ended  exactly  here.  What  more 
could  be  said  on  the  great  theme? 

Nothing  could  more  appropriately  close 
the  history  of  the  county  than  the  following 
sketch  of  Dewey: 

One  of  the  active,  earnest,  tremendous 
preachers,  of  the  Hard  Shell  persuasion  in 
the  good  old  honest  times  in  Wayne  County, 
was  the  Rev.  Israel  Dewey.  He  was  an  in- 
dustrious man,  and  there  was  a  power  and 
fascination  about  his  wonderful  sermons  that 


HISTORY  OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


177 


makes  us  greatly  regret  that  we  cannot  make 
a  pen  picture  of  some  one  of  his  many  efforts 
that  would  carry  to  the  remotest  posterity,  to 
edify  them  and  impart  also  some  of  the  great 
pleasure  tasted  by  the  good  people  of  "Wayne 
during  his  active  and  pious  life.  There  were 
no  short-hand  writers  in  Dewey's  day.  Per- 
haps it  is  quite  as  well  there  were  not,  for 
while  the  stenographer  might  have  taken 
down  the  words,  and  a  Hogarth  might  have 
painted  the  man  in  all  his  ragged  eloquence 
of  posture,  as  he  stood  with  his  hand  to  the 
side  of  his  face  looking  at  a  crack,  and  warm- 
ing to  his  work,  and  the  froth  from  his  ear- 
nest lips  flying  all  over  his  nearest  auditors, 
but  who,  except  Allec  Moffit  or  Capt,  Bill 
Stewart,  could  have  given  his  heavenly  tone — 
those  nasal  blasts  that  went  direct  to  fright- 
ened sinners'  souls  like  the  crack  of  doom. 
It  was  once  said  of  the  great  poetic  songster, 
Byron,  that — 

"He  touched  lii~  harp 
And  nations  heard  entranced." 

But  Dewey  in  the  country  puncheon- 
floored  meeting  house,  was  the  sublime 
preacher,  who  was  like  the  great  and  rapid 
river  that  runs  on  forever.  Like  any  true 
child  of  genius,  he  had  his  times  of  special 
inspiration,  and  his  most  intimate  admirers 
had  learned  him  so  well  that  they  could  gen- 
erally tell  when  he  was  in  one  of  these  great 
moods  the  moment  he  commenced  his  sermon. 
The  only  pulpit  in  Dewey's  time — at  least 
the  only  kind  of  pulpit  he  ever  used — was  a 
split-bottom  chair,  and  if  he  pranced  up  to 
this  with  his  head  up  and  that  triumphant 
smile  that  sometimes  was  seen  on  his  face, 
and  a  slight  swagger  in  his  shoulders,  his 
best  judges  knew  that  Dewey  was  himself 
again,  and  they  braced  themselves  to  with- 
stand the  torrent  nay,  the  plunging  Niagara 
of  his  eloquence. 

4  •  Bretherens    and    sisterenes-ah.      I    am 


going  to  preach-ah,  Dewey's  sentiments 
to  day-ah,  and  I  don't  care  a  rotten  possum 
skiti-ah  whose  toes  it  hurts-ah.  My  text 
can  be  found  in  the  leds  of  the  Bible-ah,  and 
in  the  two-eyed  chapter  of  the  one-eyed  John- 
ah.  Now  there's  brother  one-eyed  Bob  Gray- 
ah,  and  ho  can  see  as  far  into  the  kingdom  of 
heaven-ah  as  auy  other  one-eyed  man-ah,  who 
don't  wear  no  specks- ah.  Aint  that  so, 
brother  Toliver  Simpson?" 

And  then  the  good  man  would  begin  to 
warm  up  with  his  theme,  and  he  would  un- 
button his  shirt  collar,  then  his  vest,  and  as 
the  cyclone  increased  he  would  fling  aside 
his  coat,  and  then  roll  up  his  shirt  sleeves, 
and  by  this  time  the  great  preacher,  in  the 
eloquent  language  of  Andy  Hunter  in  his 
great  Democratic  speech,  would  sweep  all 
before  him  "  like  a  cyclone  of  the  desert,  like 
a  cyclopa  of  the  sea !  "  By  the  way,  when  Ham 
Sutton  asked  Andy  what  he  meant  by  "'  Cy- 
clops of  the  sea.  "  "  Damfino,"  said  Andy,  in 
innocent  simplicity. 

Dewey  in  his  day  had  few  equals,  and  no 
superiors  among  the  numerous  powerful 
preachers  of  his  persuasion.  Like  his  kind, 
he  preached  not  for  pelf  or  fame;  his  carriage 
horses  were  a  yoke  of  breech y  stags,  that  were 
scanty  in  their  make-up  except  the  horns.  He 
attended  his  appointments  to  preach  on  foot, 
witb  his  rifle  on  his  shoulder.  A  gentleman 
now  living  in  Fairfield  tells  us  the  first  dime 
he  was  the  happy  possessor  of  he  got  from 
this  gond  preacher  for  "minding"  a  deer  he 
had  killed  on  his  way  to  church,  and  hung 
up,  and  then  secreted  his  gun  in  a  hollow  tree 
and  washed  his  hands  and  went  on  and 
preached  his  sermon,  and  then  returned  and 
had  the  venison  taken  home. 

Bob  Gray  and  Toliver  Simpson  were  solid, 
thrifty  farmers,  and  were  foremost  among  the 
best  people  of  the  county.  They  were  pious, 
good  men,  and  they  never  failed  to  be  in  their 


178 


HISTORY  OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


places  when  Dewey  preached,  and  when  he 
made  a  point  in  his  sermon  and  would  say, 
"Aint  that  so,  brother  Toliver  Simpson?" 
or  "Brother  Bob  Gray?"  they  [ would  nod 
their  affirmative  approval,  and  in  this  way 
they  were  as  much  of  the  essential  of  the  ser- 
mon as  the  text  itself.  Had  they  staid  away 
from  church  any  time,  it  is  supposed  Dewey 
would  have  signally  failed  in  at  least  that 
sermon.  They  were  the  loving  Davids  to 
Dewey's  eloquent  Jonathan. 


Dewey's  life  and  works  were  purely  those 
of  a  good  and  holy  man.  He  feared  naught 
but  the  lake  of  tire  and  brimstone,  and  he 
poured  hot  shot  and  chained  balls  of  doctrinal 
theology  into  the  ranks  of  all  deluded  Bible 
readers  who  failed  to  understand  the  good 
Book  as  he  did. 

He  has  gone  to  his  fathers,  and  sleeps  the 
sleep  of  the  just.  His  day  and  times  have 
passed  away  forever.  Let  his  memory  be 
cherished,  and  his  good  works  be  not  forgotten. 


CHAPTER   XIV. 


CITY  OF  FAIRFIELD— THE  ORIGINAL  PLAT,  WITH  NUMEROUS  ADDITIONS— GROWTH  AND  DEVELOP- 
MENT—SOME OF  THE  FIRST  HOUSES  AND  OLD  LANDMARKS— MERCHANTS  AND  MERCHAN- 
DISING—TAVERNS,   MILLS     AND     FACTORIES— THE     COURT    HOUSE— CHURCHES, 
SCHOOLS  AND  NEWSPAPERS— FREEMASONRY  AND  OTHER  BENEVOLENT  OR- 
DERS—INCORPORATION OF  FAIRFIELD— TOWN  BOARDS,  ETC.,  ETC. 


FROM  the  birth  of  the  human  race,  the 
sons  and  daughters  of  men  have  shown 
a  preference  for  each  other's  society,  and  de- 
veloped a  tendency  to  congregate  together  in 
numbers.  At  first  this  was  more  for  protec- 
tion than  for  social  intercourse.  But  as 
people  became  more  enlightened,  and  civil- 
ization advanced,  the  social  inclination  grew 
stronger,  and  as  a  result  towns  and  cities 
were  built,  thus  bringing  multitudes  together 
into  a  closer  relationship.  The  social  prin- 
ciple in  man  is  strong.  He  may  be  proud, 
domineering,  or  all  that  is  bad,  but  to  con- 
fine him  with  Diogenes  in  a  tub,  or  a  Pla- 
tonic lover  in  some  brilliant  sphere,  were  an 
intolerable  punishment.  Solitary  confine- 
ment is,  and  ever  must  be,  the  keenest 
corrective  trial.  A  man  may  rave  about  his 
independence,  and  desire  a  whole  universe  to 

•By  W.  H.  Perrin. 


himself,  hollow  to  resound  his  massive  tread, 
and  mirrored  to  reflect  his  noble  form;  but 
therein  he  stifles  the  outgrowing  inclinations 
of  his  own  heart,  and  does  not  guess  how 
sensibly  he  would  feel  the  want  of  the  com- 
monest expressions  of  social  life  and  social 
intercourse.  Prometheus,  chained  on  his 
crag,  amid  the  eternal  snows,  and  gnawed 
by  the  vulture;  and  Simon  Stylites  on  his 
lonely  column,  are  apt  types  of  such  a  dreary 
life,  and  solitary,  friendless  creature.  In- 
dividual isolation  is  unnatural  and  inhuman. 
The  disposition  to  gather  into  towns  and 
cities,  on  the  other  hand,  is  both  natural  and 
human. 

The  pioneers  understood  this,  and  both  for 
protection  and  for  social  enjoyment  and 
intercourse,  and  for  humanity's  sake,  and 
perhaps  for  other  reasons,  they  laid  out 
towns  and  built  up  villages.      Something  of 


III>T()i:v   OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


170 


this  character  gave  birth  to  Fairfield  sixty  - 
four  years  ago — a  period  when  there  was 
doubtless,  not  two  hundred  people  in  what 
now  forms  "Wayne  County.  The  fathers  of 
the  enterprise  (of  making  u  town)  had  an  eye 
for  the  glorious  and  beautiful;  neither  were 
they  utterly  devoid  of  romance.  They  dis- 
played their  exquisite  taste  in  the  selection 
of  a  site  for  a  town —  a  site  that  is  not  ex- 
celled by  that  of  any  town  in  the  State — 
being  a  slight  elevation  in  the  middle  of  a 
broad,  beautiful  and  level  plain,  and  their 
romance  cropped  out  when  they  called  it 
"Fairfield."  No  fairer  field  could  certainly 
be  found  in  Southern  Illinois  than  the  plain 
surrounding  Wayne  County's  beautiful  capi- 
tal. 

Fairfield  was  laid  out  as  a  town  in  the 
year  1819,  and  is  situated  at  the  junction  of 
the  Springfield  Division  of  the  Ohio  &  Miss- 
issippi and  the  Louisville,  Evansville  &  St. 
Louis  Kailroads,  thirty  miles  east  of  Mount 
Vernon  and  fifty-three  miles  north  of  Shaw- 
neetown.  The  first  sale  of  lots  took  place 
November  8,  1S1U.  The  plat  was  surveyed 
by  John  Johnston,  County  Surveyor,  under 
the  direction  of  George  W.  Farris,  Thomas 
P.  Fletcher  and  Alexander  Clark,  the  then 
County  Commissioners.  The  original  plat 
was  not  recorded  untii  September  4,  1825. 
The  range  of  lots  on  the  south  of  original 
plat  is  112|xllli  feet;  the  range  of  lots  on 
the  north  of  plat  111 £x92  feet,  and  the  re- 
mainder of  lots  1 1 1  \  feet  square;  streets 
sixty  feet  wide  and  alleys  eight  feet  wide — 
Water  street  is  only  forty  feet  wide.  This 
was  the  original  plat  of  Fairfield,  and  to  the 
town  as  laid  out  emigration  was  invited. 
Where  attention  had  been  paid  to  details,  it 
could  not  be  expected  that  the  matter  of 
settlement  had  been  overlooked,  and  hence 
many  people  flocked  into  the  new  town  as 
soon  as  laid  out  and  surveyed,  and   the  place 


quickly  became  a  scene  of  bustling  activity. 

It  is  an  accepted  tradition — a  tradition 
borne  out  by  local  facts — that  the  first  house 
in  Fairfield  was  built  by  the  Barnhills.  They 
had  entered  the  land  from  the  Government, 
upon  which  the  town  was  laid  out,  and  had 
lived  there  for  some  time  before,  and  thus 
may  be  termed  the  first  settlers  of  the  town, 
as  well  as  the  first  of  the  township.  This 
first  house  stood  a  little  north  of  the  present 
bank  building,  but  on  the  opposite  side  of 
the  street,  near  the  marble  factory.  It  has 
passed  away  with  other  landmarks  of  the 
pioneer  days,  and  the  spot  now  is  only  known 
by  a  few  of  the  older  citizens.  The  house 
was  torn  down  by  Mr.  Womack,  who  built  a 
residence  upon  the  site  which  is  still  stand- 
ing, but  which  has  been  considerably  en- 
larged and  improved,  and  is  now  owned  by 
Mr.  Smith.  John  Barnhill  built  the  second 
residence  in  Fairfield,  on  the  lot  where  Mr. 
Thomas  L.  Cooper's  handsome  brick  residence 
now  stands.  It  was  of  logs,  and  was  built  by 
Barnhill  just  after  his  marriage,  which  took 
place  about  the  time  of  laying  out  the  town. 

The  elder  Barnhill,  the  patriarch  of  the 
Barnhill  family,  died  in  Gallatin  County  be- 
fore any  of  the  family  moved  to  this  section, 
as  we  have  stated  in  a  preceding  chapter,  and 
his  widow  came  herewith  her  children  among 
the  earliest  settlers  of  the  county.  Hardin 
Barnhill  was  the  eldest  son,  and  John,  men- 
tioned above,  was  the  second,  while  Audley 
was  the  third  and  youngest.  The  family  at 
one  time  was  a  rather  numerous  and  promi- 
nent one — prominent  in  business  and  local 
affairs,  but  of  no  particular  pre-eminence. 
They  were  honest,  industrious,  honorable, 
faithful  and  accommodating — kings  among 
their  kind,  fine  types  of  their  class,  with  in- 
stincts keenly  whetted  in  their  struggle  for 
existence  against  the  wild  game,  the  fero- 
cious beasts  and  the  murderous  savage.     The 


ISO 


HISTORY   OF   WAYNE   COUNTY. 


Barnhills  have  now  been  dead  for  many 
years,  with  no  lineal  descendants  surviving 
them  nearer  than  the  grandson  of  the  Widow 
Barnhill — "Jeff"  Barnhill,  as  he  is  called. 
Even  he  is  growing  old,  and  is  becoming 
bent  with  age  and  infirmity.  There  is  much 
in  the  history  of  the  Barnhills  that  recalls  a 
type  of  that  day.  They  had  been  admirably 
trained,  or  had  trained  themselves,  for  their 
place  in  life,  and  in  security  and  content  had 
lived  out  their  span,  filling  to  fullness  their 
measure  of  ambition. 

The  next  residence  in  Fairfield  was  built 
where  the  new  cemetery  has  recently  been 
laid  out.  It  was  erected  by  a  man  whose 
name  is  now  forgotten,  but  who  was  related 
in  some  way  to  the  Barnhills.  It  was  fol- 
lowed by  a  house  put  up  by  Samuel  Leech, 
opposite  Mr.  Ed  Bonham's  residence.  It 
was  a  log  building  and  is  still  standing, 
but  has  been  improved  and  modernized  by 
receiving  a  coat  of  weather-boarding.  An- 
other  of  the  early  residences  was  built  by 
Dr.  Parks,  and  is  also  standing.  It  is  nearly 
opposite  Mrs.  Johnson's  boarding-house) 
and,  like  the  one  above  described,  has  been 
weather-boarded,  so  as  to  give  it  a  modern 
appearance.  The  nest  building  erected  as  a 
dwelling-house  was  by  some  of  the  Barnhills, 
and  stood  upon  the  site,  or  very  nearly  so,  of 
Mr.  Thomas  T.  Bonham's  house.  At  this 
residence  was  dug  the  first  well  Fairfield  ever 
had.  It  was  dug  by  the  Barnhills,  but  was 
for  general  use  of  the  people. 

The  settlement  of  the  town  of  Fairfield 
was  sui  generis.  Nature  had  prepared  a  site 
for  the  town  unsurpassed  in  beauty,  while 
the  community,  linked  together  by  family 
and  business  relations,  was  like  a  colony 
fitted  and  furnished  for  a  career  already 
marked  out.  This  was  the  influence  under 
which  the  town  began  its  existence,  and 
started   on   its  course  of    successful  experi- 


ment. It  is  barely  probable  that,  in  order  to 
secure  a  town  by  legal  right,  the  Commis- 
sioners spent  no  great  amount  of  time  in  can- 
vassing the  claims  of  the  different  locations 
as  a  site  for  the  future  capital.  The  first 
and  main  object  was  to  locate  the  county 
seat.  The  town  now  known  as  Jeffersonville 
was  a  formidable  competitor  for  the  seat  of 
justice,  and  it  stood  those  in  hand,  interested 
in  Fairfield,  to  decide  the  question  without 
delay,  before  the  prize  should  slip  from  their 
grasp.  This  led,  as  we  have  said,  to  the  site 
of  Fairfield  being  chosen  with  but  little  dis- 
cussion. The  years  succeeding  the  laying- 
out  of  the  town  were  not  characterized  by  a 
rapidity  of  growth  and  development,  but,  on 
the  contrary,  both  growth  and  development 
were  rather  slow,  but  the  more  sure,  perhaps, 
for  being  slow.  The  brilliant  prospects  of 
the  town  had  attracted  little  attention  from 
the  ambitious  and  enterprising,  and  the  puny 
village  was  moving  on  to  fame  and  fortune 
at  a  slow  pace.  Like  Longfellow's  squash 
vine,  "  it  grew  and  it  grew  and  it  grew," 
slowly,  however,  and  at  the  end  of  its  first 
decade  of  existence,  it  had,  probably,  less 
than  a  hundred  inhabitants. 

Additions. — The  plat  of  the  town  accord- 
ing to  the  original  survey  has  already  been 
given,  and  comprised  its  area  for  nearly 
twenty  years  before  the  increase  of  popula- 
tion demanded  room,  room!  The  want  of 
room  has  been  the  cause  of  many  of  the 
bloodiest  wars  known  to  history.  It  has  been 
the  plea  of  every  robber-chief  from  Nimrod 
down  to  the  present  day.  Tamerlane,  when 
he  descended  from  his  throne  built  of  70,000 
human  skulls,  and  marched  his  savage  battal- 
ions to  further  slaughter,  doubtless  said,  "I 
want  room.''  Baja/.et  was  another  of  kin- 
dred tastes,  and  ' '  wanted  room."  Alexander, 
too,  the  "  Macedonian  Madman,"  when  he 
wandered  with   his  Greeks   to   the  plains  of 


HISTORY  OF  \VAV\K  <  ol'XTY. 


181 


India,  and  fought  a  bloody  battle  there,  no 
doubt  did  it  for — •"room."  Thus  it  was  in 
the  olden  time,  and  thus  it  is  in  the  fast 
age  of  "Young  America."  We  all  want 
room- -room  to  grow  up,  to  expand,  to  spread 
out — in  short  to  gather  in  everything  in 
reach  and  sweep  all  before  us.  This  prevail- 
ing trait  of  our  American  energy  and  enter- 
prise led  to  an  addition  being  made  to  the 
town  of  Fairfield  in  1S37,  followed  by  a 
number  of  others  of  later  years.  Fiddeman 
made  the  first  Addition  after  the  original 
plat,  which  is  dated  July  19,  1S37,  and  re- 
corded May  19,  1S3S.  Hugh  Stewart  made 
an  addition  Juue  1,  1840,  which  was  surveyed 
by  William  L.  Gash,  County  Surveyor. 
Felix  Barnhill's  Addition  bears  date  July  16, 
1841,  and  George  L.  Slocumb's  December  4, 
1851.  Turney  made  two  additions — one 
dated  August  25,  1852,  and  the  other  Feb- 
ruary 14,  1853.  Isaac  C.  Sailer  made  two 
additions  dated  as  follows:  December  30, 
1IS72,  and  January  7,  1873;  Rinard  made 
three  additions,  dated  November  22,  1870, 
January  3,  1874,  and  May  10,  1874.  On  the 
3d  of  April,  1873,  Hiram  F.  Sibley  made  an 
addition,  and  Rider  Brothers  April  30,  1874. 
The  Railroad  Addition  was  made  September 
22.  1871 ;  Hayward's  Addition  September  6, 
1881;  G.  J.  George's,  May  0,  1881,  and 
Shaeffer's  Addition  made  about  1882,  but  is 
still  unrecorded.  These  additions,  together 
with  the  original  plat,  comprise  the  present 
area  of  Fairfield.  It  covers  ground  enough 
for  a  place  of  10,000  inhabitants,  but  its  cit- 
izens have  laid  out  their  grounds,  improved 
their  lots  and  built  their  houses  with  an  eye 
to  the  fact  already  mentioned — room.  Fair- 
field ought  to  be  a  large  town.  It  has  every 
natural  facility  for  becoming  so — a  lovely 
site,  a  healthy  location,  with  two  railroads 
crossing  at  right  angles,  and  a  wealthy  com- 
munity   surrounding     it.       What    more    is 


needed?  Energy,  enterprise,  goahead-ative- 
ness,  and  live,  wide-awake  business  zeal  and 
management.  The  natural  surroundings  can 
not  be  improved;  let  but  the  people  do  as  well 
as  nature, and  Fairfield  will  yet  be  a  great  city. 
Stores.  — Samuel  Leech  was  the  pioneer 
merchant  of  Fairfield.  He  opened  out  a  stock 
of  goods  in  a  house  erected  for  the  purpose 
near  his  residence.  His  store  was  finally 
burned,  but  he  continued  in  business  several 
years  longer,  and  then  engaged  in  politics. 
He  held  all  the  county  offices,  and  if  there 
had  been  more  offices  he  would  doubtless 
have  held  them,  too.  He  was  also  Postmas- 
ter. He  was  one  of  those  characters  who 
seem  to  appear  just  where  and  when  they  are 
most  needed.  His  finger-marks  are  still  to 
be  seen,  and  tell  to  those  who  have  succeeded 
him  the  story  of  his  handiwork,  and  have 
inscribed  his  epitaph  upon  the  hearts  of 
the  thousands  who  are  reaping  the  fruits  of 
his  labors  and  his  foresight.  A  man  named 
McFadden  was  the  next  merchant  to  Leech. 
He  was  from  Mt.  Vernon,  Ind.,  but  did  not 
remain  here  long.  His  store  stood  on  the 
corner  now  occupied  by  Ball's  shop.  A  man 
named  Gold,  from  Shawneetown,  was  the 
next  merchant.  He  sold  goods  in  a  house 
opposite  David  W.  Barkley's,  on  the  east  side 
of  the  street.  A  residence  now  stands  upon 
the  lot,  and  is  occupied  by  Mrs.  Barger. 
But  few  now  living  are  aware  that  a  business 
house  ever  stood  there.  A  man  named  Redd 
succeeded  Gold  in  this  house,  continuing  bus- 
iness in  it  for  several  years.  The  next  effort 
in  the  mercantile  line  was  a  copartnership 
between  Leech  and  Rigdon  B.  Slocumb. 
They  remained  in  partnership  for  about  five 
years,  when  Leech  retired,  and  Slocumb  car- 
ried on  the  business  some  years  longer,  but 
then  embarked  in  politics.  As  a  politician, 
his  record  will  be  found  in  another  part  of 
this  volume. 


182 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE   COUNTY. 


Cahb  Williams  next  entered  the  mercan- 
tile trade.  He  appeared  upon  the  scene 
about  1829.  Both  his  residence  and  busi- 
ness house  are  still  standing,  and  constitute 
but  one  building.  He  lived  in  one  end,  and 
sold  goods  in  the  other  end.  It  stands  on 
the  corner,  just  across  the  street  from  J  oseph 
Ball's  saddle  and  harness  shop.  It  was  of 
logs,  but  has  been  weather-boarded.  C.  I. 
Ridgeway  was  afterward  associated  with  him 
as  a  partner,  and  together  they  built  the 
house  now  occupied  by  Bonham  as  a  store, 
and  continued  in  it  until  1844—15.  They 
built  the  house  one  story  only,  and  the  pres- 
ent proprietors  have  added  another  story. 

The  building  known  as  the  "  marble 
front,"  was  for  many  years  a  landmark,  and 
was  well  known  over  a  large  district  of 
country.  It  was  built  by  Wesley  Staten,  who 
manufactured  hats,  and  used  it  both  as  store, 
warehouse  and  factory.  Archibald  Roberts, 
mentioned  in  the  history  of  Barnhill  Town- 
ship, was  for  some  time  his  partner  in  busi- 
ness. The  house  stood  south  of  Bonham' s 
store,  and  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  street. 
The  trade  of  hatter  was  as  common  and  as 
popular  a  trade  then  as  that  of  blacksmith, 
as  the  merchants  did  not  bring  on  hats  in 
those  days  like  they  do  now,  but  they  were 
manufactured  by  the  hatter  the  same  as 
plows  were  manufactured  by  the  blacksmith. 
The  hatter  bought  all  kinds  of  furs,  and  these 
he  manufactured  into  hats  at  his  leisure,  or 
as  his  trade  demanded.  The  back  end  of 
Staten's  building  was  used  for  storing  furs, 
and  was  without  a  floor  other  than  the  ground. 
In  one  corner  of  the  room  a  well  had  been 
dug,  which  was  quite  deep  and  without  curb 
or  box.  One  day,  when  a  number  of  custom 
ers  were  in  the  store,  a  small  child  wandered 
into  the  back  room,  and  accidentally  tum- 
bled into  the  well.  Staten,  as  luck  would 
have  it,  saw  it  fall   in,  and  without   a  mo- 


ment's hesitation  jumped  in  and  rescued  it, 
to  the  great  joy  of  its  nearly  frantic  mother. 

This  brings  the  record  of  the  mercantile 
business  down  twenty  years  from  the  date  of 
laying  out  the  town.  In  1839,  Jacob  Hall 
opened  a  stock  of  goods  in  Leech's  old  store- 
house, north  of  Bonham's  residence.  Later 
on  he  built  a  storehouse  on  the  lot  where  Mr. 
J.  F.  Smith's  photograph  gallery  stands. 
He  then  sold  goods  for  awhile  on  the  south 
side  of  the  square,  with  John  Truesdale  as  a 
partner,  and  in  swinging  around  the  circle, 
he  next  had  his  store  in  the  old  corner  house 
— now  Ball's  harness-shop.  Mr.  Hall  is  one 
of  the  active  business  men  of  Fairfield.  For 
forty-two  years  he  has  been  actively  engaged 
in  the  town  as  a  merchant  and  a  banker, 
and  energetic  business  man,  with  but  one 
short  interruption  during  the  time.  He  is 
still  a  stirring,  wide-awake,  energetic  worker. 
The  elder  Bonham  was  perhaps  the  next  mer- 
chant to  Hall.  He  commenced  business 
about  1843-44,  where  the  old  Jackson 
House  stood.  From  this  stand  he  went  to 
the  corner  brick  (Ball's  harness-shop),  and 
thence  to  the  present  Bonham  store.  This 
brings  the  business,  however,  down  to  a  late 
day,  when  it  is  not  an  easy  task  to  keep  trace 
of  the  new  stores  as  opened.  The  town  now 
embraces  a  list  of  merchants,  who  for  cour- 
tesy, business  energy,  and  genuine  polite- 
ness, are  not  surpassed  by  any  place  in  the 
country.  Tbey  are,  to  a  considerable  extent, 
successful  and  prosperous,  and  command  the 
confidence  of  the  people. 

The  first  bank  ever  in  Fairfield,  and  the 
only  bank  of  issue,  was  the  Corn  Exchange 
Bank,  started  in  the  spring  of  1856.  It  was 
owned  by  W.  S.  Vandusen,  and  had  a  circu- 
lation of  $750,000,  secured  by  Illinois  State 
Stock.  It  continued  in  existence  until  the 
commencement  of  the  war,  when  it  was  closed 
up,  as  were   all  similar  institutions,  and  in 


HISTORY    OF   WAYXE   COUNTY. 


183 


the  final  wind-up  of  its  business  it  paid  95 
cents  on  the  dollar.  Vandusen  sold  out  his 
interest  to  a  man  named  Osgood,  of  Joliet, 
and  he  to  one  Charles  Keath,  who  also  lived 
somewhere  in  the  north  part  of  the  State. 
Keath  was  the  owner  of  the  bank  when  it 
was  wound  up  and  ceased  business.  Mr. 
Jacob  Hall  was  cashier  from  the  beginning 
to  the  final  closing  Tip  of  the  institution.  He, 
however,  continued  the  exchange  part  of  the 
business,  buying  and  selling  exchange,  as 
banks  do,  until  the  organization  of  new  bank- 
ing facilities  in  the  town. 

The  bank  of  Bonham  &  Co.  was  started 
some  six  or  eight  years  ago,  and  comprised 
in  the  firm  Messrs.  Ed  Bonham,  Charles 
Beecher  and  William  Sailer.  They  still 
carry  on  the  banking  business  in  all  its 
branches,  and  have  a  neat  and  commodious 
bank  building  west  of  the  public  square. 
Forth,  Robinson  &  Boggs,  started  a  bank 
some  years  ago,  but  continued  the  business 
but  a  short  time. 

Mills  and  Factories. — The  manufacturing 
industries  of  Fairfield  are  few,  and  mostly 
unimportant,  being  confined  chiefly  to  mills. 
Hardin  Barnhill  built  the  first  mill  in  the 
town  in  a  very  early  day.  It  was  a  horse 
mill,  and  stood  just  across  the  street  from 
Air.  Thomas  Cooper's  residence.  Probably 
the  next  mill  was  built  by  Bonham  &  Tarles, 
and  was  a  steam  mill.  It  was  both  a  grist 
and  saw  mill,  and  did  well  for  the  time.  It 
finally  burned.  Ephraim  Johnson  built  the 
next  mill  on  the  creek  north  of  the  bank, 
which  was  also  a  steam  mill.  It  was  bought 
by  the  owners  of  the  Sucker  Mills,  after 
the  erection  of  their  mills  in  order  to  get  it 
out  of  their  way.  Next  came  the  Fairfield 
Mills.  They  were  built  by  John  Gaddis, 
about  1875-70,  and  were  afterward  burned. 
Then  the  present  mills  were  built.  After 
their  completion.  Gaddis  sold,  in  the  spring 


of  18S3,  to  Benheimer,  who  has  greatly  im- 
proved them.  He  has  put  in  all  the  modern 
machinery,  including  the  roller  process,  and 
guarantees  to  make  as  good  flour  as  is  made 
by  any  mill  in  the  country.  The  Sucker 
Mills  precede  the  Fairfield  Mills  in  point  of 
time  of  building  them.  They  were  put  up 
in  1867,  at  a  cost  of  $20,000,  by  Rider 
Brothers  &  Rinard.  They  were  started  with 
four  set  of  buhrs,  three  for  wheat  and  one  for 
corn.  In  1870,  the  firm  changed  to  Rider 
Sons  &  Rinard,  and  in  1873,  Rider  & 
Rinard  retired,  when  the  firm  became  Rider 
Brothers.  They  refitted  the  mills  in  1882, 
putting  in  the  roller  process  at  an  additional 
cost  of  $0,000,  and  increasing  their  capacity 
to  100  barrels  per  day.  The  mills  are  located 
near  the  O.  &  M.  depot,  and  obtained  the 
name  of  "Sucker  Mills,"  in  consequence  of 
the  original  proprietors  all  being  "Suckers.'' 
The  Fairfield  Woolen  Mills  were  projected 
originally  by  Thomas  C.  Stanley,  and  were 
on  a  very  limited  scale,  but  sufficient  for  the 
time  in  which  they  began  work.  The  first 
mills  stood  on  the  site  of  the  present  build- 
ing, and  was  a  large  frame.  This  building 
burned  in  the  spring  of  1871,  incurring  a 
heavy  loss  to  the  proprietor.  The  enterprise 
was  then  revived  by  a  joint-stock  company 
chartered  the  same  year.  The  official  board 
were  James  McCartney,  President;  W.  J. 
Sailer,  Secretary  and  Treasurer,  and  Thomas 
C.  Stanley,  Superintendent.  They  erected 
the  present  handsome  brick  building,  and 
arrauged  for  a  more  extensive  business.  The 
approximate  cost  of  the  establishment  as  it 
now  stands  is  $40,000.  The  mills  make  a 
specialty  of  "Kentucky  jeans,"  finding 
their  market  with  jobbers  throughout  the 
Central  and  Northwestern  States.  They  em- 
ploy sixty-three  regular  hands,  running  in 
the  busy  season  sixty  looms,  technically 
known  as  a  three-set  mill.     The  corporation 


184 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


ceased  to  exist  in  1882,  and  became  the  prop- 
erty of  W.  J.  Sailer  and  A.  H.  Baker.  For 
the  year  ending  December  31,  1832,  the  ap- 
proximate sales  were  $100,000;  the  pay-roll 
is  about  $20,000  per  year. 

The  manufacture  of  castor  oil  was  at  one 
time  an  extensive  business  in  Fairfield.  Dr. 
William  Turney  first  started  into  the  man- 
ufacture of  the  oil  in  a  small  way,  by  what 
was  known  as  the  lever  press.  He  was  fol- 
lowed by  James  Torrence  and  McClerkins, 
and  after  them  Thomas  Cooper,  Sr.  They 
pressed  by  1  screw  power  driven  by  horses. 
Isaac  Fitzgerrel  was  also  in  the  business.  At 
one  time  the  cultivation  of  caBtor  beans  by 
the  farmers  was  extensive,  and  was  the  largest 
crop  produced  by  them.  But  as  years 
passed  the  business  drooped,  and  was  finally 
discontinued  entirely.  This,  so  far  as  we 
can  learn,  comprises  the  history  of  Fairfield 
manufactories. 

Samuel  Leech  was  the  first  Postmaster  of 
Fairfield.      Then  the  olfice  was  small  and  in- 
significant, and  Mr.  Leech  could  very  easily 
have  carried  the  office  and  its  emoluments,  too 
as  to   that,  in  his  breeches  pocket,  and  then 
had  vacant  room  left  for  his  plug  of  tobacco. 
Mr.  Tom  Scott,  the  present  Postmaster  Gen- 
eral, finds  the  manipulating  of  the  mail-bags 
a  far  larger  job  then  did   Mr.  Leech  some 
half  a  century  before    him.     Some   idea   of 
the  growth    of  the  country,  and  the  changes 
that  have  been  wrought  in  the  passing  years, 
may  best  be  had  by  a  comparison  of  the  busi- 
ness of  the  post    office    then    and    now.      It 
would  be  difficult  to  think  of  society  at  pres- 
ent without  the  post  office.     It  is  one  of  the 
most  important    and    useful  institutions   to 
civilization  that  is  given  to  us  by  the  United 
States  Government.       The  first    Postmaster, 
Mr.    Leech,   did  not,  on    an  average,  receive 
three  letters  a  month  in  his  post  office.     Mr. 
Scott  receives  in   his  over   5,000  per  month. 


For  years  after  the  establishment  of  a  post 
office,  the  reception  of  a  newspaper  through 
the  mail  was  a  most  uncommon  occurrence, 
but  now  great  bags  full  of  them  are  received 
daily.  At  one  time  the  mails,  carried  on 
horseback,  passed  through  the  county  weekly, 
when  they  were  permitted  by  the  streams  to 
go  through  at  all;  now  the  mails  are  brought 
from  the  East  and  the  West,  and  the  North 
and  the  South  by  lightning  railroad  trains. 
This  increase  of  mail  matter  shows  to  some 
extent  the  proper  measure  of  the  growth  of 
population  of  the  county,  and  the  spread  of 
intelligence  and  education. 

The  first  blacksmith  in  Fairfield  was  a  man 
named  Graham,  who  kept  a  shop  on  the  bank 
of  the  creek  near  where  Mrs.  Johnson's 
boarding  house  stands.  Hugh  Stewart  had 
an  early  shop  across  the  street  from  Graham's. 
Stewart  came  from  Big  Mound  Township, 
and  for  years  was  a  man  of  considerable 
prominence.  He  laid  off  an  addition  to  the 
town,  and  did  many  other  acts  for  its  im- 
provement and  prosperity. 

Taverns. — There  was  no  regular  tavern  in 
the  town  for  several  years  after  it  was  laid 
out.  Samuel  Leech  was  the  first  individual 
who  entertained  the  "  wayfaring  man,"  or  in 
hotel  parlance,  "  entertained  man  and  beast," 
but  he  did  not  keep  a  regular  tavern.  It  was 
left  to  Charles  Wood  to  open  the  first  public 
house.  A  house  had  been  bui  It  for  a  tavern 
by  Jackson,  known  as  the  "  Jackson  House," 
but  Jackson  failed,  and  Wood  became  the 
landlord  of  the  Jackson  House.  Moses 
Turney  kej>t  the  next  tavern,  but  soon  failed, 
broke  up  and  went  to  Texas.  Jacob  Hall 
built  a  tavern  at  the  O.  &  M.  depot,  which  is 
also  called  the  Jackson  House,  from  the  fact 
that  he  (Jackson)  [kept  it  for  awhile.  The 
Jackson  House  was  finally  burned.  The  ho- 
tels thus  described  were  all  the  town  had 
until  the  erection  of  Lang's  Hotel.      This  is 


HISTORY   OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


185 


a  large,  commodious,  and  even  elegant  hotel 
building. 

Court  House. — In  the  older  counties  and 
cities  and  towns  of  the  world,  there  is  some 
characteristic  to  be  observed,  some  peculiarity 
that  distinguish  them,  and  render  them  noted 
among  the  nations  and  the  people.  In  dif- 
ferent places  it  is  different  objects  of  inter- 
est. Here  it  may  be  tho  style  of  architect- 
ure, there  the  grandeur  of  public  works  or 
buildings,  in  this  place  magnificent  ruins,  in 
that,  manners,  customs,  etc.,  but  there  is  al- 
ways something  in  every  country,  or  city,  or 
community,  to  distinguish  it  from  the  rest  of 
the  world.  Egypt,  for  instance,  has  been 
noted  for  a  thousand  years  for  its  colossal 
pyramids;  the  lofty  columns  of  Persepolis, 
the  magnificent  city  of  the  plain,  have 
moldered  into  dust,  but  as  ruins  remain  to 
challenge  our  admiration;  Jerusalem  is  famed 
wherever  civilization  has  extended,  for  Solo- 
mon's Temple,  of  which  the  Queen  of  Sheba 
declared  "  half  the  glory  had  not  been  told." 
Coming  down  to  a  more  modern  epoch,  Lon- 
don is  famed  for  its  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  and 
Westminster  Abbey,  and  Paris  for  the  Tuil- 
leries  and  its  magnificent  parks  and  gardens. 
In  our  own  great  country,  New  York  has  her 
Crystal  Palace;  Boston,  Old  Faneuil;  Phil- 
adelphia, Independence  Hall,  and  Fairfield 
— has  her  court  house.  This  huge  pile  of 
brick  and  mortar'(the  Fairfield  Court  House), 
like  the  temple  of  Tadmor  in  the  wilderness, 
may  be  seen  from  afar,  and  serve  as  a  beacon 
light  to  guide  the  traveler  and  stranger  on 
his  way.  It  looms  up  above  the  surrounding 
buildings  as  the  giant  oak  of  the  forest  tow- 
ers above  the  willow  of  the  marsh,  and  is 
surmounted  by  a  lofty  cupola  which  pierces 
the  clouds.  This  massive  structure  was 
erected  so  long  ago  that  "  the  mind  of  man 
runneth  to  the  contrary,"  and  if  "  old  ago  is 
honorable,"  as  we  are  told  that  it  is,   then 


honors  should  be  heaped  upon  it  from  every 
quarter.  But  to  dispense  with  all  jesting 
and  light  remarks,  we  doubt  not  the  time  is 
near  at  hand,  when  a  new  court  house  will 
be  erected,  upon  tho  sito  of  this  dilapidated 
structure,  that  will  be  a  credit  to  tho  great 
and  wealthy  county  of  Wayne.  Though  it 
may  be  that  the  present  one  is  endeared  to  the 
people  as  a  'relic  of  tho  prehistoric  period, 
yet,  that  is  no  reason  why  the  old  shell  should 
stand  as  an  eyesoro  among  the  improvements 
that  are  rising  around  it. 

Fairfield  has  been  visited  more  than  once 
by  the  "  fire  fiend, "  but  none  of  the  fires 
have  been  of  a  very  destructive  character. 
Among  them  were  the  burning  of  Bonham  & 
Tarles'  Mills;  the  old  Fairfield  Woolen  Mills; 
the  Jackson  House;  the  old  frame  school- 
house;  the  O.  &.  M.  Depot,  etc.,  etc.  None 
of  these  fires  entailed  a  very  great  loss,  but 
usually  the  vacant  spots  thus  made  have  been 
filled  with  much  better  buildings,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  woolen  mills,  the  Jackson  House 
and  the  schoolhouse.  When  we  look  at  so 
many  wooden  towns,  we  are  led  to  wonder 
that  more  of  them  are  not  burned  than  there 
are.  A  town  springs  up  on  the  prairie,  built 
almost  wholly  of  pine  lumber,  and  in  a  few 
years  it  becomes  so  dry  that  it  burns  very 
easily.  When  one  happens  to  take  fire  with 
a  prairie  wind  blowing  twenty  miles  an  hour-, 
it  is  usually  doomed.  Fairfield  has  escaped 
well,  considering  it  has  had  so  many  oppor- 
tunities to  burn. 

The  press  of  Fairfield  is  no  inconsiderable 
factor  in  tho  history  of  the  town  and  county. 
There  is  no  more  faithful  historian  of  a  com- 
munity than  the  local  press;  and  be  it  ever 
so  humble  or  unpretentious,  it  cannot  fail  in 
tho  course  of  years  to  furnish  valuable  in- 
formation for  future  reference.  A  file  of  the 
local  paper  for  a  dozen  or  more  years  pre- 
sents  a    fund    of    information,  the  value  of 


186 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


which  can  hardly  be  estimated.  An  eminent 
divine  has  said,  "  the  local  paper  is  not  only 
a  business  guide,  but  it  is  a  pulpit  of  morals; 
it  is  a  kind  of  public  rostrum  where  the  af- 
fairs of  state  are  considered;  it  is  a  super- 
visor of  streets  and  roads;  it  is  a  rewarder  of 
merit;  it  is  a  social  friend,  a  promoter  of 
friendship  and  good  will.  Even  the  so-called 
small  matters  of  a  village  are  only  small  to 
those  whose  hearts  are  too  full  of  personal 
pomposity."  It  is  very  important  if  some 
school  boy  or  school  girl  reads  a  good  essay, 
or  speaks  well  a  piece,  or  sings  well  a  song, 
or  stands  well  in  the  class  room,  that  kind 
mention  should  be  made  publicly  of  such 
success,  for  more  youug  minds  are  injured 
for  want  of  cheering  words  than  are  made 
vain  by  an  excess  of  such  praise.  In  the 
local  papers,  the  funeral  bell  tolls  more 
solemnly  than  in  the  great  city  dailies.  The 
rush  and  noise  of  the  metropolis  take  away 
the  joy  from  items  about  marriages,  and  de- 
tract from  the  solemnity  of  recorded  deaths; 
but  when  the  local  paper  notes  a  marriage 
between  two  favorites  of  society,  all  the 
readers  see  the  happiness  of  the  event;  and 
equally  when  the  columns  of  the  home 
paper  tell  us  that  some  great  or  humble  per- 
son has  gone  from  the  world,  we  read  with 
tears,  for  he  was  our  neighbor  and  friend. 

The  newspapers  of  Fairfield — the  Record 
and  the  Press — are  written  up  in  a  chapter  on 
the  county  at  large,  and  their  history  will  not 
be  repeated  in  this  connection.  The  Press 
and  Record  are  live,  wide-awake  papers,  and 
the  people  of  Fairfield  and  of  Wayne  Coun- 
ty should  feel  proud  of  them  and  should  sup- 
port them  liberally.  The  newspaper  is  the 
people's  friend,  and  the  people  should  look 
to  its  support. 

Schools. — The  first  schools  in  Fairfield 
were  taught  in  any  building  that  might  chance 
to  be  vacant  and  convenient  for  school  pur- 


poses. The  names  of  the  first  teachers  are 
now  forgotten.  The  first  schoolhouse  was 
built  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  street  from 
the  new  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  It 
was  a  large  frame  building,  and  served  the 
purposes  of  education  for  a  good  many  years, 
but  was  finally  burned.  The  present  brick 
schoolhouse  was  built  in  1874,  and  cost  orig- 
inally about  '$10,000.  Since  its  comple- 
tion, improvements  and  additions  have 
been  made  to  it,  running  its  cost  up  half 
as  much  more.  The  house  is  large,  com- 
modious and  comfortable,  and  is  well 
arranged  for  educational  purposes.  At  pres- 
ent eight  teachers  are  employed,  as  follows: 
I.  M.  Dickson  (Principal),  Mrs.  E.  S.  Phelps, 
Miss  Elizabeth  Graham,  Miss  Hannah  Bean, 
Miss  Bessie  Taylor,  Miss  Lulu  Porterfield, 
Miss  Mabel  Hollister,  Miss  Ida  Swan. 

The  church  history  will  be  found  in 
another  chapter,  and  only  the  briefest  allu- 
sion will  be  made  here.  The  Baptists  put  up 
the  first  church  building  in  the  town.  It  has 
been  gone  for  at  least  twenty-five  years,  and 
few  now  remember  that  such  a  building  ever 
stood  in  the  town.  The  Presbyterians  and 
the  Cumberland  Presbyterians  were  the  first 
denominations  to  hold  meetings,  but  the  Bap- 
tists built  the  first  church.  The  Cumberland 
Presbyterians  built  the  next  house  of  worship, 
and  were  followed  by  the  Methodists.  The 
Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church  is  still 
standing,  but  begins  to  show  signs  of  age. 
A  church  was  built  near  where  Overbay's 
boarding  house  now  stands,  but  it  was  never 
completed.  The  town  now  can  boast  of  five 
as  handsome  church  buildings — modern  brick 
edifices — as  may  be  found  in  any  country 
town.  There  are  five  brick  and  one  frame 
church  buildings,  and  are  owned  respectively 
by  the  Presbyterians,  Cumberland  Presby- 
terians, Christian,  Baptists,  Methodists  and 
Roman  Catholics.     For  a  more  complete  his- 


p^^v 


:S 


on^i_ 


•  * w  'V...  *.  '*  "■ pi'«v  » v '  vj^*»  •  •  /^.vi » •  • 


•    •    »    - 


•SIGN'  <A'"rt 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


1S9 


tory  of  the  Fairfield  churches,    see  chapter 
on  the  church  history  of  the  county. 

Freemasonry,  the  most  ancient  and  honor- 
able of  all  the  secret  orders  and  societies,  has 
long  existed  in  Fairfield.  Its  origin  is  a 
point  upon  which  there  is  much  curious  spec- 
ulation among  men.  and  about  which  there 
is  some  contradiction  and  more  conjecture 
among  those  noted  for  their  knowledge  of 
ancient  history,  that  it  originated  so  long  ago, 
that  no  history  tells  of  its  beginning,  is  true. 
That  Masons  are  to  be  found  in  almost  every 
country,  subjected  to  the  white  man's  suprem- 
acy, is  a  point  universally  admitted.  In  tribes 
and  countries,  where  letters  and  arts  are  ex- 
tinct, and  where  commerce  and  modern  im- 
provement have  as  yet  made  no  impression 
npon  the  national  character,  the  grand  features 
of  Masonry  are  found  to  be  correct.  This  re- 
markable coincidence  is  accounted  for  in 
various  ways  by  different  writers  upon  the 
subject.  All  who  have  carefully  considered 
the  origin  of  the  order  have  been  convinced 
that  the  germ  from  which  it  sprang  was  co- 
eval with  that  wonderful  command  of  Jeho- 
vah, "Let  there  be  light."  At  the  building 
of  King  Solomon's  Temple,  the  order  as- 
sumed something  like  a  definite  form.  "We 
Learn  from  tradition  and  from  Josephus  that, 
at  the  erection  of  that  superb  model  of  archi- 
tectural beauty,  there  were  employed  three 
grand  masters.  3,300  masters  or  overseers  of 
the  work.  80,000  fellow-crafts,  and  70,000 
entered  apprentices,  who  were  ail  systemat- 
ically arranged  according  to  their  grade  and 
rank. 

We  have  been  told  by  a  writer  of  intelli- 
gence and  veracity,  that,  "  after  the  comple- 
tioa  of  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem,  most  of  the 
Tyrians  who  had  been  employed  by  Solomon 
returned  to  their  native  country.'"  From  the 
same  source  we  learn  that  many  of  the  Jews 
who    had    been    engaged  upon    the  Temple 


migrated  to  Phoenicia,  a  country  of  which 
Tyre  was  then  the  principal  city.  For  some 
cause,  left  unexplained  by  the  historian,  this 
Jewish  colony  was  oppressed  by  its  neigh- 
bors, and  flew  to  their  friends,  the  Tyrians, 
for  relief.  The  latter  furnished  them  with 
ships  and  provisions,  and  they  (the  Jews) 
took  their  departure  for  a  foreign  land,  and 
finally  settled  in  Spain.  If  as  workmen  at 
the  Temple,  they  had  been  invested  with 
secrets  not  known  to  others,  there  can  be  no 
doubt  but  that  they  preserved  and  carried 
them  wherever  they  went.  Another  writer 
informs  us  that  about  190  years  after  the 
Trojan  war,  which  would  be  about  fifteen 
years  after  the  completion  of  the  temple  at 
Jerusalem,  a  colony  of  Jews  from  Palestine 
made  a  permanent  settlement  on  the  western 
coast  of  Africa.  From  these  three  distinctive 
points,  we  may  follow  the  march  and  spread 
of  Masonry  throughout  the  world.  In  all 
the  countries  settled  by  emigration  from  these 
places,  or  connected  with  these  people,  either 
by  alliance  or  commerce,  Masonry  is  found, 
her  signs  the  same,  her  mystic  word  the  same 
in  all.  And  that  it  has  existed  in  some  form 
ever  since  there  is  no  shadow  of  doubt  in  the 
mind  of  the  educated  craftsman.  At  what 
precise  date  it  became  speculative  and 
dropped  the  operative  form  is  not  definitely 
known.  In  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  the  Grand  Lodge  of  England  was 
established,  and  from  that  day  to  this  the 
history  of  Masonry  is  familiar  to  all  reading 
members  of  the  order. 

Fairfield  Lodge,  No.  200.  A.,  F.  &  A.  M., 
was  chartered  October  7,  1856.  Among  its 
charter  members  were  T.  H.  Lowrey,  B.  Baer, 
J.  Watson,  E.  Brock,  H.  Weed  and  C.  C. 
Kelley.  The  first  officers  were  as  follows:  T. 
H.  Lowrey,  Master;  J.  Watson,  Senior  War- 
den; E.  Brock,  Junior  Warden;  H.  Weed, 
Treasurer;    D.    Turney,  Secretary;  B.    Baer, 


100 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


Senior  Deacon;  C.  Ridgeway,  Junior  Dea- 
con, and  B.  Glessner,  Tiler.  The  lodge  has 
now  seventy-rive  members,  officered  as  fol- 
lowed: J.  W.  Tullis,  Master;  George  C. 
Chittenden,  Senior  Warden;  Z.  West,  Junior 
Warden;  J.  T.  Fleming,  Treasurer;  J.  L. 
Handley,  Secretary;  L.  D.  Bennett,  Senior 
Deacon;  J.  H.  Nicholls,  Junior  Deacon;  and 
W.  H.  Rea,  Tiler. 

Fairfield  Chapter,  No.  179,  R.  A.  M.,  was 
chartered  October  30,  1879,  with  the  follow- 
ing charter  members:  J.  L.  Handley,  J.  W. 
Tullis,  L.  D.  Bennett,  T.  M.  Rogers,  H.  V. 
Leech,  R.  D.  Adams,  J.  T.  Fleming.  W.  H. 
Robinson,  N.  E.  Roberts,  W.  Bestow,  G.  C. 
Chittenden,  J.  Nevins,  A.  Rinard,  R.  P.  Han- 
na,  W7.  M.  Murray,  George  Felix,  R.  Wheel- 
er, F.  Bestow,  A.  H.  McClain,  G.  H.  Hil- 
lard  and  John  Gaddis.  The  first  officers 
were  J.  L.  Handley,  H.\  P.\;  J.  W.  Tullis, 
K.\  ;  L.  D.  Bennett,  S.-. ;  H.  V.  Leech,  C.\ 
of  H.\  ;  G.  C.  Chittenden,  P.\  S.  \;  N.  E. 
Roberts,  R.  \  A.\  C.  \ ;  G.  H.  Hillard,  R.  P. 
Hanna  and  R.  D.  Adams,  Veilsmen;  A.  Ri- 
nard, Treasurer;  J.  T.  Fleming,  Secretary; 
and  L.  D.  Shaeffer,  Tiler.  The  chapter  now 
has  forty  members,  and  is  officered  as  follows: 
J.  L.  Handley,  H.  \  P.  \  ;  R.  D.  Adams.  K.  \  ; 
R.  E.  Mabry,  S.\;  L.  D.  Bennett,  C.\  of 
H.\ ;  G.  C.  Chittenden,  P.".  S.\ ;  J.  W.  Tul- 
lis, R..  A.-.  C.\ ;  C.  L.  Poindexter,  J.  R. 
Creighton  and  J.  E.  Wilson,  Grand  Masters 
of  the  Veils;  J.  T.  Fleming,  Treasurer;  W. 
G.  Carothers,  Secretary;  and  J.  C.  Alexan- 
der, Tiler. 

Fairfield  Council,  No.  64,  Royal  and  Se- 
lect Masters,  was  chartered  October  21,  1883, 
with  the  following  charter  members:  J.  C. 
Alexander,  D.  W.  Barkley,  R.  D.  Adams,  L. 
D.  Bennett,  J.  R.  Creighton,  G.  C.  Chitten- 
den, W.  G.  Carothers,  J.  T.  Fleming.  J.  L. 
Handley,  R.  P.  Hanna,  J.  Morris,  R.  E. 
Mabry,   E.    McClung,    B.    F.    Meeks,  W.    M. 


Murray,  C.  L.  Poindexter,  N.  E.  Roberts,  A. 
Rinard,  J.  D.  Shaeffer,  E.  Steiner,  T.  W. 
Scott,  J.  W.  Tullis,  N.  M.  Powers  and  W.  J. 
Elwell.  The  officers  are  J.  L.  Handley,  T.  I. 
G.  M. ;  N.  E.  Roberts,  D.  I.  G  M. ;  L.  D. 
Bennett,  P.  of  W.;  J.  T.  Fleming,  Recorder; 

C.  L.  Poindexter,  Treasurer;  G.  C.  Chitten- 
den, C.  of  G. ;  E.  Steiner,  Sentinel,  and  the 
names  of  twenty-nine  members  are  on  the 
roll. 

Local  Branch,  No.  137,  Order  of  Iron  Hall, 
was  organized  .November  27,  1882,  with 
charter  members  as  follows:  Jacob  Raden- 
bach,  James  C.  Long,  Jacob  A  Miller, 
James  A.  Johnston,  Charles  C.  Smith,  Win- 
field  Scott,  Z.  C.  Woodworth.  Zelma  Bean, 
Jacob  Puff.  John  Crouch,  John  J.  Sloan,  John 

D.  Long,  Ira  D.  Long,  Z.  B.  West.  Charles 
W.  Sibley,  James  Abbott,    E.   P.  Thompson, 

E.  L.  Carlton,  John  Tullis,  Jr..  J.  W.  Darl- 
ing, James  Emmons  and  Thomas  Cottrill: 
with  the  following  officers:  Jacob  Raden- 
bach,  C.  J.;  C.  C.  Smith,  V.  J.;  J.  B.  West, 
A.;  Z.  C.  Woodworth,  C;  J.  J.  Sloan,  P. ;  Z. 
Bean,  A.;  Ira  D.  Long,  H. ;  John  D.  Long, 
N.;  Jacob  Puff.  V.;  and  C.  W.  Sibley.  M.  E. 
The  amount  of  sick  benefits  paid  to  members 

I  to  December  20,  1883,  is  $960.     It  has  cer- 
i  tainly  proven  to   be  the   poor  man's  friend, 
and  bids  fair  to  have  a  rapid  growth. 

Royal  Templars  of  Temperance  was  char- 
tered December  30,  1879,  and  started  on  its 
career  with  the  following  charter  members: 
Males — W.  H.  Vandewater,  G.  M.  Davis,  J. 
Frank  Smith,  E.  B.  Hanna,  R.  W.  McCall, 
C.  W.  Sibley,  H.  L.  Wheat,  George  A.  Steal- 
ly  and  N.  J.  Odell.  Females— Mrs.  S.  J. 
Steally,  Mrs.  L.  J.  Boggs.  Mrs.  E.  B.  Gal- 
braith,  Mrs.  McClure,  Mrs.  Louisa  Shaw, 
Mrs.  N.  J.  Smith,  Mrs.  Edna  Fogle,  Mrs.  M. 
M.  Campbell  and  Mrs.  J.  A.  Brown.  The 
first  officers  were  J.  F.  Smith,  S.  C. ;  Mrs.  S. 
J.  Steally.  Y.  C;  H.  L.  Wheat.  P.  C. :  Mrs. 


HISTORY   OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


193 


E.  B.  Galbraith,  C. ;  W.  H.  Vandewater.  R. 
S. ;  G.  S.  Steally.  F.  S. ;  G.  M.  Davis,  T. ; 
N.  J.  Odell,  H. ;  Mrs.  McClure,  D.  H. ;  Mrs. 
L.  J.  Boggs,  G. ;  E.  M.  Hough,  S.  The 
membership  is  twenty  males  and  sixteen  fe- 
males, with  the  following  officers:  J.  Frank 
Smith,  S.  C. ;  Mrs.  A.  B.  Haggard,  V.  C. ; 
G.  M.  Davis,  P.  C;  D.  M.  Steally,  C;  Mrs. 
N.  Dickson,  R.  S.;  George  A.  Steally,  F.  S.; 
E.  J.  xMarlow,  S. ;  N.  J.  Odell,  H. ;  Mrs.  L. 
J.  Boggs.  D.  H. ;  Mrs.  N.  B.  Smith,  G; 
Robert  Moon,  T. 

Odd  Fellowship  at  one  time  flourished  in 
Fairfield,  and  the  fraternity  had  an  active 
working  lodge.  From  some  cause  unusual 
with  this  zealous  and  praiseworthy  order,  the 
lodge  has  become  lukewarm,  and  recently 
ceased  to  exist  altogether.  There  is  strong 
talk  of  reviving  it,  and  doubtless  it  soon  will 
be  revived,  and  set  to  work  again  with  its 
old-time  vigor. 

Lodge  No.  65,  A.  O.  U.  W.,  was  organized 
March  30,  1S79.  The  charter  members  were 
John  Morris,  Thomas  W.  Scott.  W.  G.  Ca- 
rothers,  Edward  E.  Leonard.  Joseph  D. 
Leonard,  Joseph  D.  Shaeffer,  Francis  A.  Fel- 
ton,  Framis  M.  Woolard,  John  L.  Haudley, 
Robert  E.  Mallory,  Alexander  Richardson, 
Sumner  Lindsay,  Daniel  C.  Groves,  George 
Newton,  James  A.  Cox.  Lewis  H.  Baker, 
Charles  W.  Sibley.  Arthur  J,  Hutchins,  John 
Gaddis,  Ansel  M.  Lusley  and  Joseph  L.  Ball. 
The  first  officers  were  as  follows:  J.  L. 
Handley,  P.  M.  W. :  T.  W.  Scott,  M.  W. ; 
W.  G.  Carothers,   F.;    A.  M.  Lusley,  O. ;    R. 

E.  Mallory,  G. ;  J.  D.  Shaeffer,  B.;  L.  H. 
Baker,  F.;  E.  E.  Leonard.  R. ;  J.  A.  Cox,  J. 
W. ;  George  Newton,  O.  W;    C.  W.  Sibley, 

F.  A.  Felton  and  Alexander  Richardson, 
Trustees.  The  institution  has  eighty  mem- 
bers at  present,  and  is  officered  as  follows: 
William  Lusley.  P.'*M.  W.;  D.  W.  Barkley, 
M.  W.;  S.  Forney.  F. :  N.  M.  Powell,  ().;  .1. 


L.  Handley.  ]!,:  C.  T.  Johnson,  R. ;  S. 
Steiner,  F. ;  W.  L.  Rea,  G. ;  G.  W.  Johns.  J. 
\\\;  R.  P.  Hanna,  O.  W. ;  William  Foster, 
R.  P.  Hanna  and  L    H.  Baker,  Trustees. 

Village  Organization. — The  town  of  Fair- 
field was  incorporated  May  26,  1856,  and  at 
the  first  election  the  following  Board  of 
Trustees  was  chosen:  Charles  Wood,  John 
D.  Cope,  Roley  Jackson,  Thomas  T.  Bonhnm 
and  Jacob  Baker.  At  the  first  meeting,  the 
board  organized  for  business  by  electing 
Thomas  T.  Bonham,  President,  and  John  D. 
Cope,  Clerk.  By-laws  and  ordinances  for 
the  government  of  the  town  were  drafted  by 
Bobert  Bell,  Charles  Beecher  and  Hall  Wil- 
son. Ephraim  Johnson  was  appointed Treas- 
nrer;  Hall  Wilson,  Collector;  William  Pow- 
less,  Town  Constable;  and  Robert  Schell, 
Street  Commissioner.  The  following,  with  a 
few  exceptions,  in  which  the  records  are  de- 
fective and  incomplete,  is  a  list  of  the  boards, 
from  the  incorporation  of  the  village  to  the 
present : 

Elected  in  June,  1857— Charles  Wood,  Ja- 
cob Hall,  Sampson  Wickersham,  -lames  Pen- 
dleton and  John  D.  Cope. 

Elected  in  June,  1858  —John  D.  Cope, 
George  W.  Turney,  James  B.  Ardery,  Fran- 
cis George  and  John  Truesdale.  William 
George  was  elected  Police  Magistrate  and  L. 
D.  Bennett,  Town  Constable.  It  was  at  the 
first  meeting  of  this  board  that  the  sale  of 
li(juor  was  prohibited  in  the  town  or  within 
half  a  mile  of  the  corporate  limits.  There  is 
no  record  of  an  election  of  Trustees  this  year, 
but  the  minutes  show  the  organization  of  a 
new  board  as  follows:  Roley  Jackson,  Presi- 
dent; C.  T.  Lichtenberger,  Clerk;  and  T.  T. 
Bonham,  J.  P.  Covington  and  H.  H.  Beech 
er:   II.  S.   Barnhill,  Town  Constable. 

For  18<i<).  there  is  no  record  of  an  election, 
but  on  the  9th  of  July,  a  new  board  was  or- 
ganized as  follows:    H.    H.   Beecher,  Presi- 


192 


HISTORY    OF   WAYNE   COUNTY'. 


dent;  Forsythe  Turney,  Clerk;  and  T.  T. 
Bonham,  C.  T.  Litchtenberger  and  L.  D. 
Bennett. 

At  the  election  held  December  20,  1869  * 
Oliver  P.  Patterson,  Thomas  C.  Stanley,  Jo- 
seph L.  Ball,  Gilbert  J.  George  and  Jacob 
Hall  were  elected  Trustees  for  the  ensuing 
year.  Jacob  Hall  was  elected  President;  J. 
L.  Ball,  Treasurer;  G.  J.  George,  Clerk;  and 
H.  F.  Sibley,  Town  Marshal. 

At  the  election,  December  19,  1870,  lor 
the  ensuing  year,  the  following  board  was 
elected:  Jacob  Hall,  President;  G.J.George, 
Clerk;  J.  L.  Ball,  Treasurer;  and  O.  P. 
Patterson  and  Thomas  C.  Stanley.  S.  T. 
Nance  was  appointed  Town  Marshal. 

At  the  election  of  December  18,  1871,  the 
following  board  was  elected  to  serve  the  en- 
suing year:  J. C. Alexander,  President;  C.  C. 
Boggs,  Treasurer;  and  G.  J.  George  and  D. 
W.  Barkley.  S.  T.  Nance  was  appointed 
Town  Marshal,  and  J.  L.  Ball,  Street  Com- 
missioner. 

At  the  election  of  December  16,  1872,  for 
the  ensuing  year,  James  A.  Creighton,  A.  B. 
Rider,  J.  L.  Handley,  O.  P.  Patterson  and 
G.  J.  George  were  elected.  George  was 
elected  President  of  the  board;  Creighton, 
Clerk;  and  Ed  Wilson,  Town  Constable. 

At  the  election  of  December  15,  1873,  the 
folio  ving  board  was  elected  for  the  ensuing 
year:  Oliver  Holmes,  R.  D.  Adams,  N.  J. 
Odell,  A.  H.  Baker  and  J.  V.  Baugh. 
Holmes  was  elected  President  of  the  board; 
Baugh,  Clerk;  and  Phil  M  Crabb,  Town 
Marshal. 

At  the  December  election  in  1874  for  the 
ensuing  year,  A.  B.  Rider,  J.  W.  Tullis,  J. 
A.  Moffit,  G.  J.  George  and  J.  G.  Crews. 
George  was  elected  President  of  the  board; 
Crews,  Clerk;  and  P.  M.  Crabb,  Town  Mar- 
ehal. 

♦There  is  a  break  in  the  records  from  1860  to  1809,  and  hence 
the  boards  for  those  years  could  not  be  obtained. 


At  the  December  election  in  1875  for  the 
ensuing  year,  J.  L.  Handley,  A.  B.  Rider, 
John  W.  Tullis,  Thomas  A.  Martin  and  John 
Morris  were  elected.  Handley  was  made 
President;  Morris,  Clerk;  Martin,  Treasurer; 
and  W.  N.  Dickey,  Town  Marshal. 

At  the  election  in  December,  1876,  for  the 
succeeding  year,  John  Morris,  David  W. 
Barkley,  E.  W.  Pendleton  and  John  Keen, 
Jr.,  were  elected.  Barkley  was  appointed 
President;  Morris,  Clerk;  Keen,  Treasurer; 
and  P.  M.  Crabb,  Marshal. 

At  the  election  in  December,  1877,  for  the 
next  year,  L.  J.  Rider,  G.  M.  Davis,  John 
W.  Tullis,  C.  C.  Wickersham  and  J.  P. 
Rider  were  elected  the  board.  Tullis  was 
appointed  President  of  the  board;  Davis, 
Treasurer;  Wickersham,  Clerk;  and  Crabb, 
Marshal. 

At  the  December  election,  1878,  for  the 
next  year,  the  following  board  was  elected: 
S.  M.  Steally,  J.  D.  Shaeffer,  G.  W.  Johns, 
H.  F.  Sibley  and  N.  J.  Odell.  Johns  was 
elected  President;  Steally,  Treasurer;  Sibley, 
Clerk;  and  William  Head,  Marshal. 

At  the  December  election,  1879,  for  the 
next  year,  E.  W.  Pendleton,  T.  M.  Rogers, 
O.  P.  Patterson,  B.  E.  Johnson  and  John 
Morris  were  elected  Trustees.  Rogers  was 
elected  President;  Morris,  Clerk;  Johnson, 
Treasurer;  and  P.  M.  Crabb,  Marshal. 

At  the  December  election  in  18S0,  for  the 
ensuing  year,  the  following  board  was  elect- 
ed: L.  J.  Rider,  E.  S.  Black,  J.  L.  Handley, 
C.  W.  Summers  and  Ed  Bonham.  The  latter 
was  appointed  President;  Handley,  Clerk; 
Black,  Treasurer;  and  William  Rea.  Town 
Marshal. 

At  the  December  election  in  1881,  for  the 
ensuing  year,  William  G.  Carothers,  Robert 
E.  Mabry,  B.  E.  Johnson,  Dr.  C.  W.  Sibley 
and  James  R.  Norris  were  elected  ^Trustees. 
Carothers     was    chosen    President;    Mabry, 


HISTORY  OF   WAYNE   COUNTY. 


I'M 


Clerk;  Sibley,  Treasurer:  and  R.  B.  Schell, 
Marshal. 

At  the  election  in  December.  1882,  for  the 
ensuing  year,  Thomas  L.  Cooper,  John  L. 
Handley,  John  Morris,  E.  Steiner  anil  L.  J. 
Rider  were  elected  Trustees.  Cooper  was 
appointed  President  of  the  board;  Handley, 
Clerk;  Steiner,  Treasurer;  and  R.  B.  Schell. 
Town  Marshal. 

At.  the  December  election  in  1883  (the 
present  year),  for  the  next  year.  Thomas  L. 
Cooper,  E.  W.  Pendleton.  John  Morris,  A.  H. 
Baker  and  J.  F.  Fleming  were  elected  the 
board.  At  our  latest  advices,  however,  the 
new  board  had  not  organized  or  elected  their 
officers. 


An  item  worthy  of  note  in  the  town  organ- 
ization of  Fairfield  is  that  at  the  election  of 
Trustees  in  1866  a  temperance  board  was 
elected.  The  members  were  George  Scott, 
Isaac  Fitzgerrell,  L.  D.  Bennett.  Ed  S.  Slack 
and  W.  D.  Barkley.  This  was  a  straight 
anti-whisky  board,  and,  with  the  beginning 
of  its  administration,  saloons  were  closed, 
and  have  never,  to  this  day,  been  re  opened. 
For  nearly  eighteen  years  all  whisky  drink- 
ing in  Fairfield  has  been  done  from  private 
jugs  or  behind  the  door,  as  no  licenses  have 
been  granted  to  saloons  since  the  election  of 
(he  first  temperance  board.  This  speaks  well 
for  the  morals  of  the  town  and  the  temper- 
ance habits  of  its  citizens. 


CHAPTER  XV. 


BARNHILL  AND  BIG  M01  ND  TOWNSHIPS— THEIR  GEOGRAPHICAL  AND  PHYSICAL  FKATURES— SET- 
TLEMENT—AN  INCIDENT  OF  DAVIS— WHO  THE  PIONEERS  WERE,  WHAT  THEY  DID,  AND 
WHERE  THEY  CAME   PROM— EARLY   IMPROVEMENTS  AND   INDUSTRIES— THE 
FIRST  EFFORTS  AT  MERCHANDISING— WRIGHT'S  STORE,  MILL  AND 
TANYARD— A  BUSINESS  PLACE— SCHOOLS  AND  CHURCHES 
IN  BARNHILL— THE  SAME  IN  BIG  MOUND— ODDS 
AND    ENDS— FAIRFIELD'S    BIRTH.  ETC 


THE  history  of  Barnhill  and  Big  Mound 
Townships  is  so  interwoven  that  it  can- 
not very  well  be  given  otherwise  than  in  a 
single  chapter.  Both  townships  were  settled 
early:  they  lie  side  by  side,  and  the  county- 
seat  is  alike  situated  in  both,  thus  rendering 
much  of  their  history  identical.  Each  town- 
ship contains  fifty-four  sections,  or  one  and 
a  half  Congressional  townships,  and  the 
quality  of  the  land  partakes  much  of  the 
same  nature  in  its  topographical  features 
throughout  the   two  entire  divisions.       The 

«rty  W.  II    IVrrin. 


surface  may  be  termed  generally  level  or  un- 
dulating. But  little  of  it  is  low  and  flat, 
nor  is  much  of  it  broken  and  hilly.  There 
is.  however,  a  considerable  quantity  of  what 
is  termed  "  swamp  land  "  in  both  townships. 
A  large  swamp  takes  up  nearly  all  of  Sections 
25  and  26  of  Barnhill.  into  which  (lows  sev- 
eral small  streams.  Plenty  of  artificial 
drainage  will,  no  doubt,  reclaim  even  these 
swamp  lands  in  time,  and  make  them  valua- 
ble for  farming  purposes.  A  swamp  runs 
entirely  through  Big  Mound  Township,  be- 
ginning in  Section   '■'>  I .  and  passing  through 


191 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE   COUNTY 


Sections  32,  33,  28,  27,  34,  3  and  2,  and  like 
that  in  Barnhill,  is  fed  by  numerous  streams, 
which  keep  it  tilled  with  stagnant  waters  the 
greater  part  of  the  year.  The  principal 
water-courses  are  Skillet  Fork  in  Big  Mound 
and  Pond  Creek  in  Barnhill,  both  of  which 
are  considerable  streams,  with  a  number  of 
small  and  nameless  tributaries.  These  town- 
ships are  bounded  on  the  north  by  Jasper 
and  Laniard  Townships,  on  the  east  by 
Leech,  on  the  south  by  Hamilton  and  White 
Counties,  and  on  the  west  by  Four  Mile  and 
Arrington  Townships.  Barnhill,  under  the 
Government  survey,  comprises  Township  2 
and  one-half  of  Township  3  south,  Range  8 
east;  and  Big  Mound,  Township  2,  and  one- 
half  of  Township  3  south,  Range  7  east,  of 
the  Third  Principal  Meridian.  The  latter 
township  received  its  name  from  an  elevation 
of  land  which  is  known  as  "Big  Mound," 
and  is  perhaps  the  highest  point  in  the  coun- 
ty. The  "  Air  Line  "  Railroad  passes  over 
it,  and  a  depot  has  been  built  upon  the  sum- 
mit of  the  elevation  known  as  "  Boylston 
Station."  Barnhill  was  named  in  honor  of 
the  Barnhill  family,  who  were  among  the 
earliest  settlers.  The  name  was  suggested 
by  Mr.  W.  W.  George,  at  township  organi- 
zation, and  was  unanimously  adopted.  Both 
townships  were  originally  heavily  timbered, 
with  the  exception  of  a  few  small  prairies 
which,  however,  do  not  take  up  much  of 
their  area.  A  great  deal  of  the  timber  has 
been  cutoff,  but  there  still  remains  enough 
for  all  domestic  purposes.  The  predominat 
ing  timbers  are  several  kinds  of  oak,  ash, 
hickory,  sweet  gum,  elm,  swamp  maple,  etc., 
with  numerous  shrubs.  Barnhill  and  Big 
Mi  mud  have  the  advantage  of  two  railroads, 
viz.,  the  Louisville  &  St.  Louis  Air  Line,  and 
the  Springfield  Division  of  the  Ohio  &  Mis- 
sissippi, which  have  done  much  to  increase  the 
value  of  lands  and  other  property. 


The  settlement  of  these  townships,  and 
particularly  Barnhill,  may  be  classed  among 
the  early  settlements  of  the  county.  Nearly 
seventy  years  ago,  homes  were  selected  in 
what  is  now  the  latter  township  by  white 
people.  This  is  but  a  short  period  when 
considered  in  the  world's  chronology,  but  in 
the  history  of  this  part  of  our  country  it 
seems  a  long,  long  time.  Many  and  start- 
ling events  have  transpired  since  then  — 1813 
— throughout  this  country  and  the  old 
world.  Thrones  and  kingdoms  have  passed 
away;  empires  have  risen  and  flourished  and 
fallen,  and  the  remembrance  of  their  glory 
has  almost  faded  from  the  minds  of  men,  as 
the  waves  of  dark  oblivion's  sea  sweep  o'er 
them,  and  scarcely  leave  a  track  to  tell  us 
how,  or  where,  or  when  they  sunk.  Ancient 
palaces,  in  whose  spacious  halls  the  mightiest 
rulers  proudly  trod,  show  the  ivy  clinging  to 
their  moldering  towers,  and 

"  Victor's  wreaths,  and  monarch's  gems, 
Have  blended  with  the  common  dust." 

In  our  own  county  mighty  changes  have 
been  wrought.  Political  revolutions  have 
shaken  the  continent,  and  "  Red  Battle, with 
blood-red  tresses  deepening  in  the  sun," 
and  "  death-shot  glowing  in  his  fiery  hands, 
raged  and  maddened  to  and  fro  "  in  our  fair 
land,  and  the  shackles  of  slavery  have  been 
stricken  from  four  millions  of  human  beings. 
But  these  are  the  least  of  the  great  events 
the  past  seventy  years  have  witnessed.  Hu- 
man progress  and  human  inventions  have 
done  more  in  those  years  than  in  ten  centu- 
ries before.  The  railroad,  the  telegraph,  and 
improved  machinery  of  every  kind  and  de- 
scription attest  the  rapid  strides  of  the  age. 
The  early  simple  settler  of  the  oountry  little 
dreamed  what  his  short  span  of  life  would 
witness. 

The  Barnhills  were  the  first  settlers  in 
this  part  of  the  county.      A  tradition  is  cur- 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


195 


rent  that  Gen.    Hargraves    and   his   rangers 
encamped  at  a  spring  in  1813,  near  the  north- 
west  part  of  the  present  town  of  Fairfield, 
and  that  some  of  the   Barnhills   were   with 
him.      The  tradition  is  further  authority  for 
the    fact,  that  while    the    rangers    were    en- 
camped here,  the  Barnhills  selected  the  lands 
upon  which   they  afterward   settled.     In  the 
absence  of  authentic  information  to  the  con- 
trary, we  will  give  them  the  credit  of  being 
the    first   settlers   here,  and  of  dating   their 
coming  back  to  the  year  mentioned  above. 
The    elder    Barnhill,    the    patriarch    of    the 
tribe,  died  in  Gallatin  County,  where  he  had 
located  very  early,  but   his  widow  came  here 
with  her  family,  and  settled  in  the  north  or 
northwest  part  of  this  township.      The  Widow 
Barnhill   has  a  grandson  living  in  Fairfield, 
now  quite  an  old   man.      Another  grandson 
was  killed  in  the   late  civil  war.  but  at  the 
time  lived  in  Xenia,  Clay  County.      The  older 
members   of    the    family    are    all    gone,  and 
nearly  forgotten,  too,  by  the  growing  up  gen- 
eration.    They  came  here  because   the  coun- 
try, although  but  a  wilderness,  was  beautiful 
to  behold,  and   the  abundance  of  wild  ani- 
mals   gratified    their    passion    for    hunting. 
They  flinched   not  from    th>>  contest    that  met 
them    on    the    wild    border,  and    even    their 
women   and  children  often  performed  deeds 
from    which    the    iron    nerves    of    manhood 
might  well    have    shrunk    in  fear.     In  their 
death    passed    away  some  of   the  landmarks 
that  divide  the  past  from  the  present.     Their 
names   should  not  be  suffered  to  sink  in  ob 
livion,  but  as  the  pioneers  of  this  immediate 
vicinity,  they  should    bo  kept  in  bright   re- 
membrance.     Much  is  said  of  the  Barnhills 
in  other  chapters  of  this  volume. 

Other  early  settlers  of  Barnhill  were  Will- 
iam Watkins.  Asa  Haynes,  Walker  Atteberrv, 
Nathan  Arteberry,  Renfro  brothers,  Archi- 
bald Roberts,  William  Simpson,  Jr.,  Daniel 


Gray,  Moses  Musgrave,  James  H.  Smith, 
WTilliam  Davis,  James  and  John  Butler, 
Daniel  Kinchloe,  Henry  Tyler  and  his 
mother,  John  Cox,  David  Wright,  the  Tur 
neys,  Stephen  Slocumb,  David  and  Lewis 
Hall.  Stephen  Merritt,  Sr.,  —  Stanley, 
George  Borah,  Jacob  Beard,  Day  brothers, 
Gillem  and  Isaac  Harris,  -  -  Puckett,  and 
perhaps  others  whose  names  have  been  for 
gotten.  Puckett  had  one  of  tjie  early  mills 
of  the  township.  Gillem  and  Isaac  Harris 
were  among  the  earliest,  and  were  great  bear 
hunters.  The  Day  brothers  came  in  early, 
and  are  both  now  dead,  but  a  son  of  one  of 
them  still  lives  in  the  township.  Daniel 
Kinchloe  and  Jacob  Beard  were  brothers-in- 
law.  Both  were  very  early  settlers,  and 
Kinchloe  lived  to  be  ninety-five  years  old  be- 
fore passing  to  his  reward.  George  Borah 
settled  early  and  was  a  man  of  some  note. 
He  was  a  man  of  more  than  ordinary  intelli- 
gence, took  much  interest  in  educational 
matters,  and  exerted  a  great  influence  in  the 
community.  His  farm  was  one  of  the  larc- 
est  and  best  improved  in  the  neighborhood. 
He  farmed  extensively,  raised  stock,  and  was 
a  successful  farmer  and  a  useful  man  in  the 
township. 

Archibald  Roberts  came  from  Virginia, 
and  settled  in  Barnhill  in  1817.  His  father 
was  killed  in  that  State  by  the  Indians,  when 
the  remainder  of  the  family  moved  to  Ken- 
tucky, and  afterward  to  Illinois.  Archibald 
located  in  the  south  part  of  the  township,  and 
there  commenced  the  manufacture  of  hats. 
He  afterward  moved  to  Fairfield,  where  he 
long  continued  the  same  business,  but  finally 
went  to  Mount  Carmel  and  there  died  in 
1863.  A  man  named  Stanley,  whose  first 
name  is  forgotten,  came  early,  and  was  the 
first  cooper  ever  in  Wayne  County.  Stephen 
Merritt.  Sr.,  was  an  early  settler.  He  had 
three  sons.  Stephen,  George  and  William,  who 


1!)C 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


came  at  the  same  time,  and  also  rank  as  early 
settlers.     They  were  from  Kentucky,  and  are 
all  now  dead  except  George,  who  is  still  liv- 
ing in  the  township.     The  Halls  were  also 
early  settlers.     A  son  of  one  of  them  now 
lives  on  the  old  Hall  homestead.      The  Slo- 
cumbs  settled  here  as  early  as  1816.     Stephen 
Slocumb,  the  father  of  Eigdon  B.  Slocamb, 
came  from  Union  County,  Ky. ,  and  settled  in 
this  township,  where  the   family  figured  act- 
ively for   many  years.     So   much  is  said  of 
them  in  other  chapters,  particularly  of  Rig- 
don,  that  anything  here  would  be  but  a  repe- 
tition.     A  Mrs.  Tyler,  whose  husband    died 
before  she  came  here,  was  an  early  settler. 
Henry  Tylw,  a  son  of  hers,  is   looked  upon 
as  an  early  settler.     William  Watkins  settled 
in  the  southeast  part  of   Section  9,  on  the 
place  now  owned  by  Gideon   Gi  fiord.      He 
came    from    Kentucky,    and    was    a    zealous 
preacher  in  the  Baptist  Church,  as  well  as  an 
enterprising  farmer.      W7illiam  Simpson  came 
from   Tennessee,  and   had   a    large   family. 
They  were   all  thrifty  farmers,  and   a  large 
number  of  the  name  still  live  in  the  township. 
Daniel  Gray  came  from  South  Carolina    and 
settled  on   Section   11.      He  sold  out  here  to 
W.  W.  George,  and  moved  into  White  Coun- 
ty, where  the  remainder  of  his  life  was  spent. 
G.  A.  Church  now  owns  the  place  on  which 
he  originally  settled.     The  Butlers  settled  on 
Section    28,    and   were     energetic     farmers. 
They  accumulated  considerable  property,  and 
died  well  off,  so  far  as  this  world's  goods  go. 
Representatives  of  toe  family  still  live  in  the 
township.     Walker  Atteberry  Bettled  on  Sec- 
tion 8,  and  Nathan  Atteberry  settled  on  Sec- 
tion 29.  on  the  west  border  of  the  township. 
The    Turneys  settled  in   Section   10,   and 
came  from  Kentucky.     The  elder  Turney  was 
a  man   of    ability  and  energy.       He  reared 
several    sons,   who   partook    largely    of    the 
father's  strength  of  character  and  intellect. 


Daniel  Turney,  one  of  these  sons,  was  a  phy- 
sician, who  attained  to  eminence  in  his  pro- 
fession, and  also  in  politics,  and  was  several 
times  elected  to  the  Legislature.  He  had  a 
son,  who,  like  his  father,  was  a  physician,  and 
at  one  time  was  a  member  of  the  State  Senate. 
William,  a  brother  of  Dr.  Daniel  Turney. 
was  also  an  eminent  physician.  The  old  man 
died  in  the  township,  and  most  of  his  progeny 
have  followed  him  to  the  land  of  shadows. 
Only  one  representative  of  the  family  now 
remains  in  Barnhill  Township.  Asa  Haynes 
married  a  daughter  of  Turney.  He  was  a 
plain  farmer,  and  died  in  the  township  several 
years  ago. 

An  early  settler  of  Barnhill  was  William 
Davis,  who  settled  on  Section  34 — afterward 
known  as  the  Moses  Musgrave  place.  Davis 
was  a  great  hunter,  and  quite  an  eccentric 
character.  He  was  once  elected  to  the  Legis  ■ 
lature,  and  many  incidents,  some  of  them  very 
ludicrous,  are  related  in  connection  with  his 
public  service.  The  following  is  a  sample  : 
When  the  clerk  of  the  house  asked  him  his 
occupation,  he  was  unable  to  obtain  a  direct 
answer.  "Are  you  a  farmer?"  asked  the 
clerk.  "No,"  replied  Davis.  The  same  ques- 
:  tion  was  asked  of  all  the  other  trades  and 
professions,  receiving  each  time  the  answer 
of  no.  The  clerk  very  impatiently  demanded 
— "  What  in  the  Helen  blazes  are  you  then  ?  " 
To  this  Davis  replied,  "  A  hunter  by  G — d," 
and  was  so  recorded  among  the  faithful.  The 
proceedings  of  the  Legislature  show  that  his 
only  great  act  during  his  term  of  service  in 
the  House,  was  upon  a  certain  occasion  when 
there  was  a  bill  pending,  which  he  thought, 
effected  his  constituency.  He  arose,  and 
tremblingly  addressed  the  speaker  as  follows: 
"  Mr.  Speaker,  I  would.thankyou  to  lay  that 
bill  on  the  table,"  and  then  sat  down,  over- 
come by  his  own  great  effort.  When  Moses 
Musgrave  came  to  the  township  he  settled  on 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


197 


the  place  on  which  Davis  had  originally  set- 
tled. James  H.  Smith  settled  in  north  part 
of  the  township;  Kinchloe  and  Tyler  settled 
on  Section  31,  Cox  on  Section  30  and  David 
Wright  on  Section  20.  The  Renfro  brothers 
settled  on  Section  7,  in  the  southern  part  of 
the  town-hip.  .Most  of  the  settlements  men- 
tioned were  made  in  the  southern  part,  and 
were  scattered  principally  along  the  old  State 
road,  leading  from  Fairfield,  through  Carmi 
and  on  to  Shawneetown. 

The  following  entries  of  land  in  Barnhill 
will  add  something  perhaps,  to  the  history  of 
its  early  settlement.  Many  persons,  however, 
entered  land  who  never  even  settled  in  the 
county,  much  less  in  this  township,  and  the 
following  is  given  merely  as  a  bit  of  ref- 
erence : 

Nathan  Owen,  in  1S1U.  in  Section  1; 
Adam  Murray,  in  1818,  in  Section  3;  Mat- 
thew Kuykendall,  in  1818,  in  Section  5; 
Ormsby  and  Hite,  in  1818,  in  Section  5;  J. 
Felix  and  H.  Barnhill,  in  1818,  in  Section 
6;  John  Carson,  in  1818,  in  Section  7;  An- 
drew Carson,  in  1818,  in  Section  7;  J.  Dun- 
lop,  in  1818,  in  Section  7;  Joseph  Martin, 
in  1818,  in  Section  11;  Robert  Leslie,  in 
1818,  in  Section  12;  R.  B.  Slocumb,  in  1818, 
in  Section  13;  William  S.  Merrill,  in  1818, 
in  Section  13;  Ralph  Hatch,  in  1818,  in 
Section  14;  A.  C.  Ridgeway,  in  1825,  in 
Section  20;  Caleb  Ridgeway,  in  1818,  in 
Section  21;  Joseph  Cundiff,  in  1819,  in  Sec- 
tion 24;  Robert  B.  Knight,  in  1817,  in 
Section  27;  Thomas  P.  Fletcher,  in  1818,  in 
Section  27;  James  Butler,  in  1818,  in  Section 
28;  Jacob  Ridgeway,  in  1818,  in  Section  30; 
John  Johnson,  in  1818,  in  Section  30;  Peter 
Statou,  in  1819,  in  Section  30;  Thomas 
Cox,  in  1819,  in  Section  30;  A.  Hubbard,  in 
1818,  in  Section  30;  Henry  Tyler,  in  lM'.i. 
in  Section  30,  and  all  in  Township  2  south, 
and  Range  8  east.     John  Moffitt,  in  1818,  in 


Section  1;  Joseph  Campbell,  in  1818,  in 
Section  2;  Alexander  Campbell,  in  1818,  in 
Section  2;  Blissett  heirs,  in  1818,  in  Section 
5;  George  Close,  in  1817,  in  Section  9; 
William  Wakins,  in  1817,  in  Section  9; 
Archibald  Roberts,  in  1818,  in  Section  11; 
William  Gray,  in  1817,  in  Section  11;  T. 
Simpson,  in  1818,  in  Section  12;  William 
Simpson,  Jr..  in  1818,  in  Section  13;  Solo- 
mon Stone,  in  1818,  in  Section  13;  J. 
Armstrong,  in  1817,  in  Section  13;  AVilliarn 
Simpson,  Sr.,  in  1819,  in  Section  14;  G.  S. 
Taylor,  in  1817,  in  Section  14,  all  in  Town- 
ship 3  south,  and  Range  east,  being  the 
southern  part  of  Barnhill  as  at  present 
bounded. 

Set!  tunc  ill  of  Big  Mound. — Among  the 
early  settlers  of  Big  Mound  Township,  as  it 
now  exists,  were  the  following,  who  were  all 
English  people:  Hefford,  Sargentpi'ee,  James 
Simms,  John  White  and  the  Widow  Walton. 
The  last  two  mentioned  are  loner  since  dead. 
Simms  is  still  living  and  is  now  about  ninety- 
five  years  old.  He  came  here  a  stripling  of 
a  lad  with  Hefford  and  Sargentpree,  and 
lived  with  them  for  some  time  after  they 
settled  here.  Hefford  and  Sargentpree  went 
to  New  Orleans,  where  they  opened  a  com- 
mission house,  and  for  years  did  a  large 
business.  But  they  finally  failed  and  came 
back  to  Illinois.  Hefford  afterward  went 
to  Mexico,  and  Sargentpree  located  in  Carmi 
and  died  there  some  years  later.  Mr.  Simms 
is,  perhaps,  the  oldest  settler  now  living  in 
the  township. 

John  and  James  Young,  two  brothers, 
came  about  the  year  1818.  John  was  a  man 
of  fine  intelligence,  but  uneducated — illiter 
ate  but  not  ignorant.  He  loved  money  and 
held  on  to  it  like  grim  death,  which  eventu- 
ally gave  rise  to  the  belief  that  he  was  a 
downright  miser.  His  cabin  was  of  the 
usual  pioneer  style — built  of   logs,    and    in 


198 


HISTORY'   OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


one  of  these,  which,  like  the  Hardshell 
preacher's  "board  tree,"  was  "holler  at  the 
butt,"  he  hid  his  money,  afterward  plastering 
over  the  aperture  with  rnud.  When  on  his 
death- bed  he  told  his  son  of  the  hiding-place 
of  his  money,  and  upon  searching  according 
to  the  old  man's  directions  quite  a  sum  of 
gold  and  silver  was  found.  He  died  but  a 
few  years  ago,  at  an  advanced  age,  and  was 
rich,  having  considerable  property  in  addi- 
tion to  his  hidden  wealth.  He  was  a  man  of 
fine  taste  and  excellent  judgment;  he 
bought  but  little,  but  that  was  of  the  very 
best  quality.  He  possessed  little  of  the  re- 
finements of  life,  indeed,  lived  almost  like 
an  animal,  and  with  his  animals.  Ewing 
Young,  a  son  of  John,  siill  lives  in  the 
county.  In  many  respects,  he  is  like  his 
father,  being  intellectual,  enterprising  and 
wealthy,  and  like  his  father  is  fond  of  money, 
and  takes  care  of  what  he  gets.  He  owns 
several  good  farms  well  improved  and 
stocked. 

Two  early  settlers  of  what  is  now  Big 
Mound  Township  were  a  couple  of  old  Rev- 
olutionary soldiers  named  Stewart  and  Gas- 
ton, but  whose  first  names  are  forgotten. 
Gaston  was  a  fleshy,  large,  imwieldy  man, 
and  having  ridden  one  day  to  Fairfield  on 
horseback,  to  draw  his  Revolutionary  pen- 
sion, his  horse  became  frightened  and  un- 
manageable, throwing  him  violently  to  the 
ground,  from  the  effects  of  which  he  died  in 
a  few  hours.  He  has  no  descendants  in  the 
county  nearer  than  a  great- grandson.  But 
John  Gaston,  a  son,  was  among  the  early 
settlers  and  was  a  soldier  of  the  war  of 
1812.  He,  too,  is  long  since  dead.  Cyrus 
Gaston  was  a  brother  of  John's,  and  moved 
away  from  this  section.  Stewart,  like  Gas- 
ton, was  a  Revolutionary  soldier,  and  died 
many  years  ago.  Hugh  Stewart,  a  son,  and 
whom  many  of   our  readers  will  remember. 


was  an  old  settler  in  this  township.  He  af- 
terward moved  into  the  town  of  Fairfield, 
where  he  spent  the  remainder  of  his  life  in 
active  business.  More  is  said  of  him  in  the 
history  of  Fairfield. 

The  Books  were  early  settlors  of  the  town- 
ship. Michael  and  William  were  brothers. 
The  former  was  a  hatter  by  trade,  and 
worked  at  the  business  here  for  many  years. 
He  had  a  son  named  Michael,  who  is  still 
living,  and  is  an  excellent  citizen  of  the 
township.  The  Clarks  were  also  early  set- 
tlers. There  were  four  brothers — John, 
James,  Andrew  and  Alexander.  John,  who 
was  known  as  "  Jackey,''  was  a  great  deer 
hunter,  and  is  said  to  have  killed  more  deer 
than  any  other  man  who  ever  lived  in  the 
county.  He  spent  most  of  his  time  in  the 
delightful  pastime,  and  was  remarkably  suc- 
cessful in  bringing  down  the  game.  James 
was  also  a  hunter,  but  was  not  so  successful 
as  his  brother.  Andrew  was  a  plain  old 
farmer.  Alexauder  was  a  man  of  some  note, 
and  represented  the  county  a  time  or  two  in 
the  State  Legislature.  They  came  originally 
from  Kentucky,  and  settled  in  Gallatin  Coun- 
ty prior  to  the  war  of  1812,  and  a  few  years 
after  its  close  came  here.  A  man  named 
Livergood  came  in  early.  He  was  a  Yankee, 
and  had  one  of  the  first  mills  in  the  town- 
ship. 

Other  settlers  of  the  township  were  Enoch 
Neville,    Andrew    Hall,    John    Bovee,    Capt. 

John   Clark, Robinson,   Daniel  Cleven- 

ger,  etc.  Enoch  Neville  was  a  great  story- 
teller, a  kind  of  a  Joe  Mulhatton  of  a  fel- 
low. He  could  entertain  his  listeners  by  the 
hour  with  the  most  wonderful  stories  that 
could  be  imagined.  He  talked  through  his 
nose,  and  this  lent  additional  interest  to  his 
yarns.  Andrew  Hall  was  a  perfect  giant; 
loved  whisky  and  a  row  better  than  anything  ^ 
else.     He  was  the  bullv  of  the  neighborhood, 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


190 


and  never  missed  a  tight  if  there  was  any 
chanco  to  get  into  it  by  fair  or  foul  means. 
John  Bovee  lived  near  the  Laniard  line,  and 
had  an  early  mill.  Robinson  was  a  man  of 
some  note,  and  served  several  terms  in  the 
State  Legislature.  Clevenger  was  a  Yankee, 
and  a  great  coon  hunter,  and  in  those  early 
days  coonskins  wore  a  legal  tender,  and  paid 
all  debts,  and  were  even  taken  at  par  for 
whisky.  So  the  township  settled  up,  and 
people  came  in,  at  last,  faster  than  we  are 
able  to  keep  trace  of  them.  Both  Big  Mound 
and  Barnhill  Townships  were  soon  dotted 
over  with  cabins,  and  smoke  from  pioneer 
settlements  began  to  ascend  from  all  quarters. 

A  kind  of  sympathy  or  brotherhood  existed 
among  the  pioneers  which  has  almost  faded 
away  with  other  landmarks  of  the  earlj  pe- 
riod. When  a  "covered  wagon  "  was  espied 
coming  over  the  prairies  or  through  the  for- 
est, the  ciy  would  be,  "  There  comes  another 
settler,"  and  all  would  start  to  meet  the  new- 
comer, and  give  him  a  hearty  welcome.  They 
would  take  axes  and  help  to  cut  out  a  trail  to 
his  land,  and  aid  him  in  selecting  a  good  site 
for  his  cabin.  When  all  was  agreed  on,  they 
would  chop  and  roll  two  logs  together,  kindle 
a  lire  between  for  the  good  woman  to  cook 
and  provide  something  to  eat,  while  they 
went  to  work  clearing  off  a  spot  on  which  to 
erect  a  cabin.  In  two  or  three  days  sufficient 
logs  would  be  cut,  and  the  cabin  erected,  a 
hole  cut  in  one  side  for  a  door,  and  the  fam- 
ily housed  in  their  new  home.  This  was  pio- 
neer friendship  and  hospitality,  and  was  far 
more  sincere  than  they  are  at  the  present  day. 

The  following  pioneer  reminiscence  is  illus- 
trative of  the  period  of  which  we  write,  and 
many  of  the  older  citizens  of  the  county, 
will  doubtless  bo  able  to  appreciate  it: 

"I  have  seen  a  whole  family,  consisting  of 
father,  mother,  children,  pot  pigs,  young 
ducks  and  chickens,  and  two  or  throe  dogs, 


all  occupying  the  same  room  at  the  same 
time.  Some  endured  hardships,  having  large 
families  to  support  and  no  money;  meat 
could  be  obtained  from  the  woods.  The 
writer  of  these  lines  has  seen  the  time  (and 
more  than  once,  too),  when  he  has  brought 
home  a  sack  of  meal,  and  did  not  know 
where  the  next  was  to  come  from.  When  I 
look  back  half  to  three-quarters  of  a  century, 
and  see  this  country  a  howling  wilderness, 
thronged  with  wild  boasts  of  various  kinds, 
hardly  a  white  inhabitant  from  here  to  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  I  am  struck  with  wonder 
and  surprise  at  the  progress  of  our  nation." 
This  is  but  the  experience  of  hundreds  of 
others  who  settled  here  when  Illinois  was 
the  extreme  portion  of  Anglo-Saxon  civiliza- 
tion. 

One  of  tho  earliest  manufacturing  estab- 
lishments in  Barnhill  Township  was  a  tread- 
mill--that  is,  a  mill,  the  power  of  which  was 
received  from  a  tread-wheel.  It  was  built 
and  owned  by  Samuel  Leech,  and  to  the  mill 
was  added  a  distillery,  for  the  purpose  of 
making  up  the  superfluous  corn  and  rye  into 
whisky.  A  largo  business  was  done  by  it  for 
some  years ;  people  came  long  distances  to  it, 
and  remained  sometimes  several  days,  in 
order  to  get  their  grinding.  It  was  at  the 
time  the  largest  mill  in  the  county.  Another 
mill  was  built  by  John  Butler.  It  was  but  a 
corn-cracker,  and  Butler  would  throw  a  "  turn 
of  corn"  into  the  hopper  at  night,  and  then 
go  home,  and  by  morning  it  would  be  about 
all  ground  out.  It  was  built  on  a  little  wet- 
weather  stream  that  is  nameless,  and  has 
long  since  passed  away.  Lock  also  built  a 
very  early  mill.  It  .was  a  horse  mill,  but 
ground  both  corn  and  wheat,  and  did  good 
will;  fur  the  time.  Puckett  had  a  horse  mill 
on  the  road  from  Fairfield  to  Burnt  Prairie, 
which  was  an  excellent  mill  of  the  kind. 
David  Wright,  later  on,  built  a  horse  mill  on 


200 


HISTORY  OF  WAYSE  COUNTY. 


the  road,  throe  miles  south  of  Fairfield.  He 
attached  a  cotton-gin.  the  only  one  ever  in 
the  county  run  by  horse-power.  He  also 
had  a  tanyard  and  a  store,  and  thus  made 
himself  one  of  the  most  useful  men  in  the 
community.  His  place  was  at  one  time 
more  noted  than  Fairfield,  and  did  consider- 
ably more  business.  Charles  Wright,  a  son, 
now  owns  and  lives  on  the  homestead,  and  is 
a  highly  respected  and  worthy  citizen. 

In  Big  Mound  Township,  one  of  the  first 
mills  built  was  Bovee's  and  Livergood's.  The 
latter  gentleman  was  from  some  one  of  the 
Eastern  States,  and  was  termed  a  "Yankee." 
He  finally  sold  out  his  mill  and  other  belong- 
ings here  and  moved  away.  Bovee  was  also 
an  Eastern  man,  and  of  course  a  Yankee. 
He  had  a  horse  mill,  which  was  one  of  the 
early  institutions  of  the  township. 

Hugh  Lyon  manuf  actnred  castor  oil  in  Big 
Mound  Township,  when  the  castor  oil  busi- 
ness was  one  of  the  largest  and  most  exten- 
sive in  the  county.  He  bought  beans  in 
Fairfield,  but  had  his  factory  in  this  town- 
ship, and  for  many  years  carried  on  a  large 
business.  This  comprises,  so  far  as  we  could 
obtain,  the  early  manufacturing  industries  of 
the  township.  Nothing  of  late  years  has 
been  added  to  it,  unless  it  has  been  a  few 
saw  and  grist  mills.  Big  Mound  is  decidedly 
an  agricultural  region,  and  the  people  devote 
their  time  and  energies  principally  to  agri- 
cultural pursuits. 

Of  the  early  schools  of  Big  Mound  Town- 
ship we  know  little  or  nothing  beyond  the 
fact  that  they  were  of  the  usual  pioneer  style 
and  taught  by  the  usual  pioneer  teachers.  At 
present  there  are  good  comfortable  school - 
houses  on  Sections  4,  17,  14  and  29.  In 
these,  good  schools  are  taught  for  the  usual 
terms  each  year  by  competent  teachers. 

The  church  history  of  the  township  is 
written  up  in  a  chapter  of  the  general  county 


history,  and  needs  no  repetition  here.  A 
brief  allusion  is  all  that  is  required. 

The  Methodists  were  the  first  religious  sect 
in  the  township.  Hugh  Stewart  was  a  zealous 
Methodist,  and  took  great  interest  in  church 
matters.  After  he  moved  to  town,  Rev. 
Chambers,  a  local  Methodist  preacher,  took 
his  place,  and  "  kept  the  ark  a-moving."  The 
Baptists  were  the  next  denomination  which 
organized  churches.  There  are  now  a  Baptist 
Church  on  the  northwest  corner  of  Section  3; 
a  Baptist  Church  on  Section  16;  New  Hope 
Baptist  Church  on  Section  25,  near  the  town- 
ship line. 

The  first  schools  of  Barnhill,  like  those  of 
Big  Mound  Township,  were  primitive,  and 
would  be  considered  by  us  at  the  present  day 
as  very  poor  institutions  of  learning  indeed. 
It  is  not  known  now  who  taught  the  first  one 
in  the  township.  The  schools  of  the  present 
day,  however,  will  compare  favorably  with 
those  in  any  portion  of  the  county.  But  this 
is  not  paying  any  extravagant  compliment  to 
the  schools  of  Barnhill,  for  the  entire  system, 
not  only  of  the  county,  but  the  southern  part 
of  the  State,  might  be  vastly  improved.  We 
have  now  in  this  township  schoolhouses  on 
Sections  1.  4,  10,  11,  13,  16,  17,  29,  34,  6  and 
10.  The  last  two  mentioned  are  in  the 
fractional  part  of  the  township.  The  houses 
are  comfortable  and  commodious,  and  good 
schools  are  maintained. 

The  church  history  of  this  township  will 
also  be  found  included  in  a  chapter  upon  the 
churches  of  the  county.  The  early  settlers 
wore  disposed  to  be  religious,  and  early  or- 
ganized societies  and  built  churches.  We 
will  not  repeat  the  church  history  of  the 
township  in  this  chapter.  There  are  churches 
now  as  follows:  Pleasant  Hill  Church  on 
Section  14;  Shiloh  Church  on  Section  29; 
Pleasant  Grove  Church  on  Section  34;  Hope- 
well Church  on  the  line  between  Sections  8 


HISTORY   OF   WAYNE  COl'XTY. 


201 


and  9;  a  Christian  Church  on  Section  9.  The 
last  two  are  situated  in  the  fractional  part  of 
the  township. 

Barnhill  Township  was  loyal  during  the 
late  war,  and  turned  out  a  goodly  number  of 
soldiers.  In  fact,  kept  its  quota  filled,  or 
rather,  more  than  tilled,  so  that  no  draft  was 
ever  levied  in  the  township. 

The  township  voted  §20,000  to  the  railroad 
— the  Springfield  &  Southeastern,  as  then 
called,  but  now  a  division  of  the  Ohio  & 
Mississippi  Railroad — on  the  condition  that 
the  road  would  establish  two  depots  in  the 
township.  With  this  condition,  the  road 
failed  to  comply,  and  in  retaliation,  or  by 
way  of  revenge,  the  township  repudiated  its 
subscription. 

The  first  roads  through  Barnhill  and  Big 
Mound  Townships,  were  trails  through  the 
forests  and  across  the  prairies.  These  had 
first  been  trod  by  the  red  man,  and  the  pale 
face,  following  close  in  his  footsteps,  had 
improved  them,  cutting  out  the  trees  and 
leveling  down  embankments,  until  they  be- 
came wagon  roads.  The  township  now  has 
as  good  a  system  of  wagon  roads  as  can  be 
seen  in  this  portion  of  the  State.  There  are 
no  turnpikes,  but,  for  dirt  roads,  these  can 
be  but  little  improved. 

There  are  no  villages  in  Barnhill  and  Big 
Mound  outside  of  the  county  seat — Fairfield 
— with  the  exception  of  a  few  stations  on  the 
' "  Air  Line  "  Railroad,  places  that  have  sprung 
up  as  towns  since  the  building  of  the  road. 
They  are  too  young  to  have  any  history,  be- 
yond the  mere  fact  of  birth,  and  are  little 
more  than  a  depot,  post  office,  a  store  and 
shop  or  two.  What  celebrity  they  may  attain 
to  will  be  properly  recorded  in  the  next  cen- 
tennial history  of  the  county. 

We  have  now  given  most  of  the  history  of 
Barnhill  and  Big  Mound  Townships  of  espe- 
cial interest,  except  that  of  the  county  seat 


itself,  which,  as  we  said  in  the  opening  of 
this  chapter,  is  situated  in  both  townships. 
Hence  a  great  deal  of  their  history  centers  in 
Fairfield,  as  is  usually  the  case  with  town- 
ships containing  county  seats.  With  a  few 
parting  words  in  memory  of  the  early  set- 
tlers and  pioneers,  we  will  close  the  sketch 
of  Barnhill  and  Big  Mound,  and  in  a  new 
chapter  take  up  the  history  of  Fairfield,  which 
was  laid  out  as  a  town  about  sixty- four  years 
ago. 

The  generation  now  prominent  upon  the 
stage  of  action,  as  they  behold  the  "old  set- 
tler," can  scarcely  realize  or  appreciate  the 
hardships  through  which  he  passed,  or  the 
part  he  performed  in  reclaiming  the  country 
from  savage  tribes  that  x-oamed  at  will  over 
all  parts  of  it.  "  Young  America,"  as  he 
passes  the  old  settler  by,  perhaps  unnoticed, 
little  dreams  that  he  has  spent  the  morning 
and  the  noontide  of  his  life  in  helping  to 
make  the  country  what  it  now  is,  and  in  pre- 
paring it  for  the  reception  of  all  those  mod- 
ern improvements  which  surround  us  on 
every  side.  But  few,  very  few  of  the  pio- 
neers are  left,  and  those  few  are  fast  ap- 
proaching, or  have  passed  the  allotted  three- 
score and  ten  and  are  stooped  and  bent  with 
age.  The  importance  that  attaches  to  the  lives, 
character  and  work  of  these  humble  laborers 
in  the  cause  of  humanity  and  civilization 
will  some  day  be  better  understood  than  it  is 
now.  They  will  some  time,  by  the  pen  of 
the  wise  historian,  take  their  proper  place  in 
the  list  of  those  immortals  who  have  helped 
to  make  this  world  wholesome  with  their 
toil  and  their  sweat  and  their  blood.  Of 
them  all,  the  pioneer  was  the  humblest,  but 
not  the  meanest  nor  the  most  insignificant. 
They  laid  tho  foundations  on  which  rests  the 
civilization  of  the  great  West.  If  the  work 
was  done  well,  the  edifice  stands  upon  an 
enduring  rock;  if  ill,   upon  the  sands;  and 


202 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


when  the  winds  and  the  rains  beat  upon  it, 
it  will  tremble  and  fall.  "  They,  it  is  true, 
builded  wiser  than  they  knew,"  and  few,  if 
any,  of  them  ever  realized  the  transcendant 
possibilities  that  rested  upon  their  shoulders. 
As  a  rule,  their  lives  were  aimless  and  ambi- 
tionless,  with  little  more  of  hope,  or  far- 
reaching  purposes  than  the  savages  or  the 
wild  beasts  that  were  their  neighbors.  Yet 
there  stands  the  supreme  fact  that  they  fol- 
lowed  their   restless    impulses,    took    their 


lives  in  their  hands,  penetrated  the  desert 
wilderness,  and  with  a  patient  energy,  reso- 
lution and  self-sacrifice  that  stands  alone  and 
unparalleled,  they  worked  out  their  allotted 
tasks,  and  to-day  we  are  here  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  the  fruitage  of  their  labors. 

Fairfield,  the  county  seat  of  Wayne  County, 
now  claims  our  attention.  In  a  new  chapter 
we  will  take  up  its  history  from  the  period  of 
its  being  laid  out  as  a  town,  and  follow  it  in 
important  features  down  to  the  present  time. 


CHAPTER    XVI.* 


JASPER  TOWNSHIP-TOPOGRAPHY,  DRAINAGE,  SOIL  AND  BEAUTIES-ITS  STREAMS,  LAKES,  TIM- 
BERS  AND  WILD  FRUITS— BEES,  HONEY,  FLORA  AND  FAUNA— JOSHUA  GRAHAM,  THE  FIRST  SET- 
TER— THEN  CAME  JAMES  DICKINSON,  THE  CANNONS,  WILLIAM  HUSK,  GEORGE  FRAZEB, 
JOHN   PITCHETT,  JOSEPH    MARTIN,  THE  BORAHS,  THOMAS   BRADSHAW,  THE  OWENS, 
JONATHAN  DOUGLAS  AND   MANY  OTHERS— HOW  THEY  LIVED  AND  STRUGGLED  — 
FIRST  BIRTH  AND  DEATH— THE  FIRST  HOUSE,  MILL,  BLACKSMITH  SHOP,  LIME- 
KILN AND  LAND  ENTRY,  AND  MARRIAGE— A  PANTHER  ATTACKS  A  WOMAN 
-FIRST  SCHOOLS  AND  SINGING  SCHOOLS,  AND  WHO  TAUGHT  THEM— 
FIRST  SERMONS  AND  PREACHERS— WHEN  LEADING  FAMILIES  CAME. 


"Tread  lightly!     This  is  hallowed  ground,     tread 

reverently  here! 
Beneath  this  sod,  in  silence,  sleeps  the  brave  old 

Pioneer: 
Who  never  quailed  in  darkest  hour;  whose  heart 

ne'er  felt  a  fear. 
Tread  lightly,  then !    and  now  bestow  the  tribute 

of  a  tear." 

William  Hubbabd. 

WITH  the  best  written  description  of  a 
township  before  us,  without  behold- 
ing for  ourselves,  one  must  draw  largely 
upon  the  imagination,  and  then  only  secure 
twilight  glimpses,  while  many  readers  are 
left  in  uncertainty,  however  plain  the  por- 
trayal may  be,  and  are  possessed  of  no  ade- 

•By  Frank  M.  Woolard. 


quate  conception  of  the  realities  described, 
though  the  work  be  done  with  consummate 
skill.  In  attempting  a  physical  description 
of  Jasper  Township,  we  shall  only  write  a 
brief,  plain  account,  that  can  be  understood 
by  all,  and  we  trust,  to  some  extent  appreci- 
ated by  the  patrons  of  this  work. 

To  the  inquisitive,  who  are  curious  to 
know  the  origin  of  the  name  of  this  truly 
beautiful  township,|we]jwould|answer3that  it 
was""nanied^  in°  Jionor^of^the^  indomitable 
Sergt.  Jasper,  of  the  Kevolutionary  war,*and 
had^been'so'calledjlong  prior  to^the  adoption 
of^the  presenfsystem*  of'  township  organiza- 
tion in  the  county.  C Jasper  is  the  corporate 
name    of  'u  the  ^Congressional    Township     1 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


south.  Range  8  east,  of  the  Third  Principal 
Meridian;  and  though  short  from  east  to 
west,  and  shorter  still  from  north  to  south,  it 
has  not  been  short  in  public  spirit,  noble  men 
and  women,  patriotic  deeds  and  good  morals. 

The  soil  is  very  productive  and  well  culti- 
vated; there  is  timber  enough  for  domestic 
purposes,  and  some  for  exportation,  and 
stone  easy  of  access,  in  quantity  sufficient  for 
all  practical  purposes.  Almost  the  entire 
surface  of  the  township  is  gently  undulating, 
with  no  abrupt  hills  or  precipices,  the  slopes 
ranging  from  a  quarter  to  a  half  mile  in  ex- 
tent. The  valleys  intervening  between  the 
higher  lands  are  so  inclined  as  to  need  but 
little  drainage,  and  in  fact  almost  every  foot 
of  land  within  the  bounds  of  the  township  is 
susceptible  of  easy  cultivation.  Few  purely 
agricultural  regions  present  a  more  fascinat- 
ing appearance  as  you  stand  upon  some  one 
of  her  elevations,  and  view  the  surrounding 
rural  scenery,  decked  with  farm  houses  and 
barns,  orchards  and  meadows,  fields  of  wav- 
ing grain  and  herds  and  docks. 

Jasper  Township  is  well  drained  by  a 
number  of  small  streams,  amply  sufficient  to 
carry  off  the  surplus  rainfall,  within  a  few 
hours.  Elm  River,  bearing  in  a  southeast- 
erly direction,  runs  through  the  northeast 
corner,  and  after  leaving  the  east  line, 
empties  into  the  Little  Wabash.  Borah 
Creek,  from  near  the  center  of  Section  28. 
flows  easterly  into  Elm  River.  The  south- 
east is  drained  by  Owen's  Creek  and  the 
northwest  by  Martin's  Creek  and  its  tributa- 
ries. 

Between  Martin"s  Creek  and  Pilcher's 
branch,  at  the  intersection  of  Sections  5,  0, 
7  and  8,  exists  one  of  those  low  depressions, 
frequently  found  in  the  central  and  the 
northern  part  of  Illinois,  but  not  so  often  in 
this  portion  of  the  State;  not  very  deep,  but 
with  insufficient   outlet,  forming  a   basin  of  ' 


several  acres  in  extent,  that  retains  water 
during  the  greater  portion  of  the  year,  and 
is  called  by  the  unpoetical  name  of  "  the 
goose  pond,"  on  account  of  the  large  number 
of  wild  geese  that  congregated  and  rested  on 
its  surface,  when  on  their  migratory  flights 
in  the  spring  of  the  year. 

Commencing  in  the  southwest  corner  of 
Section  2.  and  bearing  southeast  across  Sec- 
tion 11,  is  a  body  of  water  somewhat  noted  in 
the  surrounding  country,  and  known  by  the 
name  of  "Grinnell  Pond,"  in  honor  of  that 
most  active,  energetic  and  "hard-to-catch" 
member  of  the  tinny  tribe,  the  grinnell,  which 
is  unquestionably  the  dominant  race  in  its 
placid  waters.  This  pond  is  about  one  and  one- 
fourth  miles  long,  averaging  one  furlong  in 
width,  with  a  depth  of  fifteen  feet  in  places, 
and  is  supposed  to  be  fed  by  living  springs 
in  the  bottom.  For  an  outlet,  it  has  a  shal- 
low, sluggish  channel,  leading  into  Elm 
River,  when  the  flats  are  overflowed.  The 
banks  are  low,  being  composed  of  the  river 
bottoms  surrounding  it,  and  along  its  shallow 
borders  the  button  willows  grow  in  thickets, 
while  bullrushes  and  water  lilies  flourish  in 
abundance  in  the  borders  of  the  water.  Tall 
trees  stand  at  the  brink,  and  appearances 
would  indicate  that  at  some  remote  period  in 
antiquity  there  had  occurred  a  down-sinking 
of  its  surface,  by  which  moans  the  basin  had 
beon  formed.  Considerable  numbers  of  fish 
are  caught  with  the  seine  when  the  waters  are 
low,  and,  upon  the  whole  it  affords  rather  a 
pleasant  place  to  camp  and  angle  with  hook 
and  line. 

In  the  southeastern  portion  of  Jasper 
Township,  occupying  about  three  square 
miles  in  extent,  is  a  beautiful,  undulating 
region,  called  "  Tom's  Prairie."  Why  it  was 
so  named  is  not  certainly  known,  but  is  sup- 
posed to  be  in  honor  of  Capt.  Thomas,  a 
ranger  in  the  war  of  1812. 


204 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNK  COUNTY. 


Near  this  prairie  were  formed  the  earliest 
settlements  in  the  township  and  around  its 
border  cluster  the  memories  of  many  of  the 
earlier  pioneer  scenes  and  incidents.  Its 
fine  farms  are  generally  owned  and  occupied 
by  the  descendants  of  the  first  settlers. 

Hargrave  Prairie  covers  about  eight  sec- 
tions of  land  in  the  western  part  of  Jasper 
Township,  and  was  named  in  honor  of  Capt. 
AVillis  Hargrave,  who,  with  his  company  of 
stalwart  rangers  in  1814,  traversed  this  sec- 
tion for  some  time,  guarding  the  lower  settle- 
ments, and  having  his  headquarters  at  a 
spring,  northwest  of  the  present  town  of 
Fairfield. 

Jasper  is  joined  on  the  north  at  the  base 
line  by  Elm  River  Township,  on  the  east  by 
Massillon,  on  the  south  by  Barnhill,  and  on 
the  west  by  Lamard.  There  has  not  at  any 
time  been  a  village  or  post  office  within  her 
bounds,  but  her  citizens  have  procured  their 
mail  and  merchandise  at  Fairfield. 

The  population  has  steadily  increased  from 
the  commencement  of  the  first  settlement, 
until  the  present  time,  the  United  States  cen- 
sus of  1880  showing  a  population  for  that 
year  of  1,143. 

Running  northwest  through  Jasper  Town- 
ship is  a  famous  old  buffalo  trace,  visible  in 
many  places  at  the  present  day,  along  which 
lay  many  bones,  scattered  and  bleaching, 
when  the  white  man  came  to  possess  this 
goodly  land. 

The  timber  growth  consisted  principally 
of  the  different  varieties  of  oak,  elm,  hick- 
ory, walnut,  cherry,  ash,  pecan,  sassafras, 
locust,  gum,  box- elder,  persimmon,  linn, 
hackberry,  sycamore,  mulberry,  maple,  cat- 
alpa  and  others,  some  of  which  are  nut-bear- 
ing. The  wild  fruits  indigenous  to  the  soil 
were  blackberries,  raspberries,  strawberries, 
grapeH,  plums,  haws,  cherries,  crab-apples, 
persimmons,    papaws  and  others,  greatly  in 


excess  of  the  demand,  and  some  of  which 
surpassed  in  flavor  the  "improved"  varieties 
to  which  the  skilled  arts  of  culture  have  been 
applied. 

After  the  departure  of  the  Indian,  the 
pioneer  hunter  was  attracted  to  this  section 
by  large  numbers  of  deer,  bear,  an  occasional 
elk,  wolves,  foxes,  panthers,  wild  cats,  cat 
amounts,  raccoons,  opossums,  beavers,  otters, 
mink  and  some  smaller  "  varmints."  Of  the 
feathered  tribes,  wild  turkeys,  prairie  hens, 
quail,  ducks,  eagles,  hawks,  cranes,  swan, 
wild  geese,  brants,  owls,  pelican,  thrush, 
mocking  birds,  with  many  others,  like  Col. 
Seller's  imaginary  profits,  were  by  the  "  mill- 
ion." In  addition  to  those  above  mentioned, 
were  flocks  of  paroquets,  a  beautiful  bird  of 
the  parrot  family,  possessing  great  wealth  of 
green  plumage,  hard  to  catch,  but  easily  do- 
mesticated, and  vicious  when  provoked. 

Domestic  bees,  having  run  wild,  had  trav- 
eled so  far  in  advance  of  civilization,  that 
bee-trees,  laden  with  large  quantities  of 
honey,  were  found  in  considerable  numbers 
awaiting  the  huntsman's  ax.  It  was  not  un- 
common to  secure  a  barrel  of  wild  honey  for 
a  family  supply  during  the  year.  Troughs 
were  sometimes  dug  out,  and  filled  with 
honey,  where  barrels  could  not  be  obtained. 
The  "  bee-moth  "  was  unknown,  and  the  bees' 
only  enemies  were  men  and  bears. 

If  a  strictly  accurate  account  of  all  the 
early  incidents  and  first  white  settlers  in  Jas- 
per Township  were  imperatively  demanded  at 
our  hands,  it  is  improbable  that,  at  this  late 
date,  we  could  give  entire  satisfaction,  for 
the  very  simple  reason  that  the  sources  of  in- 
formation within  reach,  though  strictly  reli- 
able as  to  integrity,  differ  so  widely  as  to  un- 
important matters,  that  it  has  been  difficult 
to  determine  with  certainty  in  many  instan- 
ces. But  in  all  cases  we  have  done  the  very 
best  we  could,  having  no  interest  whatever 


HISTORY   OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


207 


in  overdrawing  or  lessening  the  proportions 
of  any  incident  in  these  pages;  and  after  the 
most  diligent  research,  things  not  thought  of 
before  for  years  will  be  called  to  mind.  It 
must  be  remembered  that  it  is  hard,  after 
sixty-six  years  have  borne  their  burdens  into 
eternity,  to  gather  unwritten  history  with 
certainty.  The  earliest  pioneers  of  Jasper 
Township  have  all  passed  to  the  shades,  many 
of  them,  doubtless,  to  grand  and  glorious  re- 
wards, having  lived  lives  of  virtue  and  honor 
amid  their  privations  and  hardships  here. 

We  are  indebted  to  Mr.  Jacob  Hall,  Messrs. 
William  and  J.  Bailey  Borah,  Judge  Samuel 
Wilson  and  others  for  the  chief  information 
contained  in  this  account. 

The  first  white  settler  in  Jasper  Township, 
was  probably  Joshua  Graham,  a  bachelor, 
who  came  in  1817  from  Indiana,  being  at- 
tracted by  the  abundance  of  wild  game  in  the 
country  after  the  Indians  were  driven  out. 
He  built  a  pole  cabin  on  the  northwest  quar- 
ter of  the  southeast  quarter  of  Section  13 
(the  place  now  occupied  by  E.  B.  Pilcher), 
in  which  for  many  years  he  lived  a  bachelor's 
life,  following  the  chase  as  a  means  of  sup- 
port. It  is  said  that  he  carried  corn  meal  on 
hi--  shoulder  from  Carmi  to  make  his  bread. 
He  is  remembered  as  having  a  very  small 
face,  as  tall  as  Dave  Barklev.  and  casting 
even  a  thinner  shadow,  very  close  in  his 
dealings,  saing  his  money  and  bartering  for 
his  necessary  supplies.  He  died  about  1840, 
leaving  two  sons,  John  and  Joshua,  residents 
in  the  township. 

Shortly  after  his  coming,  and  through  his 
influence,  came  James  Dickinson  and  the 
Cannons,  from  Kentucky,  when  Dickinson 
and  Jesse  Cannon,  two  bachelors,  built  a  log 
cabin  on  the  northwest  quarter  of  the  south- 
west quarter  of  Section  23,  where  they  kept 
bachelor's  hall,  and  enjoyed,  according  to 
tradition,  "  a  high  old  time. "    Dickinson  was 


emphatically  a  woodsman,  one  of  the  "  hunt- 
ers of  Kentucky,"  pre-eminent  as  a  bee 
hunter;  could  not  be  lost  in  the  woods  on  the 
darkest  night  or  be  bewildered  in  the  day. 
He  blazed  the  first  road  from  Elm  River 
crossing  to  Fairfield,  traces  of  which  are  yet 
visible  at  Ansley  Johnson's  farm  and  some 
other  places.  Consumption  claimed  him  for 
it*  victim,  carrying  him  off  in  a  few  years. 

Jesse  Cannon  was  keen  and  sharp;  culti- 
vated his  wits  much  more  than  the  soil;  a 
horse  jockey  in  the  fullest  sense  of  that  term; 
wild,  hilarious,  and  full  of  mischief;  the 
father  of  whisky-drinking  and  card-playing 
in  the  community;  cunning  and  clover,  he 
kept  in  the  back-ground,  while  others  went 
forward;  hence  the  uncertainty  of  melon 
harvest,  and  he  is  said  to  have  trained  sev- 
eral young  men  from  good  families  in  im- 
moral ways.  He  died  on  his  way  to  Califor- 
nia in  1849. 

William  Husk  and  family  kept  house  for 
Dickinson  and  Cannon  in  1821.  But  little 
is  known  of  him,  except  that  he  soon  moved 
to  White  County,  in  this  State,  where  he 
reared  a  family,  some  of  whom  were  living  a 
few  years  since. 

Dick  Cannon  moved  to  Northern  Illinois 
in  1833,  and  died  there.  William  Cannon, 
for  some  years  a  bachelor,  lived  and  died  on 
the  southeast  quarter  of  the  northwest  quar- 
ter of  Section  13,  in  Jasper  Township.  Some 
of  the  descendants  of  the  Cannons  are  still 
respectable  residents  of  the  county. 

George  Frazier  came  from  South  Carolina 
with  Russell,  to  whom  he  was  related,  in  1817 
or  1818.  He  was  the  fourth  in  the  quartette 
of  early  bachelors,  whoso  nick-names  termin- 
ated in  "ell,"  viz.:  "Moz-ell,  "Mik-ell," 
"Zeek-ell"  and  "Sam-ell."  Frazier  is  re- 
membered as  a  miser,  very  industrious,  a 
quiet  citizen,  attending  strictly  to  his  own 
business.     On  one  occasion,  when  he  was  in- 


208 


HISTORY   OF    WAYNE   COUNTY. 


viting  his  neighbors  to  a  corn-husking,  Mrs. 
Borah,  solicitous  for  the  comfort  of  his 
guests,  inquired  if  any  addition  was  needed 
to  hislarder,  to  which  he  replied  that  he  had 
plenty  of  "buck  and  bacon."  The  venison 
was  boiled  with  green  cabbage  leaves,  in  true 
bachelor  style,  but  the  bacon,  which  cost 
money,  was  not  discovered  at  the  repast, 
while  the  pot  liquor  was  of  lean  quality,  and 
none  of  the  guests  were  accredited  with  rav- 
enous appetites.  He  afterward  so  far  re- 
formed as  to  take  to  himself  an  additional 
"rib,"  and  lived  until  about  1830. 

John  Pritchet  came  from  South  Carolina 
in  1817,  with  Enoch  Beach,  his  brother-in- 
law,  in  his  (B. 's)  big  schooner  wagon,  and 
settled  on  Section  35,  a  part  of  what  is  now 
the  John  M.  Creighton  estate.  A  man  of 
more  than  ordinary  intelligence,  with  a  good 
education  for  the  times,  he  was  well  read, 
and  a  good  man  generally.  He  was  an  un- 
fortunate man;  his  horses  would  die 
early,  and  blight,  with  a  deathly  grasp, 
seemed  to  lay  hold  on  most  of  his  undertak- 
ings. His  neighbors  would  plow  his  ground 
in  the  spring,  and  he  would  cultivate  his  crops 
with  the  hoe.  A  large  family  of  girlsgreatly 
increased  his  burdens,  without  diminishing 
his  embarrassments  or  aiding  in  the  increase 
of  his  exchequer.  As  an  instance  of  pioneer 
female  courage,  an  incident  in  connection 
with  Mrs.  P.,  the  sister  of  Beach,  the  great 
bear  hunter  of  this  region,  will  not  be  out  of 
place.  On  one  occasion  the  dogs  had  treed 
a  large  bear  near  their  house,  when  the 
Madame  seized  the  rifle,  and,  with  the  cool- 
ness of  an  old  hunter,  brought  bruin  tum- 
bling to  the  ground,  thereby  adding  to  the 
larder,  so  accustomed  to  chronic  depletion, 
a  bountiful  supply  of  bear  meat.  At  a  later 
period,  on  another  place,  their  dogs  treed  a 
cub  bear,  when  Mrs.  P.  galloped  in  haste 
to  John  Borah's  in   the  true  trooper  style  of 


ridiug,  and  procured  Mr.  B.  to  shoot  the 
bear.  It  was  the  last  one  killed,  so  far  as  is 
now  known,  in  Jasper  Township.  Mr.  Prit 
chet,  after  the  death  of  his  wife,  married  a 
Widow  Caudle,  and,  like  Wilkins  Micawber, 
when  life's  sun  had  began  to  descend  its 
western  slojae,  he  became  comfortably  situ- 
ated, and  died  greatly  respected  about  1852. 

Joseph  Martin  came  from  Kentucky  to 
Bear  Prairie  in  1818,  purchased  the  southwest 
quarter  of  Section  7,  in  Jasper  Township,  of 
Clarinder  Hooper,  where  he  settled  in  1819^ 
and.  entering  other  lands,  immediately  im- 
proved a  large  farm.  He  was  reputed  the 
richest  man  that  had  ever  moved  to  Wayne 
County,  having,  brought  it  was  said,  a  half 
bushel  of  silver  money  with  him.  His  energy, 
enterprise  and  wealth  rendered  him  an  im- 
portant factor  in  the  county.  He  built  on  his 
place,  in  1819.  the  first  horse  mill  in  Wayne 
County;  and  a  mulberry  post  of  this  mill, 
after  sixty-four  years  of  exposure,  is  still 
standing.  Mr.  Martin  burnt  the  first  brick- 
kiln, built  the  first  brick  chimney,  dug  the 
first  well  and  established  the  first  blacksmith 
shop  in  Jasper  Township.  He  employed  men 
to  work,  created  a  demand  for  many  things, 
disseminated  money  through  the  country 
where  it  was  greatly  needed,  and  was  a  bene 
factor  to  the  community;  but  his  career  of 
great  usefulness  to  the  material  prosperity  of 
the  country  was  cut  short  by  his  death,  which 
occurred  in  1821.  He  was  was  buried  on  his 
own  premises  on  the  banks  of  Martin's  Creek, 
a  place  now  known  as  Buckeye  Cemetery. 
The  loss  of  such  a  man  in  that  day  was  irre- 
parable, as  there  were  none  to  take  his  place, 
for  a  rich  man,  with  generous  impulses,  and 
enterprise,  can  greatly  benefit  a  community. 

After  Mr.    Martin's  death,  his  fine  estate 
was  soon  scattered. 

James  B.  Martin  came  to  Illinois  about  the 
same  time    that  Joseph    did.  but    moved    to 


HISTORY   OF   WAYNK   COl'NTY. 


209 


Arkansas  some  years  later  and  died.  There 
were  some  others  of  the  .Martin  family  who 
have  left  descendants  in  the  county. 

Thomas  Bradshaw  left  Kentucky  on  account 
of  slavery,  and  came  to  Jasper  Township  in 
1819,  and  improved  a  farm,  entering  the 
southwest  quarter  of  Section  10,  where  he 
died  in  1822,  and  was  buried  the  first  in  the 
cemetery  at  that  place.  He  left  a  largo 
family  to  the  care  of  one  of  the  most  excel- 
lent mothers  of  the  pioneer  times,  and  she  is 
said  to  havo  fully  discharged  her  onerous 
duties  to  ber  children,  and  to  the  community, 
in  a  manner  that  cast  a  halo  of  glory  around 
her  memory,  that  is  not  easily  forgotten.  A 
friend  to  the  needy,  a  wise  counselor  to  those 
in  distress,  she  gave  comfort  and  relief  to  the 
afflicted  within  her  reach.  A  smile  of  pleas- 
ure and  approbation  is  seen  to  play  over  the 
c  iiintenances  of  men  whose  heads  are  sil- 
v  Ted  with  age  at  the  mention  of  her  name, 
after  the  lapse  of  more  than  half  a  century. 
Truly,  it  may  be  said,  "her  works  do  follow 
her." 

Walter  and  Richard  Owen  came  with  the 
Martins  from  Kentucky,  being  kinsmen  of 
theirs.  They  were  good,  honest  men,  well 
spoken  of  and  h«ld  in  general  esteem.  Their 
influence  was  cast  on  the  side  of  the  right, 
and  their  lives  were  living  examples  of  what 
they  professed.  Their  good  works  still  live. 
though  they  themselves  have  long  since 
passed  away. 

At  a  later  period  came  Jonathan  Douglas, 
from  Kentucky,  and  settled  on  the  place 
known  as  the  "  Pigeon  Roost,"  on  Section  10. 
A  man  of  good  parts,  of  unflinching  integrity, 
his  influence  was  felt  for  many  miles  around, 
and  his  memory  is  held  in  great  veneration 
at  the  present  time.  In  youth,  he  had  not 
learned  to  look  upon  intemperance  as  an  un- 
mixed evil;  but  when  he  beheld  the  hydra- 
headed  monster  in   all   its  deformity  he  cast 


his  influence  in  favor  of  right,  making  the 
first  temperance  speech  in  the  county.  He 
came  to  Wayne  County  in  a  very  large  pi- 
rogue, ascended  Elm  River,  and  landed  near 
Mr.   Richard  Hall's. 

George,  John,  Jacob  and  Samuel  Borah, 
brothers,  came  to  Wayne  County  from  Ken- 
tucky in  a  very  early  day,  and  John  settled 
in  Jasper  Township  in  1821,  his  brother 
Samuel  somewhat  later.  No  family  has  ex- 
erted a  greater  influence  for  good,  or  con- 
tributed more  to  the  Christian  and  moral 
stamina  of  the  community  than  these  noble 
men  and  their  worthy  descendants.  Through 
their  means  were  largely  counteracted  those 
banoful  influences  at  work  at  the  time  of 
their  arrival.  They  gave  tone  to  the  healthy 
sentiment  that  has  so  long  prevailed  in  the 
community.  A  numerous  offspring  perpetu- 
ate their  example  by  worthy  lives  and  worthy 
deeds.  William  N.,  Jacob  B.  (John,  de- 
ceased) and  Voluntineare  prominent  citizens 
in  Jasper  Township  to-day.  They  are  among 
the  most  intelligent  and  influential  men  in 
the  county,  and,  with  their  worthy  wives, 
their  hospitalities  are  of  that  character  that 
will  make  a  very  stranger  feel  at  home  while 
partaking  of  their  welcome  cheer. 

Thomas  Wilson  came  from  the  Green  River 
region  in  Kentucky  in  1823,  and  settled  on 
the  southwest  of  northeast  Section  22.  A 
worthy  man,  of  good  sense,  a  fair  education, 
very  social,  a  warm-hoarted  friend,  and  fond 
of  a  joke.  He  left  a  large  family,  among 
whom  is  Judge  S.  J.  R  Wilson.  George 
Wilson,  a  brother  of  Thomas,  was  a  pioneer 
school  teacher  in  Jasper  Township.  He  was 
a  man  of  integrity  and  push,  served  many 
years  as  Sheriff  of  Wayne  County,  and  was 
accounted  a  good  citizen.  His  descendants 
are  numerous  in  the  county  at  the  present 
time. 

Among  the  prominent  early  and  later  set- 


210 


HISTORY   OF   WAYNE   COUNTY. 


tiers  may  be  mentioned  the  Monroes,  James 
Hearn,  Farris,  McMackins,  Rankins,  Green, 
Bergs,  Joseph  Wilson  (a  very  prince  among 
good  men),  Prices,  Bowles,  Hoskins,  Russell, 
Murfet,  Gregorys,  Owens,  Whites,  Thatchers, 
Fitzgeralds,  Shaws,  Ellis,  Kelley,  Messer- 
smith,  Browns,  Schenks,  Creightons,  Heidin- 
gers,  Groves,  Georges,  Grice,  Robinson, 
Moss,  Lacy,  Bings,  Darrs,  Bobbetts,  Stan- 
ners,  Darrows,  Thomas,  Organs,  Travers, 
Witters,  Files,  and  other  worthy  families, 
but  the  want  of  space  admonishes  us  to  bring 
this  class  of  sketches  to  a  close,  and  while 
their  history  may  remain  unwritten,  their 
good  works  will  live,  for  it  is  beyond  the 
power  of  the  human  ken  to  estimate  the  in- 
fluence of  good  deeds  on  the  generations  fol- 
lowing. 

Dr.  Gerren,  from  Huntsville,  Ala.,  was 
probably  the  first  physician  to  practice  med- 
icine in  Jasper  Township.  He  came  in  1S29 
and  settled  southwest  of  northwest  Section 
21,  the  place  now  owned  by  James  Hearn. 

It  is  a  matter  of  some  doubt  as  to  who 
preached  the  first  sermon  in  the  township, 
but  it  is  thought  to  have  been  Archy  Roberts, 
a  Methodist  local  preacher. 

David  McLin,  a  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
minister  of  great  ability  and  usefulness,  was 
early  in  this  field,  and  organized  a  society 
which  has  continued  in  a  flourishing  condi- 
tion to  the  present  time.  A  Methodist  soci- 
ety was  early  organized,  and  has  also  exerted 
great  influence  for  good.  A  full  account  of 
these  societies  will  be  given  in  county  church 
histories. 

The  lands  in  Jasper  Township  were  sur- 
veyed in  1809,  by  Arthur  Henry,  and  the  cer- 
tificate and  plat  were  filed  December  4,  the 
same  year. 

On  July  30,  1818,  according  to  the  records, 
the  first  land  entry  was  made  by  James  Snead 
aking  northwest  and  northeast  of  Section  3  0, 


a  large  portion  of  which  remains  in  his 
name  at  the  present  time.  On  the  following 
day,  July  31,  1818,  Ormsby  &  Hite  entered 
southeast  of  Section  19,  and  southwest  of 
Section  20.  August  17,  1818,  Enoch  Beach 
entered  northeast  of  Section  35.  Other  en- 
tries rapidly  followed  by  which  many  set- 
tlers secured  homes  and  land  speculators 
secured  large  tracts. 

The  first  birth  in  Jasper  Township  is  at 
present  unknown,  but  is  thought  to  have  been 
a  child  of  one  of  the  Frazers. 

The  first  death,  as  near  as  can  be  ascer- 
tained at  this  remote  period,  was  the  wife  of 
Owen  Martin,  and  the  second  was  that  of 
Joseph  Martin,  and  letters  of  administration 
were  issued  to  his  sons,  Owen,  Henry  and 
Joseph,  December  18,  1821. 

On  December  20,  1822,  letters  of  admin- 
istration were  issued  upon  the  estate  of 
Thomas  Bradshaw,  to  Ann,  his  wife. 

"  Marrying  and  giving  in  marriage  "  was 
as  prevalent,  in  proportion  to  population,  in 
pioneer  days,  as  among  their  more  refined 
and  educated  offspring.  On  August  22,  1820, 
David  Monroe  led  Nancy  Crews  to  the  hy- 
meneal altar,  and  on  February  1,  1821, 
James  Clark  and  Sally  Bradshaw  were  made 
one. 

The  first  school  in  Jasper  Township  was 
taught  by  George  W.  Wilson  in  1823,  in  a 
house  built  for  the  purpose,  on  land  now  in- 
cluded in  William  N.  Borah's  farm.  This 
house  had  a  dirt  floor,  but  was  without  chim- 
ney, windows  or  door  shutter,  having  a  log 
cut  out  of  the  side  to  let  in  light.  Mr.  Wil- 
son taught  two  schools  here. 

The  first  Sabbath  school  in  Wayne  County 
was  also  organized  in  this  same  house,  in 
1824,  and  John  Borah,  Richard  Hall,  Thomas 
Wilson,  George  Wilson  and  James  Crews 
taught  classes.  The  sessions  lasted  much 
longer  than  they  do  at  the  present  time. 


HISTORY   OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


211 


The  second  school  in  the  township  was  also 
taught  by  George  Wilson,  near  the  "  Pigeon 
Roost,"'  ou  the  Jonathan  Douglas  place,  in 
18U5.  Among  the  pupils  at  this  school  were 
S.  J.  R.  Wilson,  Jacob  Hall.  William  Borah, 
Bailey  Borah,  Finley  Shaw,  Clinton,  Jack- 
son and  Warren  E.  McMackin,  the  Brad- 
shaws,  Pritchets  and  others. 

These  early  educational  instructions  were 
erected  conveniently  near  to  hazel  thickets. 
Upon  the  approach  of  Christmas,  the  patrons 
of  the  school  came  early  in  the  morning  to 
witness  the  exploit  of  the  boys  "turning  the 
teacher  out,"  a  custom  prevalent  in  those 
days,  and  found  the  shutterless  door  blocked 
with  benches.  By  some  means,  the  teacher 
found  access  to  the  inside,  and  the  struggle 
commenced  in  good  earnest.  Some  of  the 
boys  made  their  escape,  but  the  more  coura- 
geous, laid  hold  with  a  hearty  good-will,  and 
soon  had  the  teacher  at  a  disadvantage,  wal- 
lowing him  on  the  dirt  floor  and  pouring 
water  over  him,  from  the  drinking  gourd. 
At  a  signal  from  the  teacher,  one  of  the 
Pritchet  girls  snatched  the  Ljourd  and  broke 
it,  so  as  to  stop  that  part  of  their  fun. 
These  scenes  were  greatly  enjoyed  in  early 
times  by  teacher  and  pupils,  and  on  this  oc- 
casion, the  citizens  resolved  to  put  a  floor  in 
the  schoolhouse,  and  one  was  accordingly 
made  of  puncheons,  so  that  the  boys  in  fut- 
ure could  not  dirty  the  teachers  clothes  so 
outrageously  William  Metcalf,  William 
Gash,  Jacob  Love,  Min>"v  James,  Thurmutis 
Crews,  Gibson  Davis.  Samuel  Edmunson, 
Matthew  Blakely,  David  Reece,  and  Mr. 
French,  a  Baptist  preacher,  were  among  the 
teachers  who  taught  many  years  since  in 
Jasper  Township. 

Twenty-eight  years  ago,  the  present  school 
system  was  inaugurated.  Prior  to  that  time, 
the  schoolhouses  were  generally  built  by  the 
contributions  or  labor  of  the  patrons,  and  the 


teachers  were  paid  by  subscription,  by  the 
parent,  at  a  stipulated  sum  per  scholar. 
The  furniture,  if  such  it  might  bo  called,  was 
of  the  rudest  kind  and.  as  to  books,  one  or 
two  wore  deemed  sufficient  for  a  large  family. 
The  rod  was  considered  an  indispensable 
requisite  in  shedding  light  upon  the  pupil's 
mind.  "  Loud  schools"  were  the  order  of  the 
day,  in  which  all  were  expected  to  study  out 
loud,  so  that  the  teacher  could  detect  any 
want  of    application  or  dereliction  of  duty. 

The  ability  to  teach  "reading,  writing  and 
spelling"  were  the  common  qualifications  of 
the  teacher,  and  at  a  later  date,  he  was  ex- 
pected to  be  able  "  to  cipher  to  the  rule  of 
three."  The  pens  were  all  made  by  the 
teacher,  from  goose  quills,  and  many  a  bold, 
round  hand-write,  executed  with  a  quill  pen, 
might  have  been  seen.  But  these  things  are 
changed  now,  and  Jasper  Township  has 
seven  neat  frame  schoolhouses,  worth  with 
their  furniture  and  grounds  83,100;  ">S0 
children  of  school  age,  upon  whom  were,  last 
year,  expended  $1,995,  while  the  schools 
averaged  more  than  six  months  each. 

James  Miller,  the  father  of  Rev.  Miledge 
Miller,  taught  the  first  singing  school  in 
Jasper  Township,  at  William  Frazier's,  in 
1  83  I.  Jacob  Hall, Douglases,  Fraziors,  Kings, 
Beaches,  McLins,  McMackins  and  others  at- 
tended.    Old  stylo  patent  notes  were  used. 

John  Gash,  Sr.,  established  a  distillery  on 
Martin's  Creek  in  an  early  day,  which  was 
run  for  a  few  years,  greatly  to  the  injury 
of  somo  young  men  in  the  neighborhood. 

Hunting  parties  of  Indians  continued  to 
make  their  winter  camps  on  the  Wabash  and 
Elm  Itivers  until  IS'iti.  A  favorite  camping 
ground  with  them  was  on  land  now  owned 
by  Dr.  C.  W.  Sibley.  They  were  quiet;  but 
pioneer  mothors  took  advantage  of  their  pres- 
ence to  improve  the  morals  of  their  own 
children. 


212 


HISTORY   OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


As  Polly  Crews  was  passing  through  the 
tall  prairie  grass,  in  the  dusk  of  evening, 
near  Mr.  Pritchet's,  answering  what  she  mis- 
took for  the  repeated  calls  of  a  woman  in 
distress,  she  came  upon  an  enormous  panther, 
and  was  so  paralyzed  by  fear  that  she  could 
not  run,  on  which  account  she  probably  es- 
caped a  horrible  death.  The  beast  seemed 
also  bewildered,  from  some  cause,  and  would 
rear  upon  its  feet,  placing  its  paws  upon  her 
shoulders,  and  glare  in  her  face  with  its  wild 
and  piercing  eyes.  Her  screams  brought 
men  to  her  rescue,  and  the  panther  escaped. 
A  destructive  tornado  passed  through  the 
country  from  southwest  to  northeast  iu 
March,  1823,  creating  sad  havoc  and  causing 
•  destruction,  leveling  trees  and  almost  every- 
thing else  in  its  pathway.  Its  track  was 
about  one  hundred  rods  in  width,  and  while 
a  few  houses  were  blown  down,  much  greater 
damage  would  have  occurred  had  the  country 
been  as  thickly  settled  as  at  present. 

While  Jasper  Township  has  entirely  es- 
caped murders,  accidents  with  a  fatal 
termination  have  occurred  in  considerable 
numbers  within  the  last  sixty  years.  Will- 
iam Mitcalf  was  drowned  in  the  Little 
Wabash  River  in  1839.  Thomas  Wood 
was  drowDed  at  a  later  period,  and  a 
man  by  the  name  of  Nickson  was  drowned  at 
Leech's  Mill.  Adam  Simonson's  son  was 
thrown  from  a  horse  and  killed  in  1840. 
Samuel  Frazier,  while  drunk,  was  chilled  to 
death  as  he  lay  out  all  night.  While  he  was 
in  the  saloon  in  Fairfield,  the  men  around 
the  place  would  light  sulphur  matches  and 
hold  them  under  his  nose  to  see  him  jerk 
his  head.  He  was  then  left  out  alone  with 
the  above  result. 

Stewart,  a  son  of  Rev. Henry  Phelps,  was  ac- 
cidentally shot  with  fatal  effect  while  hunting 
a  few  years  since.  Burrel  Cook  was  drowned 
in  Elm  River  in   1850,  while  generously  as- 


sisting other  parties  to  cross.  A  young  man 
by  the  name  of  Stinett  while  running  a 
blind  horse  was  thrown  and  killed  in  1847. 
George  Posey  was  killed  while  felling  a  tree 
a  few  years  ago.  A  five  year-old  son  of 
Samuel  Farris  was  drowned  in  Martin's 
Creek  in  1879. 

The  early  blacksmiths  in  Jasper  Township 
were  Joseph  Martin.  William  Posey  and 
Charles  Dalton. 

Guns  were  made  and  repaired  by  Alexan- 
der Clark,  of  Big  Mound. 

Abram  Beach  made  the  chairs;  John  Mc- 
Mackin  was  the  first  cabinet-maker;  David 
P.  McLin,  the  wheelwright  and  wagon-maker; 
and   James   Bradshaw  was  the  shoe- maker. 
Jonathan  Douglas   built   the    first    frame 
house,  and  Jacob  Hall  burnt  the  first  lime- 
kiln on  the  southeast  quarter  of  Section  29. 
Mr.   Hall  also  ran  the  first  flat  boat  out  of 
Elm  River,  and  established  the  first  general 
store  on  the  southwest  quarter  of  the  south- 
east quarter  of   Section  25,    the  place  now 
owned  by  William  Murfit.       He  sold  good 
brown  sheeting  at  75  cents  per  yard;    good 
calico  at  50  cents  (six  to  eight  yards  making 
an  ample  dress  pattern);   nails,  12J  cents  per 
pound;  powder,  75  cents,  and  lead  at  20  cents; 
eggs  were  worth  3  cents  per  dozen;  butter,  Q\ 
cents  per  pound;    and  pork  brought   $1.25 
per  100  pounds. 

Jonathan  Douglas  also  kept  a  small  store 
on  his  place. 

Salt  was  brought  from  the  saline  works, 
near  Equality  on  horseback,  for  which  the 
pioneer  bartered  venison  hams,  peltries,  tal- 
low, beeswax  and  honey,  the  latter  selling  at 
50  cents  per  gallon.  Wells  were  not  common, 
and  those  who  were  not  fortunate  in  owning 
springs,  hauled  their  supply  on  sleds  from  the 

river. 

Matches  were  unknown,  and  fire  was  either 
produced  by  flint  and  steel,  or  borrowed  from 


HISTORY   OF    WAYNE   <  OIXTY. 


318 


the  neighbors.  Percussion  caps  made  their 
appearance  some  time  after  L830,  previous 
to  which,  and  even  much  later,  flint  locks 
were  used  on  guns.  Before  mills  were  built, 
different  plaus  were  adopted  to  manufacture 
corn  into  meal  for  bread  while  the  corn  was 
yet  soft.  It  was  grated  into  corn  meal  by 
rubbing  over  a  piece  of  tin,  punched  full  of 
holes  to  make  it  rough. 

Mortars  were  made  by  cutting  off  a  tree 
about  three  feet  from  the  ground,  and  burning 
a  hole  a  foot  in  depth  and  diamater,  in  the 
top  of  the  stump.  Into  this  the  corn  was 
placed,  and  a  hard  hickory  pestle,  or  an  iron 
wedge  attached  to  a  9priug  pole,  was  used  to 
pound  it  fine.  It  was  then  shaken  through  a 
domestic  sieve,  constructed  by  weaving  long 
horse  hairs  over  a  wooden  hoop.  The  finer 
portions  were  used  for  bread  or  mush,  and  the 
coarser  for  hominy.  Bread  was  often  made 
by  mixing  the  meal  with  water  and  salt, 
placing  the  dough  in  wet  corn  shucks,  or 
green  cabbage  leaves,  and  roasting  in  hot 
embers.  The  more  common  method  was  to 
place  the  dough  in  a  skilet,  in  three  oblong 
lumps,  called  "  dodgers,"  covering  with  a  lid 
and  putting  hot  coals  above  and  beneath. 

When  the  lid  was  turned  up-side  down; 
coals  of  tire  underneath,  and  bread  baked  on 
top.  it  was  called  ""hoe  cake,"  and  was  con- 
sidered an  antidote  for  dyspepsia.  The 
"johnny-cake,"  was  made  by  making  the 
dough  very  rich  with  lard,  and  placing  it  on 
a  board  to  roast  before  the  tire.  The  best 
constructed  cook  stoves,  with  all  modern  ap- 
pliances, have  failed  to  make  corn-bread  as 
palatable  as  the  meanest  of  these  methods. 

Granulated  honey,  well  drained  and  dried, 
was  used  for  sugar.  For  tea  sassafras  root, 
sage,  spicewood  and  sycamore  bark  were  used. 
Coffee  cost  money,  and  was  but  little  used 
except  on  rare  occasions.  Strings  of  red 
pepper  and  various  medicinal  herbs  were  hung 


upon  the  wall,  in  readiness  for  any  emergency, 
or  demand  that  might  be  made  upon  them. 

Pumpkins  were  cut  into  rings  and  hung 
upon  sticks  over-head  to  dry  for  spring  and 
summer  use.  Very  few  Irish  potatoes  were 
used,  but  yams  being  a  Southern  growth,  were 
more  generally  cultivated.  Peaches  were 
plentiful,  after  a  few  years,  with  those  who 
were  not  too  indifferent  to  plant  them. 

It  is  thought  that  John  Borah  raised  the 
first  apples  and  the  first  wheat  in  Jasper 
Township,  but  the  latter  was  little  used  on 
account  of  the  difficulty  of  manufacturing  it 
into  Hour.  Metheglin  and  persimmon  beer 
were  often  used  as  a  domestic  drink. 

After  the  days  of  buckskin,  the  pioneer 
clothing  was  carded,  spun  and  woven  by 
hand,  the  thread,  buttons  etc.,  being  of  home 
manufacture. 

Cotton  was  grown  to  a  considerable  extent, 
and  after  the  seeds  were  picked  out  by  hand, 
was  colored  by  native  barks,  and  made  into 
cloth.  A  cross-checked,  homespun,  cotton 
dress,  woven  in  checks  of  "  copperas  and 
white,"  made  a  wedding  outfit  of  which  the 
Queen  Dowager  might  have  been  proud. 

Flax  entered  largely  into  the  supply  of 
apparel.  The  seeds  were  thickly  sown  that 
it  might  grow  tall  and  slender,  after  which 
it  was  pulled  up  b)  the  roots,  rotted,  broken, 
swingled,  hatcheled  and  spun  on  a  small 
flax  wheel  for  use. 

Men,  women  and  children  were  compelled 
to  work  hard  in  those  days  for  the  necessaries 
to  say  nothing  of  the  comforts  of  life.  Per- 
sons reared  under  the  influence  and  inspira 
tion  of  modern  progress,  can  form  no  just 
conception  of  the  hardships  endured,  or  the 
shifts  to  which  the  toiling  pioneer  was  often 
compelled  to  resort. 

Winter  caps  were  made  of  the  skins  of 
wolves,  foxe9  and  raccoons,  and  summer  hats 
were  made  of  plaited  straw.      Grain  was  cut 


214 


HISTORY    OF    WAYNE   COUNTY. 


with  the  sickle,  and  -when  the  cradle  was  in- 
troduced, about  1830,  it  was  almost  as  great 
an  innovation  as  the  reaper  and  binder  of  the 
present  day.  The  grain  was  threshed  by  the 
hand  flail,  or  tramped  out  by  horses,  and 
"  winnowed  "  in  any  manner  by  which  could 
be  applied  the  most  wind.  After  being 
around  into  flour,  it  was  bolted  by  hand,  and 
a  (lark,  inferior  article  it  made  indeed. 

The  plows  were  decidedly  primitive  in 
their  construction;  first  the  bull- tongue,  then 
the  barshare  and  the  Cary.  with  wooden 
mold-boards,  from  which  the  dirt  had  fre- 
quently to  be  scraped  with  a  paddle.  Work 
oxen  were  in  general  use,  but  a  mule  had  not 
been  seen  in  Jasper  Township  until  Peter 
Cartwrigbt  passed  through,  riding  one,  which 
caused  no  little  stir  among  the  people.  The 
men  were  attracted  by  the  sight  of  the  great 
pioneer  preacher,  and  the  boys  by  the  mule. 

That  terrible  scourge,  so  common  at  an 
early  day,  and  even  at  a  much  later  period, 
known  as  the  "milk  sickness,"  was  held  in 
dread  by  the  inhabitants  of  Jasper  Town- 
shin,  and  so  general  was  it  that  the  people 
did  not  deny  its  presence.  What  is  it?  I 
don't  know!  though  my  limbs  for  more  than 
thirty  years  have  quivered  under  its  baneful 
influence.  What  is  your  opinion?  It  would 
settle  no  question  if  I  were  to  answer  you. 
Thirty-five  years  ago,  Sailor's  Springs  and 
some  springs  in  Crawford  County  were  se- 
curely fenced,  to  preserve  cattle  from  the 
clutches  of  this  fell  destroyer.  Finley  Paul 
and  Martin  Woodworth,  of  Palestine.  111., 
claim  that  it  is  caused  by  an  herb,  and  that 
its  use  by  stock  under  certain  conditions  is 
sure  to  produce  the  malady.  If  the  scattered 
blades  of  fodder  were  left  over  night  in  Henry 
Gardner's  dooryard,  northwest  part  of  Fay- 
ette County,  111.,  and  his  calves  were  per- 
mitted to  eat  it  in  the  morning  with  the  dew 
on,  they  soon  grew  shakey  and  died,  and  this 


was  repeated  A  few  miles  northwest  of  Al- 
tamont,  some  years  since,  was  a  well  from 
which  several  people  contracted  this  disease 
and  died.  Its  victims  become  dizzy  and 
nervous,  while  an  intense,  burning  fever  tor- 
ments the  whole  system.  Congestion  and 
excruciating  pains  in  the  stomach  rack  the 
very  life  from  the  sufferer.  A  peculiar  odor 
is  emitted  that  need  not  be  mistaken.  Hap- 
pily, the  cause,  whatever  it  may  be,  passes 
away  when  the  ground  is  cultivated,  tramped 
or  the  original  wild  growth  is  eaten  out. 

From  Mr.  E.  B.  Hearn,  Township  Clerk, 
we  have  secured  the  names  of  the  following 
officers  who  have  served  in  Jasper  Township 
since  the  adoption  of  township  organization 
in  1859.  In  1860,  J.  Bailey  Borah  was 
elected  Supervisor;  Robert  Black,  Clerk;  John 

A.  Russell,  John  M.  Creighton  and  John  C. 
Borah.  Highway  Commissioners;  J.  Morland 
and  Amos  Phelps,  Justices  of  the  Peace. 

1861 — Samuel  Stewart,  Supervisor;  Robert 
Black,  Clerk;  J.  C.  Borah,  Commissioner, 
and  Z.  C.  Roberts,  Justice  of  the  Peace. 

1862 — James  A.  MeLin.  Supervisor;  Rob- 
ert Black.  Clerk:  Amos  Phelps,  H.  C.  Phelps, 
E.  P.  Grove,  Commissioners. 

1863 — James  Hearn,  Supervisor;  Alex. 
Crews,  Clerk;  William  Crews,  Justice  of  the 
Peace;  and  J.  C.  Borah,  Commissioner. 

1864 — James  Hearn,  Supervisor;  Joseph 
Wilson,  Clerk;  Henry  Darr,  Commissioner; 
and  B.  S.  Brown,  Justice  of  the  Peace. 

1865 — William  N.    Borah,   Supervisor;  E. 

B.  Roberts,  Clerk;  John  M.  Creighton  and 
Henry  Rankin.  Commissioners. 

1866— William  N.  Borah.  Supervisor;  E. 
B.  Roberts,  Clerk;  John  M.  Creighton,  Com- 
missioner; and  James  A.  McLin,  Justice  of 
the  Peace. 

1867 — James  A.  McLim,  Supervisor;  Ben- 
jamin H.  Hearn.  Clerk;  \\  illiam  E.  Pilcher, 
Commissioner. 


HISTORY   OF   WAYN'K  COUNTY. 


215 


1868— L.  P.  Hay.  Supervisor;  Robert 
Black,  Clerk;  Robert  Schell  and  James  A. 
McLin,  Commissioners;  L.  P.  Hay  and  E.  B. 
Pilcher.  Justices  of  the  Peace. 

1869— L.  P.  Hay,  Supervisor;  John  W. 
Borah,  Clerk;  Robert  Schell,  Commissioner. 

1870 — E.  B.  Pilcher.  Supervisor:  A.  M. 
Cable,  Clerk;  J.   H.  Thomas,  Commissioner. 

1871 — William  N.  Borah,  Supervisor  and 
Justice;  — Limpert,  Clerk;  T.  H.  Darr,  Com- 
missioner. 

1872 — William  N.  Borah,  Supervisor;  Gil- 
lison  George,  Clerk;  B.  E.  Johnson,  Com- 
missioner; William  Crews  andE.  B.  Pilcher, 
Justices  of  the  Peace. 

1873 — William  N.  Borah,  Supervisor;  E. 
Berg,  Clerk;  J.  B.  Borah,  Commissioner; 
Emanuel  Berg,  Justice  of  the  Peace. 

1874 — James  A.  McLin,  Supervisor;  E. 
Berg.  Clerk:  Caleb  Crews,  Commissioner. 

1875 — William  N.  Borah,  Supervisor;  E. 
Berg.  Clerk;  P.  B.  Grice,  Commissioner. 

1876 — D.  C.  Monroe,  Supervisor;  S.  H. 
Rea,  Clerk;  Z.  C.  Roberts,  Commissioner; 
Caleb  W.  Crews.  .1  notice  of  the  Peace. 

1877 — Voluntino  C.  Borah,  Supervisor;  E. 
B.  Pilcher,  Clerk;  B.  E.  Johnson,  Commis- 
missiouer;  James  A.  McLin  and  Caleb  W. 
Crews,  Justices  of  the  Peace. 

1878— M.  H.  Crews,  Supervisor;  E.  B. 
Pilcher,  Clerk;  B.  E.  Johnson,  Commissioner. 

1879 — Samuel  H.  Rea,  Supervisor;  E.  R. 
Hearn,  Clerk:  Thomas  M.  Young,  Commis- 
sioner. 

1880— V.  C.  Borah,  Supervisor;  E.  R. 
Hearn,  Clerk;  O.  Beard.  Commissioner. 

1881— V.    C.    Borah,    Supervisor;    E.    R 
Hearn,    Clerk;  T.    E.    T)arr,    Commissioner; 
Charles  E.  Creighton,  .).  A.  McLin  and  Sam- 
uel S.  Farris,  Justice  of  the  Peace. 

1882— S.  H.  Rea,  Supervisor;  E.  R.  Hearn. 
Clerk:  George  M.  Owen,  Commissioner. 

1883 — David  H.    Holman,   Supervisor;  E. 


R.  Hearn,  Clerk;  John  H.   Bradbury,  Com- 
missioner. 

William  A.  Frazier  came  from  South  Car- 
olina with  the  other  Fraziers  in  1818,  and 
settled  on  the  northwest  quarter  of  Section 
13.  He  was  an  illiterate  man,  but  aspired 
to  better  things  than  ho  had  been  accustomed 
to,  desiring  to  associate  with  those  who  tread 
the  higher  walks  of  life.  Being  an  aspi 
rant  for  honors,  he  sought  the  company  of 
educated  people,  and,  wishing  to  appear  to 
advantage  in  their  presence,  he,  indiscrimi 
nately  used  big  sounding  words  without  re- 
gard to  their  meaning.  His  ambition  was 
chiefly  to  be  well  thought  of,  and  such  a 
man  cannot  be  mean.  He  was  elected  Major 
of  the  militia.  He  was  a  hatter  by  profes- 
sion, and  as  his  finances  improved,  he  im- 
proved his  premises.  His  wool  hats  sold  at 
SI. 25,  and  were  so  stiff  that  they  could  be 
used  as  a  stool.  His  fur  hats  were  made  on 
the  shares,  or,  for  sixteen  coon  skins  he 
would  make  a  hat  that  would  last  ten  years. 
He  was  a  good  man,  and  died  in  1835.  His 
son  Jqkn  died  in  the  Mexican  war.  Other 
sons  moved  to  Arkansas  many  years  ago. 

John  Borah,  Sr.,  wa£  born  in  Lancaster 
County,  Penn.,  about  1777,  and  removed  to 
Butler  County,  Ky.,  in  an  early  day,  and 
came  to  Wayne  County,  111.,  and  settled  on 
the  southwest  quarter  of  the  southeast  quar- 
ter of  Section  23,  in  Jasper  Township,  in 
1821.  He  was  a  man  of  sterling  integrity. 
of  good  common  sense  and  fixed  principles. 
He  was  long  an  Elder  of  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  Church,  and  died  in  1842. 
His  father,  Jacob,  was  a  Revolutionary 
soldier. 

William  N.  Borah,  the  first  son  of  John, 
is  one  of  the  most  substantial  citizens  of  the 
county.  Few  among  us  are  more  extensively 
read  in  general  literature  than  he.  He  has 
five  times  tilled  the  position  of  Supervisor, 


216 


IM>TOKY  OF    WAYNE  COUNTY. 


and  has  paid  especial  attention  to  the  in- 
terests of  education.  He  is  a  pleasant,  hale 
gentleman  of  the  old  style,  and  it  is  a  treat 
to  spend  an  evening  with  him,  when  the  con- 
versation will  not  be  allowed  to  falter. 

John  McMackin  came  from  Kentucky  about 
1822,  and  first  settled  near  Fairfield,  where 
the  great  tornado  blew  down  his  house  with- 
out injuring  his  family,  and  he  afterward 
moved  to  the  northwest  quarter  of  Section 
21,  where  he  died.  He  was  an  early  cabinet- 
maker and  carpenter.  His  sons  were  Clin- 
ton, a  great  singer,  John  and  AVarren  E. 
The  latter  became  a  Cumberland  Presbyte- 
rian minister  of  considerable  note;  but  it 
is  not  especially  in  this  capacity  that  he  has 
most  brilliantly  shone.  At  the  breaking 
out  of  the  war  of  the  rebellion,  he  was  ap- 
pointed Chaplain  of  the  Twenty  first  Illi- 
nois Infantry,  by  U.  S.  Grant,  the  Colonel. 
Upon  the  promotion  of  the  latter,  he  was  ap 
pointed  Colonel  of  the  regiment,  and  won 
many  laurels  during  the  war.  When  Gen. 
Grant  became  President,  with  his  usual  cus- 
tom of  remembering  true  and  tried  friend*. 
he  did  not  forget  Col.  McMackin,  but  ap- 
pointed him  to  different  positions,  among 
which  was  Pension  Agent  in  this  district. 
He  is  now  enjoying  an  honored  old  age  in 
Salem,  111.,  though  his  health  is  impaired 
by  his  army  life. 

Jacob  JB.  Borah,  another  son  of  John,  the 
pioneer,  was  born  in  Wayne  County,  111.,  in 
1820.  He  is  mentally  well  preserved,  jbright, 
quick  and  well  read.  He  has  certainly  been 
of  great  value  in  compiling  this  history,  by 
the  accurate  fund  of  information  from  which 


copious  notes  have  been  frequently  drawn. 
He  was  a  Captain  in  the  late  war,  and  is 
highly  esteemed  as  a  private  citizen.  It  is 
by  such  men  that  the  world  is  made  better. 

James  Hearn  came  from  Tennessee  and 
settled  on  the  southwest  quarter  of  the  north- 
west quarter  of  Section  21.  about  1842.  He 
served  as  a  soldier  in  the  Seminole  war,  and 
also  on  the  Union  side  in  the  war  of  the 
great  rebellion.  As  a  man  he  is  positive  in 
his  convictions,  gentle  in  his  temperament, 
a  very  active  member  of  the  Missionary  Bap- 
tist Church,  but  catholic  in  his  sentiments, 
and  no  mau  among  his  numerous  acquaint- 
ances possesses,  in  a  higher  degree,  the 
confidence  and  friendship  of  all  than 
"  Uncle  Jimmy  Hearn." 

John  M.  Creighton  came  from  White 
County,  and  settled  on  the  northwest  quarter 
of  the  northeast  quarter  of  Section  35,  in 
Jasper  Township,  where  he  improved  one  of 
the  finest  estates  in  Wayne  County.  He  was 
a  thorough  Methodist,  a  thoroughgoing  busi- 
ness man,  and  one  of  the  grandest  accessions 
that  the  county  has  ever  received.  Possessed 
of  a  well-balanced  mind,  he  managed  his  own 
affairs  with  prudence  and  was  a  wise  counselor 
and  true  friend  to  those  in  need.  His 
death,  which  occurred  in  the  fall  of  1869, 
was  a  heavy  loss  to  the  community  at  large. 
His  sons,  James  A.,  of  Springfield,  Joseph, 
of  Taylorville,  and  Jacob  R.,  of  Fairfield, 
are  attorneys.  Charles  E.  is  a  minister,  and 
Mattie  is  the  wife  of  Dr.  Borah,  of  Louis- 
iana. His  younger  sons  are  cultivating  the 
estate  upon  which  his  worthy  widow,  the 
daughter  of  Rev.  James  Crews,  resides. 


HISTORY   OF    WAYNE  COUNTY. 


217 


C1I  A  ['TEE     XVII. 


KASSILLOU     COWNSEDTP 

EARLY  PACTS  AND  REMINISCENCES  AS  GATHERED  FROM  JACOB  HALL,  W.  N.  BORAH,  J.  B.  BORAH, 
JUDGE  WILSON  AND  OTHERS— LOVELETTE,  THE  TRADITIONAL  FIRST  COMER— ENOCH  BEACH, 
THE  FIRST  SETTLER,  WITH  A  SKETCH— NAMES    IND  SKETCHES  OF  OUR  SETTLERS 
AND  THEIR  FAMILIES— CAMPS  AND  CABINS  OK  THEEARLY  DAY— TRUNDLE 
BEDS  AND  THEIR  TRASH— FIRST  SCHOOL  AND  WHO  TAUGHT  IT- 
FIRST  MARRIAGE,  BIRTH  AND  DEATH— THE  OLD  RANGERS 
—JUDGE  WILSON  AND  THE  DEER  THAT  TORE   HIS 
CLOTHES  OFF— JOHN  McCOLLUM   AND  HIS 
COON— WILD   CATS— FIRST    MILLS, 
CHURCHES,       PREACHERS, 
ETC.,      ETC.,      ETC, 

r  |  ^O   demand  a  complete  and  thorough  his- 


-1-  tory,  perfect  in  all  its  parts  and  bear- 
ings, in  relation  to  the  events  of  the  "long, 
long  ago  " — events  that  were  second-hand  at  a 
time  when  heads  now  silvered  by  the  fronts 
of  many  winters  were  in  the  bloom  of  child- 
hood—  is  only  equaled  by  the  expectation  of 
finding  perfect  men  in  this  world,  or  seeking 
infallibility  in  a  weak  and  fallen  race.  The 
standpoint  from  which  events  and  incidents 
are  observed  must  be  considered  as  well  as 
the  opportunities  of  the  witnesses  upon 
whose  testimonies  we  are  chiefly  called  upon 
to  rely  for  the  most  accurate  information  ob- 
tainable at  the  time. 

The  intelligent  observer  is  sometimes  led 
on  to  wonder,  and  even  to  amazement,  when 
he  hears,  in  our  courts,  good  men,  honest 
and  true,  testifying  diametrically  opposite  to 
each  other  about  events,  viewed  at  the  same 
time  by  each,  yet  from  different  standpoints. 
But,  in  rendering  judgment,  the  reasonable- 
ness, the  weight  of  testimony,  as  well  as  the 
idiosyncrasies  and  opportunities  of  each  wit- 
ness, must  be  taken  into  consideration. 

*By  F.  M.  Woolard. 


It  is  little  different  in  gathering  incidents 
of  history,  for,  after  the  greatest  care  and 
diligent  research,  many  items  will  doubtless 
remain  untold,  and  others  will  appear  among 
chronicled  events  that,  are  questionable  as  to 
accuracy,  and  some  may  possess  an  air  of  im- 
probability. 

But  history  is  useful,  inasmuch  as  it  se- 
cures to  us  the  advantage  of  the  experience 
of  others,  whose  successes  and  failures  in 
life  are  as  beacon  lights,  by  which  we  may 
safely  guide  our  floating  barks  on  life's  sea 
to  a  haven  of  security. 

The  first  actors  on  the  arena  of  civilized 
life  in  Massillon  Township,  the  men  who 
"  came,  and  saw,  and  conquered,"  have  long 
since  passed  to  their  reward,  and  their  places 
are  now  largely  occupied  by  men  who  knew 
them  not,  but  have  entered  into  their  labors 
and  are  enjoying  the  blessings  procured  by 
the  others'  hardships.  There  is  no  excel- 
s  without  groat  labor,  and  the  labor  and 
endurance  of  the  first  were  the  means  by 
which  the  latter  generations  have  procured 
immunity  from  kindred  privations.  Some 
of  them  were,  indeed,  grand  men — men  whose 


218 


HISTORY   OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


lights  would  shine  in  any  age  or  sphere,  and 
brilliantly  illume  the  horizon  around  them. 
In  a  few  instances,  their  sons,  who  either 
came  with  them  in  early  childhood,  or  were 
"to  the  manor  born,"  are  still  living,  as 
bright  men  as  any  among  us,  but  even  their 
steps  are  tottering  with  age,  and,  ere  many 
changing  seasons,  as  the  morning  dew  be- 
neath  the  summer's  sun,  they,  too,  must  pass 
away  and  be  gathered  to  their  fathers. 

We  here  wish  to  acknowledge  our  obliga- 
tions to  Messrs.  Jacob  Hall,  William  N.  Bo- 
rah, J.  B.  Borah,  Judge  Wilson  and  some 
others,  for  reliable  information  concerning 
the  early  pioneers  and  many  incidents  in 
this  narrative.  These  gentlemen  are  all  re- 
markably well  preserved  in  mind  and  body, 
and  in  addition  to  being  the  sons  of  hardy 
pioneers,  possess  stores  of  valuable  informa- 
tion from  which  we  have  copiously  drawn 
for  these  chronicles. 

Massillon  Township  embraces  the  whole 
territory  designated  by  Government  survey- 
ors as  Town  1  south,  Range  9  east,  of  the 
Third  Principal  Meridian,  in  Wayne  County, 
111.  It  is  bounded  on  the  east  by  Edwards 
County,  on  the  south  by  Leech  Township, 
on  the  west  by  Jasper  Township,  and  on  the 
north  by  Mt.  Erie  Township.  In  its  physical 
features  it  differs  somewhat  from  any  other 
township  in  the  county,  having  within  its 
boundaries  two  rivers,  between  and  along 
which  are  large  areas  of  swamp  lands  cover- 
ing almost  fourteen  sections,  which  are  sub- 
ject to  overflows,  and  are  often  submerged  to . 
considerable  depths.  These  low  lands,  when 
cultivated,  yield  an  alluring  wealth  of  farm 
products,  unequaled  in  their  abundance,  but 
the  uncertainty  of  harvesting  the  fruit  of  the 
husbandman's  labor,  on  account  of  overflows, 
has,  to  a  large  extent,  acted  as  a  hindrance 
to  their  general  cultivation.  While  very  pro- 
ductive in  favorable  seasons,  these  lands  have 


generally  been  left  in  their  wild  and  uncult- 
ured state,  and  furnish  ample  pasturage 
for  thousands  of  cattle  and  other  stock  dur- 
ing nine  or  ten  months  in  the  year.  This 
pasturage  will  probably  remain  for  many 
generation  to  come,  and  will  continue  to  fur- 
nish a  luxuriant  growth  of  rich  and  succu- 
lent grasses  that  may  be  turned  to  advantage 
by  the  thrifty  stock-grower  of  the  future. 
These  flat  lands  must  of  necessity  remain 
unfenced  for  many  years  to  come,  and  the 
grand  range  be  open  and  free  to  all  men  un- 
til large  sums  are  expended  for  levees  to 
secure  fences  from  breakage  by  high 
waters. 

Much  the  larger  portion  of  Massillon 
Township,  as  the  white  man  found  it,  was 
covered  with  a  heavy  growth  of  timber, 
which  has  been  of  great  value,  not  only  to 
the  surrounding  country  but  for  exportation. 
Very  considerable  quantities  of  the  better 
grades  of  hard  wood  yet  remain,  and  can  be 
obtained  at  fair  prices. 

When  the  red  man  abandoned  this  country, 
these  forests  were  comparatively  open,  but 
little  undergrowth  being  found  to  obstruct 
the  vision.  This  destruction  of  the  germs  of 
trees  and  shrubs  was  brought  about  by  the 
annual  autumnal  fires  that  swept  over  both 
timber  and  prairie  alike.  These  fires  were 
not  the  result  of  accident  as  many  have  sup- 
posed, but  were  caused  by  the  deliberate  act 
of  the  Indians,  that  there  might  be  no  hiding 
places  for  the  wild  game,  upon  which  they 
relied  for  sustenance.  The  prairie  fire  must 
be  seen,  and  that  in  the  night  time,  to  be 
fully  appreciated.  The  sight  is  a  grand  one, 
often  terrific,  and  not  easily  forgotten:  but  he 
who  relies  upon  the  account  of  western  sen- 
sational writers  for  information  on  this  sub- 
ject, is  sure  to  be  misled,  and  can  have  no 
just  conception  of  this  really  beautiful  pan- 
orama, for  the  simple  reason  that  their  state- 


HISTORY   OF   WAYNE    COUNTY. 


219 


ments  are  overdrawn,  and  the  authors  never 
saw  what  they  pretend  to  describe. 

Over  portions  of  Sections  I,  3,  l11  and  9,  in 
Massillon  Township,  extends  an  arm  of  Grand 
Prairie,  which  is  known  here  by  the  name  of 
Long  Prairie.  In  the  southeastern  portion 
of  the  township,  next  to  Jasper  Township. 
Tom's  Prairie  covers  about  one  section  of 
land.  Since  the  cessation  of  the  early  fires 
before  mentioned,  the  timber  growth  has 
made  considerable  encroachments  upon  these 
prairies,  so  that  their  area  is  not  so  great  now 
as  it  was  sixty  years  ago. 

Massillon  Township,  as  a  whole,  is  very 
fertile,  and  some  of  tin?  finest  bodies  of  farm- 
ing lands  to  be  found  in  Southeastern  Illi- 
nois are  located  within  her  borders.  The 
lauds,  aside  from  the  flats,  or  overflowed 
lands  along  the  river,  are  undulating,  with 
sufficient  drainage  to  carry  off  the  rainfall 
within  a  few  hours'  time.  The  abundant 
crops  of  hickory  nuts  and  various  kinds  of 
acorns  are  of  great  value  as  swine  food,  be- 
sides which  large  quantities  of  hickory  nuts 
are  shipped  and  bring  considerable  revenue 
into  the  community.  In  the  good  old  times, 
pecans  grew  in  great  abundance,  and  formed 
no  inconsiderable  article  of  early  commerce, 
being  bought  by  merchants  and  shipped  in 
flat-boats  to  New  Orleans,  where  they  found 
a  ready  market.  But  the  vandal  hands  of 
shiftless  men,  who,  like  the  fabled  boy  that 
slew  the  goose  that  lay  the  golden  egg,  have 
felled  the  trees  bearing  those  truly  luscious 
nuts,  that  they  might  share  the  profit  of  the 
single  crop  obtained  thereby,  though  their 
destruction  deprived  themselves  and  others, 
including  their  own  children,  of  the  enjoy- 
ment for  many  years,  thi>  luxury  of  this  fruit. 
It  has  been  said  that  "  the  Anglo-Saxon  race 
is  a  race  of  pirates,"  and  one  must  indeed 
close  both  eyes  and  ears  almost  every  day  of 
his    life  to    not    be    forced    to     the    con- 


clusion that  the  declaration  is  but  too  true. 

Catalpa,  a  tree  of  large  and  abundant 
growth,  with  a  luxuriance  of  flowers,  and  ex- 
tensively used  for  shingles  and  posts  on  ac- 
count of  its  durability,  is  indigenous  and 
deserves  a  special  mention.  In  fact,  the  tim- 
ber growth  of  this,  both  in  quantity  and  va- 
riety, is  scarcely  excelled  by  that  of  any  other 
township  in  the  State. 

The  fauna  of  Massillon  Township  was  the 
great  attraction  to  the  red  man  in  his  day, 
and  this  was  the  Elysian  field  of  the  pioneer 
hunter,  the  alluring  magnet  that  drew  him 
here.  From  the  best  information  now  at 
hand,  the  bear,  deer,  turkeys  and  larger 
game,  to  say  nothing  of  the  smaller  varieties, 
existed  in  larger  numbers,  and  remained 
longer  after  the  first  settlement  in  this  town- 
ship than  elsewhere  in  Wayne  County. 
Birds  existed  in  great  variety,  many  species 
of  which  yet  remain.  Wild  fruits  in 
great  abundance  were  indigenous  to  the  soil, 
and  were  a  welcome  article  of  food  to  the 
early  settler. 

At  the  intersection  of  Sections  20  and  28, 
but  lying  chiefly  in  the  northwest  quarter  of 
the  northwest  quarter  of  Section  28,  is  a 
pond  somewhat  noted  for  the  large  numbers 
of  water-fowl  that  formerly  congregated  there, 
and  was  a  place  of  resort  for  hunters  in  quest 
of  the  same.  Wild  ducks  and  geese  were 
killed  here  in  quantities  sufficient  to  make  the 
modern  quail  and  snipe  hunter  feel  the  utter 
insignificance  of  his  calling. 

Owing  to  the  deposit  from  the  frequent 
overflows,  and  the  rank  growth  of  vegetation, 
falling  and  remaining  on  its  surface,  it  is 
supposed  that,  within  the  recollection  of 
in. mi  now  living,  the  depth  has  decreased 
not  less  than  three  feet.  In  addition  to  this 
the  portion  belonging  to  Mr.  David  Monroe 
ha-  been  partially  drained,  and  some  attempts 
made  at  cultivation;  but  the  overflow,  which 


220 


HISTORY  OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


seems  to  be  almost  as  sure  as  death  and  taxes, 
precludes  the  possibility  of  successful  culti- 
vation, notwithstanding  the  great  wealth  of 
accumulated  soil  on  its  bosom. 

Near  this  pond,  on  the  northeast  quarter  of 
the  northeast  quarter  of  Section  29,  the 
property  of  Marvel  Hill,  are  three  mounds, 
composed  of  sandy  loam,  about  ten  acres  of 
which  are  above  all  overflow,  supposed  to 
have  been  the  work  of  ancient  Mound -Build- 
ers. Signs  of  Indian  burial  are  to  be  seen 
there  yet,  and  small  pieces  of  human  bones, 
teeth,  ^"scraps  of  pottery  with  other  relics  are 
still  to  be  found. 

In  1833,  while  Judge  Wilson,  then  a  lad, 
was  plowing  on  the  largest  of  these  mounds, 
his  plow  struck  something  hard,  which 
caused  him  and  his  father  to  investigate,  and, 
upon  digging  down,  they  unearthed  a  slab- 
stone  vault,  2x3  feet  in  size,  in  which  was 
doubled  up  a  large  human  skeleton,  apparently 
in  a  fair  state  of  preservation,  but  which  soon 
crumbled,  with  the  exception  of  the  teeth, 
when  exposed  to  the  atmosphere.  The  flat 
stones  of  which  this  vault  was  composed 
were  unlike  anything  of  the  kind  found  in 
the  neighborhood. 

The  Little  Wabash  River  enters  Massillon 
Township  near  the  center  of  the  eastern  line 
of  Section  12,  bearing  in  a  southwesterly  di- 
rection through  Sections  11,  14,  15,  22,  27, 
33  and  32,  where  it  enters  Leech  Township. 
The  western  portion  of  the  township  is 
drained  by  Elm  River,  which  runs  through 
Sections  18,  19,  30,  29  and  32,  where  it  en- 
ters the  Little  Wabash  River. 

Village  Creek  in  the  east  and  Little  Elm 
in  the  northwest  carry  off  the  surplus  rain- 
fall in  those  portions  of  the  township. 

On  the  premises  of  James  Ed  Lane,  south- 
east quarter  of  the  northeast  quarter  of  Section 
31,  are  yet  distinctly  to  be  seen  portions  of  the 
buffalo  trace,  along  which  were  scattered  many 


bones  when  the  county  was  first  settled.  Signs 
of  an  Indian  village  having  existed  here  are 
numerous,  and  many  relics,  such  as  stone 
axes,  arrow  points,  etc.,  have  been  found 
at  this  place.  Along  the  bluffs  of  Section 
31  are  numerous  springs  of  water  that  flow 
the  year  round,  and  the  driest  seasons  have 
not  perceptibly  affected  them. 

There  is  not  the  uncertainty  as  to  who 
were  the  first  permanent  settlers  in  Massillon 
Township  that  we  sometimes  encounter  in 
others. 

There  is  an  old  tradition,  however,  wheth- 
er true  or  untrue  we  have  no  means  at  hand 
of  ascertaining,  that  a  Frenchman  by  the 
name  of  Lavalette,  prior  to  the  war  of  1812, 
had  a  trading  post,  for  barter  with  the  Indi- 
ans, at  or  near  the  place  where  the  town  of 
New  Massillon  was  afterward  founded. 
Through  the  same  tradition,  we  also  learn 
that,  being  impressed  with  a  sense  of  inse- 
curity, so  remote  from  any  other  white  man, 
when  the  war  clouds  began  to  gather,  he  also 
"  gathered  ''  his  traps  and  sought  a  place  of 
greater   security. 

Enoch  Beach  is  entitled  to  the  honor  of 
being  considered  the  first  settler  in  Massillon 
Township.  He  came  from  South  Carolina 
and  located  on  the  northeast  quarter  of  Section 
30  as  early  as  1817.  He  moved  in  a  large 
"schooner"  wagon,  a  style  of  wagon  un- 
known to  the  present  generation,  the  first 
wagon  brought  to  Wayne  County,  and  with 
him  came  King,  his  brother-in-law,  who 
sood  died,  and  Pritchet,  who  settled  in  Jas- 
per Township,  and  also  Abraham  Beach,  his 
nephew,  with  their  families.  The  intelli- 
gence, benevolence  and  energy  of  Mr.  Beach 
made  him  a  prominent  factor  in  the  com- 
munity until  his  death,  which  occurred  about 
the  year  1836.  He  early  became  an  exten- 
sive land -owner,  and  improved  a  large  farm; 
was   elected    or    appointed    Justice  of    the 


HISTORY   OF    WAYNE  COUNTY. 


•221 


Peace,  the  duties  of  which  ho  administered 
to  the  satisfaction  of  all;  he  tillod  tho  posi- 
tion of  State  Senator  with  honor,  and,  while 
modest  and  unassuming,  he  was  foremost 
in  all  public  enterprises  or  movements  for 
the  welfare  of  the  people.  Prudent  in  the 
management  of  his  own  affairs,  he  always 
had  some  ready  money,  a  matter  of  no  small 
moment  at  that  time,  and  it  is  said  that  if  a 
neighbor  was  in  want  of  money  he  could  sell 
his  stock  to  Mr.  Beach  for  cash,  and  thus  ob- 
tain relief,  when  without  such  an  opportu- 
nity many  would  have  been  distressed.  Hav- 
ing the  only  wagon  in  the  neighborhood,  he 
would  gather  the  people's  corn  and  do  their 
heavy  hauling,  for  which  he  charged  five 
bushels  of  corn  per  day.  A  man  of  enlarged 
views,  ho  did  not  follow  hunting  for  the  sake 
of  the  peltries  that  could  be  secured,  but  as 
a  sportsman  engaged  in  the  chase  for  recrea- 
tion. Seeking  larger  game,  he  kept  heavy 
dogs,  and  bear-hunting  was  his  favorite  pas- 
time. After  the  extermination  of  the  bears 
in  the  country,  his  instincts  led  him  in  quest 
of  the  deer,  and  the  dash  and  game  in  his 
nature  were  shown  when  mounted  on  a  tine 
charger.  His  hvinting  was  always  on  the 
"drive." 

Sixty-three  years  ago,  he  built  what  was 
then  and  remains  to  this  day  one  of  the  best 
dwelling  houses  in  the  community,  owned  and 
now  occupied  by   Mr.  Stewart  Cunningham. 

Not  himself  a  church  member,  he  opened 
his  house  to  public  preaching,  and  it  is 
thought  by  some  that  the  Cumberland  Pres- 
byterian Church  of  Tom's  Prairie  was  first 
organized  in  his  dwelling. 

He  planted  the  first  apple-trees  in  the 
county,  some  of  which  are  still  standing,  but 
gradually  are  being  borne  down  by  the  weight 
of  years.  He  also  raised  the  first  wheat  in 
the  community,  and  by  his  enterprise  the 
interests  of  the  country  were  greatly  advanced. 


Mrs.  Mays  and  her  daughter,  of  Fairfield, 
and  Mrs.  Andrew  Crews,  of  Marion,  are  the 
only  lineal  descendants  remaining  to  him  in 
this  community. 

Abraham  Beach  came  from  South  Carolina 
with  Enoch  Beach  in  1S17,  and  is  reputed  to 
have  been  a  good,  quiet  man.  A  millwright 
by  profession,  he  built  many  of  the  early 
horse  mills  in  the  country,  and  also  made 
coffins.  He  lived  to  bo  quite  old,  and  died 
about  1S38. 

In  1837,  Andrew  Crews  came  from  Ken- 
tucky and  lived  one  year  in  Barnhill  Town- 
ship, and  in  1818  settled  on  Section  31  in 
Massillon  Township,  where  bis  descendants 
still  own  a  fine  farm.  He  was  born  in  Hali- 
fax County,  Va.,  lived  near  the  Cumberland 
River  in  Tennessee,  remained  in  Kentucky 
but  a  short  time,  and  then  came  to  Illinois. 
He  is  remembered  as  a  man  of  moral  stamina. 
having  a  determined  will  in  favor  of  right, 
and  his  counsels  were  of  weight  in  the  com- 
munity. Being  a  Methodist,  his  house  was 
long  a  preaching  place,  and  the  present 
Ebenezer  Society  was  organized  there.  He 
was,  for  many  years  prior  to  his  death,  afflict- 
ed with  rheumatism. 

George  Russell  came  with  the  Frazier's, 
his  brothers-in-law  from  South  Carolina  in 
1818,  and  settled  on  Section  19.  He  was  an 
uneducated  man,  talked  too  much,  and  often 
about  other  people's  business,  sometimes 
causing  trouble,  without  so  intending.  He 
was  a  successful  hunter,  and  shiftless  in 
other  respects,  but  possessed  an  active  busi- 
ness wife.  Being  an  Old  School  Presbyte- 
rian, the  early  preachers  of  that  denomination 
preached  at  his  house.  He  died  about  1842. 
His  son  Macomb  was  killed  by  the  Indians 
in  California  in  1849.  His  son  John  be- 
came a  Baptist  minister,  and  with  his  brother 
Frank  moved  to  Arkansas. 

Rev.  James  Crews   came  to  Illinois  with 


222 


HISTORY   OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


his  father,  and  was  for  many  years  a  useful 
Methodist  Episcopal  local  preacher.  Though 
a  Methodist,  he  was  a  lover  of  all  Christian 
people,  and  died  greatly  respected  a  few 
years  since. 

Rev.  Woods  M.  Hamilton  lived  on  the 
Enoch  Beach  farm  in  an  early  day,  and,  be- 
ing a  regular  pastor,  a  fuller  account  will  be 
given  of  him  in  the  account  of  the  Cumber- 
land Presbyterian  Church, 

Rev.  David  McLin,  a  Cumberland  Pres- 
byterian minister  of  great  ability,  and  one 
who  made  his  impress  in  all  this  region  of 
country,  organized  his  church  in  Massillon 
Township  as  early  as  1822.  He  will  be 
more  fully  mentioned  in  connection  with  his 
church. 

Edward  West  came  from  Pennsylvania, 
about  1822,  and  settled  on  the  northwest 
quarter  of  the  southwest  quarter  of  Section 
10,  where  he  improved  a  good  farm  and  be- 
came the  wealthiest  man  in  the  township.  A 
man  of  good  education  for  the  times,  he  was 
possessed  of  good  tastes  and  refinement,  and 
was  intelligent  and  progressive.  He  was  the 
first  Justice  of  the  Peace  in  the  present  ter- 
ritory of  Massillon  Township,  also  a  Repre- 
sentative in  the  Legislature;  was  a  live-stock 
dealer,  and  died  about  1846.  One  of  his 
daughters  is  the  wife  of  William  N.  Borah. 

Jobn  Henson  came  from  Indiana  about 
1826,  and  was  the  first  to  settle  on  the  In- 
dian mound  between  the  rivers.  He  built  a 
camp  for  his  family,  and  being  a  successful 
hunter,  supplied  them  with  meat,  and  noth- 
ing more,  his  wife  having  to  furnish  the  other 
supplies  by  her  own  labor.  He  was  not  a 
good  man,  being  unscrupulous,  a  practical 
joker,  and  his  gallantry  among  the  ladies 
was  often  offensive.  A  Mr.  Chapman,  father- 
in  law  to  Henson,  came  soon  after,  and  built  a 
small  cabin  on  the  mound  near  the  pond,  but 
died  in  a  short  time.     He  was  almost  a  giant 


in  stature,  weighing  over  300  pounds.  He 
was  a  fine-looking  man,  and  reared  a  large 
family  of  well  developed  and  exceedingly 
handsome  sons  and  daughters.  The  sons 
were  fond  of  good  horses,  and  were  great- 
fighters.  The  family  moved  away  after  the 
death  of  the  father. 

Samuel  McCollum  came  from  Indiana 
about  1828,  and  it  is  thought  that  he  was 
originally  from  Georgia  or  Alabama.  He 
was  a  large  and  very  portly  man,  always 
dressed  well,  full  of  life,  fun  and  frolic,  very 
fond  of  fine  horses,  a  jolly  jockey,  ran  many 
horse  races,  and  was  fond  of  seeing  a  fight, 
though  peaceable  and  good-natured  himself. 
He  bought  the  water-will  of  Saunders,  which 
he  ran  for  many  years  afterward. 

William  McCollum,  a  son  of  Samuel,  im- 
proved a  farm  on  the  southwest  quarter  of 
Section  16,  where  he  died.  He  was  a  quiet, 
peaceable  man,  attending  to  his  own  busi- 
ness, and  was  highly  esteemed  as  a  good 
citizen. 

Matthew  Monroe  lived  one  year  on  Richard 
Hall's  place,  and  then  moved  to  Tazewell 
County,  111.,  where  he  recently  died. 

Gillison  Price  came  from  Indiana  about 
1835,  and  settled  on  the  northeast  quarter  of 
Section  6.  He  was  a  good,  upright,  indus- 
trious and  progressive  man,  and  left  a  worthy 
family.  When  Gen.  McLernand  was  a  can- 
didate for  Congress,  he  told  him  frankly  that 
he  should  not  vote  for  him,  because  he  liked 
his  opponent  better.  His  death  occurred 
about  1860. 

Larkin  Price  came  with  his  brother  Gilli- 
son, and  improved  a  good  farm  on  the  south- 
east quarter  of  Section  6.  Like  his  brother, 
he  was  a  truly  good  man,  and  at  his  death, 
which  occurred  in  1859,  he  left  a  worth}' 
family,  that  have,  by  their  upright  lives,  re- 
flected anew  their  father's  memory. 

Miles   Morris    came   from    Indiana    about 


'/Z^T    Hi,  ^S 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


223 


1826,  and  settled  near  "  Farmer' s  Link. "  He 
was  a  good  hunter,  but  not  progressive,  and 
died  many  years  ago. 

Farmer' s  Lick  was  a  famous  evening  resort 
for  deer,  on  or  near  Section  15, where  the  un- 
suspecting animals  were  ambushed,  aud, dur- 
ing their  career,  many  thousands  of  them 
were  slain  there. 

William  Farmer  settled  on  the  northwest 
quarter  of  Section  15  as  early  as  1825.  His 
occupation  was  that  of  a  hunter.  He  built 
scaffolds  in  the  trees,  near  the  lick,  where  he 
concealed  himself  of  evenings,  where,  it  is 
claimed,  he  killed  500  deer.  He  moved  to 
Elm  River  Township,  and   died  about  18-18. 

Nathan  Martin,  generally  called  "  Big 
Nuck."  the  son  of  James  Martin,  came  to 
Wayne  County  in  1818,  and  settled  in  1825 
on  the  southwest  quarter  of  Section  15.  He 
was  a  peaceable  man,  but  would  defend  the 
weak,  when  oppressed;  hence  his  many  fights, 
in  which  he  was  always  victorious.  He  died 
at  Clay  City  a  few  years  since.  Monroe 
Martin  and  Mrs.  Meliuda  Crews  are  his  chil- 
dren. 

Daniel  Baily,  whose  wife  was  a  Cannon, 
came  from  Kentucky  in  1817  or  1818,  and 
was  the  first  man  to  settle  east  of  the  Wabash 
River,  in  Massillon  Township.  He  improved 
a  tine  farm  on  the  southeast  quarter  of  the 
southeast  quarter  of  Section  25.  An  indus- 
trious, progressive  man,  he  came  to  the 
county  poor,  and  by  his  thrift,  previous  to 
his  death,  which  occurred  in  1847,  he 
amassed  a  good  property. 

William  Batson  came  to  Massillon  Town- 
ship as  early  as  1828,  and  settled  on  the  west 
half  of  the  southwest  quarter  of  Section  34, 
where  he  improved  a  good  farm,  planted  a 
large  orchard,  built  a  hotel  on  the  road  lead- 
ing from  Mt.  Carmel  to  Salem,  and  was  a 
progressive  man,  and  valuable  citizen  gener- 
ally.   He  died  in  Leach  Township  about  1844. 


Joseph  Welch  came  from  Pennsylvania 
about  1826,  and  lived  on  Richard  Hall's 
place,  being  too  shiftless  to  build  a  cabin  of 
his  own.  Being  a  good  hunter,  he  provided 
wild  meat  fur  his  family,  but  let  them  raise 
their  own  bread. 

He  was  fond  of  whisky,  and  when  drunk 
would  drive  his  family  from  home.  When 
his  wife  was  tired  of  venison,  he  would  fur- 
nish a  fresh  supply  of  coon  and  ground-hog. 
To  insure  a  supply  of  meat,  he  salted  down 
coon  and  possum,  which  was  called  Welch's 
"small  bacon."  He  moved  to  the  mouth  of 
the  Wabash  River,  Indiana,  where  his  fami- 
ly nearly  all  died.  His  son,  an  old  man, 
after  an  absence  of  forty  years,  returned  to 
Fairfield,  where  he  lived  a  year  or  two,  but 
recently  returned  to  Ohio  and  died. 

Among  others  who  settled  in  Massillon 
Township  many  years  ago,  were  Samuel  Al- 
lison, James  Simms,  W.  H.  Porterfield, 
Daniel  Spitler,  Stephen  West,  and  his  son 
Michael,  the  homeliest  men  in  the  world,  J.  J. 
Lum,  George  L.  Borah,  George  W.  Court- 
right.  W.  M.  Shearer,  John  Hays,  Clifton 
Boles,  James  Wheat,  Marvel  Hill,  Thomas  St. 
Ledger,  Walter  Dunn,  James  Thomas,  Hi- 
ram Miller,  Charles  lies,  Stewart  Cunning- 
ham, Levi  Garrison,  Daniel  Kendrick,  Will- 
iam Collins,  Cyrus  Oakley,  Isaac  Tree,  A. 
Mason,  James  Lane,  J.  A.  Paul,  Lee  Duck- 
worth, Willin  McCollum,  and  his  brothers, 
John,  Daniel,  James  and  Samuel. 

Hugh,  Joseph,  James  and  Green  Walker 
came  about  1832.  An  account  of,  Richard 
Hall  will  be  found  in  the  general  history  of 
the  county. 

The  Government  land  in  Massillon  Town- 
ship was  surveyed  in  1809.  The  entry  price 
was  for  many  years  $2  per  acre,  with  the 
privilege  of  partial  payments. 

Many  entered  more  than  they  could  pay 
for,  but  were  allowed  to  apply  all  their  pny- 


224 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY 


ments   on    smaller   tracts,    and  thus   secure 
homes. 

Many  settled  on  Congress  land  without 
purchasing  the  same,  and  were  called  "  squat- 
ters." The  homes  of  the  squatters  were 
sometimes  entered  by  others,  and  they  lost 
their  homes.  As  before  stated,  much  of 
Massillon  Township  is  composed  of  swamp 
lands,  and  the  growth  of  the  community  bas 
been  retarded  by  unfavorable  litigation  in 
connection  with  the  same. 

The  county  has  expended  many  thousands 
of  dollars  in  this  litigation,  but  somehow 
has  always  met  with  repulse  and  defeat 

Seven  or  eight  years  ago,  Col.  H.  Thomp 
kins  came  to  Wayne  County  and  undertook 
to  remove  the  cloud  from  the  title  of  many 
tracts  of  this  land  for  private  owners.  After 
a  long  and  tedious  struggle  for  many  weary 
years,  he  has  recently  obtained  decisions 
from  the  highest  tribunal  in  the  State,  con- 
firming the1  title  in  the  rightful  owners.  The 
test  case  was  "  Scates  vs.  King." 

The  careful  student  of  the  world's  economy 
will  have  observed  that  the  natural  blessings 
to  mankind  have  been  tolerably  evenly  dis- 
tributed by  a  kind  and  overruling  Providence. 
One  country  will  surpass  another  in  many 
respects,  while  it  has  its  drawbacks,  and  is 
more  than  equaled  by  the  other  in  other  qual- 
ities. Life,  health,  soil,  materials,  oppor- 
tunities and  many  other  conditions  enter  as 
competitors  in  these  lists  in  the  conflicts  of 
life. 

The  pioneers  in  Wayne  County  were  nearly 
all  poor,  and  forsook  the  many  advantages  of 
older  communities,  depriving  themselves  of 
many  comforts,  and  enduring  many  hardships 
that  they  might  better  their  own  condition, 
and  secure  a  settlement  with  homes  for  their 
children.  A  majority  of  them  came  on  pack 
horses,  others  in  pirogues,  and  some  even  on 
foot.     There  were  no  roads  in  the  countrv. 


and  they  were  under  the  necessity  of  follow- 
ing a  course  or  mere  trail  to  their  destina- 
tion, and  even  after  their  arrival  and  settle- 
ment with  most  of  them  it  took  many  weary 
years  of  toil  before  they  could  hope  to  be- 
come moderately  comfortable.  Few  of  thorn 
had  money,  and  what  they  had  was  reserved 
to  purchase  the  much-coveted  homestead. 

A  Mr.  King's,  brother-in-law  to  Beach,  and 
grandfather  to  Mr.  Clay  King,  is  thought  to 
have  been  the  first  death  in  Massillon  Town- 
ship. 

Mr.  Haulcome,  a  school  teacher,  was  the 
n«st  victim,  so  far  as  is  now  known.  He 
died  of  milk  sickness,  and  was  the  first  to  tell 
what  his  ailment  was,  having  been  ac- 
quainted with  the  same  disease  in  Indiana. 
On  the  22d  of  August,  1822,  David  Monroe 
and  Nancy  Crews  were  married,  Archy  Rob- 
erts officiating.  This  was  undoubtedly  the 
first  matrimonial  venture  in  the  township, 
and  proved  to  be  a  good  one.  August  13, 
1821,  Owen  Martin  and  Polly  Crews  were 
married  by  the  same,  but  the  alliance  was 
not  a  fortunate  one.  On  May  13,  1822. 
Abraham  Beach  was  joined  in  bonds  matri- 
monial to  Anna  Price,  by  Owen  Martin,  Esq. 

The  early  pioneers  were  necessarily  self- 
reliant,  and  many  shifts  were  resorted  to  in 
their  penury  that  would  seem  ridiculous  to 
the  present  dependent  generation.  In  their 
labors  and  plannings,  as  is  generally  the  case, 
the  noble  women  bore  a  generous  and  heroic 
part.  It  has  been  said  that  "  woman  is  God's 
noblest  and  best  gift  to  man,"  and  without 
her  refining  and  restraining  influence  man 
becomes  a  savage,  and  soon  sinks  low  in  the 
descending  scale  of  human  depravity. 

The  pioneer  cabins  were  built  of  small 
logs,  and  covered  with  clapboards,  upon  which 
were  placed  weight  poles  to  keep  them  in 
place,  nails  being  out  of  the  question,  and 
those   used    long    after    were    forged  by  the 


HISTORY  or  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


325 


blacksmith.      The  chimney,  which   occupied 
a  large  portion  of  one  end  of  the  house,  was 
built  on  the  outside,  of  sticks  and  clay.     The 
floor  was  made  of  hewed  puncheons,  and  the 
door  of  riven  board,    and  hung  on  wooden 
hinges.     For  the  window,  a  small   hole  was 
cut,  through   which  one  could   peep  out,  and 
it  was  many  years  before  the  people  generally 
could  afford  the   luxury   of  a  glass  window. 
This  one  room  was  used  for  kitchen,  parlor, 
dining-room,  dormitory,  and  chapel,  and  con- 
tained   the    spinning    wheel,    reel,    winding 
blades  and  loom,  besides  the  family  and  cas 
ual  visitors.      Ten   to  sixteen   children  were 
esteemed  no  disgrace,  and  often  constituted 
the  family's  greatest  wealth.      Trundle  beds 
were  used  to  stow  away  children  at  night,  but 
placed   under  the   larger  steads  in  day  time. 
The  larger  children  slept  up  stairs,  or  rather 
climbed  a   ladder   into  the  loft,  where  beds 
were  spread  for  them.     Four  or  five  children 
in  one  bed  were  supposed  to  keep  each  other 
warm  in  winter.     Cook  stoves  were  unthought 
of,  and  the  cooking  was   done  on  the  hearth 
before  the  fire,  by  means  of  pots,  skillets  and 
pans.     Gourds  were  used  for  drinking  cups, 
and  in  them  were  often  stored  lard,  salt,  soap, 
honey  and   the  oil  from   wild  animals.      The 
dishes  were  often  made  of  pewter,  and  could 
not  easily  be  broken.      In  summer,  strips  of 
venison   were   cut   and  hung  in  the  chimney 
above   the   tire  to  be    tried,  and   was  called 
"jerk."      Corn    was    grated   when   soft,    or 
pounded  in  wooden  mortars,  before  mills  were 
erected. 

The  blades  of  corn  were  stripped  off  and 
cured,  as  they  are  in  the  Southern  States  to- 
day, for  fodder.  Prairie  grass  was  often  cut. 
and  made  excellent  hay.  Oxen  were  used 
for  plowing  and  drawing  loads,  and  sleds  and 
truck  wagons  were  common  vehicles.  The 
plows  were  primitive,  but  answered  their 
purpose  in  the  redundant  soil.      Flour   was 


but  little  used,  and  was  not  so  highly  esteemed 
for  bread  as  corn  meal. 

The  first  school  in  Massillon  Township 
was  taught  by  William  Aldrich  in  a  house 
built  by  Welch  on  the  southwest  quarter  of 
the  northeast  quarter  of  Section  3D.  There 
are  only  two  schoolhouses  in  the  township 
at  present,  but  some  union  districts  have 
houses  in  adjoining  townships,  the  low  lands 
being  so  distributed  as  t  >make  such  divisions 
necessary. 

The  first  singing  school  was  taught  at 
Richard  Hall's  by  James  Miller. 

Preaching  by  the  Cumberland  and  also 
Old  School  Presbyterians,  the  Methodists  and 
Baptists  was  commenced  and  kept  up  in  pri- 
vate houses  almost  from  the  first  settlement. 
The  morals  of  the  first  settlers  were  generally 
good. 

Grain  cradles  came  into  use  about  1830, 
and  rats  first  made  their  appearance  in  this 
township  in  1840,  coming  gradually  from  the 
direction  of  Shawneetown. 

Of  accidents  and  incidents  of  a  tragic 
character,  Massillon  Township  has  furnished 
a  fair  proportion.  If  an  old  tradition  be  re- 
liable, a  man  by  the  name  of  Dubose,  on 
his  way  from  Vincennes  to  Kaskaskia,  was 
drowned  in  the  Little  Wabash  River,  at  or 
near  the  present  site  of  New  Massillon,  pre- 
vious to  the  war  of  1812. 

While  the  rangers  were  camped  near  th" 
same  place,  in  sight  of  the  Indian  camp  fires, 
a  man  by  the  name  of  Hensley  shot  and 
killed  a  comrade  named  Hughes,  mistaking 
him  for  an  Indian.  George  Laird  was 
drowned  at  Massillon,  while  swimming  his 
horse  across  the  river,  about  1860. 

Isaac,  a  twelve  year-old  son  of  William 
Collins,  fell  from  a  canoe  at  (he  lower  bridge 
on  Elm  River,  and  was  drowned,  about  1850. 
About  185-"),  a  man  named  Orr,  while  drunk, 
was  killed  bv  a  man  whose  brother  he  was 


226 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


assaulting.  A  daughter  of  Samuel  Duck- 
worth was  thrown  from  a  horse  and  killed 
near  the  town  of  Massillon  a  few  years  since. 

In  1841,  Judge  Wilson,  while  hunting 
near  the  place  of  his  present  residence,  shot 
and  wounded  a  very  large  buck,  and  suppos- 
ing him  to  be  killed,  as  he  was  down,  gath- 
ered hold  of  him,  but  to  his  sorrow  found 
him  to  be  only  stunned.  A  terrible  struggle 
ensued,  sometimes  one  and  then  the  other 
having  the  advantage,  but  finally  the  deer 
escaped,  leaving  Wilson  shirtless,  the  skin  on 
his  back  split,  his  few  remaining  articles  of 
apparel  in  shreds,  and  himself  in  no  elegant 
plight  to  appear  in  drawing-room  or  parlor. 

While  John  McCollum  was  one  night  hunt- 
ing in  the  bottom,  near  the  mounds,  he  treed, 
as  he  thought,  four  coons  on  a  large  water 
oak  having  many  limbs.  As  was  often  done, 
he  climbed  the  tree  to  drive  off  the  game 
that  his  dogs  might  catch  them  when  they 
should  come  to  the  ground,  but  to  his  amaze- 
ment a  large  wild-cat  sprang  on  top  of  his 
head  with  a  scream  and  made  her  escape,  but 
McC,  letting  all  holds  go,  tumbled  from 
limb  to  limb  till  he  reached  the  ground  con- 
siderably bruised,  but  more  scared  than  hurt. 

In  1843,  Newbery  Cline  laid  off  the  village 
of  New  Massillon,  on  the  south  half  of  the 
southeast  quarter  of  the  northwest  quarter 
of  Section  15  in  Massillon  Township. 
There  were  six  blocks,  composed  of  sis- 
teen  lots,  each  lot  50x100  feet  square. 
AVilliam  L.  Gasb  was  the  Surveyor.  North' 
street,  leading  north,  was  forty  feet  wide, 
and  intersecting  this  street  at  right  angles, 
was  Main  street,  fifty  feet  wide  and  Second 
street,  forty  feet  wide. 

On  the  25th  of  November,  1849,  Wiley 
Webb,  assisted  by  Thomas  E.  Burket,  the 
Surveyor  of  Edwards  County,  made  an  ad- 
dition to  the  town,  and  on  the  13th  of  March, 
1850,  Mr.  Webb  made  another  adddition,  in- 


creasing the  number  of  lots  in  the  village  to 
sixty,  at  the  same  time  establishing  Mill  and 
Water  streets.  William  Whitacre  was  the 
surveyor,  and  the  true  meridian  is  given, 
and  also  the  magnetic  meridian,  with  a  bear- 
ing of  70'  30'  east. 

It  seems  that  a  man  named  Saunders 
erected  a  water  mill  for  grinding,  at  this 
place,  as  early  as  1825,  which  he  afterward 
sold  to  Samuel  McCollum,  when  he  moved  to 
Arkansas.  McCollum  operated  this  mill  till 
about  1836,  when  it  was  washed  away.  Wiley 
Webb  built  a  mill  on  or  near  the  same  site, 
for  the  purpose  of  grinding  and  sawing,  in 
1849,  which  he  operated  for  many  years. 
The  village  grew  rapidly,  and  became  a  com- 
peting point  in  population  and  business  with 
Fairfield,  though  it  is  hardly  probable  that  it 
ever  equaled  the  county  seat  in  these  respects. 

In  1854,  there  were  sixty  families  living 
in  New  Massillon,  and  town  lots  were  sold  as 
high  as  §50  each.  At  that  time  there  were 
three  general  stores  in  the  village,  kept  by 
Harris  &  Vandaveer,  Dr.  W.  H.  Camp  and 
Ed  Willey,  the  latter  being  succeeded  by 
Alvis  Boze.  Two  saloons  also  flourished  at 
this  time,  and  were  not  looked  upon  as  they 
would  be  at  the  present  in  Wayne  County, 
where  there  has  been  nothing  of  the  kind 
for  the  past  seventeen  years. 

Benjamin  Harris  was  the  first  Postmaster, 
and  is  remembered  as  an  enterprising  and 
most  excellent  man.  He  moved  to  Clay  City 
subsequently  and  died. 

Samuel  McCollum  operated  a  tanyard, 
while  the  cooper  shop  was  run  by  a  man 
named  Entriken,  and  the  coffins  and  wagons 
were  made  and  chimneys  built  by  Justice 
Beach.  James  L.  Vandaveer  was  the  black- 
smith. There  was  a  toll  bridge  across  the 
river,  but  it  fell  down  about  1855. 

Benjamin  Harris  was  the  Justice  of  Peace. 
Wiley  Webb  early   built   a    steam  saw  and 


IIIsTOKY   OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


227 


grist  mill,  so  that  tbe  village  bad  two  mills 
running  at  the  same  time.  Wiley  Webb 
seems  to  have  been  one  of  the  most  enter- 
prising men  that  ever  lived  in  the  township. 
Considerble  quantities  of  pork  were  packed 
at  this  place  during  its  prosperity,  which 
was  transported  to  New  Orleans  on  flat-boats. 
A  number  of  flats,  loaded  with  produce,  were 
sent  down  the  river  from  New  Massillon. 
Martin  and  Henry  Webb,  and  Crews  &  Camp- 
bell shipped  several  boat- loads  of  hoop-poles. 
A  Methodist  parsonage  existed  here,  and 
the  pastor  of  New  Massillon  Circuit  lived  in 
it.  The  Baptist  Church  at  one  time  had  a 
membership  of  about  sixty  people  in  this 
vicinity,  and  the  Methodists  were  probably 
equally  flourishing,  but  neither  of  them  have 


been  prospering  for  a  number  of  years  past. 
The  town  of  New  Massillon  was  quite  a 
village  in  its  day,  being  at  least  the  secoud 
in  importance  in  Wayne  County.  But,  like 
many  ancient  cities,  it  enjoyed  its  periods  of 
rise,  growth,  maturity  and  decay;  and  upon 
the  establishment  of  .Mount  Erie,  New  Mas 
sillon  began  to  decline,  some  of  the  houses 
being  torn  down  and  removed  to  that  village, 
while  others  were  taken  to  different  places  in 
the  surrounding  country,  until  at  this  writing 
very  little  remains  to  mark  the  spot  where 
New  Massillon  one  flourished. 

Upon  the  establishment  of  township  organ- 
ization in  Wayne  County  in  1859,  the  town- 
ship was  called  Massillon  in  honor  of  the 
village  of  that  name. 


CHAPTER    XVII1.; 


LAMARD    TOWNSHIP— DESCRIPTION— TOPOGRAPHY,     ETC.— EARLY    SETTLEMENTS— PIONEER    IM- 
PROVEMENTS AND  INDUSTBIES— CAUDLE'S  DISTILLKIIY  AM)  THE  EARLY  USE  OF  WHISKY 
—CHURCHES    AM)    CHURCH    BUILDINGS— SCHOOLS— DR.   JONES,    THE    FIRST 
TEACHER— HOW   HE  WENT  SNIPE  HUNTING— JEFFERSONVILLE  LAID 
0U1     IS    A    VILLAGE— ITS   GROWTH,    DEVELOPMENT   AND 
INCORPORATION— BUSINESS     STATISTICS,     ETC. 


"  Like  the  one 
Stray  fragment  of  a  wreck,  which  thrown 
With  the  lost  vessel's  name  ashore, 

Tells  wlin  they  were  that  live  no  more." 

— Moore. 

FEW  studies  are  more  interesting  and 
profitable  to  mankind  than  that  of  the 
past  experiences,  deeds,  thoughts  and  trials 
of  the  human  race.  The  civilized  man  and 
the  untutored  savage  alike  desire  to  know  the 
deeds  and  lives  of  their  ancestors,  and  strive 
to  perpetuate  their  story.  National  patriot- 
ism and  literary  pride  have  prompted  many 

»  By  ,1.  M.  Runk. 


in  all  times  to  write  and  preserve  the  annals 
of  particular  people,  but  narrow  prejudices 
and  selfish  interests  too  often  have  availed 
to  suppress  the  truth  or  distort  the  fact.  It 
is  the  aim  of  the  writer  to  collect  and  prepare 
in  a  readable  form  some  of  the  facts  of  the 
early  settlements  and  subsequent  growth  of 
Lamard  Township,  which  furnishes  the  sub- 
ject-matter for  this  chapter.  The  families 
whose  ancestors  were  early  on  the  ground, 
and  whose  members  have  made  it  what  it  is, 
are  worthy  of  remembrance,  and  their  diffi- 
culties, sorrows,  customs,  labors  and  patriot- 


228 


HISTORY  OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


ism  should  not  be  allowed  to  fall  into  ob- 
livion. 

Lamard  Township  was  organized  as  such 
in  1859.  From  1819  up  to  its  organization, 
it  was  classed  in  the  precinct  system.  It  is 
located  near  the  center  of  the  county,  and  is 
bounded  on  the  north  by  Bedford,  on  the 
east  by  Jasper,  on  the  south  by  Big  Mound, 
and  on  the  west  by  Arrington  Townships. 
It  comprises  thirty-six  sections,  and  is  known 
as  Congressional  Township  1  south,  Range  7 
east. 

A  large  portion  of  the  township  is  a  beau- 
tiful prairie, 

"  Where  travelers  entering  behold  around 
A  large  and  spacious  plain  on  every  side, 
Strewed  with  beauty,  whose  fair  grassy  mounds, 
Mantled  with  green,  and  beautified 
With  ornaments  of  Flora's  pride.'' 

The  soil  of  this  prairie  is  of  great  fertility, 
and  well  adapted  to  the  growth  of  almost  all 
crops  cultivated  in  this  region,  and  particu- 
larly to  grasses.  Hundreds  of  acres  of  "  red 
top  "  is  grown,  and  the  seed  procured  from  it 
brings  from  50  to  75  cents  per  bushel,  thus 
furnishing  a  large  portion  of  the  revenue  of 
the  people.  The  woodland  is  somewhat  of  a 
rolling  nature,  but  is  also  productive,  and 
yields  crops  of  corn,  wheat,  rye,  oats  and 
vegetables.  Almost  all  the  fruits  common  to 
this  latitude  are  cultivated  here  in  abundance. 

At  the  time  of  the  early  settlements  in  the 
territory  now  included  in  Lamard  Town- 
ship, many  wild  animals  were  then  abundant. 
Now  all  is  changed,  as  the  ax  and  plow,  gun 
and  dog,  railway  and  telegraph  have  meta- 
morphosed the  face  of  nature,  and  the  wild 
animals  have  been  either  exterminated,  or 
have  hid  themselves  away  in  the  wilderness. 
The  only  stream  of  any  importance  is  Martin 
Creek,  which  has  its  source  in  Section  9, 
from  where  it  makes  a  horseshoe  bend 
through  Sections  25  and  32,  passing  out  of 


the  township,  and  through  Section  12,  of 
Jasper  Township,  and  thence  empties  into 
Deer  Creek. 

Tradition  seems  to  be  the  only  authority 
for  naming  the  township  in  honor  of  a  sup- 
posed settler,  by  the  name  of  Lamard.  Of 
him  or  his  actual  settlement  we  know  but 
little,  and  that  is  not  such  as  to  warrant  our 
naming  his  nativity  or  tolling  what  became 
of  him.  There  is  little  doubt,  however,  that 
such  a  man  did  live  in  the  township,  and  if 
not  the  first,  he  was  among  the  first  white 
men  within  its  present  limits. 

John  Moore  was  among  the  very  first  set- 
tlers of  the  township,  and  came  from  Meigs 
County,  Ohio.  At  one  period  he  possessed 
about  1,600  acres  of  land  near  the  present 
site  of  Jeffersonville,  where  he  had  originally 
settled.  He  died  here,  and  his  widow  sur- 
vives in  Jackson  Coitnty,  this  State.  Moore's 
children  were  James,  Luther,  Mary  A.  and 
Malantha.  Moore  was  a  man  of  rigid  belief, 
yet  perhaps,  in  some  respects,  a  little  preju- 
diced, and,  coming  from  Ohio,  he  entertained 
political  sentiments  at  variance  with  the  ma- 
jority of  his  neighbors.  He  was  what  was 
then  termed  an  Abolitionist,  and  at  the  time 
was  not  so  popular  as  he  might  have  been. 
He  employed  several  negroes  to  labor  on  his 
farm,  and  was  finally  arrested,  being  charged 
with  having  induced  some  of  the  colored 
race  to  locate  in  Southern  Illinois.  He  was 
acquitted  on  the  ruling  of  a  certain  Judge 
"that  the  United  States  Government  had 
brought  them  to  Cairo." 

The  Buckeye  State  gave  birth  to  many 
who  were  early  settlers  in  Lamard  Township. 
John  Moreland,  Townsend  Richards,  Jesse 
Milner,  H.  Henthorn  and  Jesse  Ward  were 
all  Ohioans.  Moreland  came  in  1838,  and 
hailed  from  Columbiana  County,  and  settled 
on  Section  6  (now  Jasper  Township),  where 
ho  purchased  about  200  acres,  and  engaged 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNK   COTNTY. 


229 


in  rural  pursuits  until  about  the  close  of  the 
late  war,  when  he  mo\ed  to  Jeffersonville. 
where  he  has  siDce  resided,  and  is  character- 
ized as  an  exemplary  man,  and  as  having 
been  a  zealous  and  active  worker  in  the 
Christian  Church.  Mr.  Richards  was  also 
from  Columbiana  County,  and  came  here  in 
1838,  settling  one  mile  west  of  where  is  now 
Jeffersonville,  and,  like  Moreland.  was  an 
energetic  churchman.  He  died  of  paralysis, 
leaving  a  number  of  sons,  among  whom  were 
William,  Isaac,  Sylvester,  John,  David  and 
James;  daughters,  Rhoda  and  Sarah.  Jesse 
Ward  came  in  1841,  and  was  from  Washing- 
ton County.  He  settled  on  Section  17,  where 
he  lived  until  1875,  when  he  became  a  per- 
manent resident  of  Jeffersonville.  Milner 
settled  on  Section  1,  and  reared  fourteen 
children,  of  whom  Man,  Elizabeth,  Jehu, 
David,  Jesse  and  Harmon  are  living.  Hen- 
thorn  is  still  living  in  the  township.  Elisha 
Emmons  settled  near  where  the  old  fair 
grounds  were  located,  and  his  sons  were  Jes- 
se, Walter,  Eli,  and  his  only  daughter  mar- 
ried John  Black,  of  Fairfield.  Mr.  Emmons 
was  a  hunter  of  some  notoriety,  and  a  usual 
remark  of  his  was  that  the  day  before  Mon- 
day was  his  lucky  and  most  successful  one 
to  hunt.  He  was,  however,  an  upright  man 
and  a  good  citizen. 

Edward  Puckett  came  from  Tennessee 
about  1837,  and  located  on  Section  6.  He 
was  a  good  man.  and  was  ordained  Elder  of 
what  was  known  as  the  Buckeye  District 
Christian  Church. 

Dr.  T.  P.  Green  settled  here  in  1S38.  His 
original  settlement  was  outside  of  the  town- 
ship, and  he  was  one  of  the  first  physicians 
in  the  country.  About  1840,  Isaac  Brock 
and  Jonathan  Hayes  settled  on  land  adjoin- 
ing, about  one  mile  north  of  Jeffersonville. 
The  former  died  here  at  the  good  old  age  of 
eighty  years,    and  the  latter  spent  the  most 


of  his  time  hunting,  but  as  the  settlements 
grew,  the  bustle  and  hostility  of  the  new 
comers  drove  the  wild  animals  away,  and  he 
followed  them  whither  they  went,  where  he 
dually  ended  his  allotted  time  in  the  full  en- 
joyment of  his  favorite  pursuit.  Isaac 
Whit  taker,  and  Aaron.  William  and  Phin- 
eas,  his  sons,  were  among  the  first  settlers 
in  the  vicinity  of  the  old  Buckeye  Church.  In 
the  same  neighborhood,  John  Blackford, 
David  Metz  and  Cornelius  Ades,  settled  a 
little  later.  James  Ades,  the  father  of  Cor- 
nelius, is  living,  and  is  probably  the  oldest 
man  in  the  county.  Cornelius  Ades  was  a 
minister  of  the  Christian  Church.  Joshua 
Caudle  and  son,  Thomas,  came  from  TGiines. 
see.  The  former  was  peculiar  and  eccentric, 
but  was  a  zealous  member  of  the  Christian 
Church.  During  the  latter  years  of  his  life, 
he  would  hobble  to  church,  and  upon  reach- 
ing the  entrance  to  the  sacred  tabernacle,  he 
would  yell  at  the  top  of  his  voice,  "  Brethren 
and  sisters,  how  do  you  all  do  ?  "  And  it 
made  no  difference  if  services  had  commenced, 
as  was  usually  the  case  upon  his  arrival,  his 
greeting  was  as  above  stated.  For  a  long 
time  previous  to  his  decease,  he  expressed  the 
most  ardent  desires  to  meet  the  grim  monster, 
and  seemed  to  entertain  no  fears  whatever  of 
crossing  the  cold  dark  river. 

Isaac  Jerretts  and  a  Mr.  Sumter  were  set- 
tlers at  a  subsequent  date.  The  latter  located 
on  the  farm  now  owned  by  Jesse  Ward,  and 
after  spending  the  most  of  his  time  hunting 
here,  he  went  with  the  wild  game  to  other 
homes  in  the  West. 

The  early  settlers  of  Lamard  Township  in 
common  with  the  pioneers  of  other  portions 
of  the  county,  were  subjected  to  the  dangers 
and  privations  of  the  times.  One  of  the 
great  drawbacks  was  the  procuring  of  broad. 
The  hand-mill  and  mortar  were  the  first 
modes  of)  getting  meal.      Next  was  the  horse 


230 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE   COUNTY. 


mill.  Joshua  Candle  had  the  first  one  of  the 
latter  makeshifts.  It  was  located  on  his 
farm,  and  he  not  only  ground  corn  but  wheat 
also.  He  put  up  a  distillery,  and  for  some 
time  manufactured  whisky,  an  article  said 
to  have  been  used  extensively  as  an  antidote 
for  snakebites,  but  now  as  a  beverage,  until 
the  snakes  bite  inside  of  some  men's  boots. 

The  fair  grounds  of  the  County  Agricult- 
ural Association  were  for  some  time  located 
in  Lamard  Township,  near  Jeffersonville. 
The  selection  was  made  of  this  place  by  a 
vote  taken  of  the  people,  with  Fairfield  and 
Jeffersonville  heading  the  respective  tickets. 
Recently  a  change  was  made  of  the  grounds. 

Early  in  the  history  of  the  township,  a 
number  of  Ohio  people  settled  in  and  adja- 
cent to  Section  1.  In  a  short  time  they  or- 
ganized a  Christian  church  in  their  midst, 
which  they  named  "Buckeye  Church." 
Among  the  first  ministers  was  Moses  Good- 
win, and  in  the  preceding  pages  some  of  the 
leading  members  have  been  mentioned. 
They  built  a  hewed-log  house  in  which  they 
held  meetings  for  many  years.  They  have 
subsequently  built  a  house  about  three  quar- 
ters of  a  mile  north  of  the  old  one,  where 
services  are  now  conducted  and  a  good 
Sunday  school  mantained.  A  graveyard  was 
laid  off  near  the  old  church,  and  within  its 
gloomy  precincts  slumber  many  of  the  early 
members  of  the  church  and  pioneers  of  the 
township.  It  is  thought  that  one  of  the  first 
schools  taught  in  Lamard  Township  was  in 
this  old  church,  but  the  first  teacher's  name 
is  not  remembered.  The  township  now  has 
a  number  of  substantial  and  comfortable 
schoolhouses,  and  excellent  schools  are  kept 
up  during  the  usnal  term. 

Village  of  Jeffersonville. — The  original 
plat  of  Jeffersonville  was  surveyed  in  1853, 
by  William  Whittaker.  from  the  land  of  Jas- 
per Branch.     In  1855,    William   Gash    sur- 


veyed what  was  called  the  Thorn  Addition, 
from  the  property  of  Elisha,  Dickerman  and 
Stoddard  Thorn,  sons  of  Leonard  Thorn,  who 
came  from  Ohio  to  this  place  in  1852.  The 
town  was  named  by  Jasper  Branch.  It  is 
said  that  he  desired  to  perpetuate  himself  by 
naming  the  town,  and  the  nearest  he  could 
come  to  it  wa&  to  call  it  Jeffersonville,  which, 
with  his  own  name  of  Jasper,  commenced 
with  the  same  letter  of  the  alphabet. 

The  first  building  erected  was  that  now 
owned  by  Charles  Wolfe.  A  short  time  af- 
terward, or  perhaps  not  until  1854,  J.  S. 
Rinard  put  up  three  small  clapboard  houses 
in  a  row.  He  kept  a  general  store  in  one, 
selling  a  general  line  of  goods  to  the  inhab- 
itants, and  taking  in  exchange  such  produce 
as  they  had  to  spare,  which  consisted  mostly 
of  deer,  raccoon,  fox  and  opposum  skins. 
These  he  sold  to  the  American  Fur  Company, 
and  hauled  them  by  teams  mostly  to  Vin- 
cennes,  Ind.  Mr.  Rinard  lived  in  another  of 
these  cabins,  and  rented  the  third  to 
Thomas  Johnson,  who  came  from  Ohio 
and  erected  the  first  saw  mill  in  the  village. 
The  next  store  was  kept  in  the  first  building 
erected  in  the  town,  by  a  man  by  the  name 
of  Baily.  He  subsequently  transferred  his 
goods  to  a  building  which  was  erected  by 
Adam  Rinard  and  Nathan  Sidwell  which  was 
the  third  store  room  put  up  in  the  place. 
Soon  after  laying  away  his  stock  in  the  latter 
building,  Baily  failed  and  returned  to  Wa- 
bash County,  from  whence  he  came.  A  post- 
office  was  established  in  the  old  house  first 
occupied  by  Baily  in  185G  or  1857,  and  N. 
Branch  was  the  first  Postmaster.  D.  C.  Por- 
ter kept  the  first  blacksmith  shop,  where 
John  Lusk's  butcher  shop  is  now.  A  school, 
the  first  in  the  town,  was  taught  in  a  frame 
building  put  up  by  N.  Phelps,  for  a  dwell- 
ing. Dr.  Jones  was  the  teacher,  and  retired 
at  the  end  of  the  first  term.      He  was  an  old 


HISTORY   OF    WAYNE    COUNTY. 


331 


genius,  and  many  stories  and  incidents  are 
told  of  him.  The  following  will  servo  as  a 
sample,  and  although  the  same  storj  has  been 
told  upon  scores  of  individuals  in  every  State 
in  the  Union,  yet  it  will  illustrate  Jones,  as  it 
has  others.  The  custom  of  snipe-hunting  is  an 
old  one.  and  was  participated  here  whenever 
a  subject  could  be  obtained.  The  rule  was, 
when  a  green  fellow  happened  along  who 
was  not  familiar  with  the  sport,  he  was  gen- 
erally inveigled  into  a  snipe  hunt.  Jones 
was  considered  a  good  subject,  and  so,  when 
a  company  one  evening  proposed  the  thing,  all 
went  into  ecstacies  over  the  contemplated 
fun,  and  Jones  eagerly  joined  the  party. 
With  the  necessary  equipments  (a  small  bag 
into  which  to  drive  the  snipe  the  hunters 
started  for  their  nearest  swamp  and  crab- 
apple  thicket.  When  they  arrived  in  the 
proper  place,  one  of  the  densest  thickets  to 
be  found,  then  the  fun  began.  Each  clam- 
ored for  the  positiou  of  holding  the  bag,  un- 
til finally  Jones  came  in  as  peace-maker, 
arguing  that,  as  he  had  never  experienced 
such  sport,  he  ought  by  rights  to  hold  the 
bag,  and  the  party  yielded  to  his  request 
with  seeming  reluctance.  Placing  him  in 
the  proper  position,  each  one  started  in  a 
different  direction  t<>  drive  iti  the  birds,  but 
as  soon  as  thev  were  nut  <>f  Jones'  hearing1, 
they  made  straight  for  home,  leaving  Jones 
with  an  empty  bag  to  hold,  and  "  awaiting 
for  the  snipes  to  come  in."  It  is  sufficient  to 
say  that  he  returned  in  the  morning  at  the 
crowing  of  the  "  cock "  with  an  empty  bag 
and  a  heavy  heart,  but  a  wiser  head. 

The  denomination  of  Christians  erected  the 
first  church  house  in  the  village,  which  is  a 
frame  36x40  feet,  on  the  northwest  corner  of 
the  original  plat.  It  cost  about  §2,500. 
The  present  officers  of  the  church  are:  Elders, 
Jesse  Ward,  John  Moreland  and  W.  Bestow; 
Deacons,  James   Skelton,  William   Sehofield 


and  Timothy  Ward;  Minister,  Elder  D.  Lo- 
gan; Sunday  School  Superintendent,  AY 
Bestow;  Assistant  Superintendent,  John 
Moreland;  Chorister,  J.  Rochell;  Secretary 
and  Treasurer,  Mrs.  Dr.  Barricksman.  The 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was  organized 
in  1879.  A  frame  building.  30x46  feet,serves 
them  for  a  place  of  worship.  It  cost  about 
$2,300,  and  is  a  handsome  building.  The 
present  officers  of  the  church  are:  Trustees, 
Dr.  Carson,  William  Blackburn,  W.  B. 
Smith,  William  Taylor  and  S.  F.  McKirahan, 
and  those  of  the  Sunday  school  are,  Super- 
intendent, W.  B.  Carson;  teachers,  W.  B. 
Carson,  Mrs.  J.  Q.  Rapp.  William  Taylor, 
P.  Fearn,  S.  J.  Witters  and  Rebecca  A.  Mc- 
Kirahan; Secretary  and  Treasurer,  Millie 
Taylor.  A  Masonic  Lodge  was  organized  in 
1S65.  The  present  officers  are:  T.  M.  Long, 
Master;  D.  J.  Brock,  Senior  Warden;  L  J. 
Forth,  Junior  Warden;  A.  M.Martin,  Treas- 
urer; G.  E.  Branch,  Secretary;  J.  L.  Miller, 
Senior  Deacon;  F.  L.  Heath,  Junior  Deacon; 
and  R.  M.  McCoy,  T.  A  Post  of  the  G.  A. 
R.  has  recently  been  established. 

Jeff ersonvi lie  was  incorporated  under  an 
act  of  the  Legislature,  April  1,  1869,  and  S. 
D.  Witters,  D.  N.  Ulm  and  Jasper  Branch 
were  elected  Trustees.  The  present  officers 
are  C.  Morgan.  A.  M.  Martin,  William  Seho- 
field. L.  J.  Keath  and  Thomas  McDaniels, 
Trustees;  W.  B.  Levre,  Constable,  and  A. 
M.  Martin,  Street  Commissioner. 

The  following  is  a  showing  of  the  business 
of  the  town:  Mrs.  J.  Q.  Rapp,  general 
store;  J.  B.  Pendleton,  grocery  store;  J.  0. 
Bestow,  grocery  store;  Forth  iV.  Weaver,  gen- 
eral store;  J.  M.  Tracy,  drug  store;  G.  W. 
Mason,  wagon  shop;  John  Owens  and  James 
Miller,  blacksmiths:  Morgan,  Buffington, 
Davis  and  Branch,  millers;  D.  N.  Ulm,  James 
Skelton  and  Thomas  McDaniels.  Lilly  Mills; 
Mrs.  Black,  millinery;  Mr.    Sampson,  furni- 


232 


IILSTOKY   OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


tare;  D.  N.  Ulm,  Postmaster;  Mr.  Timoihy, 
shoe-maker;  A.  II.  Martin,  William  Schofield, 
C.  B.  Morgan  and  Levi  Mercer,  carpenters; 
F.  L.  Heath,  depot  agent,  etc.;  A.  D.  Skel- 
ton.  livery  and  feed  stable;  boarding  houses, 
Mr.  Wolfe  and  James  Skelton.  During  its 
existence  as  a  town,  Jeffersonville  has  had 
but  one  regularly  licensed  saloon,  and  it  was 
short  lived.  It  was  opened  by  George  Gash 
in  1858,  and  about  the  same  time,  under  the 
earnest  efforts  of  Mr.  Sibley,  Jasper  Branch 
and  others,  in  an  organization  known  as  the 
"  Sons  of  Temperance,"  a  great  good  was 
done,  and  was,  no  doubt,  the  indirect  cause 
of  closing  up  the  saloon;  since  then  the  town 
has  been  strictly  temperate  and  moral  in  the 
highest  degree. 

Jeffersonville  at  one  time  was  a  place  of 
considerable  importance,  and  enjoyed  a  large 
and  profitable  trade.  It  even  had  aspirations 
fur  the  county  seat,  and  made  a  vigorous 
light  for  it.  but  lost  the  battle,  and  since  has 
been  content  to  plod  on  in  the  even  tenor  of 
its  way. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  township  officers 
since  its  organization: 

Supervisors. — Sylvester  Rider,  1860,  1861, 
1862;  Adam  Rinard,  1863;  J.  A.  Smith, 
1864;  Jacob  C.  Brock,  1865;  Adam  Rinard, 
1866,  1867;  J.  C.  Hull,  1868.  From  1869 
to  1870,  the  county  was  ruled  by  five  Super- 
visors, and  J.  0.  Bestow  was  Township  Treas- 
urer; J.  C.  Brock,  1871;  R.  A.  Moss,  1872, 
1S73;  N.  Sidwell,  1874;  G.  H.  Hilliard,  1875; 
Robert  Taylor,  1876,  1877;  G.  H.  Hilliard, 
1878,  1879,  1880,  1881;  D.  N.  Ulm,  1882, 
1883. 

Town  Clerks. — W.  S.  Barricksman,  1860; 
Jacob  Kurtz,  1861,1862;  W.  Hull,  1863;  N.  P. 
Branch,  1804,  1865:  S.  F.  McKirahan,  1866; 
Luther  Moore,  1867,  1868;  X.  Woodworth, 
L869,  L870;  R.  A.  Moss,  1871;  G.  C.  Collins, 
1872,    1873;   W.    Bestow,  1874;   W.    Taylor, 


1875;  James  Rochell,  1876,  1878;  J.  M. 
Tracy,  1877;  C.  E.  Wolfe,  1879,  1880,  1881, 
1882;  G.  Ed  Branch,  1883. 

Assessors. — Alonzo  Newell,  1860;  Adam 
Rinard,  1861  and  1862;  Eli  Brock,  1863; 
Joseph  Holloway,  1864;  Jesse  Ward,  1865; 
James  Branch,  1866;  Joseph  Pendleton, 
1867;  J.  S.  Hawk,  1868;  J.  B.  Pendleton, 
1869;  William  Graham,  1870,  1871;  Wilson 
Coughenour,  1872,  1873,  1874,  1875;  I.  T. 
Brock,  1876,  1877,  1878;  Julius  Hart,  1879, 
1880;  E.  B.  Pilcher,  1881;  I.  T.  Brock, 
1882;  J.  J.  Davis,  1883. 

Collectors. — James  Branch,  1860;  Samuel 
Branch,  1861;  Jumes  Branch,  1862,  1863;  I. 
T.  Brock,  1864,  1865,  1866;  A.  L.  Rinard, 
1867;  Eli  Brock,  1868;  I.  T.  Brock,  1869; 
J.  B.  Pendleton,  1870;  I.  T.  Brock,  1871; 
N.  Sidwell,  1872;  I.  T.  Brock,  1873;  R. 
Smith,  1874;  James  Scott,  1875,  1876,  1877, 
1878,  1879,  1880,  1881,  1882,  1883. 

Justices  of  the  Peace. — George  W.  Martin, 

1860,  1861;  J.  S.  Hawk,  1861:  A.  B.  Paint- 
er, 1863;  W.  Hull,  1864;  Jacob  C.  Hawk. 
1865;  John  Bestow,  1866;  M.  W.  Collins, 
1870;  J.  B.  Pendleton,  1871,  1873;  J.  Hollo- 
way,  1877;  J.  S.  Hawk,  1881. 

Overseers  of  the  Poor. — J.  A.  Smith,  1860, 

1861,  1862,  1863;  Samuel  Branch,  1864;  F. 
C.  Hoyt,  1865;  James  Skelton,  1866;  James 
Truscott,  1867;  Thomas  Scott,  1871;  R.Tay- 
lor, 1872. 

Highway  Commissioners. — T.  P.  Green 
and  William  Ellzey,  1861;  W.  D.  Ellzey  J. 
C.  Brock  and  William  Taylor,  1862;  E. 
Brown,  1863;  A.  V.  Dudrey  1864;  D.  N.  Ulm, 
1865;  James  Pendleton  and  John  Thompson, 
1866;  G.  C.  Collins,  1867;  J.  C.  Brock, 
1868,  1869;  M.  Book,  1870;  N.  Sidwell, 
1871;  G.  C.  Collins,  1872;  A.  Bean,  1873; 
C.  A.  Young,  1S74;  J.  Holloway,  1875,  1876; 
Ben  Dixon,  1877;  William  Blackburn,  1878; 
W.  P.  Beck,   1879;  John  Lear,  1880;   W.  H. 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


233 


Blackburn.    1881;  J.    B.    Bean,  1882;  J.   T. 
Lear,  1883. 

Constables.— Peter  Myers,  1862;  Peter  Ro- 
chell,  1804;  William  Lapen,  L866;  Mack 
Walker,  1868;  Thomas  Sett,  1869;  ft. 
Smith.  INTO;  Levi  Branch,  1ST;!:  W.  R. 
Granden.    1876;    James   Rochell,    1S77:    W. 


K.  (Jraii.leu,  1SS1;  William  Sehorield,  1882. 
School  Trustees. — Jesse  Ward.  1873;  E. 
5Toung,  1^74:  W.  H.  Miller,  1875;  Joseph 
Skelton,  1876;  W.  Coughenour,  1877;  W. 
H.  Miller.  1878;  W.  Coughenour,  L880;  W. 
H.  Miller.  1881;  Joseph  Skelton,  1882;  I. 
T.  Brock.  1883. 


CHAPTER    XIX. 


BEDFORD  TOWNSHIP— GEOGRAPHICAL  DESCRIPTION,  TOPOGRAPHY,   ETC.— COMING    OF  THE  PIO- 
NEERS—THEIE    KAKH    STRUGGLES  AND   HARDSHIPS— WILD  GAME— PIONEER   MILLS 
AND    WHO    BDILT    THEM— SCHOOLS    AND    CHURCHES— VILLAGES— CISNE 
LAIIi   0TJT   AS   A    TOWN  — ITS   GROWTH    AND    DEVELOPMENT— 
R1NARD— LAID   OUT,   IMPROVED,    ETC.,   ETC.,   ETC. 


BEDFORD  TOWNSHIP  lies  in  the  north 
part  of  the  county.  It  is  one  of  the 
wealthy  townships,  and  its  people  are  among 
the  most  prosperous  of  any  section  of  Wayne 
County.  The  products  are  grain,  stock,  grass, 
fruit  and  vegetables,  all  of  which  flourish  ex- 
ceedingly well.  Red  top  grass  is  a  profitable 
crop.  Besides  being  used  as  hay,  great  quanti- 
ties of  it  are  threshed  for  the  seed  which  com- 
mands a  good  price.  It  is  said  that  more  of 
this  grass  seed  is  shipped  from  Cisne  than 
from  any  other  point  in  the  United  States. 
The  surface  of  the  town-hip  partakes  much 
of  the  same  nature  of  the  surrounding  coun- 
try, and  is  diversified  between  woodland  and 
prairie,  the  former  predominating  to  some 
extent.  The  prairies  are  generally  small, 
level  and  productive,  and  are  largely  culti- 
vated in  wheat.  The  woodland  though  not 
so  rich  as  the  prairies,  yet  is  quite  productive, 
and  of  a  somewhat  rolling  or  undulating  sur- 
face.    Wheat,  corn,  oats,  fruits  and  vegeta- 

»By  W.  II.  renin. 


bles  do  well  upon  these  lands.  The  town- 
ship is  bounded  on  the  north  by  Clay  Coun- 
ty, on  the  east  by  Elm  River  Township,  on 
the  south  by  Lamar d  Township,  on  the  west 
by  Indian  Prairie  Township,  and  comprises 
Township  1  north,  and  one-half  of  Township 
2  north,  all  in  Range  7  east  of  the  Third 
Principal  Meridian.  The  principal  water 
courses  of  Bedford,  are  Deer  and  Elm  Creeks, 
with  their  numerous  tributaries.  The  latter 
flows  through  the  northeast,  corner  and  the 
former  through  the  southern  part  of  the 
township,  affording  ample  drainage  and 
plenty  of  stock  water.  The  timber  of  the 
township  is  the  same  as  described  in  the  sur- 
rounding sections  of  the  country.  The 
Springfield  Division  of  the  Ohio  &  Mississippi 
Railroad  passes  nearly  north  and  south 
through  the  township,  and  has  been  of  the 
utmost  importance  to  the  people  and  their 
business.  Two  thriving  villages  have  sprung 
up  on  the  railroad  in  the  township,  which 
are  described  further  along  in  this  chapter. 


234 


IIIsTOUY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


Settlement. — The  settlement  of  Bedford 
Township  dates  back  to  a  time  when  the 
mind  of  man  runs  not  to  the  contrary.  The 
early  settlers  here,  as  well  as  of  the  county 
at  large,  were  poor  so  far  as  regarded  worldly 
goods.  They  came  here  desirous  of  better- 
ing their  fortunes,  and  like  pioneers  general- 
ly, were  kind  to  a  fault,  and  ever  ready  to  do 
a  favor.  They  came  with  a  meager  outfit, 
but  strong  in  faith  and  hope,  expecting  to  in- 
crease their  worldly  store,  and  provide  a  home 
in  old  age.  Some  came  in  frontier  wagons 
drawn  by  horses  or  oxen,  and  some  used  the 
more  primitive  pack-horse  as  a  means  of 
transportation.  Either  was  slow,  compared 
to  the  more  modern  modes  of  travel,  and  their 
encampment  was  made  wherever  night  over- 
took them.  A  fire  was  built  bj  the  wayside, 
over  which  an  iron  kettle  was  suspended,  and 
in  which  the  evening  meal  was  cooked.  The 
pioneer's  gun  through  the  day  provided 
abundance  of  fresh  meat  of  the  choicest  kinds, 
for  squirrels  and  wild  turkeys  were  plenty, 
and  deer  were  really  "  too  numerous  to  men- 
tion." Yet,  let  the  advantages  of  the  jour- 
ney be  the  best,  it  was  one  of  toil  and 
privation.  Then  there  were  no  bridges  over 
the  streams,  nor  any  well-trodden  highways. 
Each  band  of  emigrants  followed  the  general 
trail,  but  each  sought  a  new  track  for  his  own 
team.  This  cut  the  way  into  innumerable 
ditches,  of  which  traces  of  some  may  still  be 
seen  through  the  country.  If  the  season  was 
one  of  much  rain,  the  swamps  lying  in  the 
way  would  often  be  found  impassable,  and 
the  roads  or  trails  heavy;  if  the  season  was 
dry,  the  roads  were  rough,  so  that  at  its  best 
the  journey  could  not  be  termed  pleasant; 
yet  the  way  was  often  cheery,  and  through  the 
wild  prairie,  brown  with  the  Bomber  hue  of 
autumn,  or  overtopped  with  myriads  of  brill- 
iant blossoms,  the  forests  robed  in  their 
hues  of  brown  and  gold,  the  emigrant  passed 


on  joyously,  despite  bis  wayside  troubles. 
He  could  endure  trials,  hunger  and  pain,  if  a 
home  stood  at  the  end  of  the  journey.  Faith 
and  hope  are  two  anchors  of  the  soul,  with- 
out which  the  poor  mortal  on  life's  pathway 
would  indeed  be  cheerless  on  his  way. 

The  exact  date  of  the  first  settlement  could 
not  be  ascertained,  but  we  know  there  were 
settlements  made  in  the  township  as  early  as 
1816,  but  how  much  earlier  we  do  not  know. 
The  Campbells  and  several  other  families 
came  in  181(3.  The  pioneer  of  the  family 
was  Alexander  Campbell,  and  he  was  the 
father  of  four  sons — all  early  settlers.  Camp- 
bell, we  were  told,  was  by  birth  an  Irishman, 
though  Campbell  is  a  memorable  name  in 
Scotland.  He  emigrated  to  this  country  and 
settled  in  Virginia;  went  from  there  to  Ken- 
tucky, and  from  thence  to  Illinois  in  1816, 
as  above.  His  sons  were  Alexander,  John, 
Moses  and  Joseph.  The  old  gentleman  died 
here  in  1S55-56,  Moses  soon  after,  and  Joseph 
died  last  year  in  Sangamon  County,  at  the 
age  of  eighty -four  years.  John  and  Alex- 
ander, Jr.,  are  also  dead.  Nathan  Morris 
was  among  the  earliest  settlers.  He  sold  out 
here  and  went  to  Salt  Lake  City,  but  not 
liking  Mormondom  as  well  as  he  thought  he 
would,  he  returned  to  his  old  home  here.  He 
died  several  years  ago,  but  has  several  sons 
still  living.  Thomas  Sessions,  also  an  early 
settler,  sold  out  when  Morris  did,  and  wen 
with  him  to  Salt  Lake  City.  Unlike  Morris, 
he  was  so  well  satisfied  with  being  a  Saint — 
a  rustler  for  the  golden  stairs,  that  he  re- 
mained there  in  the  city  of  the  faithful. 
Isaac  Suns  was  an  early  settler,  and  is  still 
living  in  the  township. 

John  Pritchett  came  from  South  Carolina 
in  1816,  and  settled  first  in  what  is  now 
Jasper  Township,  but  shortly  after  moved 
into  Bedford,  and  died  here  in  1854.  The 
Stines  came   from  Ohio.      There  were  four 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


235 


brothers — Stephen,  Isaac,  Peter  and  Eri— all 
early  settlers.  Isaac  is  dead,  but  the  other 
three  are  still  living.  Ephraim  Lecroy  was 
very  early  in  the  township.  He  came  from 
Ohio,  and  is  still  living.  He  first  settled  in 
Bond  County,  111.,  but  came  hero  in  an  early 
day.  Martin  Emmons  was  also  from  Ohio, 
and  is  still  living  in  the  township  at  quite 
an  advanced  age.  Noah  Towns,  another 
Ohioan,  was  an  early  settler  in  Bedford,  but 
now  lives  in  Elm  Township.  Jesse  Laird, 
Sr.,  was  probably  from  Kentucky,  and  came 
in  early.  He  has  been  dead  several  years. 
but  has  a  son  living  on  the  homestead. 

Other  early  settlers  of  the  township  are  as 
follows:  R.  T.  Forth,  Jeff  Murphy,  Stephen 
and  Merritt  Harris,  Elias  May,  Jamos  Clark, 

John    Pettyjohn.    Edward    Pettyjohn,   

Gibbs,  Lane  Posey,  John  Rutger,  Gil  Hawes, 
Tira   Taylor,   O.   P.    Vail.    William  Cooper, 

Swain,    Metz,   Barney    McDaniel, 

and  perhaps  others  whose  names  havo  been 
overlooked.  Forth  was  probably  from  Ken- 
tucky, and  came  here  very  early,  bringing 
his  entire  possessions  in  an  ox-cart.  He  set- 
tled originally  near  where  Mrs.  Johnson,  in 
Fairfield,  now  lives,  but  later  moved  into 
Bedford  and  still  later  into  Hickory  Hill, 
where  he  now  lives,  quite  an  old  man.  He 
was  rather  prominent  in  the  county,  and  of 
more  than  ordinary  intelligence.  He  was 
several  times  elected  to  the  Legislature,  and 
filled  other  important  positions. 

Jeff  Murphy  came  from  Kentucky,  and 
went  to  California  from  here,  where  he  died. 

Stephen  and  Merritt  Harris  first  settled  in 
Barnhill,  but  afterward  in  this  township. 
They  were  sons  of  Isaac  Harris,  who,  it  is 
claimed,  was  the  first  settler  in  the  county. 
Merritt  was  born  here,  is  still  living,  and  a 
citizen  of  Moultrie  County. 

Elias  May  came  from  Ohio,  and  has  been 
dead  manv  voars. 


James  Clark  was  a  very  early  settler,  and 
has  children  still  living  here. 

John  Pettyjohn  and  his  father,  Edward 
Pettyjohn,  came  in  very  early.  The  old  man 
has  been  (lead  many  years,  but  John  is  still 
Irving,  about  two  miles  from  the  village  of 
Rinard. 

Gibbs  was  a  very  early  settler,  and  used  to 
burn  brick.     He  is  long  since  dead. 

Lane  Posey,  another  early  settler,  died  in 
Jasper  Township,  whither  he  moved  some 
years  ago. 

John  Rutger  was  a  local  Methodist  preach- 
er, and  came  into  the  township  very  early. 
He  was  also  a  tailor  by  trade,  and  the  first  of 
his  kind  in  the  settlement.  He  has  been 
dead  some  time,  but  has  two  sons  still  living 
in  the  township. 

Hawes  was  a  very  early  settler.  Imbibing 
Mormon  principles,  he  went  to  Salt  Lake 
City,  where  he  had  his  name  recorded  in  the 
book  of  the  faithful. 

Tira  Taylor  was  an  old  settler.  He  was  a 
soldier  in  the  Mexican  war,  and  also  served 
in  the  late  civil  war. 

Oliver  P.  Vail  was  also  an  early  settler, 
and  came  from  Ohio.  He  is  a  plasterer  by 
trade,  and  lives  at  the  present  time  a  little 
north  of  the  village  of  Rinard. 

Cooper  came  from  Pennsylvania,  and  has 
been  dead  several  years. 

Swain  and  Metz  were  early  settlers,  and 
early  sold  out  and  moved  away. 

Barney  McDaniel  came  and  made  an  im- 
provement, but  had  gone  away  and  left  it, 
and  it  was  overgrown  with  trees  when  the 
later  emigrants  came.  Many  of  the  early 
settlers  found  apple  trees  bearing  on  his  de- 
serted improvement  when  they  came  to  the 
township.  But  we  can  no  longer  keep  track 
of  emigrants  as  they  came  into  the  neighbor- 
hood. 

The  settler  on  his  arrival  began  at  once 


236 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


preparations  for  a  shelter.  During  this  pe- 
riod, the  family  lived  in  the  wagon,  or  in  a 
tent,  and  the  cooking  and  washing  were  per- 
formed by  the  women  under  the  sheltering 
branches  of  a  tree.  Often  a  rude  pole  cabin, 
with  no  other  floor  than  the  ground,  and  no 
windows,  save  the  interstices  between  the 
poles  forming  the  walls  of  the  cabin,  was 
temporarily  erected,  and  should  the  time  of 
arrival  be  spring,  this  rude  structure  sufficed 
for  a  habitation  until  the  crops  were  planted. 
After  that  important  work  was  done,  there 
was  a  season  of  comparative  leisure,  during 
which  preparations  were  made  to  erect  a  more 
comfortable  abode. 

Another  pastime  of  the  early  settlers  was 
the  enjoyment  or  necessity  of  hunting. 
"Wild  game  was  very  plenty,  so  much  so  that 
often  the  settler  was  obliged  to  cease  work, 
and,  with  his  neighbors,  join  in  a  kind  of 
crusade  against  it,  wolves  particularly.  These 
pests  were  very  destructive  to  young  pigs, 
and  to  any  domestic  fowls  straying  far  from 
the  cabin.  Hogs  could  be  fattened  on  the 
wild  mast  fonnd  in  the  timber,  and  needed 
care  only  when  too  small  to  resist  the  wolves, 
who  were  decidedly  fond  of  fresh  pork. 
These  marauders  of  the  forest  were  gradually 
exterminated  with  the  advance  of  civiliza- 
tion, and  are  no  longer  seen. 

Venison  was  one  of  the  staple  articles  of 
food  when  white  men  first  subjugated  this 
portion  of  Illinois,  and  in  those  early  days 
deer  were  often  seen  in  great  herds  as  they 
wandered  over  the  plains  or  gathered  on 
some  prominence.  Their  flesh  made  an  ex- 
cellent article  of  food,  while  th^ir  skins,  well 
tanned,  were  made  into  leggins  and  hunting 
shirts.  But  few  bears  were  found  here. 
They  prefer  a  colder  climate,  and  were  a 
dreaded  foe  to  the  Indian,  who  experienced 
great  delight  in  hunting  them,  and  had  al- 
most exterminated    them   when    the    whites 


came  here.  But  the  experiences  of  the  early 
settlers  were  so  similar  that  a  repetition  of 
them  destroys  the  novelty.  It  can  never  lose 
the  charm,  however,  to  the  few  pioneers  still 
left,  or  destroy  the  interest  to  them,  but  it 
renders  the  description  more  valuable,  ap- 
plying, as  it  does,  to  so  many. 

Mills. — The  first  settlers  used  the  mortar 
and  grater  for  making  meal.  These  appli- ' 
ances  are  the  oldest  known  for  grinding  or 
crushing  corn.  The  mortar  is  referred  to  in 
the  Bible,  while  the  grater  is  as  old  as  Amer- 
ica. John  Skelton,  who  was  an  early  settler 
from  Ohio,  built  a  horse  mill,  the  first  mill 
the  township  ever  had,  without  it  was  Laird's, 
which  some  say  was  just  over  the  township 
line.  Harmon  Milner  had  an  early  mill.  It 
was  also  a  horse  mill,  and  did  very  good  work 
for  its  day.  Milner  was  an  early  settler, 
and  is  still  living  near  Cisne.  A  man  named 
Henderson  built  the  first  steam  mill  ever  in  the 
township.  It  stood  east  of  the  present  vil- 
lage of  Riuard,  and  was  quite  an  institution. 
Henderson  died  some  years  ago  at  his  resi- 
dence near  the  mill.  A  steam  mill  was 
built  on  the  road  to  Flora,  on  the  Middle 
Fork  of  Deer  Creek.  A  saw  mill  was  added, 
and  large  business  was  done  for  years  both 
in  grinding  and  sawing.  Eri  Stine  owned 
and  ran  a  horse  mill  for  a  number  of  years. 
James  Cooper,  a  brother  of  William  Cooper, 
built  a  horse  mill.  John  Pettyjohn  also 
built  a  horse  mill.  The  township,  it  will  be 
seen,  has  been  well  supplied  with  mills  in 
its  day,  such  as  they  were,  and,  though  most 
of  them  were  rude  and  primitive,  yet  they 
served  the  purpose  for  which  they  were  built. 

The  early  schools  of  Bedford  Township 
are  much  the  same  as  in  the  other  portions  of 
the  county  in  the  early  period  of  its  history. 
The  names  of  the  first  teachers  are  forgotten, 
and  the  exact  spot  whereon  the  first  school- 
house  was  erected  cannot  be  now  designated. 


HISTORY   OF    WAYNE  COUNTY. 


237 


There  are  at  present  eight  schoolhouses  in  the 
township.  These  are  all  frame  buildings, 
and  are  comfortable  and  commodious.  Good 
schools  are  taught  each  year  by  competent 
teachers,  and  the  educational  facilities  of  the 
township  are  not  equaled  in  the  county. 

There  are  but  two  church  buildings  in  the 
township  outside  of  the  villages — the  Buck- 
eye Christian  Church  and  the  Pleasant  Hill 
Christian  Church.  A  more  extended  sketch 
of  these  churches  will  be  found  in  another 
chapter  of  this  volume. 

We  have  already  alluded  to  red-top  grass, 
and  the  seed  as  an  article  of  commerce.  The 
grass  grows  very  luxuriantly  in  this  part  of 
the  county,  and  yields  sometimes  as  much  as 
fifteen  bushels  of  seed  to  the  acre.  This  seed 
sells  readily  at  75  cents  per  bushel,  and  after 
being  threshed  the  grass  makes  good  hay. 
After  the  ground  has  once  been  well  seeded, 
it  has  been  known  to  do  well  for  twenty 
years  without  being  interrupted. 

The  township  is  well  watered.  The  best 
of  water  can  be  obtained  by  digging  wells  to 
a  depth  of  from  ten  to  twenty  feet.  Veins 
of  pure  water,  and  in  great  abundance,  are 
found  at  this  depth. 

Village  of  Cisne. — The  building  of  the 
Springfield  Division  of  the  Ohio  &  Mississippi 
Railroad  was  the  prime  cause  which  gave 
birth  to  the  town  of  Cisne.  It  was  laid  out 
in  1870,  and  located  on  the  land  of  David 
Simpson  and  Peter  Perrine.  The  survey  was 
made  by  John  Deem,  Deputy  County  Survey- 
or, and  the  plat  submitted  to  record.  The 
name  of  Cisne  was  given  to  the  place  in  honor 
of  Levi  Cisne.  F.  A.  Kutz  bought  the  first 
three  lots  sold,  paying  for  them  $25  apiece. 
As  an  inducement  to  the  purchase,  the  pro- 
prietors donated  to  him  one  lot.  Mr.  Kutz 
erected  the  first  house  in  the  town.  It  was 
a  frame  and  now  forms  a  part  of  the  business 
house  of    J.   P.    Billington.     Kutz   was  the 


first  merchant,  and  soon  built  up  a  large 
trade.  Tho  second  building  erected  was  the 
railroad  depot,  and  soon  after  it  was  com- 
pleted J.  N.  Palmer  moved  a  houso  from  Blue 
Point  and  sold  goods  in  it  for  a  time.  It  is 
the  house  in  which  the  post  office  is  now 
kept,  and  in  which  T.  D.  Colvin  does  busi- 
ness. In  1872,  a  blacksmith  shop  was  built 
by  J.  P.  Billington,  who  carried  it  on  in  con- 
nection with  a  wood  shop,  doing  the  latter 
work  himself  and  employing  Charles  Phillips 
to  do  the  blacksmith ing.  A  saw  mill  was 
started  in  1871  by  J.  G.  Hill,  H.  Milner  and 
E.  Shaw.  They  operated  it  for  awhile  with- 
out so  much  as  a  shed  over  it,  but  afterward 
inclosed  it  and  added  a  grist  mill.  It  is  now 
owned  by  Taylor  &  Jump,  who  do  a  large  and 
profitable  business.  The  post  office  was  es- 
tablished soon  after  the  town  was  laid  out, 
and  was  at  first  kept  by  Jesse  Milner,  Jr., 
at  the  depot.  It  was  afterward  moved  to  the 
residence  of  W.  S.  Borah,  but  is  at  present 
kept  by  Thomas  B.  Colvin  at  his  place  of 
business. 

The  first  school  taught  in  the  village  was 
in  a  frame  building  which  had  been  used  as 
a  schoolhouse  in  an  adjacent  district.  The 
district  in  which  Cisne  is  situated,  and  which 
is  No.  7,  was  formed  out  of  other  districts, 
and  this  building  purchased  for  a  school- 
house.  The  present  school  building  is  a 
two-story  frame,  aud  was  erected  at  a  cost  of 
about  $1,300.  The  average  attendance  is 
about  sixty  pupils,  with  a  requisite  number 
of  competent  teachers  to  instruct  them. 

A  church  of  the  Christian  denomination 
was  organized  during  the  Christmas  holidays 
in  1874,  and  the  first  preacher  was  S.  V. 
Williams.  The  church  building  is  a  frame 
oT>x4S  feet.  It  was  erected  before  the  soci- 
ety was  really  organized  by  means  of  sub- 
scriptions raised  among  the  people.  A  por- 
tion  of   the   members   who    organized    this 


238 


HISTOKV    OF   WAYNE   COUNTY. 


church  had  belonged  to  one  of  the  same 
creed,  which  used  to  meet  in  the  old  school- 
house  above  mentioned.  The  present  mem- 
bership is  about  150,  under  the  pastorate  of 
Elder  Rose.  A  good  Sunday  school  is  main- 
tained. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was  or- 
ganized in  the  Bedford  Schoolhouse,  one  and 
a  half  miles  north  of  Cisne.  But  they  have 
recently  moved  to  the  village,  and  at  present 
meet  in  the  Christian  Church  building. 
Rev.  Mr.  Harper  is  the  pastor  in  charge. 

The  first  physician  in  the  place  was  Dr. 
W.  H.  St.  John,  and  the  second  was  Dr.  J. 
A.  Parmenter.  The  present  physicians  are 
Drs.  T.  Vanfossen  and  J.  P.  Walters. 

The  following  statistics  show  the  present 
business  of  the  town:  T.  D.  Colvin,  G.  T. 
Harrington  and  Robert  Davidson,  general 
stores;  J.  P.  Billington,  drugs  and  groceries; 
H  C.  Hill,  groceries;  J.  C.  Brock,  hotel  and 
groceries  ;  Brock  &  Cisne,  grain  buyers;  F. 
A.  Kutz,  grain  and  stock;  William  White, 
furniture;  J.  C.  Phillips,  blacksmith;  George 
Trager,  wagon  shop;  David  SI ade,  shoe-maker, 
and  W.  Cisne,  railroad  agent. 

Rinard  Village  was  laid  out  in  1870,  but 
was  not  platted  until  April  18,  1871.  The 
plat  shows  109  lots  on  the  northeast  quarter 
of  Section  31,  land  owned  by  Ed  Bonham, 
of  Fairfield.  The  circumstances  which  led 
to  the  location  of  a  town  here,  were  as  fol- 
lows: A  proposition  was  made  by  C.  A. 
Beecher,  at  that  time  Vice  President  of  the 
railroad,  to  Mr.  T.  R.  Center,  to  buy  so 
many  thousand  bushels  of  oats  to  be  shipped 
from  this  point,  and  he  would  put  in  a  side 
track.  Upon  learning  of  this,  Mr.  Bonham 
and  Adam  Rinard.  at  once  employed  Center 
to  purchase  the  oats,  amounting  to  several 
thousand  bushels.  The  side  track  was  then 
put  in,  and  the  little  town  of  Rinard,  named 
in  honor  of  Adam  Rinard,  at  once  sprung  up. 


The  first  building  was  erected  by  D.  F.  & 
B.  J.  Chaney.  It  stands  on  Lot  29,  and  is 
the  one  now  used  by  R.  L.  Wilcox  as  a  store. 
The  next  house  erected  was  the  depot  build- 
ing. Before  the  depot  was  built,  Mr.  Wilcox, 
who  was  the  first,  the  last  and  the  only 
station  agent  the  railroad  has  had  at  this 
place,  kept  the  depot  in  a  box  car.  The  depot 
was  built  in  the  spring  of  1871,  about  the 
time  the  town  was  surveyed.  The  second 
house,  aside  from  the  depot,  was  put  by  C. 
McDaniels,  and  was  a  two-story  frame  build- 
ing. The  lower  room  was  used  by  him  for  a 
store,  and  the  upper  for  a  dwelling.  Later 
his  brother  was  conducting  business  there, 
and  the  building  was  burned.  McDaniels 
then  erected  a  dwelling,  and  for  some  time 
carried  on  a  general  merchandise  business. 
The  building  which  burned  stood  on  the 
present  site  of  D.  T.  Chaney's  store. 

The  Presbyterians  built  a  church  in  Rinard 
in  1S73.  It  is  a  brick  structure,  25x50  feet, 
and  cost  about  $1,400.  The  first  preacher 
was  Rev.  J.  H.  Hughey.  The  Presbyterians 
soon  sold  the  building  to  the  Methodists, 
who  still  own  it,  and  use  it  for  a  temple  of 
worship.  The  membership  is  about  sixty, 
under  the  pastorate  of  Rev.  L.  A.  Harper, 
and  a  good  Sunday  school  is  kept  up,  of 
which  A.  R.  Spriggs  is  Superintendent.  A 
good  comfortable  schoolhouse  was  built  in 
1875.  It  has  two  rooms,  and  one  teacher  is 
employed. 

The  post  office  was  established  soon  after 
the  town  was  laid  out.  R.  L.  Wilcox  was 
the  first  Postmaster  and  still  holds  the  posi- 
tion. He  first  kept  the  office  at  the  depot,  but 
now  keeps  it  in  his  store.  Mr.  Wilcox  is  also 
a  Notary  Public,  and  deals  largely  in  grain. 

Rinard  has  about  eighty  inhabitants,  and 
the  business  outlook  is  as  follows:  R.  L. 
Wilcox,  general  store:  D.  F.  Chaney,  gen- 
eral store;  M.  W.  Naney  and  W.  W.  Wheeler, 


HISTORY  OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


241 


blacksmiths;  C.  E.  Yokey,  shoemaker;  mil- 
linery store  in  charge  of  Mrs.  Martha  Fletcher; 
It.  L.  Wilcox,  grain  dealer;  Dr.  J.  H.  Hall, 
physician.  The  first  physician  here  was  Dr. 
J.  A.  Jeffries,  and  was  soon  followed  by  Dr. 


A.  R.  Spriggs.  W.  W.  Naney  was  the  first 
Justice  of  the  Peace;  the  town  boasts  of 
none  now.  R.  L.  Wilcox,  who  is  a  Notary 
Public,  attends  to  what  little  legal  business 
the  place  requires. 


CHAPTER    XX: 


INDIAN  PRAIRIE  TOWNSHIP— DESCRIPTION— TOPOGRAPHY,  ETC.— EARLY  SETTLEMENTS— PIONEER 
IMPROVEMENTS   AND  INDUSTRIES— EARLY  PREACHERS  AND  CHURCHES— FIRST  SCHOOL 
TEACHERS— FIRST  DEATH  IN  THE  TOWNSHIP— CHURCHES,  PREACHERS  AND  OFFI- 
CERS—JOHNSONVILLE— WHEN  AND  BY  WHOM  LAID  OUT— ITS  GROWTH  AND 
IMPROVEMENTS    AND    ITS    FUTURE   OUTLOOK— RAILROAD    PROS- 
PECTS—BLUE  POINT— WHEN    LAID   OUT   AND   BY  WHOM— 
A    LIST   OF   TOWNSHIP  OFFICERS,   ETC.,  ETC.,  ETC. 


"Where  nothing  dwelt  but  beasts  of  prey, 
Or  men  as  fierce  and  wild  as  they, 
He  hids  (li    oppressed  and  pour  repair 
And  build  them  town-  and  cities  there 

— Old  Hymn. 

TNDIAN  PRAIRIE  TOWNSHIP,  to  which 
-L  this  chapter  is  devoted,  was  organized  as 
such  in  1859.  It  is  bounded  on  the  north  by 
Clay  County,  on  the  east  by  Bedford,  on  the 
south  by  Arrington  and  on  the  west  by  Brush 
Creek  Townships,  and  comprises  one  and  one- 
half  Congressional  townships,  making  fifty- 
four  sections,  and  is  known  as  Town  1  and 
2  north,  and  Range  3  east.  The  name  was 
given  in  honor  of  a  tribe  of  Indians  who  in- 
habited this  beautiful  land  many  years  aero. 
The  township  is  about  equally  divided  be- 
tween woodland  and  prairie.  The  former, 
when  cleared  of  its  massive  growth  of  white, 
jack,  black,  pin  and  post  oak,  hickory,  wal- 
nut, sassafras,  elm  and  various  shrubs, is  well 
adapted  to  the  cultivation  of  corn,  wheat,  rye, 
oats    and   vegetables,    while   the   prairie    is 


•By  J.  M    Runk 


especially  adapted  to  the  grasses.  Many 
acres  of  the  "  red-top  "  are  grown  with  abun- 
dant success.  The  portion  known  as  Johnson's 
Prairie,  was  so  named  after  a  man  by  the 
name  of  Johnson,  who  was  an  early  hunter 
here,  but  whose  history  went  out  into  the 
dim  and  shadowy  past  and  cannot  now  be 
secured.  Dry  Fork  is  the  most  important 
stream  in  the  township,  and  has  its  source 
in  Section  15,  from  a  small  stone  quarry, 
and  runs  southward  through  Arrington  Town- 
ship, and  when  entering  Big  Mound  Town- 
ship it  spreads  out  into  a  swamp,  but  is 
again  formed  into  a  channel  which  empties 
into  Skillet  Fork  near  the  boundary  line  be- 
i  Wayne  and  Hamilton  Counties.  Rock 
Branch  and  Elk  Fork  having  their  sources, 
the  former  in  Section  16,  and  the  latter  in 
Section  28,  constitute  the  only  important 
affluents  of  Dry  Fork.  Along  the  northern 
boundary  of  the  township  courses  Bear 
Creel;  in  an  easterly  direction.  This  stream 
received  its  name  from  the  number  of  bears 
seen  and  killed   along    its    banks,    and    was 

14 


242 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


christened  such  by  a  Mr.  Meisenheiuier,  who 
was  a  very  early  settler.  The  principal  early 
roads  were  the  Haysville  &  Mount  Ver- 
non, and  the  Fairfield  &  Salem,  each  of 
which  crossed  the  township. 

Who  the  first  settlers  of  Indian  Prairie 
Township  were  is  not  known.  Isaac  Elliott, 
Thomas  Elliott  and  Mathias  Meisenheimer 
were  among  the  first,  if  not  the  first,  white 
men  who  settled  permanently  in  what  was 
then  Indian  Prairie.  The  exact  time  of  their 
settlement  is  not  fixed,  but  it  was  while  the 
Indians  held  almost  unbounded  sway  of  all 
the  eye  could  see.  It  is  probable  that  these 
men  came  from  Pennsylvania,  and  they  set- 
tled in  territory  that  is  now  in  Clay  County. 
Meisenheimer  was  a  brother-in-law  to  the 
Elliotts,  and  he  and  Isaac  were  strong  sup- 
porters of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  faith, 
and  were  among  the  leading  characters  in 
organizing  a  church  of  this  denomination 
near  where  they  settled.  Meisenheimer  died 
after  having  done  considerable  to  improve 
the  wild  country.  He  was  the  projector  and 
operator  of  a  saw  mill  on  Raccoon  Creek,  and 
was  the  father  of  Isaac,  Levi,  Jackson,  John, 
Isaiah,  David,  Ellen  and  Betsey.  Isaac  El- 
liott resides  in  Xenia.  and  maintains  the 
same  good  health  that  it  has  been  his  fortune 
to  experience  through  life.  Thomas  Elliott 
was  a  Universalist,  and  exerted  his  energy  to 
establish  his  religious  belief  in  the  com- 
munity where  he  lived.  He  has  long  since 
been  summoned  from  earth's  labors.  John 
M.  Griffith  was  a  local  Methodist  min- 
ister who  came  very  early  to  the  northern 
part  of  the  township.  He  preached  and 
taught  school  in  any  cabins  he  could  obtain, 
and  later  he  erected  a  double  log  cabin,  and 
in  one  department  had  his  dwelling  and  in 
the  other  he  taught  all  the  children  for  three 
or  four  miles  circuit.  He  died  the  father  of 
Martha,  Elijah,  Olive,  John,   Thomas,    Will- 


iam, Jesse,  Jane,  Mary,  Elizabeth  and  Re- 
becca. A  number  of  "squatters"  were  in  the 
north  part  of  the  township  in  1839,  but  soon 
after  that  year  they  moved  away. 

Alf.  Hargraves  settled  pretty  early  in  the 
southwest  part  of  the  township;  was  a  farmer 
and  reared  quite  a  large  family.  Clint, 
one  of  his  sons,  occupies  the  old  homestead. 

William  Sessions  came  to  the  township  in 

1838,  from  Kentucky,  and  settled  on  Section 
9.  After  awhile  he  sold  out  and  went  to 
Texas;  was  an  honest  man  and  made  con- 
siderable money  while  here.  His  children, 
Richard  and  Mary  J.,  the  wife  of  N.  King, 
are  living  in  the  county.  Robert  Galbraith  < 
came  from  Jefferson   County,   this    State,  in 

1839,  and  settled  on  Section  17.  In  1859, 
he  removed  to  Johnsonville,  where  he  had 
for  some  time  been  operating  a  blacksmith 
shop.  He  died  November  9,  1870  in  John- 
sonville, and  his  consort  died  in  1872.  Their 
union  resulted  in  several  children,  five  of 
whom  are  living,  namely,  Wiley,  A.  T. ,  Mar- 
tha (the  wife  of  W.  Ellis),  Elizabeth  J.  and 
step-son,  T.  P.  Alvis.  Robert  Galbraith  was 
Postmaster  at  Johnsonville  one  term;  was  a 
man  of  good  standing;  a  Democrat  until  the 
war,  at  which  time  he  united  with  the  Re- 
publicans, and  was  aggressive  in  espousing 
that  cause.  James  McGrew  settled  in  what 
is  now  Clay  County  before  1S32;  was  a 
Methodist  preacher,  and  died  in  that  county. 
John  McGrew,  his  son,  sold  a  farm  to  Daniel 
McDaniels,  who  settled  on  the  same  in  1839, 
and  died  there  about  five  years  subsequent. 
He  was  a  native  of  North  Carolina,  and  mar- 
ried and  settled  in  East  Tennessee,  and  from 
there  came  to  the  place  spoken  of  above. 
Richard  Burg  settled  on  Section  12,  in  the 
spring  of  1839,  and  put  up  a  log  cabin.  He 
remained  here  but  a  short  time,  selling  to 
Thomas  Howe,  who  lived  there  until  his 
death.      Huwe  was  from  Marion  County,  HI., 


HISTOKY  OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


.".:. 


and  held  some  township  offices  here;  he  and 
son,  Clark,  were  distinguished  as  expert 
hunters,  and  played  havoc  with  the  wild 
animals  that  then  inhabited  tln>  prairies. 

Richard  Clark  came  from  Marion  County, 
this  State,  in  1S39.  and  settled  on  Section  4, 
where  he  remained  until  1S47,  when  he 
traded  farms  with  William  Irvin,  of  Hickory 
Hill  Township,  and  each  became  pormanent 
residents  of  the  respective  townships. 

Wiley  and  W.  W.  Galbraith  came  to  the 
township  in  1841,  and  settled  on  Section  21. 
The  former  is  now  a  resident  of  Alexander 
County,  and  the  latter  died  in  Jonsonville. 

W.  B.    Goodpaster  came   from   Tennessee  | 
about  the  year  1843    1  t,  and  located  on  Sec- 
tion 10.     He  was  a  trader  and  dealt  mostly  in 
Btock,  but  after  a  short  period  he  located  in 
Menard  County,  this  State. 

A.  S.  Hargraves  came  in  1889  from  Ken- 
tacky,  and  was  soon  guilty  of  matrimony 
with  Milley  A.  Cliff,  of  Hickory  Hill  Town- 
ship. He  was  an  active  man  and  held  some 
of  the  township  offices.  He  died  near  RJd- 
ard  in  1875.  Samuel  Halliday  bought  Will- 
iam Sessions  out  in  1859,  and  after  the  late 
war  he  sold  and  returned  to  Ohio.  Some  of 
his  sons  are  influential  and  wealthy  citizens 
of  Cairo,  111.  A.  Maxey  settled  on  Section 
16,  now  the  home  of  Col.  "Weems  in  1S42. 
In  a  few  years  he  returned  to  Jefferson  Coun- 
ty. Col.  T.  L.  B.  Weems  was  reared  by 
Robert  Galbraith,  and  has  always  been  an 
honest,  upright  citizen,  and  was  Colonel  of 
the  Forty-eighth  Regiment. 

A  melancholy  event,  the  first  death  to 
occur  in  the  township,  was  a  daughter  of 
Henry  Burrough,  and  filled  the  first  grave  in 
the  Johnsonville  Cemetery. 

William  Irvin  had  a  small  distillery  in  the 
township  at  an  early  period  and  distilled 
peaches. 

L.  D.  Bullard  who  settled  on  Section  5,  at 


an  early  period,  had  a  horse  mill  on  his  farm, 
and  ground  corn. 

Robert  Metcalf,  a  professional  hunter,  is 
remembered  as  having  located  for  awhile  in 
the  township,  and  a  small  stream  running 
along  where  ho  settled  is  called  Bob's  Branch 
in  honor  of  him. 

Among  the  early  rectors  of  the  township 
came  Rev.  James  Keal,  who,  with  Rev.  Grif- 
fith, preached  in  dwellings  in  various  parts  of 
the  country. 

Village  of  Johnsonville. — Johnsonville  was 
laid  off  in   1855,  by  James  Ading,  from  the 
land  of  Wiley  Galbraith,  in  sixteen  lots.     S. 
R.  Caudle  put  up  the  first  house  to  mark  tho 
place.      It  was  a  hewed-log  structure,  and   is 
now  used  as  a  kitchen  by  A.  Tenney;  Caudle 
used  it  for  a  dwelling.     He  was  a  house  car- 
penter, and,  being  unable  to  obtain  as  much 
work  as  he  was  able  to  perform,  owing  to  the 
slow  growth   of  the  village,  he  moved  away. 
Tho  next  building  erected  in  the  place  was 
by  Wiley  Galbraith  for  a  store  room.     It  was 
a  frame,  and  is  the  present  business  room  of 
N.  W.  Galbraith.      In  the  spring  of  1856,  G. 
B.  Galbraith  put  in  a  stock  of  goods  in  this 
building       He  was   the  second  merchant  in 
the  place,  the  first  being    T.    P.    Alvis,  who 
had  moved  a  log  cabin  from  his  farm,  about 
one  mile  north  of  the  present  site  of  the  vil- 
lage,   in  which  he  had  been   selling  goods 
since  1850.      He  located  in  the  town  early  in 
the  spring  of  1856.     Later,  Mr.  Alvis  put  up 
the  store  building  now  occupied  by  Leander 
Galbraith.  and,  transferring  his  merchai 
to  it,  he   made   a  stable   of  the  orignial  log 
store  room.     Here  Mr.  Alvis  sold  goods  until 
1863,  in  the  meantime  being  in  partnership 
with   Nathan  Bullard  and  A.  T.   Galbraith. 
About  tho  same  time  of  putting  up  the  si  ore 
room,    Mr.    Alvis  erected   a   dwelling-house, 
just   south  of  the  store.     W.    W.  Galbraith 
put  up  a  building  in  the  town  which  is  now 


244 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


owned  by  Mrs.  Bowden.  W.  W.  Hoskinson 
began  merchandising  in  the  village  in  1857, 
and  continued  the  same  until  1860,  when  he 
went  to  Xenia,  and  subsequently  to  Benton, 
where  he  is  now  engaged  in  the  same  business. 

Robert  Galbraith  started  the  first  black- 
smith shop  in  Johnsonville.  It  stood  on  the 
east  side  of  the  public  square,  and  was  con- 
structed by  setting  posts  in  the  ground  and 
planks  nailed  to  them.  In  a  short  time,  Na- 
than Bullard  erected  a  shop,  and  worked  at  his 
trade  until  1859,  when  he  went  to  Texas. 
The  first  school  in  the  town  was  either  taught 
by  J.  O.  Fether  or  Thomas  Garrod,  soon  after 
the  village  was  laid  off.  The  building  used 
for  the  school  was  the  log  house  now  the 
residence  of  C.  C.  Bunch.  In  1872,  the  dis- 
trict bought  from  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
organization,  a  small  frame  building,  which 
stood  where  A.  Tenney's  store  room  now 
stands.  In  a  short  time  this  building  was 
consumed  by  fire,  and  in  1874  the  present 
commodious  two -story  frame  building  was 
erected  at  a  cost  of  about  $1,800,  and  since 
then  good  schools  have  prevailed.  R.  E. 
Seichrest  is  Principal  for  the  present  term,  and 
has  forty-eight  pupils  in  his  department;  and 
Miss  Frankie  Galbraith  is  the  primary  teach- 
er, with  forty-three  pupils. 

The  first  post  office  was  established  in  1857, 
and  W.  W.  Hoskinson  was  the  first  Post- 
master. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was  the 
first  and  only  one  ever  organized  in  the  vil- 
lage. It  was  so  effected  in  1855  by  Rev.  W. 
H.  Maxey.  G.  B.  Galbraith,  Wiley  Galbraith, 
and  wives,  Joseph  Black,  Mrs.  E.  Buck  and 
Yarby  Galbraith  and  wife  were  among  the 
early  membors.  It  was  organized  in  a  small 
frame  building  erected  for  the  purpose, 
where  A.  Tenney's  store  room  stands,  and 
was  afterward  sold  to  the  district  for  school 
purposes.       In    1805,    the    present    well  ar- 


ranged building  was  erected,  mostly  by  the 
members,  at  a  cost  of  $3,500.  The  Rev. 
Harper  is  the  present  pastor.  The  present 
Trustees  are  John  D.  McLucus,  A.  Armstrong, 
F.  M.  Galbraith,  W.  M.  Johnson,  A.  T.  C. 
Johnson  and  T.  L.  B.  Weems.  F.  M.  Gal- 
braith is  Superintendent,  and  A.  T.  C.  John- 
son Assistant  Superintendent  of  the  Sunday 
school  of  seventy-five  pupils,  and  W.  M.  Al- 
vis,  N.  J.  Galbraith,  R.  E.  Seichrest,  Eugene 
Tenney,  Theo  A.  Johnson,  Mary  A.  Johnson 
and  Frank  Galbraith  are  teachers. 

The  following  is  a  showing  of  the  business 
of  the  village:  A.  Tenney,  general  merchant, 
Postmaster,  Notary  Public,  etc. ;  Galbraith 
&  Haney,  general  merchants;  Forth  &  Weav- 
er, general  merchants;  C.  C.  Bunch,  black- 
smith; Alvis  &  Stephens,  cabinet-makers; 
Johnsonville  Milling  Company;  J.  H.  Nehf, 
harness  shop;  S.  B.  Mason,  carpenter;  W. 
M.  Johnson  and  W.  H.  Kelson,  physicians; 
W.  L.  Tenney,  stoves  and  tinware;  Brooks 
Brothers,  shoe-makers;  D.  Dunlap,  barber; 
Mrs.  A.  T.  C.  Johnson,  millinery;  A.  Arm- 
strong, hotel.  Coming  down  to  the  present 
time,  there  are  but  few  persons  remaining 
who  lived  about  Johnsonville  twenty-five  years 
ago.  While  the  little  village  will  compare 
favorably  with  any  locality  in  the  county 
for  health,  many  have  died;  but  make  the 
same  review  of  the  changes  wrought  in 
twenty-five  years,  and  the  numbers  vvho  have 
died  are  below  an  average  mortality.  Since 
the  town  is  somewhat  isolated,  being  situated 
several  miles  from  railroad,  it  necessarily 
possesses  comparatively  less  notoriety  than 
some  of  its  neighboring  villages,  through 
which  the  iron  horse  passes.  The  early  set- 
tlers, many  of  whom  have  gone  to  their  re- 
ward, have  been  succeeded  by  a  class  of  un- 
pretending citizens,  that  for  industry,  intel- 
ligence and  prosperity  will  compare  favora- 
bly with  any  part  of  the  county.      The  social 


3IST0RY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


015 


habits  of  the  place  have  of  corn  ;ed  in 

the  last  quarter  of  a  century.  While  some  of 
the  present  inhabitants  arc  eager  for  the 
daily  papers  that  are  brought  once  a  day  by 
hack  from  Gisne,  lesl  th  lir  interest  may  be 
affected  by  the  "spring"  or  "decliae"  in 
"  the  market,"  the  pioneers  were  content  with 
mail  once  a  week,  or  less  frequently.  There 
is  certainly  a  brighter  future  for  Johuson- 
ville  just  beyond.  Two  railroads  are  now  in 
progress,  each  of  which  is  to  pass  adjacent 
to  the  place.  Blue  Point  was  laid  out  by 
Thomas  Howe  in  1855. 

Felix  Mills  was  for  awhile  a  dealer  in 
general  merchandise  at  the  place,  and  was 
Postmaster.  Mills  pursued  the  business  here 
for  sometime,  and  then  sold  out.  The  build- 
ing and  stock  of  go,  ids  were  moved  to  Cisne. 
The  dwelling  where  Mills  lived  yet  marks 
the  village.  It  is  thought  that  C.  C.  Bunch 
conducted  a  blacksmith  shop  there  for  some 
time;  anyway,  a  shop  of  that  kind  was  in  ex- 
istence, whether  Bunch  owned  and  run  it  or 
not.  A  schoolhouse  was  erected  there  soon 
after  the  place  was  laid  out,  and  is  still  to  be 
seen.  Drs.  Hall  and  Sprigg  were  stationed 
there  for  awhile.  The  town  is  a  thing  of  the 
past,  there  being  no  business  whatever  done 
there. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  township  officers 
since  its  organization: 

Supervisors.—  A.  S.  Hargraves,  1800,  186] ; 
Robert  Gray.  1862;  A.  S.  Hargraves.  1863, 
1804.  1S65;  A.  T.  Galbraith,  1806.  1867;  T. 
P.  Alvis.  1868,  L869  (county  ruled  by  five 
Supervisors).  \V.  H.  Mix.  1872;  I.  J.  Tur- 
ner, 1873;  G.  M.  Karr,  1874,  1875;  I.  Mil 
ner,  1876;  G.  M.  Kan-,  1S77:  J.  Milner, 
1878;  L.  P.  Cook,  1879;  Lewis  Miller,  1880; 
T.  L.  B.  Weems,  1881;  Jesse  Pennington. 
1882,  1S83. 

Town  Clerks. —  Samuel  Halliday,  I860, 
1861.    1862;     John    Rudesell.     1863;     Felix 


Mills,  1864;  G.  M.  Kan-.  1865,  1806;  H.  H. 
Brown,  1807;  James  Roy,  1868;  G.  Karr, 
L869;  A   Tenney,  L870,  1871;  S.  B.   Ma 

.  T.  I,  B  Weems.  1873;  A.  J.  Hale, 
1871,  1875;  J.  R.  Alvis,  1876;  Samuel  Stut- 
ter, 1877;  H.  H.  Brown.  1878;  W.  H.  Dur- 
ham. 1879;  Israel  Stephens,  1880,  1881;  E. 
M.  Turner.    1882;    II    II    Brown,  1883. 

Assessors.  -W.  B.  Harrison,  1860;  W.  B. 
Harrison.  1861;  W.  E.  Ellis,  1802,  1803; 
Robert  Gray,  1864;  F.  M.  Ellis,  L865;  H. 
Mix,  1866,  1867,  1868;  James  Irwin,  1869; 
W.  E.  Mix.  L870;  -I.  Gleeson,  1871;  B. 
H.  Cornwell,  1872;  A.  T.  Galbraith,  1873; 
E.J.  Ream,  1874;  W.  M.  Gilliland,  1875; 
\V.  Church,  1876;  S.  Bunnell,  1877;  T.  L. 
B.  Weems,  1878,  1879;  B.  H.  Cornwell, 
L880;  •).  W.  Evans.  1881;  A.  T.  C.  Johnson, 
1882;    E.   M.  Turner.    1883. 

Collectors.— A.  T.  Galbraith.  i860:  J.  C. 
Maxey.  1861;  H.  H.  Brown,  1802;  C.  C. 
Irvin,  I  Mi:!;  H.  H.  Brown,  1804.  1865;  W. 
B.  Hammond,  1866,  L867;  H.  H.  Brown, 
1868;  J.  W.  Chaney.  ISO!);  A.  S.  Hargraves, 

1870;    B.  H.  Cornwell,    1871, ;   W.  H. 

Mix,  1873;  James  McGrew,  1874;  D.  Spicer, 
1875;  H.  P.  Mix,  1876;  A.  J.  Hale,  1877; 
F.  M.  Ellis.  1878;  II.  P.  Mix,  1S7(J;  I.  J. 
Hale.  1880;  H.  P.  Mix,  1881,  1882:  N.  T. 
Hale,  1883. 

Commissioners  of  Highways. — J.  W.  Brad- 
ley,Thomas  1  lowe  and  Jesse  Pennington,lS60 
Thomas  Howe,  1861  ;  .1  esse  Pennington,  1862 
David  Mills,    1863;    J.    W.    Chane>. 
X.  E.  Huberts,  1865;   E.  Milner,  1866;  Moses 
Jones,  1867;  George  Flick,  1868;  D.  Spicer, 
ISO'.);      .1.     C.     W  i.     1870;      Thomas 

Senters,  1871;  I).  Spicer,  1873;  W.  L.  Har- 
rison, L874;  J.  A  Wagner  and  A.  J.  Heath, 
L876;  Joseph  Kurtz.  L877;  J.  A.  \Y;> 
1878;  A.  J.  Heath.  1879;  N.  Border,  1880, 
1881;  I.  X.  Cunningham,  1882;  G.  A. 
Gaumer,  1883. 


240 


HISTORY   OF   WAVXH   COUNTY. 


Constables.— T.  W.  Hill  and  W.  W. 
Vaughn,  1860;  P.  Crissip,  1865;  H.  G. 
Wbeeler  and  W.  S.  Griffith,  1868;  J.  L. 
Curry  and  T.  N.  Connard,  1872;  J.  A. 
Weems  and  J.  B.  Holmes,  1873;  John  Miller 
and  A.  S.  Hargraves,  1875;  G.  W.  Penning- 
ton and  H.  M.  Nehf,  1877;  J.  L.  Currey, 
1879;  William  Holmes,   1883. 

Overseers  of  the  Poor. — George  Weaver, 
1860;  J.  L.  Day,  1866;  A.  S.  Hargraves, 
1867. 

Justices  of  the  Peace. — John  Cunningham 
and  I.  J.  Turner,  1860;  T.  P.  Alvis  and 
Samuel  George,  1868,  1869,  1S70,  1871; 
J.  Cunningham  and  T.  P.  Alvis,  1872;  J. 
Wilson  and  T.   P.   Alvis,  1873;  C.  C.  Bunch 


and  W.  A.  Vernon,  1877  (Bunch  resigned, 
and  a  special  election  was  held,  l-esulting  in 
the  election  of  T.  P.  Alvis).  The  record  does 
not  show  who  was  elected  from  1861  to  1868, 
from  1872  to  1S77,  and  from  1878  to  1883. 
Politically  the  township  is  about  equally  di- 
vided, as  the  following  will  show,  taken 
from  the  township  poll  books  of  the  spring 
election  of  1883:  For  Supervisor,  Republi- 
can votes,  124,  Democrat,  119;  for  Assessor, 
Republican,  135,  Democrat,  114;  Collector, 
Republican,  135,  Democrat,  116;  Clerk,  Re- 
publican. 141,  Democrat,  107;  Commission- 
ers of  Highways,  Republican,  131,  Democrat, 
117;  Constable,  Republican.  135,  Democrat, 
113. 


CHAPTER    XXI. 


FOUR     MILE      TOWNSHIP— INTRODUCTION— BOUNDARIES— SURFACE— WATER-COURSES— PRODUC- 
TIONS— BEANS— FROG     ISLAND— EARLY    SETTLERS    AND     SKETCHES— THE    WILD 
MAN— POPULATION— WAYNE  CITY— MIDDLETON— KEENS— SCHOOLS     ' 
CHURCHES— POLITICS— OFFICERS,  ETC.,  ETC.,  ETC. 

DEPLORABLE  indeed  it  is  that  more 
preciseness  in  regard  to  the  dates  of  the 
interesting  occurrences  in  which  the  history 
of  the  township  revels,  could  not  be  secured. 
It  again  illustrates  the  invaluable  importance 
of  the  present  work,  the  importance  of  gath- 
ering and  preserving  all  that  can  be  obtained 
now,  lest  even  this  also  be  lost  in  the  dark 
confines  of  oblivion,  from  which  there  arc 
no  means  to  recover  it.  The  youth  of  the 
present  generation  have  but  a  faint  idea,  if 
any,  of  the  dangers  and  hardships  through 
which  their  forefathers  were  compelled  to 
pass,  of  the  trials  and  sufferings  they  had  to 
endure,  and  of  the  formidable  obstacles  they 
had  to  surmount  in  order  that  this  beautiful 
land  of  ours  might  be  wrested  from  its  wild 


and  barbarous  possessors  and  turned  over  to 
intelligence  and  civilization,  under  whose  be- 
nign influence  it  has  since  bloomed  and  pros- 
pered. The  story,  then,  of  our  early  pioneers 
is  not  only  interesting  but  instructive,  and' 
worthy  of  thoughtful  study.  To  study  their 
habits  and  characteristics,  their  manner  of 
gaining  a  subsistence,  their  romantic  experi- 
ences, and  the  noble  impulses  which  led  them 
to  strive  and  labor  for  the  benefit  of  those  to 
follow  them,  more  so  than  for  their  own,  af- 
fords not  only  delightful  recreation,  but  it  is 
a  theme  which  offers  rich  returns  to  an  ear- 
nest contemplation  thereof.  But  we  have  in 
other  chapters  devoted  considerable  space  to 
this  subject,  and  we  will  not  repeat. 

Four  Mile   Township,    to    the    immediate 


lUSTOItY   OF   WAYNE   C01   XI  Y 


247 


history  of  which  this  chapter  is  allotted,  is 
the  largest  in  the  State  of  Illinois.  It  em- 
braces within  its  present  limits  eighty-six 
sections  of  land,  although  several  of  these 
do  not  possess  the  requisite  number  of  acres. 
Its  territory  is  made  up  of  parts  of  four  Con- 
gressional townships  —Sections  7  to  36.  in- 
clusive, of  Town  2  south,  Range  5  east;  17 
to  36  inclusive,  of  Town  2  south,  Range  6 
east;  1  to  13  inclusive,  of  Town  3  south, 
Range  5  east;  and  1  to  13  inclusive  of  Town 
3  south,  Range  6  east.  The  boundaries  are 
as  follows:  North,  by  Hickory  Hill  and  Ar- 
rington  Townships;  east,  by  Arrington  and 
Big  Mound  Townships;  south,  by  Hamilton 
County,  and  west,  by  Jefferson  County.  The 
original  precinct  or  rather  the  territory  em- 
braced in  Four  Mile  Precinct,  previous  to 
township  organization,  had  the  following 
boundaries:  Commencing  with  the  intersec- 
tion of  Horse  Creek  and  the  Jefferson  County 
line,  following  the  course  of  the  former  to 
its  confluence  with  Skillet  Fork,  and  the  lat- 
ter to  its  point  of  crossing  the  line  of  Ham- 
ilton County;  west  on  this  line  to  that  of 
Jefferson  County,  and  north  again  to  Horse 
Creek.  The  territory  comprised  within  these 
described  limits  was,  although  of  different 
shape,  about  the  same  size  as  the  present  town- 
ship. The  preciuct  took  its  name  from  Four 
Mile  Creek,  and  the  township  did  not.  choose 
to  change  it,  but  who  named  the  creek  could 
not  be  ascertained.  The  origin  of  the  name 
is  equally  obscure,  and  there  appears  to  be 
nothing  even  as  a  suggestion  for  it. 

The  surface  of  this  township  is  greatly 
varied.  Something  like  one-half  of  it  is 
swamp  laud,  which  includes  the  immense 
flats  and  bottoms  along  Skillet  Fork.  Large 
tracts  of  these  low  lands  are  nearly  continu- 
ally overflowed,  and  the  whole  of  them  are 
not  at  present  subject  to  profitable  tillage. 
The   improved    systems  of    drainage   w 


undoubtedly  render  hundreds  of  acres  capa- 
ble of  successful  cultivation,  and  it  is  prob- 
able that  they  will  be  applied  before  many 
years.  The  township  includes,  however,  sev- 
eral large  prairies,  known  as  Sis  Mile,  Long, 
Brush  and  Elk,  and  upon  these  are  many 
beautiful  farms.  The  soil  is  sandy  and  loamy 
in  some  parts,  but  it  is  more  inclined  to  be 
clayish  than  in  some  parts  of  the  county.  It 
is  generally  rich,  and  gives  good  returns  for 
the  labor  of  the  intelligent  farmer.  The 
principal  water  courses  are  the  Skillet  Fork 
and  Four  Mile  Creek,  each  of  which  have 
numerous  small  tributaries.  Tbe  former 
enters  the  township  in  Section  14,  Town  2 
south,  Range  5  east,  and  flowing  southeast 
leaves  it  in  Section  36,  Town  2  south,  Range 
6  east.  Four  Mile  comes  in  at  Section  30, 
Town  2  south,  Range  5  east,  and,  flowing  east, 
empties  its  muddy  waters  into  Skillet  Fork 
in  Section  28,  Town  2  south,  Range  6  east. 
Along  the  Skillet  Fork,  in  former  days,  the 
finest  and  most  luxuriant  growths  of  white 
oak  timber  grew  there  in  great  abundance. 
The  principal  timber  at  the  present  day,  con- 
sisting chiefly  of  the  many  varieties  of  oak, 
hickory  and  gum,  are  found  in  the  bottoms 
along  the  water -courses,  but  there  are  also  a 
few  high  ridges  on  which  good  timber  is 
found  in  considerable  quantities.  The  water 
of  this  portion  of  the  county  is  unusually 
good,  and  is  struck  at  an  average  depth  of 
twenty  feet,  but  in  some  parts  borings  have 
been  made  for  upward  of  100  feet  in  depth, 
without  success. 

The  main  productions  of  the  township  are 
the  usual  cereals,  red-top  graHs  seed  and  ap- 
ples. The  considerable  boom  which  the  lat- 
ter have  taken  during  the  past  few  years  has 
resulted  in  the  setting  out  of  many  hundreds 
of  young  trees,  mostly  of  the  Ben  Davis  and 
Rome  Beauty  varieties,  and  this  boom  is  far 
from  being  a  spasmodic  one,  for  the  incom- 


248 


HISTORY  OF   WAYNE   COUNTY. 


parable  adaptability  of  this  section  of  the 
State  to  fruit  culture  has  already  been  clear- 
ly established.  Several  years  back,  tbe  at- 
tention of  the  farmers  of  Four  Mile  was  di- 
rected almost  wholly  to  the  raising  of  castor 
beans,  and  quite  a  reputation  was  gained  on 
account  of  the  large  quantities  raised  and 
shipped,  but  somehow  they  seem  to  have  got 
enough  of  the  oily  article,  and  the  cultiva- 
tion of  them  is  now  not  very  extensive. 

What  is  now,  and  has  for  a  long  time 
been  known  as  "Frog  Island,"  is  a  por- 
tion of  land  situated  in  the  southeast 
part  of  the  township,  and  extending 
into  Hamilton  County.  During  periods 
of  high  water,  it  is  entirely  surrounded, 
although  several  small  streams,  gulches  and 
swamps  materially  assist  in  making  it  an 
island  proper.  The  "  island  "  contains  some 
rich  farming  lands,  and  although  not  having 
as  large  a  population  as  New  York,  it  is, 
nevertheless,  a  very  important  "  deestrict, " 
and  one  that  is  heard  from  pretty  loudly 
sometimes  on  election  days.  It  is  some  seven 
or  eight  miles  long,  east  and  west,  by  four 
or  live  north  and  south. 

To  particularize  each  early  settlement  in 
a  township,  or  to  give  the  exact  date  and  de- 
tails of  the  arrival  of  each  old  settler,  is  a 
task  not  easy  of  accomplishment.  John  It. 
Smith  was  the  first  man  to  settle  in  what  is 
now  Four  Mile  Township,  about  whom  much 
is  known.  He  came  from  Kentucky,  but 
in  what  year  we  could  not  learn.  He  was  the 
biggest  man  in  the  county,  weighing  up- 
ward of  300  pounds,  and  was  fond  of  per- 
forming a  variety  of  feats  requiring  great 
strength  and  nerve.  He  always  claimed  to  be 
very  illiterate,  but  was  brimful  of  jokes,  and 
was  marvelously  well  posted  on  points  of 
Scripture.  He  could  not  only  quote  prof  use- 
ly  from  any  writer  in  the  Book  of  books,  but 
was  able,  if  some  passage  was  read  to  him, 


to  immediately  tell  the  verse,  chapter  and 
author  with  remarkable  precision.  He 
raised  a  large 'family  here,  and  died  here 
himself  at  a  good  old  age.  Two  sons,  Will- 
iam H.  and  Daniel,  and  a  daughter,  Betsey, 
are  yet  living,  the  latter  the  wife  of  William 
Collins,  a  resident  of  Hamilton  County. 

A  remarkable  character  came  into  Four 
Mile  about  the  same  time  as  Smith.  It  was 
William  Hetherly,  but  more  commonly 
known  as  the  "  Wild  Man."  He  came  from 
Tennessee,  and  after  living  here  a  few  years, 
went — nobody  knows  where.  He  received 
the  name  of  the  "Wild  Man"  from  his  in- 
satiate delight  in  hunting  and  tramping  the 
wilderness  from  one  end  to  the  other.  Fre- 
quently has  he  been  seen  to  start  out  with 
his  own  "  big  self,"  his  boy  and  his  dog  — all 
upon  the  same  old  bob  tailed  filly.  The  boy 
would  keep  an  eye  out  for  bee-trees,  while 
the  old  man  would  cast  suspicious  glances  at 
every  thicket  for  a  deer,  and  the  dog — the 
dog — yes,  he  probably  had  his  hands  full 
watching  the  old  man,  and  was  brought  into 
service  when  the  deer  came  out.  The  old 
hunter  fed  his  family  on  wild  meat  and 
honey,  and  clothed  them  with  the  proceeds 
arising  from  the  disposal  of  the  hides.  John, 
Henry,  Martin,  Jacob,  Abram,  Polly  and 
Sally  Myers,  all  brothers  and  sisters,  were 
early  settlers  in  Four  Mile  Township.  They 
came  from  Kentucky,  and  many  of  their  de- 
scendants are  yet  living  here  and  in  the  sur- 
rounding country.  Polly  Myers  married 
John  R.  Smith,  of  whom  we  have  already 
spoken,  and  Sally  married  Martin  Sowell,  an 
old  settler  here.  After  his  death,  she  mar- 
ried Asel  Cross,  who  came  here  from  Tennes- 
see at  an  early  day.  The  onlyr  one  of  the  old 
Myers  yet  living  is  Winnie,  the  widow  of 
Henry.  She  is  a  daughter  of  Bart  Atchison, 
who  was  an  old  settler  in  Moore's  Prairie, 
Jefferson  County.     Previous  to  her  marrying 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


249 


Myers,   she   was   the  wife   of  a  man   by  the 
name  of  Farnsworth. 

David  Garrison  and  Charles  Trotter  came 
into  the  township  at  an  early  day,  and  lo- 
cated on  Frog  Island,  ami  many  of  their  de- 
scendants yet  reside   in    that    neighborhood. 

Solomon  Boyd  located  in  Six  Mile  Prairie 
early,  after  having  been  in  Hamilton  County 
for  a  few  years  His  family  consisted  of  five 
sons — Henry,  Lyle,  John,  William  and  Mil- 
ton, and  three  daughters — Catharine,  Lizzie 
and  Mary.  Mr.  13<>\d  bad  the  reputation  of 
being  the  greatest  rail  maker  in  the  country. 

Andrew  Davis  came  from  Tennessee  here 
about  1836,  and  is  yet  living  in  Four  Mile. 
From  the  same  Stale  came  James  P.  Boswell, 
and  his  children. as  follows:  William,  Joseph, 
James,  John.  Washington,  Timothy,  Sally, 
Phoebe  and  Cynthia.  Upon  certain  occasions, 
the  old  man  would  style  himself  "  Jimmie 
Pepper,"  and  many  will  remember  him  bet- 
ter by  that  name.  Joseph  is  now  living  in 
Mount  Vernon,  111.,  aDd  William,  Tim 
and  Sally  in  this  township,  the  latter  the 
widow  of  Richard  Jenkins,  who  came  here 
among  the  first,  and  whose  chief  character- 
istic was  that  of  whistling,  of  which  recrea- 
tion he  was  never  tired.  Among  other  early 
settlers  are  mentioned  Solomon  and  Richard 
Mandrill,  Calvin  Shell,  the  latter  of  whom 
came  in  1838  from  Tennessee;  Ennis  .Mai- 
den and  his  son-in-law,  George  Mabery, 
and  the  Austins;  John  Mateer,  his  wife 
Peggy,  his  four  sons  -Robert.  John,  An- 
thony and  Montgomery,  and  his  daughter, 
Rosanna,  wife  of  Knight  Reed,  came  from 
Pennsylvania  a  hoi  1 1   L840. 

The  township  since  1850  has  settled  up 
gradually  but  steadily,  and  has  a  present 
population  of  about  2,000  souls. 

The  little  village  of  Wayne  City  is  situated 
on  the  Air  Line  Railroad,  in  Section  13. 
Township  2  south,   Range   5  east,    and    IS. 


Township  2  south.  Range  6  east.  It  was 
laid  out  in  1881,  by  Hilliard,  County  Sur- 
veyor, and  incorporated  the  following  year. 
But  a  few  years  ago  there  was  nothing  here 
but  two  or  three  little  log  cabins,  a  black- 
smith shop  and  an  old  saw  mill.  But  in  the 
short  time  since  elapsed,  it  has  taken  a  con- 
siderable boom,  and  grown  to  very  promising 
proportions.  It  has  general  stores  by  J.  B. 
Scudamore,  who  was  her  first  merchant,  and 
is  the  Postmaster;  John  Chandler,  Augustus 
Smith  and  Reid  Bros.  ;  John  Tyler,  hard- 
ware; Charles  Jacobson,  drugs;  harness  and 
furniture.  L.  Knowles;  City  Hotel;  and 
Drs.  Garrison,  Bristow  and  Branson.  The 
village  supports  were  excellent  graded 
schools,  with  able  teachers  in  the  Misses  Bran- 
son and  Staton.  A  fine  merchant  flouring 
mill  was  erected  here  in  1882.  by  Robert 
Ellis,  and  dpes  a  thriving  business.  Wayne 
City  Lodge  I.  O.  O.  F.  was  organized  in  1875, 
and  was  moved  to  the  village  in  1881.  It 
has  a  membership  of  about  thirty.  The  fol- 
lowing are  the  first  and  present  village  offi- 
cers: Board  of  Trustees,  J.  B.  Scudamore, 
President,  C.  R.  Ellis,  J.  R,  Chandler,  J.  M. 
McRill,  E.  B.  Reid  and  L.  Merritt;>  Police 
Magistrate,  A.  K.  Robinson;  Village  Clerk, 
Dr.  B.  E.  Garrison;  Marshal,  A.  C.  Boswell; 
Street  Commissioner,  George  Hollinger. 

Middleton,  a  small  town,  situated  on  Sec- 
tion 5,  Township  3  south,  Range  5  east,  was 
laid  off  in  1854  by  Wiliiam  Whitacre, 
County  Surveyor.  It  has  not  grown  much  in 
size  since  the  first,  as  it  has  never  had  the 
advantages  of  any  railroad  facilities.  The 
post  office  at  this  point  is  called  Long  Prairie 
post  office,  and  mails  come  by  way  of  i 
Station  on  the  Air  Line.  Middleton  had  a  Ma- 
sonic Lodge  organized  there  before  the  late 
war,  but  it  was  afterward  moved  to  Bell  Hive, 
rson  Co.,  111.  Asbury  Lodge,  No.  248, 
I.  O.  O.  P.,  was  organized  about  1854,  and  is 


250 


HISTORY   OF   WAYXK  COUNTY. 


in  a  prosperous  condition.  In  1861,  the 
Methodists  built  a  church  at  this  place,  but 
it  was  subsequently  torn  dovvn  and  a  more 
substantial  one  erected,  at  a  cost  of  $1,300. 
It  is  situated  on  Section  9,  near  the  Farns- 
worth  Graveyard,  one  mile  southeast  of  the 
town.  The  hist  doctor  to  locate  in  Middle- 
ton,  was  Daniel  Wingate,  and  he  represented 
this  district  under  the  "  Five  Horse  Act." 

Keen  Station  is  a  small  town  situated  on 
the  Air  Line  three  miles  west  of  Wayne  City, 
and  consists  of  two  general  stores,  and  one 
grocery.  It  has  a  good  school,  and  a  substan- 
tial church  building  is  being  erected  by  the 
Missionary  Baptists.  A  grist  mill  was  put 
up  there  in  1881,  and  there  are  also  two  saw 
mills  at  this  place. 

The  first  mill  of  any  description  in  Four 
Mile  Township  was  put  up  by  John  E. 
Smith,  and  was  situated  on  Section  35  or  36. 
It  was  the  old  stump  arrangement,  with 
horse-power,  and  it  ground  meal  for  all  the 
surrounding  country  for  many  years.  After 
this,  a  water  mill  was  put  up  on  Skillet 
Fork,  by  Ennis  Maiden  and  George  Mabery. 
It  was  a  grist  and  saw  mill  both.  There  is 
now  no  trace  of  it  left.  William  Boswell 
had  a  stump  mill  also,  and  after  that  Martin 
Myers  built  a  horse  mill  on  Frog  Island. 
The  people  of  this  section  would  also  go  to 
the  Leech  Mill  on  the  Little  Wabash  River 
in  Leech  Township. 

The  vast  benefits  to  be  derived  from  schools 
were  not  overlooked  by  the  old  settlers  of 
Four  Mile  Township.  Schools  claimed  their 
attention  next  to  that  of  their  families  and 
their  immediate  wants.  There  were  many 
little  log  cabins  put  up  here  and  there  over 
the  township  very  early,  but  the  exact  loca- 
tion and  the  names  of  their  first  teachers 
could  not  be  ascertained.  An  early  school 
was  kept  on  Frog  Island  by  Thomas  Gibbs, 
but  wo  could  learn  no  further  details  regard- 


ing it.  Another  one  was  situated  in  Long 
Prairie,  on  the  land  of  Richard  Jenkins,  and 
this  was  used  for  religious  purposes  also. 
The  following  items  represent  approximately 
the  status  of  the  schools  of  Four  Mile  at  the 
present  writing:  Number  of  pupils  enrolled, 
750;  number  of  school  buildings,  11;  num- 
ber of  teachers  employed,  21;  average  pay  of 
same,  males,  $30  per  month;  females,  $25. 
Estimated  value  of  school  property,  $10,000. 

The  church  history  of  Four  Mile  is  brief, 
although  by  this  we  do  not  mean  to  say  that 
she  is  behind  in  her  religious  duties.  All 
the  preaching  that  the  early  pioneers  enjoyed 
was  done  by  traveling  ministers  of  the  Gos- 
pel, whose  large  circuits  would  not  permit  of 
visits  more  frequent,  generally,  than  once  or 
twice  a  year.  Charles  Koker  and  Thomas 
Cottonham,  both  Methodist  preachers  from 
McLeansboro,  111.,  visited  the  people  here  in 
an  early  day,  and  they  organized  the  first 
Methodist  Church,  and  preached  at  the  house 
of  Ennis  Maiden,  which  was  located  on  a 
spot  now  included  within  the  limits  of 
Wayne  City.  William  Finn,  a  man  by  the 
name  of  Fox,  John  Gillum  and  John  Gill 
were  all  early  preachers,  and  of  the  Meth- 
odist denomination.  The  Regular  Baptist 
preachers  came  in  later,  and  preached  first  at 
a  schoolhouse  in  Long  Prairie,  and  built  a 
church  building  near  there,  which  was  sub- 
sequently replaced  by  another  one  on  the 
same  place. 

We  will  here  insert  a  few  items  worthy  of 
record.  The  political  parties  in  Four  Mile 
are  about  equally  divided,  and  many  of  the 
election  contests  in  the  township  have  been 
more  a  fight  for  politics  than  for  men.  They 
have  had  what  they  called  the  "  Convention 
Ticket,"  the  "  People's  Ticket,"  the  "  Bolter's 
Ticket"  and  all  other  kinds  of  tickets,  but  in 
later  years  the  right  man  wins,  as  he  should, 
be  his  politics  what  they  may. 


HISTORY   OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


251 


The  last  bear  killed  in  the  county  was 
killed  in  1877  in  this  township.  A  man  by 
the  name  of  Jones  was  the  slayer,  and  the 
bear,  which  was  a  black  one,  weighed  after 
being  dressed.  450  pounds,  including  the 
hide.  The  bear  had  probably  taken  a  notion 
to  tramp,  and  had  wandered  up  here  from 
the  South. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  some  of  the  offi- 
cers of  Four  Mile  since  1805: 

Supervisors — C.  C.  Myers,  1865-66;  Dan- 
iel Wingate,  1867-71;  J.  B.  Scudamore, 
L872-75;  John  Robinson,  1876-77;  William 
Mabery.  1878-79;  J.  W.  Jenkins,  1880; 
Samuel  Keen,  1881;  O.  P.  Nesmith,  1882-83. 

Town  Clerks — W.  H.  Cleudenin,  1865-66; 
S.  Farnsworth,  1S67-6S;  A.  .1.  Slaton,  1869; 
J.  R.  Boswell,  1870-71;  S.  A.  Long,  1872- 
73;  J.  W.  Roark,  1874;  J.  B.  Brooks,  1875; 
S.  Farnsworth,  1876;  George  Draper,  1N77; 


B.  M.  Garner.  1878;  W.  H.  Clendenin.  1879; 
W.  W.  Coffee,  1880;  J.  W.  Ellis,  1881;  V. 
Hagarty,  L882;  Daniel  Ballard,  1883. 

Assessors — C.  C.  Hopkins,  1865;  J.  F.  S. 
Hopkins,  1866;  W.  J.  Myers,  1867;  N.  M. 
Williams,  186S;  Joseph  Boswell,  1S69;  N. 
M.  Williams,  1870;  J.  D.  Sewis,  1871-72; 
X.  M  Williams,  1873;  A  M.  Bruce,  1874; 
H.  M.  White,  1875-76;  Thomas  Burgan, 
1S77;  W.  T.  Faulkner,  1878;  S.  Boswell, 
1879;  John  Robinson,  1880;  G.  W.  Draper, 
1881;  William  Gray,  1882;  P.  Buffington, 
1883. 

Collectors  —  Knight  Reed,  1865;  E.  H. 
Chase,  1866-77;  Thomas  Scudamore,  1868; 
James  Maulding,  1869;  John  Robinson, 
1870-75;  J.  S.  Austin,  1876;  W.  T.  Faulk- 
ner, 1877;  S.  Boswell,  1878;  S.  L.  Austin, 
1879;  Samuel  Wood,  1880;  S.  L.  Austin, 
1881;  P.  Buffington,  1882;  J.  K.Wright,  1883. 


CHAPTER   XXII. 


ELM    IilVKK   TOWNSHIP— BOUNDARIES    AND   SETTLEMENT— PIONEER   INCIDENTS— POPULATION— 
SURFACE  A.NH  WATER-COUBSES— ENTERPRISE— EDUCATION  AND  SCHOOL  STA- 
TISTICS—CHURCHES   AND    PREACHERS,    ETC.,   ETC.,    ETC. 


ELM  RIVER  TOWNSHIP  is  bounded  as 
follows:  On  the  north  by  Zif  Township, 
on  the  east  by  Mount  Erie  Township,  on  the 
south  by  Jasper  and  on  the  west  by  Bedford 
Township.  Its  position,  as  laid  down  by  the 
Congressional  survey,  is  Township  1  north, 
Range  8  east,  of  the  Third  Principle  Me- 
ridian. The  name  given  it  at  the  time  the 
county  adopted  the  plan  of  township  organi- 
zation, was  that  of  Newton,  but  the  name  was 
subsequently  changed  to  the  prosent  one, 
after  Elm  River,  its  principal  stream, 
ami  the  latter  owes  its  cognomen,  it  is  said,  to 


the   large  quantities  of  elm  timber  that  for- 
merly grow  along  its  banks. 

This  township  was  not  settled  up  as  early 
as  some  others  in  the  county,  inasmuch  as  it 
comprised  within  its  borders  a  large  propor- 
tion of  timber  land,  and  consequently  was 
not  so  easily  accessible,  nor  so  favorable  to 
speedy  cultivation  and  improvement;  and 
furthermore,  the  early  settlers,  coming  as 
they  mostly  did  from  Kentucky  and  Tennes- 
see, struck  the  southern  ami  the  eastern  por- 
tions of  the  county  first,  and  so  the  first 
settlement  made  in   Elm   River  was    several 


252 


HISTORY    OF    WAYNE   COUNTY. 


years  subsequent  to  the  earliest  in  some  other 
townships.  Samuel  McCracken  is  credited 
with  having  been  the  first  one  to  settle  with- 
in its  present  limits.  He  came  it  is  be- 
lieved in  the  year  1823,  from  near  Hopkins- 
ville,  Ky.,  and  he  lived  and  died  upon  the 
place  he  first  located.  He  first  penetrated 
the  township  upon  a  mere  venture,  and  was 
greatly  surprised  at  hearing,  when  near  the 
spot  he  afterward  concluded  to  make  his 
home,  what  sounded  to  him  like  human  voices, 
and  he  soon  discovered  them  to  be  such.  A 
band  of  Government  surveyors  were  on  the 
ground,  busily  engaged  in  their  "  mysterious  " 
work,  and  the  meeting  of  all  hands  was  very 
hearty  and  enthusiastic.  Mr.  McCracken 
erected  the  first  horse  mill  in  the  township, 
and  it  was  operated  for  several  years,  supply- 
ing the  all-important  meal  to  the  residents  of 
the  surrounding  country.  Jesse  Fly  and  his 
five  sons — John,  James,  Jackson,  Perry  and 
Columbus,  and  his  three  daughters — Eliza, 
Sarah  and  Martha — came  about  the  same  time 
as  McCracken,  as  did  also  Thomas  Mayes, 
the  latter  the  grandfather  of  T.  J.  Mayes, 
who  was  born  in  the  township  December  27, 
1828,  and  is  yet  a  resident  of  it.  Jesse  Fly 
also  put  up  a  horse  mill  in  an  early  day,  and 
ran  it  for  several  years.  It  was  situated  on 
Section  24.  John  McCracken,  a  brother  to 
Samuel,  followed  the  latter  into  the  township 
but  a  few  years  later,  and  his  eldest  child, 
now  Mary  J.  Cross,  was  the  first  child  born 
in  it.  She  is  still  living  and  yet  resides  near 
the  place  of  her  birth.  William  McCormick, 
William  Fitch,  Daniel  Kelley  and  Aaron 
Flat  followed  the  McCrackens  and  Flys  but 
a  few  years  subsequently,  and  the  township 
settled  up  gradually  up  to  1850,  during  which 
year  the  population  was  materially  increased 
by  the  arrival  of  many  German  families,  and 
the  German  element  is  now  numerically  in 
the    ascendency    in    the    township;    in  fact 


there  are  more  in  Elm  River  than  in  the 
balance  of  the  county.  In  1853,  several  fam- 
ilies came  from  Ohio  and  Indiana,  and  the 
arrivals  from  this  date  on  became  more  rapid, 
giving  the  township  a  present  population  of 
1,100. 

The  surface  of  Elm  River  Township  is  di- 
versified between  woodland  and  prairie,  and 
the  soil  which  is  of  the  dark  grayish  order 
is  sufficiently  rich  to  give  abundant  returns 
for  the  labor  of  the  farmer.  Good  water  is 
found  at  an  average  depth  of  twenty  or  twen- 
ty-five feet,  although  some  wells  in  the  town- 
ship are  sunk  as  deep  as  sixty  feet.  The 
principal  water-courses  are  Elm  River  and 
Deer  Creek.  The  former  winds  its  course 
across  the  township,  nearly  diagonally  from 
northwest  to  southeast,  and  with  its  numer- 
ous small  tributaries,  affords  ample  drainage 
to  a  large  scope  of  country.  It  is,  however, 
subject  to  overflows  to  a  considerable  extent 
at  nearly  all  times  of  the  year,  and  some 
damage  has  been  thereby  done  to  the  crops, 
etc.,  on  land  lying  adjacent  to  its  banks. 
Deer  Creek  enters  the  township  in  Section 
31,  from  the  west,  and  flows  in  a  southwest- 
erly direction,  leaving  the  township  near  the 
corner  of  Sections  34  and  35,  and  loses  its 
name  at  its  junction  with  Elm  River  in  Jas- 
per Township. 

Enterprise. — This  little  town  is  situated 
in  the  north  part  of  Section  18,  and  stands 
upon  land  formerly  owned  by  Jacob  Bartlett, 
who  was  an  early  settler  in  the  township. 
Bartlett  sold  the  farm  to  Benjamin  Cobourn, 
who  a  few  years  later  disposed  of  the  same 
to  Jacob  H.  Biddle,  who  had  the  town  plat- 
ted, named  it  Enterprise,  and  put  up  the  first 
store  in  it.  A  post  office  was  created  at  this 
point  in  1852,  and  Henry  Farnswcrth  was 
appointed  the  first  Postmaster.  He  was  suc- 
ceeded by  the  following  in  the  order  named: 
R.  B.  White,  David  Faurat,   J.   B.    Tidball, 


HISTORY   OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


253 


J.  W.  Ingram.  T.  J.  Mayes,  Jeremiah  Mur- 
phy, William  Ziudle  and  L.  D.  Barth,  the 
present  incumbent.  John  Rinard,  F.  A. 
Kutz,  B.  Cooper,  T.  J.  Mayes  and  J.  WT.  In- 
gram have  all  merchandized  in  Enterprise 
successfully,  as  the  town  commands  the  trade 
of  a  large  scope  of  country.  The  business 
references  at  the  present  time  are  a  general 
store,  L.  D.  Barth,  proprietor;  a  blacksmith 
and  wagon  shop,  by  Louis  Frehse,  and  G. 
W.  Rucker,  physician  and  surgeon. 

In  the  matter  of  education,  the  early  pio- 
neers were  disposed  to  give  this  supreme 
subject  the  attention  it  deserved.  They 
clearly  perceived  the  inadequateness  of  the 
school  facilities  of  their  day,  and  they  at 
once  set  about  to  improve  them  for  the  bene- 
fit of  the  following  generation.  The  first 
schoolhouse  built  in  Elm  River  was  an  or- 
dinary log  hut  with  puncheon  floors  and 
slab  seats,  and  it  was  taught  by  Russell  Cur- 
ry. The  following  items,  regarding  the 
status  of  the  schools  of  this  township,  are 
taken  from  the  report  of  the  County  Super- 
intendent, and  are  for  the  year  ending  June 
30,  1883: 

Number  of  school  buildings,  frame,  five; 
brick,  one,  and  log.  one.  Number  of  pupils 
enrolled,  2'.lU.  Number  of  teachers  employed, 
10.  Average  pay  of  same,  males,  $30;  fe- 
males $22.  Estimated  value  of  school  prop- 
erty, $3,000. 

The  church  history  of  Elm  River  is  short 
and  easily  told.  There  were  no  churches  for 
several  years  after  the  earliest  settlements, 
and  religious  meetings  were  in  those  days 
held  in  private  cabins  and  the  early  school  - 
houses.  The  circuits  of  the  pioneer  men 
who  labored  hard  and  earnestly  for  the  cause 
of  Christ  were  very  extensive  and  embraced 
a  large  scope  of  territory,  and  their  visits  at 
a  place  were  seldom  more  frequent  than  once 
or  twice  a  year.     Revs.    Bennett  and  Spil 


man,  both  of  the  old  Presbyterian  school, 
wore  the  first  to  dispense  the  precious  Gospel 
truth  to  the  scattered  inhabitants  of  this  town- 
ship. A  man  by  the  name  of  Griffy  was  an 
early  Baptist  preacher,  and  afterward  taught 
school  here,  but  'left  the  country,  it  is  re- 
ported, under  circumstances  reflecting  little 
credit  upon  his  morals.  There  are  now  three 
church  buildings  in  Elm  River,  one  a  Bap- 
tist Church  made  of  brick  and  called  the 
Brick  Church,  situated  on  Section  24,  and 
was  erected  in  1873  by  the  people  of  all  de- 
nominations, but  it  ha.-i  been  principally  used 
by  the  Baptist  people.  About  the  same  time, 
the  German  Albright  Evangelical  Church 
was  erected  in  the  town  of  Enterprise,  but 
was  superseded  in  1883  by  a  larger  and 
more  substantial  structure,  and  the  old  build- 
ing is  used  as  a  storehouse  in  connection  with 
the  business  house  of  L.  D.  Barth.  This 
church  is  composed  of  the  German  residents, 
and  a  large  and  prosperous  Sunday  school  is 
maintained,  of  which  L.  D.  Barth  is  Super- 
intendent. The  Brown  Church,  named  so 
after  the  color  of  its  paint,  is  a  frame  struct- 
ure, located  on  Section  23,  and  is  used  by 
all  denominations. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  the  officers  of 
Elm  River  since  1860: 

Supervisors. — Henry  Holtzhouser,  1860- 
61;  John  Rapp,  1862;  Henry  Holtzhouser, 
L863  64;  J.  W.  Atteberry,  1865-66;  Henry 
Holtzhouser,  1867.  From  this  time  to  1873, 
the  county  was  governed  by  what  was  called 
"  The  Five  Horse  Court."  A.  A.  Campbell 
L874-75;  John  Mann,  1878;  A.  A.  Camp- 
bell, 1X77;  John  Mann,  1878-79;  A.  A. 
Campbol),  1880-81;  Milton  Holmes,  1882, 
andL.  D.  Barth,  1883. 

TmvnClerks.-  T.J.Mayes,  L860-61-62; M. 
J.  Morris,  L863  64;  R.  B.  Wright,  1865; 
Richard  McClure,  1866  67;  A.  Berninger, 
1868;  Richard  McClure,  L869;  I.  W.  Ingram, 


254 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


1870;  Peter  Lewis,  1871;  M.  J.  Morris, 
1872-73-74-75;  T.  J.  Mayes,  1876;  J.  T. 
Hendershott,  1877;  J.  T.  Mayes,  1878;  M. 
J.  Morris,  1879;  T.  J.  Mayes,  1880;  O.  S. 
Brown,  1881-82;  L.  E.  Frazier,  18S3. 

Assessors. — Calvin  Keeton,  1860;  Joseph 
Fitch,  1861;  E.  B.  Wright,  1862;  Calvin 
Keeton,  1863;  S.  W.  Trotter,  1864-65;  Cal- 
vin Keeton,  1866;  J.  R.  Shelton,  1867;  Cal- 
vin Keeton,  1868;  Milton  Holmes,  1869;  Cal- 
vin Keeton,  1870;  J.  S.Morris,  1871;  George 
Marvel,  1872;  S.  W.  Trotter,  1873;  Calvin 
Keeton,  1874-75;  John  A.  Rn-sell,  1876;  M. 
J.  Morris,  1877;  B.  J.  Smith,  1878;  N.  C. 
Phelps,  1879;  M.  J.  Morris,  1880-81-82;  and 
T.  H.  B.  King,  1883. 

Collectors. — P.  Rogers,  1860;  David  Holmes, 
1861;  M.  J.  Morris,  1862;  R.  B.  Wright, 
1863;  A.  B.  Rogers,  1864-65;  T.  J.  Mayes, 
1866;  David  Holmes,  1867;  A.  B.  Rogers, 
1868;  P.  Rogers,  1869;  S.  W.  Trotter,  1870- 
71;  R.    F.  Atteberry,  1872-73;   L.   E.   Fra- 


zier, 1874-75;  Calvin  Keeton,  1876;  Milton 
Holmes,  1877-78;  J.  A.  Rogers,  1879-80; 
William  McCracken,  1881;  L.  D.  Barth, 
1882;  and  Jasper  Trotter,  1883. 

Commissioners  of  Highways. — Anderson, 
Cox  and  McCracken,  1860;  Trotter,  Walker 
and  Marvel,  1861;  Laird,  Rogers  and  Shel- 
ton, 1862;  Laird,  Rogers  and  Sharp,  1863; 
Laird,  Walker  and  Johnson,  1864;  Trotter, 
Walker  and  Fitch,  1865;  Laird,  Johnson 
and  Jones,  1866;  Walker,  Stein  and  Best, 
1867;  Atteberry,  Holtzhouser  and  Shelton, 
1868;  Atteberry,  Laird  and  Walker,  1869; 
Johnson,  Campbell  and  Marvel,  1870;  A.  A. 
Campbell  was  elected  in  1871;  J.  Marvel  in 
1872;  J.  Vanfossen  in  1873;  A.  A.  Camp- 
bell, 1874;  Joshua  Graham,  1875;  L.  E. 
Frazier,  1876;  Charles  Mott,  1877;  John  Mc- 
Cracken, 1878;  A.  Holman,  1879;  W.  W. 
Laird,  1880;  T.  H.  B.  King,  1881;  James 
Padget,  1882;  and  David  Billington,  1883. 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 


ZIF  TOWNSHIP— BOUNDARIES  AND  SURFACE— ORIGIN  OF  NAME— FIRST  SETTLERS— ZIF— RELK;ii  >IS 

AND   EDUCATIONAL    NOTES— AGRICULTURE— MAIN   PRODUCTIONS— 

THE  GREAT  PRAIRIE  FIRE,  ETC.,  ETC. 


THIS  beautiful  little  township  has  the 
following  boundaries  and  position — 
Clay  County  on  the  north,  Mt.  Erie  Town- 
ship on  the  east,  Elm  River  Township  on  the 
south,  and  Bedford  Township  on  the  west, 
and  is  designated  as  Town  2  north,  Range  8 
east,  but  includes  only  the  southern  half  of 
this  Congressional  township. 

Zif  occupies  a  most  admirable  position, 
being  included  almost  wholly  in  Long 
Prairie,   and   its   gently  undulating    surface 


dotted  here  and  there  with  its  several  large 
and  beautiful  private  dwellings,  presents  a 
most  pleasing  landscape  to  the  appreciative 
eye.  The  only  timber  within  the  limits  of 
Zif,  is  situated  in  the  western  portion  and 
northeast  corner  of  the  township,  and  is  com- 
posed chiefly  of  the  usual  varieties  of  elm, 
oak  and  hickory.  The  soil  of  this  township 
is  generally  of  an  ash-gray  color,  and  al- 
though possessing  less  humus  or  organic 
matter  than  the  black  loamy  soil  of  Central 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


255 


Illinois,  yet,  is  sufficiently  rich  to  yield 
abundant  returns  under  the  intelligent  labor 
of  her  prosperous  farmers.  The  streams  of 
this  township  are  all  small,  yet  afford  a  good 
and  sufficient  drainage  to  the  whole  territory 
embraced  in  it.  They  all  flow  from  the  cen- 
tral part  in  oast  and  southwest  directions. 
The  word  Zif,  which  is  a  somewhat  pecu- 
liar name  for  a  township,  was  the  one  se- 
lected by  J.  C.  Patterson  and  W.  R.  Barker, 
who  represented  this  portion  of  the  county  at 
the  fast  convention  held  after  the  cptestion  of 
township  organization  had  been  affirmatively 
settled.  It  was  patterned  after  the  old  He- 
brew month  of  the  same  name,  and  this  we 
presume  is  all  the  significance  it  has.  Con- 
cerning the  early  settlers,  not  much  of  the 
history  regarding  their  advent  into  this  town- 
ship could  be  ascertained.  .  The  first  pioneer 
to  permanently  locate  within  its  limits  is  be- 
lieved to  be  John  McDaniel,  who  was  an  in- 
veterate hunter,  and  who  raised  a  large  fam 
ily  here.  William  Tanner,  Isaac  Creek, 
John  Parish  and  Jacob  and  Henry  Reister 
were  also  among  the  first  of  the  early  set 
tiers.  Jacob  C.  Williams,  the  oldest  settler 
now  living  in  Zif,  came  here  from  Ohio  in 
1838,  and  has  resided  in  the  township  mostly 
ever  since. 

The  little  town  of  Zif,  whoso  all  consists 
in  a  residence  or  two,  a  store  having  a  post 
office  in  it,  all  of  which  is  owned  and  run  by 
Mr.  Ezra  Banker,  has  never  been  laid  off. 
The  post  office  was  established  about  the 
same  time  the  township  was  organized,  and 
the  order  of  the  successive  Postmasters  is  aB 
follows:  J.  C.  Patterson,  Levi  Johnson, 
Louvina  A.  Sharp,  and  the  present  incum- 
bent, Ezra  Banker,  who  has  had  the  office 
since  1868.  He  also  keeps  a  general  store, 
and  has  a  large  trade  from  the  surrounding 
country. 

The   history    of    the   early   churches    and 


preachers  is  given  at  large  in  another  por- 
tion of  this  work,  and  that  of  Zif  is  sub- 
stantially the  same  as  that  therein  described. 
The  Zif  Baptist  Church,  situated  on  Section 
28,  was  the  first  church  building  erected  in 
the  township,  and  the  church  is  still  in  a 
prosperous  condition.  The  Methodists  have 
a  large  and  substantially  built  church  edifice, 
where  regular  and  largely  attended  meetings 
are  held.      It  is  situated  on  Section  20. 

The  cause  of  education  has  always  received 
the  studied  attention  it  deserves  at  the  hands 
of  the  people  of  Zif,  and  the  primitive  log 
cabin,  with  puncheon  floors  and  slab  seats, 
has  been  superseded  by  more  pleasant  and 
commodious  structures,  and  there  are  now  in 
Zif  three  of  these  latter,  with  other  items  in 
relation  thereto,  as  follows,  taken  from  the 
County  Superintendent's  report,  for  the  year 
ending  June  30,  1883: 

Number  of  pupils  enrolled,  113;  number 
of  teachers  employed,  6;  average  pay  of 
same,  §25;  estimated  value  of  school  prop- 
erty, $1,500. 

As  previously  stated,  Zif  Township  com- 
prises within  its  limits  a  section  of  country 
of  high  agricultural  worth.  Its  farmers  are 
generally  prosperous  and  wealthy,  and  pos- 
sess in  many  instances  from  400  to  800  acres 
of  land  each,  which  are  devoted  considerably 
to  the  raising  of  quality  stock,  although  ad- 
mirably adapted  to  the  successful  production 
of  the  cereals,  and,  on  the  higher  ground  and 
ridges,  to  fruit  culture,  particularly  that  of 
apples,  which  latter  has  received  the  especial 
attention  of  the  farmers  for  the  last  few 
years,  owing  to  the  happy  discovery  that  a 
better  portion  of  the  Great  West,  for  this 
purpose,  could  hardly  be  pointed  out. 

A  brief  account  of  a  prairie  fire,  as  given 
by  one  of  the  oldest  residents  of  Zif,  is  here 
recorded.  Only  those  who  have  seen  the 
like_  can    fully   imagine    with    what  terrific 


256 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


rush  and  destruction  it  sweeps  across  the 
country,  ofttimes  distancing  a  horse  upon 
the  dead  run,  and  spurred  on  perhaps  by  the 
frenzied  anxiety  of  his  rider  to  reach  his  dis- 
tant home  and  save  his  family  and  goods. 
Upon  the  occasion  to  which  we  refer,  and  it 
occurred  in  the  fall  of  18-43  when  the  prairie 
in  Zif  was  as  yet  unsettled,  the  wind  which 
was  in  the  southwest,  suddenly  shifted  to  the 
northwest,  apparently  to  meet  and  combine 
forces  with  a  huge  black  cloud  that  had 
gathered  in  that  quarter,  and    backed  by  this 


the  fire  that  had  caught  the  prairie  to  the 
north    came  on  with  a  terrible  velocity  and 
vengeance,  sweeping  everything  in  its   path- 
way, and  destroying  game  in  large  quantities, 
and  also  many  horses  and  hogs    that  found 
no  time  to  escape  from  its  fearful  onslaught. 
A  rain,  that  had  come  up  in  the  meantime, 
[  put  a  stop  to  the  scene,  and  probably  saved 
|  some  of  the  lower  settlements    along  its  in- 
tended   path    from  partial   if    not  total   de 
>  struction. 


CHAPTEE    XXIV. 


MOUNT    ERIE    TOWNSHIP— INTRODUCTION— BOUNDARIES— EARLY    SETTLERS     AND    INCIDENTS- 
ALEXANDER  RAMSEY— TOPOGRAPHY— CHIEF  PRODUCTIONS— MILLS— THE  VILLAGE  OF 
MOUNT  ERIE— WHEN  AND  BY  WHOM  LAID  OUT— ITS  PRESENT  BUSINESS 
REPRESENTATIONS— LODGES— CHURCHES— SCHOOLS,  ETC.,  ETC. 


THE  historian,  to  whom  is  ascribed  the 
pleasant  yet  ofttimes  perplexing  task  of 
gathering  together  the  tangled  threads  from 
which  a  comprehensive  recital  of  the  historical 
happenings  incident  to  the  time  of  the  coun- 
try's early  struggle  for  occupation  and  devel- 
opment can  be  given,  has  to  usually  contend, 
among  other  obstacles,  with  that  of  a  consid- 
erable lack  of  details  and  of  preciseness  in 
names,  dates  and  early  records,  and  these 
constitute  the  very  elements  of  despair  in 
his  endeavor  to  reach  a  satisfactory  conclu- 
sion of  his  labors.  The  pioneer  generations 
have  nearly  all  passed  away,  and  with  them 
has  unfortunately  gone  a  share  of  the  inter- 
esting and  valuable  history  concerning  days 
long  gone  by.  Such  history  is  certainly  as 
interesting  and  instructive  as  it  is  varied  and 
strange.  To  sit  by  our  firesides  at  the  pres- 
ent day  and  be  enabled  by  means  of  the  im- 


proved facilities  in  writing  and  printing  to 
read  the  romantic  story  of  the  stanch  and  ad- 
venturous pioneer,  to  study  his  character  and 
habits,  and  to  learn  of  his  manner  and  means 
of  gaining  a  subsistence  in  the  hitherto  un- 
explored domain  of  wild  men  and  beasts,  is 
indeed  a  source  of  extreme  satisfaction  and 
profit.  There  are  happily  a  few  old  settlers 
yet  left  us,  whose  infancy  was  spent  amid  the 
romantic  scenes  of  early  times,  and  whose 
memories  still  retain  the  innumerable  descrip- 
tive stories  told  them  in  days  of  old  at  the 
old  fireside  by  their  fathers  and  grandfathers, 
and  we  snatch  these  as  we  would  a  child  from 
the  burning  building,  lest  they  are  all  con- 
signed to  oblivion,  and  the  future  know  little 
of  the  interesting  past. 

Mt.  Erie  Township,  to  the  history  of  which 
this  chapter  is  devoted,  revels  in  historical 
occurrences  of  the  greatest  importance.      The 


^^-Z-^o 


//»/X  K^^C^t^t^r 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


territory  embraced  within  its  limits  comprises 
some  of  the  richest  farming  lands  in  the 
county  of  Wayne,  and  it  is  no  surprise  that 
it  was  among  the  first  to  be  settled  up.  The 
one  and  one  half  Congressional  townships, 
Township  1  north  and  the  south  part  of 
Township  2  north,  Range  9  east,  of  the  Third 
Principal  Meridian,  of  which  Mt.  Erie  is  now 
composed,  were  formerly  and  previous  to 
township  organization  included  in  Long  Prai- 
rie Precinct,  which  latter  was  also  called  by 
some  for  a  few  years  Mt.  Erie  Precinct. 

The    present    boundaries  of  the  township 
are:  On  the  north  Richland    and  Clay 

Counties;  on  the   east,  by  Edwards  County; 
th.  by  Massillon  Town  hip:  and  west,  by 
Elm  River  and  Zif  Townshi   s,  which  situates 
it  in  the  northeast  corner  of  Wayne  County. 

Alexander  Ramsey  came  into  the  township 
a  prospecting  tour  in  the  latter  part  of 
the  year  1818,  and  on  Christmas  night  ar- 
1  at  the  foot  of  the  hill  on  which  the 
village  of  Mt.  Erie  now  stands.  No  wonder 
that  he  paused  here.  A.  large  and  beautiful 
spring,  whose  crystal  waters  glistened  and 
sparkled  in  the  sunlight,  sent  forth  a  spon- 
taneous invitation  to  him  to  stop  and  freely 
partake  of  its  refreshing  draughts.  It  was 
Minuted  at  the  foot  of  the  hill  and  in  the 
midst  of  a  grove  of  the  finest  and  most  lux- 
uriant growth  of  white  oak  timber  that  his 
eyes  had  ever  beheld.  This,  with  the  beau- 
tiful prairie  which  stretched  for  miles  before 
his  anxious  gaze,  so  gently  undulating  and 
dressed  in  the  garments  of  nature,  undis- 
turbed, with  a  broad  river  winding  its  rip- 
pling and  solemn  way  through  the  pictur- 
esque scene  to  the  north,  caused  him  to  make 
a  halt,  which  he  did.  and  here,  upon  the 
same  spot,  he  died  in  1856,  at  the  advanced 
age  of  ninety-two  years.  Ho  named  the 
grove  spoken  of,  and  it  was  known  by  his 
name  for  upward  of  forty  years.     Mr.  Ram- 


I 


259 


as  born  in   South   Carolina,  and  when 
only  sixteen  years  of  age  entered  the  service 
in  ili  ■  Revolutionary  war.  and  served  during 
the  last  two  yearsof  that  memorable  struggle 
for  liberty  and  independence.      Coming  with 
Mr.  Ramsey  into  the  township  were  his  son 
JamjSs,   Alexander  Nisbet,  William  Farmer, 
William   McCormick,    and  possibly  Andrew 
Bratton.     The  balance  of  Mr.  Ramsey's  fam- 
ily, consisting  of  his  wife,  two  sons  and  two 
daughters,    followed   him  shortly   afterward, 
as  did  also  the  families  of  the  others  men- 
tioned, with    the    exception   of    McCormick, 
who    was   a  single    man.      The    old   settlers 
were  usually  ardent  hunters;  especially  was 
old  Mr.  Ramsey  fond  of  the  hunt  and  chase, 
and  many  a  bear  and  deer  have  succumbed  to 
his  unerring  aim.      The   last  bear  killed  in 
Mt.  Erie    Township   was  shot  by  Alexander 
Nisbet.     A    man    by  the    name  of  Thrasher 
came  into  the   township   from  Kentucky  in 
1819   or  1820,    and  died  a  few  years  after- 
ward, being  the  first  grown  person  that  died 
in    the    township.      William    Whitford    and 
family,  and    families   by  the  name  of  Davis 
and    Stinson,  came   a  year  later,  as  did  also 
William    Fitch,    who   afterward  moved  into 
Elm    River  Township,  and  Anthony   Street, 
both  latter  of  whom  came    from    Tennessee. 
John  Rice  located  hero  about  1827,  and  died 
in  the  townshi  p.      About  the  samo  year,  David 
Ray  and   family  came   from  Tennessoo,  and 
after  residing  in  Mt.  Erie  about  fifteen  years 
moved  into   Brush   Creek  Township,   where 
he   died.     About    1825,  William  Farley  and 
family    came    from   Kentucky,   and  he  died 
here   at  an   old   age.      His  son,   Andrew    J. 
Farley,  still   resides  in  the  township,  and  a 
daughter,  Jane,  is  also   living,   the    wife  of 
John  Fitch,  a  farmer  in  Elm  River  Township. 
Joseph,    Hugh    and    James    Walker,     three 
brothers,  eamo   from  Indiana  hero  in  18:i'J, 
and  the    following  year  Charles  and    lames 

15 


2  GO 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


Vanderveer,  Larkin  and  Gillison  Price  and 
Jesse  Williams,  coming  from  the  same  State, 
located  here  also.  Settlements  were  less 
rapid  up  to  about  1850,  in  which  and  several 
subsequent  years  there  arrived  many  families 
from  Ohio. 

Mt.  Erie  Township,  as  before  stated,  lies 
in  a  rich  farming  section  of  country.  It  is 
diversified  between  woodland  and  prairie, 
and  the  soil  is  usually  light  or  grayish  and 
very  rich.  The  principal  timber  of  the  town- 
ship, composed  chiefly  of  the  various  varie- 
ties of  oak  and  hickory,  is  found  along  the 
course  of  the  Little  Wabash  River,  which  en- 
ters the  township  in  Section  19,  Town  2  north, 
Range  9  east,  and  leaves  it  in  Section  12, 
Town  1  north,  Range  9  east.  Miller  Creek,  a 
small  stream,  rises  in  the  south  part  of  the 
township,  and  flowing  northeast  empties  into 
the  Little  Wabash.  As  pure  water  as  is 
found  anywhere  in  the  county  is  found  in 
Mt.  Erie  at  an  average  depth  of  twenty  feet, 
though  there  are  a  few  wells  that  have  a 
depth  of  sixty  feet. 

The  chief  productions  of  the  township  are 
the  usual  varieties  of  grain  and  the  seed  of 
the  red-top  grass,  the  latter  being  one  of  the 
chief  productions  of  this  and  the  surrounding 
country.  The  farmers  of  this  section  give 
considerable  attention  to  stock,  including 
principally  the  finer  and  hardier  breeds  of 
cattle  and  hogs. 

Among  the  first  things  to  claim  the  atten- 
tion of  the  old  settlers  was  some  kind  of  a 
mill  by  which  their  corn  could  be  converted 
into  meal,  and  this  was  one  of  supreme  im- 
portance. The  old  stump  mill  had  been  su- 
perseded by  the  horse  mill,  and  the  first  ma- 
chine of  this  description  brought  into  Mount 
Erie  Township  was  run  by  old  Alex  Ramsey 
for  about  fifteen  years.  It  was  located  where 
Mount  Erie  Village  now  stands,  and  its  suc- 
cessor was  one  put  up  in  the  east  part  of  the 


township  by  James  Bradshaw,  about  1840 
and  this  was  operated  for  ten  years.  The 
first  steam  mill  was  erected  in  the  village  of 
Mount  Erie  in  the  year  1866,  by  William 
Schwarberg;  a  grist  mill  was  added,  and  a 
carding  machine  subsequently  attached.  It 
was  sold  to  Price  &  Nisbet.  who  ran  it  for 
five  years,  when  it  was  sold  to  Price,  Bald- 
ridge  &  Co.,  who  shortly  afterward  built  a 
new  mill,  now  known  as  the  "  Gem  Mills," 
and  operated  by  Miller,  McCollum  &  Co. 

A  substantial  bridge,  having  a  total  length  of 
140  feet,  and  resting  upon  wooden  piers,  was 
bnilt  by  the  county  in  1880  across  the  Little 
Wabash  River,  in  the  north  part  of  the  town- 
ship. It  was  built  at  a  cost  of  SI, 300,  and 
is  of  infinite  advantage  to  the  residents  of 
the  township  on  both  sides  of  the  river. 

The  Village  of  Mount  Erie. — This  is  a  most 
beautiful  little  town,  situated  on  a  consider- 
able rise  of  ground  in  the  south  part  of  Sec- 
tion 17,  of  Town  1  north.  Range  9  east.  Its 
corporate  limits  include,  240  acres  of  land. 
Seen  from  a  distance,  it  presents  an  extreme- 
ly romantic  and  picturesque  scene,  reminding 
one  of  some  ancient  citadel,  reared  upon  the 
crest  of  a  lofty  hill.  The  original  plat  con- 
sisted of  ten  acres  of  ground  sold  by  Alex- 
ander Ramsey  to  Nathaniel  Travers  and  Jon- 
athan Copley,  with  conditions  in  the  deed 
that  the  latter  two  would  lay  out  a  town, 
which  they  did  in  the  year  1853,  the  plat 
being  surveyed  by  William  Whitacre,  then 
County  Surveyor.  The  town  was  to  be 
named  Ramsey,  but  Mr.  Ramsey  himself  pre- 
ferred "Mount  Airie,"  and  this  latter  name  was 
given  it.  The  first  building  erected  in  town 
was  a  little  frame  hut,  put  up  by  William 
Copley,  and  used  by  him  as  a  dwelling  and 
store.  A  post  office  was  created  at  this  point 
in  1856,  and  Andrew  Crews  was  appointed 
the  first  Postmaster.  He  was  succeeded  in 
the  order  named: 


By  A.  F.  Nisbet,  Edward 


BISTORT   OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


361 


Willey,  L.  Mayo,  V.  R.  Price,  and  J.  T. 
Price,  the  present  incumbent.  Mount  Erie 
Lodge,  No.  331,  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.,  was  organ- 
ized in  1858,  with  the  following  charter 
members:  E.  Boor,  George  L.  Camp,  C. 
McElvy,  J.  T.  Price,  J.  M.  MeCormick,  Ed- 
ward Willey  and  J.  C.  Williams.  The  first 
officers  were:  E.  Boor,  W.  M. ;  G.  L.  Camp, 
S.  W. ;  J.  M.  MeCormick,  J.  W. ;  J.  T.  Price, 
Sec. ;  C.  McElvy,  S.  D. ;  J.  C.  Williams,  J. 
D. ;  and  E.  Willey,  Treas.  The  present 
(1883)  officers  are:  A.  N.  Nisbet,  W.  M.; 
M.  H.  Sheldon,  S.  W.;  L.  Wright,  J.  W.;  J. 
W.  Vanderveer,  Sec. ;  J.  T.  Price,  Treas. ;  D. 
Holmes,  S.  D. ;  and  F.  M.  Yoke,  J.  D.  The 
Lodge  is  in  a  prosperous  condition,  owning 
their  own  property,  which  includes  a  neat 
and  commodious  hall,  and  has  a  membership 
of  about  forty.  The  principal  business  rep- 
resentations in  the  village  are  as  follows: 
General  stores,  by  J.  T.  Price  &  Co.,  A.  F- 
Nisbet  &  Son,  Vanderveer  &  Bradskaw,  and 
Camp  &  Quinby.  Hardware,  Carson  &  Van- 
derveer. Milliners,  Mrs.  Holt  and  Mis. 
Helen  Blackford.  A  fine  saddle  and  harness 
shop,  two  blacksmiths,  one  wagon -maker's, 
and  one  cabinet-maker's  shop.  The  resident 
doctors  are  Mundy,  Blackford  and  Sheldon. 
Mount  Erie  supports  an  excellent  graded 
school, employing  three  teachers.  The  builds 
ing  is  a  large  frame  structure,  erected  in 
1866,  and  is  divided  into  three  grades,  under 
the  management  of  Principal  Stats,  with  able 
n--Mstants  Lillie  Holmes  and  Ella  Kron- 
iniller.  Mount  Erie  has  two  church  build- 
ings both  frame  structures,  one  built  by  the 
Presbyterians  in  1856,  with  William  Finley 
as  first  pastor,  and  the  other  by  the  Method- 
ists, two  years    later,  and  this  latter  church 


is  still  in  a  flourishing  condition.  Rev.  John 
Reader  is  the  present  pastor.  The  outlook 
for  the  little  village  of  Mount  Erie  is  bright. 
Her  people  are  an  enterprising  one,  and  she 
possesses  an  admirable  location,  which,  with 
the  ample  railroad  facilities  soon  promised, 
bespeak  for  her  a  progressive  prosperity  for 
all  time. 

The  early  church  and  school  history  of 
Mount  Erie  Township  is  substantially  the 
same  as  elsewhere,  and  receives  adequate  at- 
tention in  other  chapters  of  this  work.  Jacob 
E.  Reed  came  through  this  country  on  his 
circuit  at  a  very  early  day,  and  Alexander 
Blakley  was  the  first  pastor  of  the  Methodist 
Church.  Revs.  Spilman  and  Bennett,  both 
Presbyterians,  paid  annual  visits  to  this  sec- 
tion, and  dispensed  the  Gospel  to  its  scattered 
residents.  The  only  church  building  outside 
of  Mount  Erie  Village  lies  a  few  miles  south- 
east of  the  latter,  and  is  known  as  the  Mc- 
Kendree  Chapel.  It  was  built  by  the  people 
generally,  but  has  been  used  principally  by 
the  Methodists. 

The  first  school  taught  in  the  township  was 
by  a  man  by  the  name  of  Camp,  and  the  lit- 
tle log  schoolhouse  was  situated  but  a  short 
distance  southeast  of  Mount  Erie.  Russell 
Curry  succeeded  Camp,  and  taught  in  the 
same  building.  The  following  items  regard- 
ing the  schools  of  Mount  Erie  Township  are 
compiled  from  the  official  report  of  the 
County  Superintendent,  and  are  for  the  year 
ending  Jane  30,  1883: 

Number  of  frame  schoolhouses,7;  number  of 
pupils  enrolled,  51)1;  number  of  teachers  em- 
ployed, 14.  Average  pay  of  same,  males, 
$35;  females  $25.  Estimated  value  of 
school   property,  $4,000. 


262 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


CHAPTER    XXV. 


ARRINGTON  TOWNSHIP— BOUNDARIES— FIRST  SETTLERS  AND  INCIDENTS— UNCLE  JIMMY  SIMMS- 
TOPOGRAPHY— CHIEF  PRODUCTIONS— MILLS— SIMS— CINCINNATI  AND  COVINGTON 
—EARLY   SCHOOLS   AND   TEACHERS— CHURCHES— OFFICERS,   ETC. 


ARRINGTON  TOWNSHIP  has  the  fol- 
lowing boundaries:  On  the  north,  by 
Indian  Prairie  Township;  on  the  east,  by 
Lamard  and  Big  Mound  Townships;  on  the 
south,  by  Four  Mile  Township:  and  on  the 
west,  by  Four  Mile  and  Hickory  Hill  Town- 
ships. Within  its  limits  are  comprised  Con- 
gressional Township  1  south,  Range  6  east, 
and  sixteen  sections  of  Township  2  south, 
Range  6  east.  The  township  took  its  name 
from  the  large  and  beautiful  prairie  included 
within  its  borders,  and  the  prairie  was  named 
in  honor  of  Charles  Arrington,  one  of  its  first 
settlers.  Previous  to  his  arrival,  however, 
there  came  Thomas  and  George  Walton, 
brothers,  and  Joseph  White.  They  were  all 
natives  of  the  north  part  of  England.  They 
had  heard  of  the  glorious  land  of  liberty  and 
plenty,  and  in  the  year  ISIS  crossed  the  ocean, 
and  pushing  for  the  far  West,  passing  State 
after  State,  never  resting  their  weary  limbs 
until  they  reached  beautiful  Arrington,  when 
they  halted,  satisfied  that  this  was  the  place 
to  make  their  homes.  But  poor  Thomas  did 
not  have  long  to  enjoy  the  expected  pleasure 
and  happiness  surrounding  his  new  abode, 
for  in  but  two  short  years  he  died,  his  death 
being  the  first  in  the  township.  His  brother 
and  Joseph  White  lived  hero,  and  died  many 
years  later.  Charles  Arrington  came  from 
Tennessee,  bringing  his  family  with  him. 
He  resided  here  about  twenty  years,  and 
moved  to  Williamson  County,  111.,  where  he 


probably  lived  until  his  death.  John,  a  son 
of  Joseph  White,  was  the  first  child  born  in 
the  township;  he  was  born  about  1824. 
James  Simms  located  here  in  1821,  after 
having  lived  in  Big  Mound  Prairie  for  a  few 
years.  He  was  born  March  7,  1792,  in  Buck- 
inghamshire, England,  and  was  twenty-seven 
years  of  age  when  he  sailed  for  America,  be- 
ing about  five  weeks  in  crossing  the  ocean. 
He  is  still  living,  and  is  yet  a  resident  of 
Arrington.  He  still  possesses  a  retentive 
memory,  a  strong  voice,  and  is  remarkably 
active  for  one  of  so  advanced  an  age.  He 
has  several  children,  grandchildren  and 
great-grandchildren  living,  most  of  whom  are 
residents  of  the  township.  James  and  Lewis 
Warmick  and  Peter  and  Henry  Ooley  came 
from  Kentucky,  and  located  here  at  an  early 
day.  James  Turner  was  also  an  early  set- 
tler, and  a  man  by  the  name  of  Dewey  came 
about  1824.  Dewey  came  up  the  creek  in  a 
boat  of  some  kind,  on  which  he  had  his  fur- 
niture and  cooking  utensils,  and  during  the 
trip  his  skillet  was  lost  in  the  stream,  and 
this  circumstance,  if  it  served  no  other  pur- 
pose, gave  at  least  a  name  to  the  creek,  and 
Skillet  Fork  has  retained  it  ever  since.  Will- 
iam Simms,  a  brother  of  James,  of  whom  we 
have  spoken,  and  his  nephew  William,  James 
Edge  and  his  two  sons,  John  and  Cornelius, 
all  brought  their  families,  and  settled  here 
very  early.  They  came  from  Ohio.  A  man 
by  the  name  of  Eddings    and  his   son  came 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


263 


from  Tennessee,  and  located  here  at  an  early 
day  also,  but  after  a  short  residence  left  for 
some  more  northern  county.  Among  other 
old  settlers  were  James  Cissna  and  Richard 
Grant,  the  latter  of  whom  came  from  En- 
gland. Isaac  Harlan  and  William  Harlan, 
both  of  whom  came  from  Kentucky,  and  a 
man  by  the  name  of  Tnbbs,  who  emigrated 
here  from  Ohio.  After  1850,  many  families 
came  here  from  Ohio  and  the  Eastern  States. 
Thomas  Wilson  and  family.  Israel  Foracre 
and  family,  George  Hilliard  and  M.  M. 
Wheeler  were  among  those  who  came  about 
that  time.  M.  M.  Wheeler  settled  in  the 
county  in  1823,  and  located  in  this  township 
in  1852,  after  residing  in  Barnhill  and  Leech 
Townships.  The  settlements  in  Arrington 
have  been  quite  rapid  during  late  years,  and 
the  township  shows  a  pi-esent  population  of 
upward  of  1,600. 

Arrington  Prairie  is  about  ten  miles  in 
length  by  two  to  three  in  width,  and  is  in- 
cluded almost  wholly  by  this  township.  The 
soil  is  somewhat  varied,  being  loamy  in  some 
places,  but  is  generally  made  up  of  a  yellow- 
ish clay,  possessing  strong  productive  qual- 
ities, and  yields  abundant  crops  of  every- 
thing that  can  be  grown  in  this  section.  It 
is  particularly  adapted  to  wheat-growing,  and 
to  look  across  the  prairie  jusi  before  harvest, 
one  might  think  that  every  acre  was  devoted 
to  the  cultivation  of  that  studio  cereal. 

The  principal  watercourse  is  Dry  Fork, 
which  enters  the  township  in  Section  2,  Town 
1  60uth,  Range  0  east,  and  flows  through  its 
entire  length,  due  south,  and  leaves  it  from 
Section  14.  Town  '.'  south.  Range  G  east.  Its 
numerous  small  tributaries,  with  those  of 
Skillet  Fork,  which  barely  crosses  the  corner 
of  Section  7,  Town  2  south.  Range  0  east, 
afford  ample  drainage  to  the  entire  section. 
Dry  Fork  derives  its  name  from  the  fact  that 
there  are  no  springs   in   it,    and  it  contains 


water  only  during  wet  seasons.  It  ofttimes 
overflows,  however,  doing  considerable  dam 
age  to  crops,  etc.,  on  lands  lying  adjacent  to 
its  banks.  The  only  timber  in  the  township 
lies  along  the  streams,  and  it  consists  chiefly 
in  oak,  hickory,  sweet  gum,  elm  and  maple. 
Good  water  is  usually  found  at  an  average 
depth  of  twenty  feet,  though  in  some  places 
wells  have  to  be  sunk  considerably  deeper. 

It  was  not  long  a  f ter  the  first  settlement  in 
Arrington  that  a  mill  was  put  up.  Mills 
were  among  the  first  things  claiming  imme- 
diate attention.  The  early  pioneers  had  to 
eat,  and  some  kind  of  an  arrangement  by 
which  their  corn  could  be  converted  into 
meal  was  therefore  a  matter  of  supreme  im 
portance.  The  first  mill  in  this  township 
was  put  up  by  Jonathan  Whitson.  It  was  a 
horse  mill,  and  was  located  a  short  distance 
northwest  of  the  present  little  town  of  Cin- 
cinnati. About  the  same  time,  Wesley  Staton 
erected  a  water  mill  on  Dry  Fork,  and  Ben- 
jamin Mabery  built  the  dam.  No  traces  of 
either  one  of  these  are  now  visible.  A  steam 
grist  and  saw  mill  was  built  about  twenty 
years  ago  on  Section  30,  Town  1  south. 
Range  6  east,  by  John  Walton  and  Alfred 
Denny.  It  is  known  as  the  Covington  Mills, 
and  is  at  present  operated  by  Simms  &  Stan- 
ley. 

The  little  town  of  Arrington,  called  also 
Simms,  or  Sims  as  the  Post  Office  Depart- 
ment spells  it,  was  laid  off  in  the  summer  of 
L882  by  James  Hilliard,  County  Surveyor, 
on  land  belonging  to  John  Simms,  aud  the 
post  office  took  his  name.  The  original  plat 
consisted  of  about  twelve  acres,  and 
there  have  been  no  subsequent  additions. 
The  town  is  located  on  Section  9,  Town 
2  south,  Range  6  east,  and  is  on  the  line  of 
the  Louisville,  Evansville  &  St.  Louis  Rail- 
road. A  post  office  was  created  at  this  point 
in  1882,  and  J.  M.  Logan  was  appointed  the 


264 


HISTORY   OF   WAYME   COUNTY. 


first  Postmaster.  He  was  succeeded  by  S.  S. 
Palfreeman,  the  present  one.  There  are  two 
general  stores  here,  kept  by  J.  M.  Logan  and 
Bright  &  Burkett.  Cincinnati  and  Coving- 
ton are  two  rival  little  towns  situated  on 
opposite  sides  of  Dry  Fork.  Whether  they 
will  reach  the  proportions  of  the  cities  of  the 
same  name  on  the  Ohio  we  cannot  say.  Cov- 
ington has  a  post  office  called  Pin  Oak,  with 
Elizabeth  Potter  as  Postmistress. 

The  early  settlers  of  Arrington  gave  due 
attention  to  school  matters,  as  we  find  a  good 
school  in  successful  operation  at  a  very  early 
day.  The  house  was  built  by  the  Regular 
Baptists  in  1828  or  1829,  for  religious  pur- 
poses, and  it  was  used  by  them  for  some  time 
after  the  first  term  of  school  had  commenced. 
The  school  was  run  on  the  subscription  plan, 
and  the  first  term  opened  with  a  man  by  the 
name  of  French  as  teacher.  French  was  a 
brother  in-law  to  Charles  Arrington.  He 
taught  for  about  three  years,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Jeptha  Blisset  and  Jackson  Arm- 
strong, and  during  a  term  taught  by  one  of 
these  latter  the  house  was  burned  down. 
This  school  was  located  on  Walton  or  Big 
Creek,  and  was  called  the  Walton  Creek 
School.  The  Mud  Prairie  Schoolhouse,  a 
little  cabin  concern,  was  the  second  one  erect- 
ed in  the  township.  It  was  located  in  Mud 
Prairie,  and  was  built  by  the  people  gener- 
ally. Among  its  early  teachers  were  James 
Gaston,  Jacob  Borah,  William  Gash  and 
Rodina  Baldwin.  A  little  log  cabin  with  a 
rock  chimney  was  next  built  on  Dry  Fork, 
and  called  the  Dry  Fork  School.  Its  early 
teachers  were  John  Jones,  Edward  Terrell. 
Jacob  O' Feather  and  John  Deene.  The  fol- 
lowing items  show  the  status  of  the  schools 
of  this  township  at  the  present  day: 

Number  school  buildings,  9;  number 
pupils  enrolled,  300;  number  teachers  em- 
ployed,   1(5;    average    pay  of   same,    males, 


$30;  females,  $25;  estimated  value  of  school 
property,  $4,000. 

The  religious  history  of  Arrington  is,  in 
the  main,  the  same  as  in  other  portions  of 
the  county.  Elsberry  Armstrong  was  prob- 
ably the  first  one  to  preach  to  the  scattered 
inhabitants  of  this  section.  He  delivered 
his  discourses  in  the  Walton  Creek  School- 
house,  which  was  used  for  religious  purposes 
for  several  years.  He  was  of  the  Regular 
Baptist  denomination,  as  were  also  William 
Watkins,  old  man  French,  who  taught  school 
also,  and  Robinson  Eskridge,  all  of  whom 
were  early  preachers  in  this  township.  The 
Mount  Zion  Church,  a  frame  structure  located 
on  the  Johnsonville  road  in  Section  34, 
Town  1  south,  Range  6  east,  was  the  first 
church  building  erected  in  the  township,  ex- 
cept the  Walton  Creek  Schoolhouse,  which, 
as  before  stated,  was  built  by  the  Baptists 
for  church  purposes.  The  Mount  Zion 
Church  was  built  by  the  Methodists,  some  time 
before  the  late  war,  and  it  has  since  been  used 
by  them.  The  Dickeyville  Baptist  Church 
was  built  by  the  Missionary  Baptists  about 
186S,  and  is  located  on  Section  30,  Town  1 
south,  Range  6  east.  Both  of  these  churches 
have  a  strong  membership,  and  are  in  a  pros- 
perous condition. 

The  political  vote  of  Arrington  shows  the 
parties  to  be  about  equally  divided,  with  a 
small  majority,  perhaps,  on  the  Democratic 
side. 

Following  is  a  partial  list  of  the  officers  of 
this  township  since  township  organization: 
Supervisors — W.  L.  Beeson,  1860-62;  Rich- 
ard White,  1863-66;  R.  T.  Forth,  1867;  Dan- 
iel Wingate,  1868-71;  Thomas  Davis,  1877; 
N.  N.  Borah,  1878;  William  Schwarberg, 
1879-82;  M.  T.  Berry,  1883.  Assessors— 
A.  C.  Womack,  1860-62;  James  Cissna, 
1863;  J.  D.  Stephens,  1864-67;  E.  E. 
Cates,    1868;    S.    N.    Pasco,    1869;     J.    D. 


HLSTOUV  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


265 


Stephens,  1870;  A.  J.  Hale,  1871;  H.  M. 
Twadell,  1877;  T.  ft.  Tolbert,  1878;  David 
Mills,  1S79-S0;  D.  F.  Truax,  1881;  H.  M. 
Twadell,  1882;  E.  J.  Dezouche,  1883.  Col- 
lectors—A. J.  Hale,  1860-62;  W.  P.  Smith, 
1863-64;  W.  L.  Beeson,  1865-66;  T.  W. 
Hill,  1867;  W.  P.  Smith,  1868-69;  James 
Cissna,  1870;  A.  W.  Womack,  1871;  Levi 
Wheeler,   1877;  A.   G.    Borah,    1878;  James 


Smith,  1879;  William  Harris,  1880;  Marion 
Berry.  1881-82;  William  Bnrkett,  1883. 
Town  Clerks— J.  W.  Hi  I  Hard,  1860-62;  J. 
W.  Gardner,  1863-64;  J.  W.  Hilliard,  1865- 
66;  A.  Gr.  Borah,  1867;  W.  E.Harlan,  1868- 
70;  A.  G.  Borah,  1871;  T.  L.  Dickey,  1877; 
S.  S.  Pal  freeman,  1878;  Joseph  Gaston,  1879; 
S.  S.  Palfreeman,  1880;  John  Howerth,  1881; 
Lewis  Tunnel,  1882;  J.  D.  Harlan,  1883. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 


BRUSH  CREEK  TOWNSHIP— DESCRIPTION  AND  TOPOGRAPHY,  ETC.— EARLY  SETTLEMENTS— PIONEER 

IMPROVEMENTS— EARLY  PREACHERS— BERRY  ELLEDGE,  THE  FIRST  SCHOOL-TEACHER 

—HIS  STROKE  OF  PARALY'SIS  COMPELLING  HIM  TO  LAY  THREE  DAYS  IN 

THE  WOODS  SURROUNDED  BY  WILD  ANIMALS— MURDER  OF  A 

MR.     BRAZELL,     BY     WILLIAM     FATHREE— FIRST 

MARRIAGE,  FIRST  DEATH— CHURCHES, 

SCHOOLS,   ETC.,  ETC  ,  ETC. 


"  He  bent  his  way  where  twilight  reigns  sublime 
O'er  forests  silent  since  the  birth  of  time." 

THE  world  is  now  taking  time  to  look 
back,  and  tho  story  of  the  pioneer  is  be- 
coming one  of  absorbing  interest.  The  chil- 
dren  of  the  pioneer  settlers  are  rapidly  being 
gathered  to  their  fathers  during  each  decade, 
and  the  old  landmarks  one  by  one  have  de- 
cayed and  passed  away  with  those  who  placed 
them  there.  The  men  who  opened  up  Brush 
Creek  Township  to  the  illuminating  rays  of 
civilization,  though  possessed  of  an  unusual 
degree  of  culture  for  those  days,  were  practi- 
cal men.  They  came  to  better  their  material 
prospects,  and,  while  they  labored  to  bring 
about  them  those  influences  which  would 
mold  the  new  community  into  the  highest 
form  of  social  life,  they  did  not  undertake  to 
demonstrate  a    theory  of  social    philosophy. 

•By  J.  M.  Runk. 


Their  labors  have  not  been  in  vain.  But 
those  who  remain,  upon  whose  shoulders  the 
burden  of  responsibility  rests  with  so  poor  a 
grace,  look  in  vain  to  the  Btory  of  the  early 
days  for  the  secret  of  their  success.  They 
builded  wiser  than  they  knew,  and  glad  to 
think  that  the  rising  generations  would  be 
wiser  than  they,  died  and  left  no  sign.  The 
writer  finds  himself  not  more  favored  than 
the  socialist.  The  men  who  faced  the  diffi- 
culties of  frontier  life  in  the  opening  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  or  a  little  later,  found  no 
time  to  trace  their  records,  and  the  following 
pages  are  presented  more  as  the  result  of 
a  groping  in  the  dark  than  as  an  historical 
array  of  facts. 

Tho  part  of  territory  to  which  the  reader's 
attention  is  now  directod  is  the  outgrowth  of 
a  later  development.  Brush  Creek  Town- 
ship, known  as  Townships  1  and  2  north,  and 


266 


HISTORY   OF    WAYNE   COUNTY. 


Range  5  east,  is  bounded  on  the  north  by 
Clay  County,  on  the  east  by  Indian  Prairie 
Township,  on  the  south  by  Hickory  Hill 
Township,  and  on  the  west  by  Marion  Coun- 
ty. The  principal  stream  is  Brush  Creek, 
which  has  its  source  in  the  northern  part  of  the 
township,  and  runs  in  a  southerly  direction, 
empties  into  Skillet  Fork.  Johnson's  Fork 
and  Bobb's  Branch  are  small  affluents  from 
the  east  of  Brush  Creek.  Turner  Creek  is 
the  only  branch  of  any  importance  that 
empties  into  Brush  Creek  from  the  east. 
The  amount  of  small  brush  along  Brush 
Creek  gave  rise  to  its  name,  and  after  it  the 
township  was  called.  There  is  but  one  small 
prairie  in  the  township,  which  is  mentioned 
elsewhere  in  this  chapter.  The  remainder  is 
woodland, and  is  very  undulating  and  broken, 
but  when  the  timbers  are  cleared  away,  it  is 
productive  of  grain,  vegetables  and  fruits. 

Jeremiah  Hargraves  was  among  the  first 
settlers  in  Brush  Creek  Township.  He  came 
from  Kentucky,  in  1822,  and  settled  on  the 
farm  now  owned  by  William  B.  Hallaman. 
He  died  in  the  township,  was  a  good,  ener- 
getic man,  and  at  one  time  possessed  consid- 
erable means.  In  his  latter  days,  he  had  the 
misfortune  to  have  both  arms  broken  above 
the  wrists.  It  was  very  singular,  though  a 
fact,  that  his  arms  were  broken  at  different 
times,  but  exactly  the  same  distance  from  the 
wrist.  The  first  arm  was  broken  with  a  sash 
saw,  and  the  last  was  fractured  by  a  wagon 
turning  over  with  him.  Neither  bone  ever 
healed,  and  in  his  old  days,  he  had 
scarcely  any  use  of  his  hands  that  had  done 
so  much  to  clear  away  the  forests.  A  son 
named  Clinton,  was  made  a  life-long  cripple 
by  a  severe  attack  of  fever,  which  destroyed 
the  strength  of  the  hipB.  His  father  (Jere- 
miah) gave  him  the  greater  portion  of  his 
property.  A  son  named  William  is  living 
in  Clay  County. 


About  the  time  Hargraves  came  to  the 
township,  Benjamin  Alney  and  Alexander 
Haws  located  near  by  him;  also  Richard 
Sessions.  The  above  gentlemen  were  related 
by  marriage,  etc.,  and  formed  a  settlement. 
Mrs.  John  Hawkins  and  the  Burges  brothers 
now  own  the  land  where  the  Hawses  settled. 
Alney  Haws  died  here,  but  Benjamin  jour- 
neyed off  among  the  Mormons.  They  were 
each  in  the  Black  Hawk  war.  Philip  Henson 
moved  to  the  township  in  1827,  and  settled 
on  Section  4.  He  entered  soon  after  forty 
acres  of  land  and  his  son  W.  C.  entered 
eighty  acres.  Here  Philip  lived  an  upright 
life,  and  in  1860  he  moved  to  Southeast 
Missouri,  where  he  and  wife  died  some  time 
afterward.  W.  C.  Henson  is  yet  living  in 
the  township.  He  deeded  the  first  land  in 
Brush  Creek  in  1833,  which  is  a  part  of  his 
present  possessions.  It  is  in  what  is  called 
Garden  Prairie,  which  was  so  named  by 
James  Scott,  who  came  to  the  township  in 
about  1835,  was  a  married  man,  and  partook 
too  freely  of  ' '  spirits,"  and  when  on  one  of  his 
usual  drunks  he  gave  the  name  of  Garden 
Prairie  to  the  only  spot  in  the  township  that 
even  resembled  a  prairie.  Philip  Henson 
and  son,  W.  C,  erected  the  first  cabin  on 
this  small  prairie,  on  Section  4.  Philip  was 
the  father  of  six  children,  five  of  whom  are 
living,  viz.,  Lucinda  married  Jeremiah 
Chapman,  Mary  married  John  Bruner,  W.  C. 
Norcissa  married  John  Brown  and  Sarah 
married  Josiah  Burkitt. 

Deaton  Meadows  came  to  the  township  in 
1830,  from  Marion  County,  111.,  where  he 
had  located  from  Tennessee  several  years 
prior  to  that  time.  After  awhile  he  made 
his  final  settlement  in  Marion  County,  where 
he  died.  Three  of  his  sons  are  living  in 
this  township,  namely,  W.  P.,  Henry  and 
Hyrman;  the  latter  is  a  minister  of  the 
general  Baptist  organization;  he  has  also  two 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


267 


daughters  living.  One  married  a  man  by 
the  name  of  Middleton.  and  lives  in  Mis- 
souri, and  the  other,  Lydia,  married  John 
Montgomery,  and  is  living  in  Xonia.  Jer- 
emiah Chapman  came  pretty  early  from 
Indiana  with  his  father,  William,  and  set- 
tled for  awhile,  cast  of  Fairlield.  Here 
William  becoming  a  little  enraged  at  some 
one,  made  a  kick  at  him,  and  struck  his  foot 
against  a  log  in  a  house  which  completely 
crushed  his  foot,  making  him  a  cripple  the 
remainder  of  his  days.  He  was  a  large  man, 
weighing  375  pounds.  Jeremiah  moved  to 
this  township  between  1S35  and  1840. 

John  Burkitt  came  to  the  township  in 
1833,  from  Indiana,  and  settled  where  John 
Hawkins  now  lives.  He  changed  about  con- 
siderably, and  finally  died  vest  of  Johnson- 
ville.  Ho  was  a  native  of  Kentucky,  and 
was  the  father  of  twelve  children,  five  of 
whom  survive,  viz.:  Missouri,  married  K.  H. 
Fathree;  Nancy,  married  Irvin  Scott;  Julia, 
married  Joseph  Brown;  Joseph  keeps  the 
county  poor  farm;  Josiah  married  Sarah 
Henson,  and  lives  in  the  township. 

W.  A.  Forth  came  from  Kentucky  and 
settled  on  Section  27  in  1841.  Here  he 
died  in  1878;  was  once  Supervisor;  was  the 
father  of  twenty- one  children  by  three 
unions. 

Matthew  Warren  came  very  early  and 
settled  near  Mr.  Forth,  and  there  died,  leav- 
ing some  relatives  who  yet  reside  near  where 
he  located.  Alex  and  John  Warren,  brothers 
of  Matthew,  came  here  about  the  same  time 
as  he,  and  died  in  the  township. 

William  Holaway,  a  native  of  Kentucky, 
settled  a  neighbor  to  Forth  in  1843.  He 
enlisted  in  the  late  war,  where  he  died.  Some 
of  his  children  are  living. 

Benjamin  and  William  Fathree  were  among 
the  first  settlers,  and  were  considered  rough 
characters.       The  former    died  in  the  town- 


ship, and  the  latter  absconded  to  free  himself 
from  the  fangs  of  the  law.  The  circum- 
stances relating  to  his  hasty  departure  were 
about  the  following:  Fathree  was  a  man  who 
partook  freely  of  the  ' '  tangle  foot. "  and  on 
one  occasion,  he  was  at  a  little  mill,  located 
in  Marion  County,  the  proprietor  of  which 
sold  whisky.  This  was  a  regular  rendezvous 
for  the  neighborhood,  and  it  was  not  an  un- 
common thiug  for  them  to  engage  in  a  regular 
knock-down.  Fathree,  at  the  time  in  ques- 
tion, was  feeling  pretty  ill,  and  a  number  of 
the  men  who  were  waiting  for  their  "  grind- 
ing," engaged  in  teasing  him  for  having  got 
so  full,  and  the  man  who  seemed  to  rouse  his 
ire  the  most  was  a  Mr.  Brazell,  whom  Fath- 
ree singled  out  for  revenge,  and  while  Bra- 
zell was  loading  a  sack  of  corn,  he  struck 
him  on  the  back  of  the  neck  with  a  club,  kill 
ing  him  almost  instantly.  Fathree  departed 
and  has  never  been  heard  of  since. 

B.  Meadows  came  to  the  township  at  an 
early  period,  and  is  living  there  yet.  In  his 
early  introduction  to  the  unbroken  wilderness, 
he  engaged  mostly  in  hunting. 

The  first  death  that  occurred  in  the  township 
was  William  Warren,  who  was  buried  near 
his  residence.  Soon  after  died  a  desolate 
old  lady,  who  came  from  Kentucky  with 
Robert  Anderson,  at  an  early  date.  He  re- 
mained only  a  short  time  and  went  West. 

The  first  wedding  in  the  township  was 
John  Brunei-  and  Mary  Henson.  John  was 
a  son  of  Henry  Brunei-,  of  Kentucky.  He 
came  to  the  county  with  Philip  Henson, 
whose  daughter  he  married;  was  reared  by 
Jesse  Henson,  of  Kentucky.  He  died  in 
18S2,  leaving  his  widow  in  affluent  circum- 
stances. 

Benjamin  Haws,  in  an  early  day  was  the 
proprietor  of  a  horse  grist  mill,  which  was  of 
much  accommodation  to  the  early  settlers. 

Deaton   Meadows   had   what  was  called  a 


268 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


stump  haud  mill;  though  quite  a  novelty,  yet 
was  used  considerably  to  crush  corn. 

Isaac  Harris  and  Elijah  Draper  own  and 
operate  a  good  saw  mill,  with  attachments 
for  grinding  meal.  It  is  the  only  enterprise 
of  the  kind  in  the  township. 

Warren  Stoddard  is  running  a  blacksmith 
shop  near  where  the  Buchanan  road  crosses 
Brush  Creek. 

The  first  school  was  taught  in  this  town- 
ship in  a  log  cabin  that  was  located  on  a 
farm  now  owned  by  John  Morris,  and  it  is 
thought  that  Berry  Elledge,  then  a  resident 
of  White  County,  was  the  teacher.  The 
school  was  given  him  by  the  generous  patrons 
more  as  a  sympathy  than  as  a  desire  for  his 
qualifications,  as  the  following  narrative  will 
show:  As  stated,  his  home  was  in  White 
County,  and  at  the  time,  a  brother-in-law  of 
his  started  for  a  new  home  near  Springfield, 
this  State,  and  Mr.  E.  concluded  to  accom- 
pany them  for  two  days.  He  accordingly 
saddled  his  horse  and  shouldered  his  gun, 
and  for  a  distance  led  the  course.  When 
entering  Brush  Creek  Township,  he  remarked 
that  he  would  leave  the  road  and  take  off  at 
a  tangent,  with  the  belief  that  he  would  kill 
a  deer,  and  overtake  them  by  camping  time. 
He  had  gone  scarcely  out  of  sight,  when  he 
was  taken  with  a  stroke  of  paralysis,  and  fell 
from  his  horse.  Here  he  laid  in  an  almost 
unconscious  condition  for  three  days  before 
he  was  found  by  the  searching  party,  who  set 
out  soon  after  his  horse  returned  home  with- 
out him.  The  relatives,  who  had  gone  on, 
thought  that  he  had  concluded  not  to  go  any 
farther,  and  pursued  their  journey  without 
any  uneasiness,  until  some  of  the  search 
men  overtook  them  to  inquire  of  his  where- 
abouts. At  this  juncture  the  excitement 
grew  high,  and  a  more  careful  search  was 
instigated,  which  resulted  in  finding  him 
surrounded  by  wild  animals.    The  woods  had 


been  on  fire  since  he  had  fallen  there,  and 
the  fire  had  burned  the  leaves  and  grass  to 
within  a  few  feet  encircling  him,  and  it  was 
a  remarkable  fact,  so  says  W.  C.  Henson,  that 
the  fire  had  gone  out  in  the  thickest  leaves 
and  grass  closelv  surrounding  him.  Mr.  El- 
ledge  was  taken  home,  but  was  forever  a  crip- 
ple, and  I  aught  the  above  school  in  the  days  of 
his  unfortunate  condition. 

The  early  inhabitants  of  Brush  Creek 
Township  experienced  all  the  hardships 
and  inconveniences  incident  to  the  life  of 
the  pioneer,  and  not  the  least  among  them 
was  the  church  facilities.  Those  inter- 
ested in  church-going,  gathered  for  many 
miles  around  at  some  farmer's  cabin,  and 
found  their  way  there  after  night  by  means 
of  hickory  bark  torches  for  lights.  It  was 
no  uncommon  occurrence  for  the  pioneer  to 
be  headed  off  from  his  course  either  to  or 
from  the  meetings  by  the  sound  of  the  large 
rattlesnakes,  that  were  very  plentiful  in  those 
days.  Although  many  thousands  were  killed 
by  the  early  settlers,  a  few  remained  to  trans- 
mit the  species  to  the  present  day.  Richard 
Sessions  was  the  only  person  who  was  bitten 
by  these  poisonous  reptiles,  and  he  was  barely 
saved  by  means  of  a  "  mad  stone  "  obtained 
from  Dr.  Garrison,  who  lived  at  the  time 
northeast  of  Fairfield.  Among  the  noted 
huntsmen  who  played  havoc  with  the  rattle- 
snake as  well  as  the  wild  animals,  we 
mention,  Philip  and  W.  C.  Henson,  Jack  and 
Benjamin  Haws,  Jerry  Hargraves  and  John 
Burkitt.  Among  the  early  preachers  were 
known  Nathaniel  Escridge  and  Samuel  D. 
Hefton,  of  the  Old  School  Baptist  faith,  and 
Thomas  Middleton,  of  the  Universalist  de- 
nomination. 

The  first  church  organized  in  the  township 
was  by  the  Mormons.  This  denomination 
has  one  active  church  in  the  township,  lo- 
cated at  White  Cloud  Schoolhouse,  and  holds 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


269 


services  every  month,  with  a  large  attend- 
ance. I.  A.  Morris  is  the  present  Elder.  J. 
B.  Henson  is  also  an  Elder  of  the  same.  The 
schools  of  the  township  are  hardly  an  average 
with  the  other  townships  of  the  county,  ow- 
ing to  the  financial  condition  of  the  settlers. 
Brush  Creek  Township  is  one  in  the  wide, 
wide  world  that  wants  no  railroad,  and  the 
writer's  daring  horseback  ride  up  and  down 
the  cliffs  in  search  for  data  caused  him  to 
form  a  conclusion  that  the  railroad  did  not 
want  them.  When  an  election  was  held  in 
the  county  for  the  purpose  of  voting  for  and 
against  an  appropriation  for  a  certain  rail- 


road to  run  through  the  county,  there  was 
only  one  man  in  the  township  who  voted  for 
it,  and  he  soon  after  moved  to  Fairfield, 
where  he  might  live  in  quiet  enjoyment,  and 
hear  the  whistling  of  the  iron  horse.  After 
many  years  of  toil  and  labor,  the  few  remain- 
ing early  inhabitants  and  descendants  of 
many  of  the  others  have  at  last  struck  oil 
in  the  raising  and  cultivation  of  fruits.  The 
business  is  just  in  its  infancy,  and  it  is  not 
improbable  that,  within  another  decade,  the 
woodland  will  be  cleared  of  its  heavy  growth, 
and  in  its  stead  will  be  thousands  of  acres  of 
fine  orchards,  yielding  enormous  crops. 


CHAPTER    XXVII. 


LEECH  TOWNSII  IP— BOUNDARIES   AND   TOPOGRAPHY— WATER-COURSES— GENERAL   PRODUCTIONS 

—ORIGIN  OF  NAME  AND    FIRST    SETTLEMENTS— SOME    INDIAN    STORIES— INTERNAL 

IMPROVEMENTS— TOWNS—CHURCH  HISTORY  AND  SCHOOL  STATISTICS,  ETC. 


HISTORICALLY,  Leech  Township  oc- 
cupies a  foremost  raDk  among  those  of 
Wayne  County.  Its  pioneer  settlements  were 
made  very  early,  and  to  undertake  to  give  an 
exhaustive  and  detailed  account  of  the  inter- 
esting and  varied  scenes  and  occurrences  in- 
cident to  the  time  thereto,  would  be  a  most 
difficult  task,  as  well  as  one  demanding  more 
space  than  can  bo  allotted  to  it  at  this  time. 
Moreover,  a  sufficiently  comprehensive  idea 
of  them  can  be  obtained  from  the  few  de- 
scriptive stories  that  we  shall  here  record,  aud 
in  the  portion  of  this  work  devoted  to  the 
history  of  the  county  at  large  will  be  found 
also  interesting  accounts  of  the  lives  and  do- 
ings of  the  pioneers,  and  of  their  ways,  hab- 
its and  times. 

The  stud}'  of  man  is  a  most  proper  one  for 
the  present  and  future  generations,  and  it  is 


one  that  is  calculated  to  give  rich  returns  to 
any  thoughtful  and  inquiring  mind  that  will 
undertake  it.  And  in  the  lives  of  what  class 
of  mankind  can  we  find,  in  a  comprehensive 
examination  thereof,  more  material  for 
thoughtful  and  profitable  contemplation  than 
in  those  of  our  forefathers  and  the  whole- 
souled  patriarchs  of  days  long  gone  by;  those 
who  sacrificed  their  own  comforts  and  inter- 
ests, and  ofttimes  their  own  lives,  for  the 
benefit  of  those  to  follow'them.  The  gener- 
ally impoverished  circumstances  of  these 
men,  the  hardships,  privations  and  positive 
dangers  immediately  surrounding  them,  the 
formidable  obstacles  of  every  description  with 
which  they  were  almost  daily  called  upon  to 
contend,  all  are  conditions  of  life  under 
which  not  many  of  the  present  day  could 
live  and  make  progress.      But  yet,  under  all 


270 


HISTORY   OF    WAYNE   COUNTY. 


of  these  unfavorable  and  distressing  circum- 
stances, trie  old  settler  made  substantial  pro- 
gressive   strides     toward    a   better    state    of 
things,  and  happy  must  he  have  been  when 
in  his  old  age  he  would  take  a  retrospective 
view,  and  cause,  as   it  were,  a  grand   pano- 
rama of  the  vivid  scenes   and  thrilling  inci- 
dents of  time  past  to  pass  in  life-like  review 
before  his  mind's  eye,  and  by  comparison  to 
be    enabled  to  witness   the   slow    but  steady 
advancement  from  a  state  of  poverty  and  in- 
security to  that    of  higher   civilization    and 
consequent  prosperity.      So  we  say  that  the 
study  of  the  lives  and  times  of  our  pioneers 
affords  abundant  gratification  and  profit,  and 
to  so  studiously  examine  into  his  varied  char- 
acteristics, his  habits,  his  thoughts  and  his 
motives  that  the  future  might  secure  thereby 
a  comprehensive  idea  of  the  character  of  the 
man,  and  of  the  times  in  which  he  lived  and 
died,  this  might  well  be  the  ambitious  work 
of  one's  life,  and  how  invaluable  would  such 
a  work  be. 

Leech  Township,  to  the  history  of  which 
this  chapter  is  devoted,  revels  in  historical 
happenings  of  great  interest  and  importance. 
It  lies  in  the  southeast  corner  of  Wayne 
County,  having  the  following  boundaries,  to 
wit:  North,  by  Massillon  Township;  east,  by 
Edwards  County;  south,  by  White  County; 
and  west  by  Barahill  Township.  Its  limits 
comprise  Congressional  Townships  Town  2 
south,  Range  9  east,  and  the  north  half  of 
Town  3  south,  Range  9  east.  The  surface  of 
this  township  is  diversified  between  woodland 
and  prairie.  The  somewhat  prevailing  opin- 
ion that  Leech  contains  nothing  but  poor  and 
unprofitable  lands  finds  no  confirmation  in  an 
impartial  examination  thereof.  The  general 
surface  is  somewhat  broken,  and  large  tracts 
of  low  though  not  entirely  worthless  lands 
lie  along  the  Little  Wabash  River,  but  by  the 
proper   use  of  tiling,  which    we  are  glad  to 


notice    some  of  the    farmers  of  Leech   have 
already    introduced,    large   bodies    of    these 
lands  will  be  redeemed,  and  will  be  seen  not 
many    years    hence    covered    with    luxuriant 
growths  of  the  yellow  grain.     The  soil  of  the 
"flats,"  as  these  low  tracts  of  land   are  gen- 
erally called,  is    inclined  to  be  more    loamy 
and  possesses  more  organic  matter  than  the 
soil  of  the  prairies,  which  has  a  yellowish- 
ash-gray  color,  and  for  this  reason  the  "  flats," 
if  successfully  drained,  will  afford  abundant 
returns  for  the  labor  of  the  intelligent  farmer. 
The   Little   Wabash,  which  is  the   principal 
stream  of  the  township,  enters  the  latter  in 
Section  5,  Town  2  south,  Range  9  east,  and 
after  flowing  a  very  crooked  course  in  a  gen- 
eral southeast  direction,  leaves  it  from  Sec- 
tion  1,  Town  3  south,  Range   9  east.     It  is 
subject  to  overflows  of  a  considerable  extent, 
and  at  times  serious  damage  has  been  done 
to  crops,  etc.,  on  land  lying  adjacent  to  its 
banks.      Owen's,  King  and  Pond  Creeks  are 
the  principle  smaller  streams  of  the  township, 
and  these,  with  many  other  nameless  ones, 
afford  generally  a  sufficient  natural  drainage 
to  most   parts  of  it.     Timber  in  great  abun- 
dance lies  along  the  streams,  and  is  composed 
chiefly  of  the  several  varieties  of  oak,  hickory 
and  ash,  though  other  varieties  are  found  in 
some  quantities  in  different  parts  of  the  town- 
ship.    A  small  prairie,  known  as  Brush  Prai- 
rie, is  situated  on  the  east  side  of  the  Little 
Wabash,  while  on  the   west  side  a  consider- 
able portion  of  land  lies  in  Bear  or  Shipley's 
Prairie,  which  latter  extends  also  into  Barn- 
hill  Township. 

The  principal  productions  of  Leech  are 
i  the  same  generally  as  other  parts  of  the  coun- 
ts-, including  the  usual  varieties  of  grain,  and 
considerable  attention  is  also  given  to  the  rais- 
ing of  stock.  Some  years  ago,  when  the  excite- 
ment about  castor  beans  was  at  its  height, 
Leech  took  her  part   in  it,  and  many  acres 


HISTORY   OF    WAYNE   COl/XTY. 


271 


of  land  were  entirely  devoted  to  the  raising 
of  them;  but  they  proved  to  be  an  unprofita- 
ble crop,  outside  of  their  cultivation,  extract- 
ing a  proportionally  large  amount  of  the 
richness  of  the  laud,  and  the  raising  of  them 
is  consequently  now  not  very  extensive. 

The  first  settlement  in  Leech  Township 
dates  back  to  the  year  1S14.  The  territory 
comprised  within  its  present  limits  was  at 
that  time  included  in  the  "Wabash  Precinct, 
and  the  name  of  "Wabash  was  also  one  first 
given  to  the  township,  but  the  name  of  the 
latter  was  subsequently  changed  to  Leech,  in 
honor  of  Gen.  Samuel  Leech,  the  first  Coun- 
ty Clerk  of  Wayne  County. 

The  first  white  man  to  penetrate  within  the 
present  boundaries  of  Leech  was  Isaac  Har- 
ris. He  came,  as  before  stated,  in  1814, 
from  the  settlement  in  Big  Prairie,  "White 
County,  but  was  a  native  of  Kentucky.  He 
located  on  the  high  land,  at  the  edge  of  the 
bottoms  along  the  Little  Wabash,  and  he  was 
living  here  when  he  became  involved  in  a 
scrape  with  an  Indian,  an  account  of  which 
we  will  here  record. 

Just  what  the  trouble  was  between  Har 
ris  and  the  native  inhabitant  we  could  not 
learn,  but  it  soon  magnified  itself  into  an 
open  tight,  in  which  the  latter  was  summarily 
sent  to  the  happy  hunting  grounds.  Harris, 
for  fear  of  being  seriously  dealt  with  by  the 
Indians  of  the  neighborhood,  immediately 
fled  the  country  in  the  night  time,  heading 
toward  the  settlement  in  "Whito  County.  He 
had  with  him  at  this  time  his  fourteen  year 
old  daughter,  who  afterward  became  Mrs. 
Goodwin,  wife  of  John  Goodwin,  a  farmer 
of  this  township.  She  died  in  tho  summer 
of  1S83,  aged  eighty-three  years.  After 
reaching  the  settlement,  Harris  entered  the 
service  in  the  war,  known  as  the  war  of  1812, 
and  in  1816  returned  and  again  entered 
Leech,  this  time  with  his  two  brothers,  Eli- 


jah and  Gillum.  The  three  brothers  had 
their  families  along  also,  as  they  intended  to 
make  a  permanent  settlement  in  the  town- 
ship. This  they  did,  and  all  lived  and  died 
here,  leaving  many  descendants  who  yet  re- 
side in  the  surrounding  country. 

Another  story  we  will  here  record  as  illus- 
trative of  the  "  kind "  feelings  which  the 
early  settlers  and  the  red  men  entertained 
for  each  other.  During  the  time  of  the  war 
above  spoken  of,  a  son  of  Capt.  Boltinghouse, 
a  resident  of  the  township  also,  was  killed, 
supposedly  by  the  Indians.  Some  time  sub- 
sequently, the  Captain,  Isaac  and  Gillum 
Harris,  and  a  man  by  the  name  of  King, 
were  out  on  a  hunt,  and  while  perambulat- 
ing around,  accidentally  came  across  the 
horse  belonging  to  the  murdered  son  of  the 
Captain.  The  latter  at  once  interrogated  the 
Indian  who  had  charge  of  the  animal  with 
reference  to  his  son's  death,  whereupon  the 
red  fiend  stutteriugly  replied  that  the  son 
had  been  killed  in  war;  that  it  was  right  to 
kill  in  time  of  war,  etc.,  and  went  on  further 
to  describe  with  barbarous  delight  how  the 
son,  with  uplifted  hands,  had  vainly  begged 
and  implored  the  savage  to  spare  his  life, 
etc.  This  was  too  much  for  Capt.  Bolting- 
house,  who  was  a  sensitive,  as  well  as  a  very 
resolute  and  determined  man,  and  he  imme- 
diately declared  war,  and  advised  the  Indian 
to  consider  the  present  the  time  of  such,  but 
tin'  latter  had  hardly  time  to  think  over  the 
matter,  for  he  was  dispatched  on  the  spot  at 
once.  About  the  same  time,  the  two  Harrises 
and  King  bagged  an  Indian  each  out  of  four 
"  braves,"  who,  with  three  squaws,  made  up 
the  camp,  which  had  in  the  meantime  been 
discovered  in  the  immediate  vicinity.  Tho 
fifth  savage  started  up  an  adjacent  hill  on  a 
run,  but  found  it  inconvenient  to  carry  a  dog 
along  with  him,  who,  being  desirous  of  ren- 
dering material  assistance  to  his  white  mas- 


272 


HISTORY   OF   WAYNE  COUNTY'. 


ter,  had  formed  a  close  acquaintance  with  the 
calf  of  the  Indian's  leg.  The  savage  man- 
aged, however,  by  sheer  strength  to  shako 
the  enterprising  canine  off,  but  not  in  time 
to  escape  several  deadly  bullets,  which  were 
fired  by  determined  hands.  Serious  attention 
was  afterward  devoted  to  the  squaws,  and 
they  were  also  sent  to  accompany  their  "brave" 
companions  to  their  last  resting  place.  The 
white  party  turned  back  triumphantly,  taking 
along  with  them  the  horse  belonging  to  the 
butchered  son  of  Capt.  Boltinghouse,  and 
another  which  the  Indians  had,  and  this  was 
known  for  many  years  as  the  "  stray  filly." 

About  the  same  time  as  Harris'  second 
coming  into  Leech  Township,  there  arrived 
old  Gadwalder  Jones,  who  was  the  father  of 
John  Jones,  familiarly  known  as  "  Jacky " 
Jones,  and  who  is  yet  living  in  Arrington 
Township,  this  county.  The  latter  was  born 
August  30,  1816,  and  was  the  first  white 
child  born  in  Leech  Towuship,  and  also  in 
Wayne  County.  Among  other  of  the  ear- 
liest settlers  was  Aquilla  McCracken,  who 
came  with  a  large  family  from  Georgia.  His 
son-in-law,  Pulliam  Higginbottom,  came  also, 
and  Harmon  Horn.  Charles  Rollin  and 
Richard  Bircks  came  from  North  Carolina, 
and  about  the  same  time  came  Reuben,  Hiram 
and  Levi  Shores  from  Alabama.  John 
Burch  came  early  from  Ohio,  as  did  also 
"William  Batson,  from  the  same  State.  A 
man  by  the  name  of  Johnson  was  an  early 
settler  here,  and  Benjamin  Phillpot  also;  the 
latter  came  from  Virginia.  Ephraim,  George 
and  William  Meritt  and  their  father  were 
among  the  earliest  to  locate  within  the  pres- 
ent limits  of  Leech.  They  came  from  South 
Carolina.  George  is  still  living  near  where 
he  first  located.  John  Moffitt  arrived  in  the 
country  in  the  year  1818,  but  he  located 
just  across  the  line  in  Barnhill  Township. 
Richard  Locke  and  a  man  by  the  name  of 


Butler  were  also  early  settlers,  and  they 
erected  at  an  early  date  a  horse  mill  on 
Pond  Creek,  a  branch  of  the  Little  Wabash. 
There  is  now  no  trace  of  the  mill  visible. 
The  township  settled  up  gradually  in  after 
years,  and  shows  a  present  population  of 
about  1,500. 

Gen.  Samuel  Leech  put  up  in  an  early  day 
a  water  mill,  with  a  saw  mill  in  connection. 
For  many  years  this  mill,  which  was  known 
as  Leech's  Mills,  did  the  grist  and  saw  work 
for  the  country  for  miles  around.  Trips, 
which  would  consume  several  days,  were 
often  made  to  this  mill,  from  points  twenty 
and  thirty  miles  away  in  all  directions.  No 
trace  of  this  mill  remains  at  the  present  day. 
Just  below  its  site,  on  the  Little  Wabash, 
John  Pulleyblank  and  A.  E.  Scott  erected  a 
water  mill  about  1867.  Something  to  eat 
was  of  course  the  first  thing  to  claim  the 
attention  of  the  pioneer,  and  soon  after  their 
advent  into  a  new  country  some  kind  of  an 
arrangement  by  means  of  which  their  corn 
could  be  converted  into  meal  was  put  into 
operation.  The  primitive  stump  mill,  or  the 
mortar  and  pestle,  was  succeeded  by  the  horse 
mill,  and  that  by  the  water  mill,  which  in 
turn  has  made  way  for  the  subsequent  im- 
provements in  milling  machinery. 

Noticeable  among  the  many  substantial 
improvements  made  in  Leech  Township  is 
that  of  the  building  of  the  iron  bridge  across 
the  Little  Wabash,  on  Section  21,  Township 
2  south,  Range  9  east.  Provious  to  the 
erection  of  this  structure,  great  difficulty  was 
ofttimes  experienced  in  crossing  the  river,  the 
course  of  which  divides  the  township  into 
two  divisions,  and  the  settlements  on  either 
side  were  quite  distinct  from  each  other. 
The  bridge  was  built  by  contract  for  the 
county  in  1865,  at  a  total  expense  of  about 
14,000  and  12,000  acres  of  swamp  land. 

The  little  village  of  Scottsville,  which  con- 


HISTORY   OF    WAYNE   COl'NTY. 


273 


sists  of  but  a  few  houses  and  business 
places,  is  pleasantly  located  in  the  south  part 
of  Section  '23.  Township  2  south,  Range  9 
east.  Robert  Monroe  laid  it  out  partially,  but 
no  actual  survey  and  plat  has  ever  been  record- 
ed. Wabash  Post  Office  has  been  at  this  point 
for  several  years,  but  it  was  finally  moved 
to  Scott,  or  Scott  Station,  a  little  town  of 
tender  age,  situated  on  the  "Air  Line"  Rail- 
road, and  on  the  south  part  of  the  south  half 
of  the  southeast  quarter  of  Section  11,  Town- 
ship 2  south,  Range  9  east,  on  land  belong- 
ing to  J.  R.  Parks  and  Frances  W.  Fawkes. 
The  land  was  surveyed  and  platted  by  James 
W.  Hilliard,  Deputy  County  Surveyor,  Octo- 
ber 9,  1882,  and  was  recorded  by  him  three 
days  later.  Scott  has  a  good  location,  and 
with  proper  care  promises  to  grow  in  size 
and  prosperity. 

The  religious  history  of  Leech  Township 
is  much  the  same  as  elsewhere  in  the  county. 
The  early  pioneers,  amid  all  their  trials  and 
hardships,  and  the  severity  of  their  sur- 
rounding conditions,  stood  in  great  need  of 
the  consoling  influence  of  Gospel  truths, 
and  the  moetings  at  some  little  log  cabin 
home  of  a  neighbor  were  comparatively 
largely  attended  by  people  living  miles 
away  in  every  direction,  who  were  anxious  to 
hear  the  blessed  words  of  the  preacher,  whose 
large  circuit  seldom  permitted  him  to  visit  a 
vicinity  more  often  than  once  or  twice  a 
year.  In  another  portion  of  this  work  will 
be  found  sketches  of  the  lives  and  doings  of 
the  early  disciples  of  Christ,  and  we  will 
not  here  repeat.  William  Keith  was  one  of 
the  earliest  preachers  of  this  section,  though 
his  meetings  were  hold  mostly  in  Edwards 
County.  For  many  years  religious  meetings 
were  held  in  the  neighboring  houses  and  the 
early  school  buildings,  and  it  was  some  time 
before   any  building,  to   be  used  exclusively 


for  church  purposes,  was  erected.  The  Mis- 
sionary Baptists  built  a  substantial  structure 
on  Section  17, Town  3  south,  Range  9  east, and 
this  for  years  has  been  the  principal  church 
in  the  township.  It  is  still  strong  in  num- 
bers, and  is  healthy  and  prosperous  in  condi- 
tion. The  Methodists  built  a  church  build- 
ing on  Section  24,  a  little  northeast  of  Scotts- 
ville,  and  this  is  used  we  believe  for  the  ben- 
efit of  general  gathering's. 

Educational  matters  have  received  in 
Leech  the  attention  they  unquestionably  de- 
serve. A  comparison  of  the  little  log  cabin 
structures  of  the  early  times  with  the  more 
substantial,  commodious  and  pleasant  school 
buildings  of  the  present  day,  bespeaks 
great  credit  to  the  citizens  of  Leech,  and  of 
the  material  manner  in  which  they  regard 
the  school  question  About  1823,  a  school 
was  taught  in  Edwards  County,  by  a  man  by 
the  name  of  McCowen.and  this  was  attended 
some  by  the  children  of  some  of  the  early 
settlers  in  Leech  Township.  John  Jones 
taught  the  first  school  in  the  township.  The 
little  log  house  was  situated  on  Section  36, 
Town  2  south,  Range  9  east,  and  Jones  was 
the  teacher  for  the  first  six  months  of  school. 
He  was  succeeded  by  James  Harrison,  who 
was  followed  by  Reuben  Ewing,  both  of 
whom  taught  in  the  same  house.  In  after 
years,  school  buildings  were  erected  to  keep 
pace  with  the  increasing  population,  and  the 
following  statistics  compiled  from  the  County 
Superintendent's  report  will  show  the  pres- 
ent status  of  the  schools  of  this  township. 
They  are  for  the  year  July  1,  1882,  to  June 
30,  1883:  Number  of  school  buildings,  10; 
number  of  pupils  enrolled,  322;  teachers  em- 
ployed, 1  1 .  Average  pay  of  same — males, 
$35;  females, $25.  Estimated  value  of  school 
property,  $4,150. 


274 


HISTORY  OF   WAYNE  COUNTY. 


CHAPTER    XXVIII.* 


HICKORY   HILL   TOWNSHIP— TOPOGRAPHY   AND   BOUNDARIES— FIRST   SETTLERS— WHO  THEY 
WERE— FIRST   BIRTH— FIRST    FARMING— FIRST  ROADS,  ETC.,  ETC. 


These  brave  men's  bones  are  lying 
Where  they  perished  in  their  gore; 

Their  bones  were  left  to  whiten, 
On  the  spot  where  they  were  slain ; 

And  were  ye  now  to  seek  them, 
They  would  be  sought  in  vain. — The  Pioneer. 

ABOUT  fifty  years  ago,  the  first  settle- 
ment was  made  in  Hickory  Hill  Town- 
ship. But  with  us  time  is  tested  not  by 
periods  but  by  eras.  Of  how  much  value  is 
one  year  in  America,  where  life  is  so  intense. 
We  live  as  much  in  a  day  as  the  old  Romans 
did  in  a  month.  Here,  great,  thronging  events 
so  crowd  and  jostle  each  other,  and  rapid  de- 
velopment is  such  a  very  marvel,  that  the 
wild  dreams  of  yesterday  become  the  sober 
reality  of  to-day.  Volumes  of  history  are 
being  made  everv  hour,  and  to  write  of 
things  that  are  past  for  the  generations  who 
are  to  follow  makes  one  pause. 

Hickory  Hill  Township  is  bounded  on  the 
north  by  Brush  Creek  Township;  on  the 
east  by  Arrington  Township;  on  the  south 
by  Four  Mile  Township;  and  on  the  west  by 
Jefferson  County.  It  comprises  forty-two 
sections.  The  Dame  Hickory  Hill  originated 
from  a  hill  by  that  name  located  in  the  north- 
west part  of  the  township,  and  now  part  of 
the  farm  owned  by  William  Irvin.  In  an 
early  day  this  hill  was  covered  with  a  heavy 
growth  of  hickory  timber.  To  the  south  and 
east  of  this  hill  was  a  prairie,  about  three 
miles  long  and  two  wide,  and  this  was  also 
called  Hickory  Hill  Prairie;  so  that  the 
township  now  bears  the  name  of  the  highest 

*By  F.  S.  Tyler. 


hill  and  largest  prairie  within  its  boundaries. 
Besides  the  prairie  above  referred  to,  there 
were  originally  two  other  smaller  prairies  in 
the  township;  one,  Locust  Prairie,  was  in 
the  northwest  part  of  the  county,  and  was 
about  half  a  mile  square.  Another  still 
smaller  one  was  in  the  southwest  part  of  the 
township.  It  has  been  noticed  that  of  late 
years,  where  the  prairie  land  has  not  been 
kept  in  perfect  cultivation,  that  a  thick 
growth  of  timber  is  being  formed.  Besides 
these  three  prairies,  the  township  was  orig- 
inally covered  with  timber.  Considerable 
water  oak,  pin  oak,  white  oak,  sweet  gum 
and  maple  are  found,  together  with  some 
sycamore  and  elm.  About  half  of  the  town- 
ship is  at  present  in  cultivation.  Probably  a 
fourth  of  the  latter  is  devoted  to  pasture  and 
grazing,  the  remainder  being  confined  about 
equally  to  corn  and  wheat  growing.  Of  the 
timbered  land,  most  of  it  is  in  the  eastern 
part  of  the  township,  along  the  banks  of 
Skillet  Fork.  At  one  time,  the  timber  was 
of  a  very  heavy  growth  in  this  bottom  land, 
but  of  late  all  the  best  trees  have  been  cut 
away,  until  now  but  little  if  any  remains. 

There  are  three  creeks  in  the  township. 
Of  these  the  largest  is  Skillet  Fork,  which 
enters  the  township  from  the  north,  in  the 
northeast  quarter  of  Section  5.  It  flows 
through  the  township  in  a  general  south- 
eastern course,  and  leaves  the  township  in 
Section  2.  Although  generally  a  quiet,  in- 
significant stream,  it  sometimes  overflows  its 
banks,  and  covers  the  bottom  land  for  a  mile 


HISTORY   OF   WAYNE   COUNTY. 


277 


each  side  of  the  creek.  In  Section  3, 
Brush  Creek  empties  into  Skillet  Fork. 
This  creek  has  its  head  in  Brush  Creek 
Township,  of  this  county,  and  flows  in  a 
southwesterly  course  until  its  conjunction 
with  Skillet  Fork.  Flowing  through  the 
southern  part  of  the  township  is  Horse 
Creek.  It  enters  the  township  from  Jeffer- 
son County  in  Section  31,  going  south  into 
Section  fi,  and  then  continues  in  an  easterly 
course  until  it  leaves  the  township  in  Sec- 
tion 3.  About  a  half  mile  south  of  the  town- 
ship lino.  Horse  Creek  empties  into  Skillet 
Fork.  The  first  bridge  in  the  township  was 
probably  built  about  1850.  It  was  across 
Skillet  Fork  on  the  old  Xenia  &  Fairfield 
road.  Since  that  time  that  bridge  has  given 
way  to  another,  that  in  turn  to  another,  and 
in  the  spring  of  1883  a  new  structure  was 
erected.  In  an  early  day  there  was  also  a 
bridge  built  across  Skillet  Fork,  where  the 
Fairfield  &  Xenia  road  crosses  it.  That 
also  rotted  away.  Two  others  were  afterward 
built,  but  they,  too.  have  been  carried  away, 
until  now  there  is  no  bridge  at  this  point  at 
all.  About  1870,  there  was  abridge  erected 
across  this  creek  on  the  Fairfield  &  Mount 
Vernon  road,  at  what  is  known  as  Rock 
Bluff. 

Owing  to  the  gnat  abundance  of  timber 
land  in  this  township  in  an  early  day.  there 
was  consequently  an  abundance  of  game, 
and  accordingly  the  first  settlers  in  the  con- 
linos  of  what  is  now  Hickory  Hill  Township 
were  hunters  and  trappers.  Probably  the 
first  settler  was  an  old  hunter  by  the  name  of 
James  Nees.  He  came  in  an  early  day  and 
\  settled  on  the  banks  of  Horse  Creek.  He 
built,  a  cabin  on  a  little  rising  knoll,  but  loft 
the  county  some  time  before  1830.  In  that 
year  some  later  settlors  discovered  the 
empty  cabin,  and  it  was  supposed  that  its 
lonely  occupant  had  gone  West.     About  1830, 


several  families  immigrated  to  this  township. 
About  the  first  to  come  was  Samuel  Carter, 
accompanied  by  his.two  step-sons.  Josiah  and 
Elijah  Blanchard.  They  were  from  Gray- 
son County,  Ky.,  and  pre-empted  land  in 
Section  21.  Carter  died  here  and  afterward 
the  Blanchards  emigrated  West.  Elijah  died 
in  Arkansas.  Josiah,  however,  is  now  liv- 
ing in  Colorado.  William  Ellis  was  another 
settler  that  came  that  year.  He  settled  in 
Section  7,  and  there  resided  until  his  death 
in  the  summer  of  1883.  He  raised  a  large 
family  of  children,  ten  of  whom,  five  sons 
and  five  daughters  are  now  living.  Mr.  El- 
lis, the  present  member  of  the  County  Board, 
in  this  county,  is  from  this  family.  The 
Gregorys  were  another  large  family  that 
came  to  this  township.  There  were  five 
brothers  of  them — Jacob,  Daniel,  Benjamin, 
Joseph  and  Absalom.  They  settled  in  the 
extreme  southwest  part  of  the  township — 
three  of  them  on  this  side  of  Horse  Creek, 
and  the  two  others  finally  settled  across  the 
line  in  Jefferson  County.  All  are  now  dead, 
but  there  is  a  numerous  family  of  their  de- 
scendants in  the  western  part  of  the  town- 
ship. Elijah  Harris  had  settled  in  the 
northern  part  of  the  county  some  years  prior 
to  this,  but  in  1830  he  removed  into  the 
township.  After  a  few  years'  residence  there, 
he  went  West,  whore  he  died.  The  year  after, 
Ashford  Keen  came  to  this  township  from 
Sumner  County,  Teun.,  and  settled  near  the 
present  site  of  Keenville  P.  O. ,  on  land  now 
owned  by  John  Webber.  Thore  he  died  in 
L835;  his  two  sons,  John  Keen,  Sr.,  and 
James  Koen,  are  still  living  and  are  now 
among  the  oldest  pioneers  in  the  county. 
William,  the  third  sou,  had  come  to  Marion 
County,  111.,  from  Tennessee,  in  1829,  but 
in  1831  came  to  this  county  and  settled  in 
this  township,  whero  he  resided  until  his 
death  on  December  7,  1881.     His  children, 


878 


HISTORY  OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


three  sons  and  four  daughters,  are  all  living 
in  the  county.  Soon  after  the  arrival  of  the 
Keen  family,  a  family  by  the  name  of  Gra- 
ham came  to  this  county,  but  they  first  set- 
tled in  the  edge  of  Arrington  Prairie.  This 
consisted  the  mother  and  a  large  family  of 
sons.  The  mother  died  in  Arrington  Town- 
ship, but  Josiah  Graham  came  to  this  town- 
ship in  1S30.  and  first  settled  in  Section  20. 
He  afterward  removed  onto  Section  13.  and 
there  lived  until  he  died. 

The  first  child  born  in  this  township  was 
William  Ellis,  a  son  of  William  Ellis,  al- 
ready referred  to.  He  was  born  either  in 
1831  or  1832.  The  first  death  of  which  any 
record  has  been  kept  was  that  of  Mrs.  Rebecca 
Carter,  wife  of  Samuel  Carter,  another  of  the 
early  pioneer  settlers.  She  died  in  1S37.  and 
was  buried  in  the  first  burying  ground  in  the 
county.  It  was  a  small  piece  of  ground,  and 
was  surrounded  by  ten  oak  posts.  From  that 
it  gained  its  name,  and  was  known  for  a  long 
time  as  "The  Ten  Post  Oaks."  It  is  said 
that  this  Mrs.  Carter  was  an  own  sister  of 
the  famous  Hartz  brothers,  of  Kentucky,  who 
in  an  early  day  were  companions  of  D  aniel 
Boone. 

The  first  marriage  was  that  of  a  young 
man  by  the  name  of  Edward  Millner  to  Miss 
Rebecca  Carter,  a  daughter  of  Mrs.  Carter, 
already  mentioned.  The  twain  lived  in  this 
county  for  a  few  years,  and  then  went  West. 

Early  Incidents. — As  we  remarked  above, 
the  great  growth  of  timber  in  the  township 
furnished  secure  hiding  places  for  all  kinds 
of  game.  The  numerous  fur -bearing  ani- 
mals that  were  so  much  sought  after  in  those 
days  were  especially  abundant.  The  first 
settlers  that  came  found  the  game  to  be  un- 
limited, and  spread  the  news.  The  first 
comers  only  proved  forerunners  to  many, 
many  more  trappers  that  soon  flocked  to  this 
township.     It  was  not    long   before  several 


Eastern  fur  companies  had  agents  in  this  part 
of  the  county.  Among  the  most  noteworthy 
and  most  prominent  of  these  fur  agents  and 
trappers  was  John  Keen.  Sr.,  now  an  old 
and  retired  farmer,  but  in  those  days  one 
of  the  most  daring  of  the  many  brave  and 
courageous  men.  The  company  of  whom  he 
was  the  representative  gave  him  unlimited 
sway  over  several  counties  in  this  part  of  the 
State.  About  two-thirds  of  the  time  he  was 
on  the  road,  and  no  matter  what  kind  of 
weather  it  was,  or  how  high  the  streams  were, 
he  never  stopped  in  his  travels.  So  fearless, 
indeed,  was  he,  that  he  soon  gained  a  name 
for  himself  far  and  wide.  He  was  a  famous 
swimmer,  and  both  summer  and  winter  he 
was  in  the  habit  of  swimming  fearlessly  the 
largest  and  most  dangerous  streams  along 
his  route.  In  fact,  he  performed  so  many 
perilous  feats  that  he  was  given  the  sobri- 
quet of  "  Sumter "  Keen,  and  this  title  has 
clung  to  him  ever  since. 

So  plentiful  did  the  game  continue  to  be 
that  for  a  number  of  years  no  attention  was 
paid  to  anything  else  besides  hunting  and 
trapping,  and  it  was  not  until  about  1^40 
that  the  first  ground  was  broken,  and  then 
only  corn  was  planted.  Not  until  about 
■  i  '  did  the  settlers  finally  turn  from  the  pur- 
suit of  the  deer,  bear  and  other  animals  and 
give  their  attention  to  the  tilling  of  the  soil. 
The  large  trees  in  an  early  day  also  formed  a 
home  for  the  wild  bees,  and  at  one  time  al- 
most as  much  attention  was  paid  to  the  gath- 
ering of  the  wild  honey  as  to  trapping  and 
hunting.  Indeed  this  honey  was  one  of  the 
principal  articles  of  commodities  among 
these  early  pioneers;  and  upon  what  was 
considered  good  bee  days  the  woods  would 
be  filled  with  both  men  and  women,  who 
hunted  both  far  and  wide  for  this  deli 
-  _reat.  it  is  said,  was  the  desire  to  gather 
this  honev.  bv  both  great  and  small,  th;.'    it 


I  of   a  good  old   preacher  th&:    in 
mak:i_-    m   appointment  upon  one  "wm« 

he  saii.  "  Brether. :. _■  -:~r.Z-z — Pr:  —  - 

denee  permitriEg.   I    nil]  be  —  one 

month  from  to-day  providing  it  is  Dot  a  good 
bee  d 

The  rrrt  road  to  be  surreyed  or  rn»Ha 
through  this  township  was  the  old  ft»lcm 
k  Fairfeld  road,      is  et:.  there 

was  a  blazed  path  through  the  timber.  It 
entered  the  township  and 

crossed  B  Sedan  where  a 

bridge  w.-  Frr-rr-Iinz  ir  =. 

northwesterly  coarse,  it  lefl 
-        m  6.       As   early  as      -■'    •'-_ ere 

■    '■     ■'-    -:>:!.:;    '.    :_  Id: L- ;.;_-.:;     :,; 
--        ■  -  - 

— -'  •  i  ~"-~  — "  I:  rir  t  - -._,  :  tie  ;li 
town  of  Keen-rille.  and  over  it  a  mail  and 
stage  line  SO.      Tie 

first  road  from  Fairfield  to  lit.  Vernon 
originalir   ran  about   a  half  mile  sooth  of 

-- 
surveyed  through    this   township,    and    the 
latter  road  is  now  the   main  Fairfield  k.  Mr. 

inroad.      It  enter-  ship  on  the 

section  line    between   the  Sections  24    and 

.    --     _   - 
of  Sectic  a  .  i  new  bri  Is 

beet 

:n  line  between   Sections   30 

- 
■     - 

to  the  mill,  sometimes  two  wh:  ^-ere 

;    -■ "-—-".  :_  r    _g  and  coming  amdingrind- 

erhaps  a  single  bushel  of  eon. 
time  between  1S40  and  1S50.  a  man  b-. 
name  of   - 
first  horse  mill   ever  used  in    Hici 


' 


■"    ■    _• 


■ 


"~— .  .  -_ 


-..-■■-    :  ..-■-- 
-  -  Ties-     nei    s:    i     :U~J 

inter  -  — .-ill  to  Keen  & 

-    -"     '  "    '■  -     ~  :;;:   : 

As  earb 


---■:■:  :-  :li:  p  -.::     :   -_- 

:  J  ■--.  -.L:  hi:  :i~   ::-■ 

-     :-i         I:    >"    .   h-    ;::■ 


- 


— -"-      -"  •  '..-_--  -   ■-.:  :_i:    ;■  .-:. 

-■ 
.   1889.      In  that  rem 

-"    "        "        •     '■'-:       W     ..  .:.  - 
appointed  Postmaster. 


280 


HISTORY    OF  WAYNE  COUNTY. 


Mr.  Williams  took  his  stock  of  goods  to  I 
Keen's  Station,  in  Four  Mile  Township.  Al- 
though the  town  was  never  laid  out,  the 
neighborhood  in  the  vicinity  of  Mr.  Keen's 
residence  still  bears  the  name  of  Keenville. 
In  1881,  the  post  office  was,  however,  moved  a 
mile  south  of  the  old  location,  where  Mr.  A. 
F.  Atteberry  is  now  running  a  store.  The 
mail  is  now  brought  by  carrier  twice  a  week 
from  Xenia  via  Keenville,  to  Keen's  Station- 
Besides  the  store  of  Mr.  Atteberry,  there  is 
one  in  the  southeast  part  of  the  township, 
near  the  conjunction  of  Horse  Creek  with 
Skillet  Fork,  near  the  Fairfield  &  Mt. 
Vernon  road.  Business  has  been  carried  on 
there  since  1880  by  a  James  Crask. 

Schools. — In  a  very  early  day  there  were  a 
few  subscription  schools  held  at  some  of  the 
farmhouses  in  the  township.  But  the  first 
schoolhouse  was  built  as  early  as  1845,  in 
Section  29.  It  was  of  hewn  logs,  with 
puncheon  floors,  and  was  erected  by  the  peo- 
ple of  the  neighborhood  on  land  donated  by 
Harvey  Braddy.  It  was  eighteen  feet  wide 
by  twenty  feet  long,  and  was  built  by  plans 
furnished  by  J.  B.  Bozarth.  School  was  held 
in  this  building  every  season  until  1879, 
when  the  building  finally  burned.  Among 
the  persons  who  taught  there  were  Asa  F. 
Atteberry,  A.  K.  Atteberry  and  T.  M.  Atte- 
berry. A  short  time  before  the  building 
burned  it  was  decided  to  divide  the  district, 
as  the  school  was  becoming  large.  In  con- 
sequence, after  the  fire  it  was  decided  to  erect 
two  buildings.  Accordingly,  one  building 
was  erected  in  Section  28,  on  land  donated 
by  Stout  Atteberry.  It  was  a  frame  build- 
ing, 24x36,  and  cost  when  completed  about 
$650.  At  present  the  enrollment  of  the  dis- 
trict is  about  sixty,  with  a  general  attendence 
of  about  forty.     At    the   same   time   another 


building  of  about  the  same  size  and  about 
the  same  cost  was  erected  on  land  donated  by 
Albert  Gregory.  The  enrollment  of  that 
school  is  about  the  same  as  the  other.  Be- 
sides these  two  schools,  there  are  two  others 
— one  near  the  eastern  edge  of  the  township, 
and  another  near  the  north  line  of  the  town- 
ship, close  to  Brush  Creek. 

Lilly  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. — It  has 
been  a  matter  of  considerable  difficulty  to 
obtain  sufficient  data  concerning  the  history 
of  the  churches  of  this  township.  That  there 
was  preaching  on  stated  occasions  in  the 
township  in  an  early  day  is  an  authenticated 
fact,  but  where  and  by  whom  is  not  so  easy 
to  ascertain.  Some  years  ago,  what  is  known 
as  the  Lilly  charge  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church  was  organized.  Its  first  mem- 
bers were  Elsberry  Gregory,  Samuel  Garri- 
son, William  McCoy  and  family,  and  a  Mrs. 
Walters.  At  present  the  membership  is 
about  fifteen.  The  first  place  of  meeting  of 
this  organization  was  in  the  old  log  school- 
house  in  District  No.  2,  and  afterward  in  the 
west  frame  schoolhouse  of  that  district.  In  the 
summer  of  1883,  it  was  decided  that  the  so- 
ciety erect  a  building  of  its  own.  This  idea 
was  put  into  effect,  and  subsequently  a  struct- 
ure, 24x36,  was  built  at  a  cost  of  about  $600. 
In  this  place  of  worship  services  are  now 
held  on  stated  occasions. 

Sunday  School. — The  first  Sunday  school 
in  the  township  was  organized  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1877.  It  was  held  under  the  auspices 
of  the  Methodist  denomination  in  School- 
house  No.  2.  During  the  summer  the  at- 
tendance was  on  an  average  about  fifty.  At 
the  beginning  of  the  cold  season,  the  school 
was  disbanded,  and  has  since  then  not  been 
re-organized. 


PART  II. 


+-«■§*-*- 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY  COUNTY, 


PART    II 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


CHAPTER     I 


AN   INTERESTING   CHAPTER    AS   WELL   AS    MUCH     INFORMATION— PRACTICAL    QUESTIONS   CON- 
SIDERED—SOME IDEAS  ON  EDUCATION— HOW  FARMERS  MAY  BECOME  THE  FIRST  PEOPLE 
IN  THE  WORLD- WONDERFUL  THINGS  FROM   THE  SOIL— ROCKS,   SOIL   AND   THE 
N  \TURAL  PRODUCTS  OF  THE  COUNTY— COAL  AND  MINERAL  SPRINGS— ETC. 


IT  is  the  purpose  and  object  of  this  chap- 
ter to  make  it  of  more  money  value  to 
our  patrons  than  the  cost  of  the  book.  We 
sincerely  believe  that  if  the  writer  succeeds 
in  his  purpose — reaching  properly  the  under- 
standing of  his  readers — that  we  will  not 
only  here  repay  the  outlay  of  the  work,  but 
give  benefit  that  will  be  many  times  such 
values,  and  that  will  be  permanent  and  last 
ing  and  continuously  increasing. 

The  question  of  paramount  and  supreme 
interest  to  all  civilized  men  is  that  of  the 
soil  and  climate  in  that  particular  section  in 
which  tbey  pass  th6ir  lives.  Is  this  assertion 
startling?  It  is  true,  not  only  in  a  temporal 
sense,  but  in  those  highest  types  of  thought 
that  pertain  to  a  future  existence,  a  heaven 
and  God. 

From  the  soil  comos  all  life,  all  beauty, 
pleasure,  wealth  and  enjoyment.  Of  itself 
it  may  not  be  beautiful,  but  from  it  comes 
all  beauty,  all  good;  the  golden  fields,  the 
fragrant  flower,  the  blush  upon  a  maiden's 
cheek,  the  flash  of  the  lustrous  eye,  that  is 
more  powerful  to  subdue  obdurate  man  than 
an  army  with  banners.  From  it  direct  springs 
up  the  great  cities,  whose  temples  and  mina- 


rets glisten  in  the  morning  sun,  and  whose 
ships  with  their  precious  cargoes  fleck 
every  sea — the  sigh  of  first  and  passionate 
love  and  the  smoke  and  roar  of  the  wheels 
and  paddles  of  the  world's  commerce— the 
bird  singing  and  swinging  upon  the  limb, 
and  the  rippling  laughter  of  blessed,  inno- 
cent childhood.  The  rich  draught  from  the 
old  oaken  bucket,  and  the  far  richer  and 
deeper  draughts  from  Shakespeare.  The  very 
intelligence  that  beams  its  love  upon  your 
entranced  soul  from  the  eyes  of  your  child, 
as  well  as  the  bread  and  meat  upon  which  it 
lives  to  spread  your  pathway  with  the  high- 
est joy  of  life.  In  short,  upon  the  geological 
structure  of  a  country  depends  the  pursuits 
of  its  people  (not  on  this  or  that  circumstance, 
as  the  world  has  foolishly  supposed)  as  well 
as  the  very  genius  of  its  people,  nay,  its 
morality  and  its  religion,  and  there  is  noth- 
ing about  civilization  that  does  not  spring 
directly  from  the  rocks  and  the  soil.  Agricult- 
ure is  the  outgrowth  of  a  fertile  soil.  Mining 
results  from  the  mineral  resources,  and  from 
the  waters  come  the  great  navies  and  the 
world's  commerce.  Men  who  have  studied 
the  varied  and  wonderful   force  and  the  al- 


284 


HISTORY    OF  CLAY    COUNTY. 


most  supreme  power  of  heat  in  the  economy 
of  the  universe,  have  been  free  to  say  that 
they  blame  the  ancient  sun-worshipers  but 
very  little  for  their  faith.  But  had  the  an- 
cients understood  geology,  they  would  have 
had  a  much  more  rational  worship  at  their 
feet  instead  of  the  sun  and  its  many  millions 
of  miles  away,  with  all  its  intense  and  con- 
suming heat.  A  god  whose  ability  to  con- 
sume is  such  that  could  a  million  of  his  live 
worshipers  have  been  bundled  into  one  bun- 
dle as  a  sheaf  of  wheat,  and  thrown  at  the 
face  of  their  deity,  before  the  vast  body  of 
human  life  could  have  touched  the  sun's 
face,  it  would  have  been  burned  into  the 
original  gases,  not  leaving  even  a  speck  of 
ashes.  Yet  heat  in  the  economy  of  the  uni- 
verse is  the  chief  factor,  and  at  the  distance 
of  95,000,000  of  miles  it  is  the  source  of 
life,  with  its  genial  rays  and  its  vast  labora- 
tory that  it  puts  to  work  upon'  the  rocks,  and 
our  rivers,  seas  and  oceans,  unlocking  as  it 
has  the  secret  wealth  and  glory  of  this  world 
and  forming  and  fashioning  it  as  we  now 
possess  it  to  enjoy. 

Every  phase  of  life,  and  the  very  modes 
of  thought  of  every  people  that  has  ever 
lived,  has  depended  upon  the  geological  and 
climatic  structure  of  their  country.  If  these 
control  their  phases  of  life  and  modes  of 
thought,  then  there  is  no  question  but  that 
it  creates  and  directs  their  moral  and  intel- 
lectual qualities.  Where  the  soil  and  sub- 
jacent rocks  and  climate  are  profuse  in  the 
bestowal  of  wealth,  man  is  indolent  and 
effeminate;  where  effort  is  essential  to  life, 
he  becomes  enlightened  and  virtuous.  A 
perpetually  mild  climate,  and  fruits  and  even 
bread  is  found  growing  upon  the  trees,  the 
country  will  produce  only  ignorant  and 
brutal  savages.  In  the  Sandwich  Islands  the 
soil  will  produce  enough  poi  to  subsist  an 
average  family,  on  a  piece  of  ground  twelve 


feet  square,  and  hence  hundreds  of  years' 
contact  with  civilization  has  left  them  to-day 
the  same  ignorant,  lascivious  breeders  of  timid 
savages  and  lepers  that  were  found  there  when 
Capt.  Cook  landed  his  vessel  at  the  island. 
South  America  is  so  rich  in  nature's  gifts 
that  it  is  simply  uninhabitable.  Sailing 
along  the  treacherous  shores  of  this  immense 
country,  the  eye  of  all  navigators  has  been 
struck  with  its  rich  beauties,  its  majestic 
rivers,  the  sweep  of  its  hills  and  its  vast 
savannas,  its  immense  forests  and  beds  of 
flowers — the  forests  so  dense,  the  foliage  so 
luxuriant,  that  it  resembled  the  rolling  sweep 
of  one  of  our  prairies,  and  tilled  with  birds 
of  song  and  beauty;  and  perched  perhaps 
upon  the  tips  of  the  tallest  trees  sat  the  birds 
of  paradise,  fitting  jewels  of  nature's  master- 
pieces, to  cap  and  crown  the  entrancing 
scene.  If  you  could  penetrate  on  down  from 
this  view,  you  would  find  that  life  increased 
every  inch  you  went,  but  it  is  all  deadly  life 
that  is  fittingly  represented  by  the  striped 
panther  and  the  snake  spotted  with  deadly 
beauty — these  standing  at  the  head  of  the 
column,  down  to  the  deadly  parasite  that 
swarms  and  creeps  in  its  innumerable  armies 
over  and  around  and  through  all  this  world 
of  havoc  and  death.  It  is  all  death  and 
destruction,  simply  because  of  its  endless 
profusion  of  nature's  bounties. 

The  heaviest  misfortune  that  has  so  long 
environed  poor,  persecuted  Ireland,  and  not 
so  much  her  want  of  representation  or  even 
a  separate  Government,  has  been  her  ability 
to  produce  in  such  great  abundance  the  pota- 
to. The  yield  is  so  enormous  per  acre, 
and  this,  coupled  with  the  other  fact,  that 
like  the  poi  of  the  Sandwich  Islands,  the 
potato  alone  will  keep  life  in  the  body, 
without  anything  else,  for  a  long  time,  if 
not  indefinitely,  is  the  secret  of  the  woes  of 
her  people.      This   makes  a  people  hopeless 


HISTORY   OF   CLAY   COUNTY. 


2S5 


bondsmen,  and  prevents  them  entering  the 
great  avenues  of  commerce  and  trade,  the 
two  great  civilizers  of  all  half-enlightened 
people. 

The  Islander  cannot  export  his  poi,  but 
must  eat  it  at  home  and  go  naked  and  be  a 
savage.  The  Irishman  cannot  export  his 
potato,  and  he  to-day  would  bo  worse  off 
than  the  Islanders  were  it  not  true  that  he 
can  and  has  produced  other  industries  that 
would  furnish  a  nucleus  for  the  world's  com- 
merce. 

And  thus  it  is  all  over  the  world.  The 
soil,  the  subjacent  rocks  and  the  climate  rule 
imperiously  and  mako  and  unmake  all  civil- 
izations. 

There  is  another  fact  the  reader  should 
think  of  and  boar  in  mind,  namely,  it  is  only 
a  certain  zone  or  belt  spanning  around  the 
world,  and  not  a  very  wide  belt  either,  from 
which  alone  have  come  any  of  the  world's 
truly  great  men.  The  equator  never  has 
produced  one,  nor  have  the  arctics.  And  a 
most  extraordinary  fact  is  that  the  half  of 
the  world  south  of  the  equator  has  produced 
nothing,  and  in  the  world's  history  has  been 
nothing.  The  isothermal  lines  must  be  remem- 
bered when  it  is  answered  that  it  is  impossible 
to  fix  that  belt  exactly.  Yet  the  belt  is  there, 
has  been  there,  and  so  far  as  can  know,  will 
remain  unalterable  forever. 

When  we  speak  of  a  groat  man,  we  do  not 
mean  a  great  warrier,  prize  fighter,  ruler  or 
king,  who  may  have  gone  into  history  as 
great,  or  the  grand  monarch,  when  for  the 
world's  good  they  should  have  been  strangled 
in  their  cradles.  For  such  men  cannot  be 
great.  But  we  mean  some  man  who  has 
thought  out  or  done  something  that  has  ad- 
vanced civilization,  whose  life  has  been  a 
real  blessing  and  whose  good  works  will 
endure  to  bless  man  forever. 

The  man  who  conceived  the  idea  of  putting 


the  eye  of  the  needle  in  the  point  is  a  man 
that  deserves  a  rich  immortality.  He  did 
more  for  the  human  family  than  all  the  war- 
riors, lawyers,  teachers  and  preachers,  who 
were  only  and  exclusively  such,  that  have 
ever  lived.  And  the  beauty  of  his  thought 
was.it  cannot  be  lost  to  the  world,  for  it  only 
grows  and  widens  its  benefits  and  will  reach 
all  mankind  and  then  be  ready  for  still 
greater  blessings  for  all  the  unborn  genera- 
tions. The  spinning  jenny  had  just  boon  or 
was  about  to  bo  ushered  into  existence,  and 
if  we  believed  in  Providential  interferences, 
we  would  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that 
the  Great  iluler  sent  His  special  messenger  to 
start  upon  its  way  the  idea  that  resulted  in 
the  sewing  machine. 

A  geologist  of  sufficient  intelligence  to 
philosophically  comprehend  the  full  import 
of  his  profession,  can  examine  the  soil  and 
rocks  of  a  country,  and  foretell  precisely  the 
remotest  future  of  its  people,  and  the  stand- 
ard and  type  of  their  civilization.  He  can 
foresee  their  wants  and  their  modes  of  sup- 
plying those  wants.  What  we  would  impress 
by  this  is  the  fact  that  geology  is  one  of  the 
greatest  practical  subjects  in  tho  world.  It 
is  full  of  knowledge,  every  iota  of  which  is 
ripe  wisdom  and  possesses  a  moneyed  value. 

When  Agassiz  was  approached  by  some 
gentlemen  and  questioned  as  to  some  of  the 
conditions  for  a  locality  for  breeding  a 
superior  horse,  simply  answered:  "Gentle- 
men, it  is  a  question  of  rocks."  It  was  a 
certain  rock  formation  that  gave  off  and  pro- 
duced the  Blue  Grass  Region  of  Kentucky, 
and  here,  until  a  similar  or  superior  spot  is 
found,  is  the  home  of  the  fine  horse.  That 
entire  region  is  underlaid  with  a  peculiar 
formation  of  limestone,  and  the  intelligent 
geologist  may  be  able  to  find  whole  sections 
and  innumerable  places  where  he  may  be 
enabled  to  say:     "Here  raise  your  horso." 


286 


HISTORY   OF   CLAY  COUNTY. 


If  geology  teaches  you  all  about  raising 
fine  horses,  may  it  stop  there  and  be  able  to 
tell  you  nothing  about  pumpkins  and 
splendid  women,  hay,  apples,  peaches  or  the 
finest  physical  people  in  the  world.  Blind 
chance  has  ruled  the  world,  and  afflicted  men, 
too,  long  enough.  Let  the  one  subject,  that 
will  better  educate  the  people  than  all  the 
schools  and  colleges  in  the  world,  come  to  be 
universally  understood,  and  as  sure  as  fate 
it  will  lift  up  communities  and  even  the 
greatest  of  peoples  more  than  all  else. 

And  a  word  here  upon  that  vital  subject  of 
education  will  not  be  out  of  place,  because  it 
is  a  natural  sequence  to  what  we  have  said 
above. 

Education  should  be  eminently  practical, 
but  for  seventeen  hundred  years  the  one  idea 
has  prevailed  to  rind  teachers  who  knew  the 
miserable  text  books  best,  but  who  seldom  or 
never  knew  anything  else,  and  now  the 
best  men  in  the  land  are  constantly 
asking,  "  Does  education  educate  ?  "  And 
the  astounding  fact  is,  that  not  one 
single  man  of  erudition  has  answered 
this  carping  inquiry  in  the  affirmative,  ex- 
cept it  be  a  school  teacher.  We  are  not  go- 
ing here  to  argue  the  great  question,  but  to 
present  to  the  school  men  a  practical  idea,  we 
think,  which  we  ask  them  at  least  to  consider. 
When  children  are  shut  up  in  a  school  room, 
that  very  fact  has  deprived  them  of  one  of 
nature's  best  weapons  for  the  mind.  The 
playful  gamboling  and  varied  movements 
which  are  so  characteristic  of  the  young  of 
all  animals,  man  not  excepted,  and  which  are 
at  once  so  pleasing  and  attractive,  might  have 
taught  us  that  activity  of  feeling  and  affec- 
tion, and  sprightliness  of  mind,  are  intended 
by  nature  to  be  the  source  and  accompani- 
ments of  healthful  and  invigorating  muscular 
exercise;  and  that  the  system  of  bodily  con- 
finement and  mental  cultivation,  now  so  much 


in  vogue,  is  calculated  to  inflict  lasting  in- 
jury on  all  who  are  subjected  to  its  restraints. 
Muscular  or  mental  growth  and  development 
can  only  come  of  active  nervous  and  mental 
stimulus.  To  walk,  for  instance,  under  an 
order  from  the  teacher,  with  no  wish,  pur- 
pose nor  stimulus  from  the  mind  in  view,  is 
tiresome  drudgery,  and  had  better  be  omitted. 
Hence  the  superiority,  as  exercises  for  the 
young,  of  social  and  inspiriting  games,  which, 
by  their  joyous  and  boisterous  mirth,  call  for 
the  requisite  nervous  stimulus  to  put  the 
muscles  into  vigorous  and  varied  action,  and 
hence  the  dull  walk  or  the  duller  drumming 
in  the  room  are  each  in  open  defiance  of  that 
law  of  nature,  that  from  the  muscles  to  the 
brain,  and  from  the  brain  to  the  muscles, 
there  must  run  that  nervous  stimulus,  or 
neither  will  do  its  work  well.  Without 
buoyancy  of  spirit  the  mind  will  drag,  and  so 
will  the  body,  and  it  is  passing  strange  that 
this  idea  has  not  suggested  the  experiment  to 
some  community  in  the  world  to  hire  a 
teacher  to  play  with  the  children,  and  sub- 
stitute him  for  one  term  for  the  stern,  great 
man  of  the  birch  and  ferule.  Now  we  have 
no  hesitation  in  the  assertion  that  this  pas- 
time could  be  found,  with  all  its  healthy  men- 
tal and  physical  stimulus  in  rambles  and  ex- 
cursions, in  which  the  teachers  would  be  the 
mere  jolly  companion  of  the  class,  and  in 
this  way  every  pupil  may  be  made  a  fair  bot- 
anist, geologist,  and  have  at  the  same  time  a 
reasonable  smattering  of  the  rudiments  of 
natural  history.  Such  a  teacher  would  train 
mind  and  body  at  the  same  time,  unconscious 
though  he  might  be  of  it.  About  the  only 
use  that  should  ever  be  made  of  the  school 
room  would  be  to  make  a  kind  of  meeting 
place  of  it.  Two  years  of  such  education, 
running  the  terms  as  the  schools  do  now,  un- 
der a  competent  practical  teacher,  would 
startle  the  world  with  the   grand  idea   of  a 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


287 


new  invention  at  last  in  the  science  of  school- 
teaching. 

The  corner-stone  upon  which  nearly  all  of 
life  rests  is  the  farmer,  who  tickles  the  earth, 
and  it  laughs  with  the  rich  harvests  that  so 
bountifully  bless  mankind  To  him  espe- 
cially is  a  knowledge  of  the  soil  the  very  first 
consideration  in  life.  Vile  demagogues  talk 
about  the  "  honest  farmer,"  the  intelligent 
farmer,  and  tell  him  he  is  the  greatest  man 
in  the  world.  Such  stuff  is  an  insult  to  every 
intelligent  farmer  in  the  land.  To  catch  his 
votes  does  he  throw  him  this  slush,  and  per- 
haps when  in  the  Legislature,  in  order  to 
feed  his  henchmen  and  bummers  at  the  pub- 
lic crib,  he  may  pass  some  swindling  State 
Industrial  School  bill.  This  talk  of  educat- 
ing the  farmer  simply  means  to  rob  him  and 
have  him  send  his  boys  to  college,  where  they 
may  return  as  graduates,  more  ignorant  really 
than  when  they  left  home;  their  only  acquire- 
ment generally  is  to  be  unfitted  for  being  a 
farmer,  and  he  starts  to  town  to  look  out  a 
situation.  That  boy  has  been  cruelly  wronged, 
and  the  chances  are  one  in  three  his  whole 
life  has  been  wrecked.  The  farmer  grows  to 
be  an  old  man,  and  ho  will  tell  you  that  he 
has  learned  to  be  a  good  farmer  only  by  a  life 
of  patient  toil,  experiments,  and  many  and  se- 
rious disappointments.  And  if  you  should  tell 
him  that  these  experiments  had  made  him  a 
scientific  farmor,  he  would  think  you  were 
poking  fun  at  him.  He  tells  you,  porhaps, 
he  was  reared  poor,  and  had  no  advantages 
of  education.  If  he  was  reared  on  a  farm — 
especially  under  the  eye  of  an  intelligent 
father  or  guardian — we  would  not  hesitate  to 
tell  him  that  the  luck  of  his  life  was  that  he 
was  too  poor  in  youth  to  go  to  college.- 

Suppose  that  in  his  youth  a  well-digested 
chapter  on  the  geological  history,  that  would 
have  told  him  in  tho  simplest  terms  all  about 
the  land  he  was  to  cultivate,  how  invaluable 


the  lesson  would  have  been,  and  how  much  in 
money  value  it  would  have  proved  to  him. 
In  other  words,  if  you  could  give  your  boys 
a  practical  education,  made  up  of  a  few  les- 
sous  pertaining  to  those  subjects  that  im- 
mediately concern  their  lives,  how  invaluable 
such  an  education  might  be,  and  how  many 
men  would  be  saved  the  pangs  and  penalties 
of  ill-directed  lives. 

The  parents  often  spend  much  money  in 
the  education  of  their  children,  and  from  this 
they  build  great  hopes  upon  their  future  that 
are  often  blasted,  not  through  the  fault, 
always,  of  the  child,  but  through  the  error 
of  the  parent  in  not  being  able  to  know  in 
what  real  practical  education  consists.  If 
the  schools  of  the  country,  for  instance,  could 
devote  one  of  the  school  months  in  each  yean 
to  rambling  over  the  hills  and  the  fields,  and 
gathering  practical  lessons  in  the  geology 
and  botany  of  the  section  of  country  in 
which  the  children  were  born  and  reared, 
how  incomparably  more  valuable  and  useful 
the  time  thus  spent  would  be  to  them  in  after 
life  than  would  the  present  mode  of  shutting 
out  the  sunshine  of  life,  and  spending  both 
life  and  vitality  in  studying  metaphysical 
mathematics,  or  the  most  of  the  other  text- 
books that  impart  nothing  that  is  worth  the 
carrying  home  to  the  child's  stock  of  knowl- 
edge. At  all  events,  the  chapter  in  the 
county's  history,  or  in  the  history  of  any 
community  or  country,  that  tells  its  geolog- 
ical formation,  is  of  first  importance  to  all  its 
people,  and  if  properly  prepared  it  will  be- 
come a  source  of  great  interest  to  all,  and  do 
much  to  disseminate  a  better  education 
among  tho  people,  and  thus  be  a  perpetual 
blessing  to  the  community. 

Tho  permanent  effects  of  the  soil  on  the 
people  are  as  strong  and  certain  as  they  are 
upon  the  vegetation  that  springs  from  it.  It  is 
a  maxim  in  geology  that  the  soil  and  its  under- 


283 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY   COUNTY. 


lying  rocks  forecast  unerringly  to  the  trained 
eye  the  character  of  the  people,  the  number 
and  the  quality  and  the  civilization  of  those 
who  will,  in  the  coming  time,  occupy  it.  Indeed, 
so  close  are  the  relations  of  the  geology  and 
the  people  that  this  law  is  plain  and  fixed, 
that  a  new  country  may  have  its  outlines  of 
history  written  when  first  looked  upon;  and 
it  is  not,  as  so  many  suppose,  one  of  those 
deep,  abstruse  subjects  that  are  to  be  given 
over  solely  to  a  few  great  investigators  and 
thinkers,  and  to  the  masses  must  forever 
remain  a  sealed  book. 

Geology  traces  the  history  of  the  earth 
back  through  successive  stages  of  develop- 
ment to  its  rudimental  condition  in  a  state  of 
fusion.  The  sun,  and  the  planetary  system 
that  revolves  around  it,  were  originally  a 
common  mass,  that  became  separated  in  a 
gaseous  state,  and  the  loss  of  heat  in  a  planet 
reduced  it  to  a  plastic  state,  and  thus  it  com- 
menced to  write  its  own  history,  and  place 
its  records  upon  these  imperishable  books, 
where  the  geologist  may  go  and  read  the 
strange,  eventful  story.  The  earth  was  a 
wheeling  ball  of  lire,  and  the  cooling  event- 
ually formed  the  exterior  crust,  and  in  the 
slow  process  of  time  prepared  the  way  for 
the  animal  and  vegetable  life  it  now  contains. 
In  its  center,  the  fierce  flames  still  rage  with 
undiminished  energy.  Volcanoes  are  outlets 
for  these  deep-seated  fires,  where  are  gen- 
erated those  tremendous  forces,  an  illustra- 
tion of  which  is  given  in  the  eruptions  of 
Vesuvius,  which  has  thrown  a  jet  of  lava, 
resembling  a  column  of  flame,  10,000  feet 
high.  The  amount  of  lava  ejected  at  a  sin- 
gle eruption  from  one  of  the  volcanoes  of 
Iceland  has  been  estimated  at  40,000,000,000 
tons,  a  quantity  sufficient  to  cover  a  large 
city  with  a  mountain  as  high  as  the  tallest 
Alps.  Our  world  is  yet  congealing,  just  as 
the  process  has  been  constantly  going  on  for 


billions  of  years,  and  yet  the  rocky  crust  that 
rests  upon  this  internal  lire  is  estimated  to 
be  only  between  thirty  and  forty  miles  in 
thickness.  In  the  silent  depths  of  the 
stratified  rocks  are  the  former  creation  of 
plants  and  animals,  which  lived  and  died 
during  the  slow,  dragging  centuries  of  their 
formation.  These  fossil  remains  are  frag- 
ments of  history,  which  enable  the  geologist 
to  extend  his  researches  far  back  into  the 
realms  of  the  past,  and  not  only  determine 
their  former  modes  of  life,  but  study  the 
contemporaneous  history  of  their  rocky  beds, 
and  group  them  into  systems.  And  such  has 
been  the  profusion  of  life,  that  the  great 
limestone  formations  of  the  globe  consists 
mostly  of  animal  remains,  cemented  by  the 
infusion  of  animal  matter.  A  large  part  of 
the  soil  spread  over  the  earth's  surface  has 
been  elaborated  in  animal  organism.  First, 
as  nourishment,  it  enters  into  the  structure 
of  plants,  and  forms  vegetable  tissue;  pass- 
ing thence,  as  food,  into  the  animal,  it  be- 
comes endowed  with  life,  and  when  death 
occurs  it  returns  into  the  soil  and  imparts  to 
it  additional  elements  of  fertility. 

The  realization  of  great  defects  in  the 
education  of  our  young  farmers  and  of  their 
losses  and  disappointments,  and  even  dis- 
asters, in  the  pursuit  of  their  occupation  of 
tilling  the  earth,  that  come  of  their  neglect 
in  early  education  and  training,  prompts  us 
to  present  a  subject  that  many  of  our  readers 
without  investigating,  may  consider  dry  and 
uninteresting.  The  views  of  the  writer  are 
not  wholly  those  of  the  visionary  enthusiast, 
nor  are  they  the  mere  theories  drawn  from 
books.  Born  and  reared  on  a  farm,  with 
nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century's  experience  in 
tilling  the  soil,  qualities  him  to  tell,  not  so 
confidently,  but  with  nearly  the  facility  of 
H.  Greeley,  of  what  "I know  about  farming." 
The  supreme  subject  is  how  to  get  a  practi- 


I1ISIOKV    OF   CLAY    COUNTY. 


289 


eal,  real  education;  how  to  fit  our  youths  for 
the  great  struggle  of  life  that  is  before  them. 

That  the  reader  may  gather  some  idea  of 
the  first  lesson  of  the  rocks,  and  in  the  hope 
it  may  stimulate  him  to  look  further  into 
this  simple  but  sublime  subject,  we  give  in 
their  order  the  different  groups  and  systems 
in  the  plainest  and  simplest  form  we  can 
present  them,  as  gathered  from  the  geolo- 
gists. We  only  deem  it  necessary  to  explain 
that  all  rocks  are  either  igneous  or  stratified, 
the  former  meaning  melted  by  fire,  and  the 
latter  sediment  deposited  in  water.  Their 
order,  commencing  with  the  lowest  stratified 
rocks  and  ascending,  are  as  follows: 

The  Laurentian  system  is  the  lowest  and 
oldest  of  the  stratified  rocks.  From  the 
effects  of  great  heat,  it  has  assumed,  to  some 
extent,  the  character  of  the  igneous  rocks 
below,  but  still  retains  its  original  lines  of 
stratification.  A  principal  effect  of  the  great 
heat  to  which  its  rocks  were  exposed  is  crys- 
tallization. The  Laurentian  system  was  for- 
merly believed  to  be  destitute  of  organic  re- 
mains, but  recent  investigations  have  led  to 
the  discovery  of  animals,  so  low  in  the  scale 
of  organization  as  to  be  regarded  as  the  first 
appearance  of  sentient  existence.  This  dis- 
covery, as  it  extends  the  origin  of  life  back- 
ward through  30j000  feet  of  strata,  maybe 
regarded  as  one  of  the  most  important  ad- 
vances made  in  American  geology. 

The  Huronian  system,  like  the  one  that 
precedes  it,  and  on  which  it  rests,  is  highly 
crystalline.  Although  fossils  have  not  been 
found  in  it.  yet  from  it^  position,  the  infer- 
ence is  they  once  existed,  and  if  they  do  not 
now,  the  great  transforming  power  of  heat 
has  caused  their  obliteration.  This,  and  the 
subjacent  system,  extend  from  Labrador 
southwesterly  to  the  great  lakes,  and  thence 
northwesterly  toward  the  Arctic  Ocean.  They 
derive  their  names    from    the    St.   Lawrence 


and  Lake  Huron,  on  the  banks  of  which  are 
found  their  principal  outcrops.  Their  emer- 
gence  from  the  ocean  was  the  birth  of  the 
North  American  Continent.  One  face  of  the 
uplift  looked  toward  the  Atlantic  and  the 
other  toward  the  Pacific. 

The  Silurian  age,  compared  with  the  more 
stable  formations  of  subsequent  times,  was 
one  of  commotion,  in  which  fire  and  water 
played  a  conspicuous  part.  Earthquakes 
and  volcanoes  furrowed  the  yielding  crust 
with  ridges,  and  threw  up  islands  whose  crag- 
gy summits,  here  and  there,  stood  like  sen- 
tinels above  the  murky  deep  which  dashed 
against  their  shores.  The  present  diversities 
of  climate  did  not  exist,  as  the  temperature 
was  mostly  due  to  the  escape  of  internal 
heat,  which  was  the  same  over  every  part  of 
the  surface.  As  the  radiation  of  heat  in  fut- 
ure ages  declined,  the  sun  became  the  con- 
trolling power,  and  zones  of  climate  appeared 
as  the  result  of  solar  domination.  Uniform 
thermal  conditions  imparted  a  corresjaonding 
character  to  vegetable  and  animal  life,  and 
one  universal  fauna  and  flora  extended  from 
the  equator  to  the  poles.  During  the  Silu- 
rian age,  North  America,  like  its  inhabitants, 
was  mostly  submarine,  as  proved  by  wave- 
lines  on  the  emerging  lauds. 

The  Devonian  age  is  distinguished  for  the 
introduction  of  vertebrates,  or  the  fourth 
sub-kingdom  of  animal  life,  and  the  beginning 
of  terrestrial  vegetation.  The  latter  appeared 
in  two  classes,  the  highest  of  the  flowerless 
and  the  lowest  of  the  flowering  plants.  The 
Lepidodendron,  a  noted  instance  of  the 
former,  was  a  majestic,  upland  forest  tree, 
which,  during  the  coal  period,  grew  to  a 
height  of  eighty  feet,  and  had  a  base  of  more 
than  three  feet  in  diameter.  Its  description 
is  quite  poetical,  and  is  as  follows:  Beauti- 
ful spiral  flutings,  coiling  in  opposite  direc- 
tions and  crossing  each  other  at  fixed  angles, 


290 


HISTOHY   OF   CLAY  COUNTY. 


carved  the  trunks  and  branches  into  rhom- 
boidal  eminences,  each  of  which  was  scarred 
with  the  mark  of  a  falling  leaf.  At  an  alti- 
tude of  sixty  feet,  it  sent  off  arms,  each  sepa- 
rating into  branchlets,  covered  with  a  needle- 
like foliage  destitute  of  flowers.  It  grew, 
not  by  internal  or  external  accretions,  as 
plants  of  the  preseut  day,  but,  like  the  build- 
ing of  a  monument,  by  additions  to  the  top 
of  its  trunk.  Mosses,  rushes  and  other 
diminutive  flowerless  plants  are  now  the  only 
representatives  of  this  cryptogamic  vegeta- 
tion, which  so  largely  predominated  in  the 
early  botany  of  the  globe.  Floral  beauty 
and  fragrance  were  not  characteristic  of  the 
old  Devonian  woods.  No  bird  existed  to 
enliven  their  silent  groves  with  song;  no  ser- 
pent to  hiss  in  the  fenny  brakes,  nor  beast 
to  pursue,  with  hideous  yells,  its  panting 
prey. 

The  vertebrates  consisted  of  fishes,  of 
which  the  Glanoide  and  Placoids  were  the 
princtpal  groups.  The  former  were  the  fore- 
runners of  the  reptile,  which  in  many  re- 
spects they  closely  resemble.  They  embraced 
a  large  number  of  species,  many  of  which 
grew  to  a  gigantic  size;  but,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  gar  and  sturgeon,  thej  have  no 
living  representative.  The  Placoids,  struct- 
urally formed  for  advancement,  still  remain 
among  the  highest  types  of  the  present  seas. 
The  shark,  a  noted  instance,  judging  from  its 
fossil  remains,  must  have  attained  100  feet 
in  length.  Both  groups  lived  in  the  sea, 
and  if  any  fresh  water  animals  existed,  their 
remains  have  either  perished  or  not  been 
found.  So  numerous  were  the  inhabitants  of 
the  ocean,  that  the  Devonian  has  been  styled 
the  age  of  fishes.  In  their  anatomical  struct- 
ure was  foreshadowed  the  organization  of 
man.  reptiles,  birds  and  mammals  being  the 
intermediate  gradations. 

The  Carboniferous  age   opened  with    the 


deposition  of  widely  extended  marine  forma- 
tions. Added  to  the  strata  previously  de- 
posited, the  entire  thickness  in  the  region  of 
the  Alleghanies,  now  partially  elevated, 
amounted  to  seven  miles.  The  most  promi- 
nent feature  of  the  Carboniferous  age  was 
the  formation  of  coal.  Being  carbonized 
vegetable  tissue,  the  material  furnished  for 
this  purpose  was  the  vast  forest  accumula- 
tions peculiar  to  the  period.  The  coal  fields 
of  Europe  are  estimated  at  18,000  square 
miles,  those  of  the  United  States  at  150,000. 
In  Illinois,  three-fourths  of  the  surface  is 
underlaid  by  beds  of  coal,  and  the  State  con- 
sequently has  a  greater  area  than  any  other 
State  in  the  Union.  The  entire  carbonifer- 
ous system,  including  the  coal  beds  and  the 
intervening  strata  in  Southern  Illinois,  is 
27,000  feet  in  thickness  and  in  the  northern 
part  only  500  feet. 

The  Reptilian  age  came  next,  and  it  is 
distinguished  for  changes  in  the  continental 
borders,  which  generally  ran  within  their 
present  limits. 

The  Mammalian  age  witnessed  the  increase 
of  the  mass  of  the  earth  above  the  ocean's 
level  threefold,  and  next  in  regular  succes- 
sion was  the  age  of  Man,  which  commenced 
with  the  present  geological  conditions. 
These  are  the  order  of  the  earth's  formation, 
or  as  it  is  sometimes  called,  its  growth,  sim- 
ply given  to  the  time  of  the  coming  of  man. 
Though  the  absolute  time  of  his  coming  can- 
not be  determined,  he  was  doubtless  an  in- 
habitant of  the  earth  many  thousand  years 
before  he  was  sufficiently  intelligent  to  pre- 
serve the  record  of  his  own  history. 

The  present  age  still  retains,  in  a  dimin- 
ished degree  of  activity,  .the  geological  action 
we  have  briefly  sketched.  The  oscillations  of 
the  earth's  crust  are  still  going  on,  perhaps 
as  they  ever  have.  As  an  evidence  of  this, 
it  is    a    well-known   fact  that   the  coast   of 


HISTORY   OF   CLAY  COUNTY. 


291 


Greenland  on  the  western  side,  for  a  distance 
of  600  miles,  has  been  slowly  sinking  for  the 
past  400  years.  Thus  constantly  have  the 
bottoms  of  the  oceaD  been  lifted  above  the 
waters  and  the  mountains  sunk  and  became 
the  beds  of  the  sea.  In  the  science  of  geolo- 
gy, this  solid  old  earth  and  its  fixed  and 
supposed  eternal  mountains  are  as  unstable 
as  the  waves  upon  the  water. 

Clay  County  embraces  a  surface  area  of 
about  466  square  miles,  and  is  bounded  on 
the  north  by  Effingham  and  Jasper  Counties, 
on  the  east  by  Jasper  and  Richland,  on 
the  south  by  Wayne,  and  on  the  west  by 
Marion  and  Fayette.  The  Little  Wabash 
River  runs  diagonally  across  the  county 
from  northwest  to  southeast,  and  with  afflu- 
ents —Elm  Creek  on  the  south  and  Muddy 
Creek  on  the  northeast — drains  nearly  the 
whole  of  its  area.  Tb9  surface  of  the  county 
is  nearly  equally  divided  into  prairie  and 
timber  land,  the  latter  forming  wide  belts 
along  the  streams,  and  the  former  occupying 
the  highest  areas  between  them.  The  differ- 
ence of  level  between  the  creek  bottoms  and  the 
adjacent  highland  is  not  very  great,  probably 
nowhere  exceeding  fifty  to  seventy-five  feet. 

Locally  the  streams  are  bordered  with  pre- 
cipitous bluffs  from  forty  to  fifty  feet  in 
height,  and  at  other  points  there  is  a  grad- 
ually sloping  surface  from  the  bottoms  up  to 
the  level  to  the  adjacent  prairie. 

The  bottoms  along  the  Little  Wabash  vary 
in  width  from  one  to  three  miles,  and  are 
subject  to  overflow  during  the  annual  spring 
freshets,  and  hence  have  not  been  brought 
under  cultivation,  but  are  still  covered  with 
primeval  forest  of  excellent  timber.  The 
alluvial  soil  of  these  bottoms  is  exceedingly 
rich,  and  if  subdued  and  brought  under  cul- 
tivation would  produce  abundant  crops  of 
corn  and  all  the  cereals  usually  cultivated  in 
this  latitude. 


Drift  Deposits. — The  uplands  are  covered 
with  blue  and  yellow  drift  clays,  ranging 
from  ten  to  forty  feet  in  thickness,  and  pos- 
sibly along  the  bluffs  of  some  of  the  streams 
they  may  attain  even  a  greater  thickness  than 
that  above  indicated.  The  surface  of  the 
bedrock  was  often  eroded  into  valleys  of  con- 
siderable extend  before  the  drift  was  deposit- 
ed, and  being  subsequently  filled  with  these 
gravelly  clays  the  deposit  is  not  uniform, 
but  is  much  thicker  in  some  places  than  in 
others. 

In  the  borings  at  Xenia  and  Flora,  the 
bedrock  was  struck  at  the  depth  of  thirteen 
or  fourteen  feet,  and  generally  upon  the 
prairie  iu  sinking  wells  the  drift  clays  and 
gravel  beds  are  found  to  range  from  ten  to 
twenty  feet.  In  the  bluffs  at  Elm  Creek, 
south  of  Flora,  and  some  other  points  in  the 
county,  they  attain  a  thickness  of  thirty  to 
forty  feet.  The  upper  part  is  generally  a 
brown  or  buff  gravelly  clay,  with  occasional 
bowlders  of  a  foot  or  two  in  diameter,  and 
the  lower  part,  where  the  deposit  attains  its 
greatest  thickness,  consists  of  bluish  or  ash 
gray  clay,  or  hardpan,  as  it  is  usually  de- 
nominated, from  its  being  more  compact  and 
harder  to  penetrate  than  the  brown  clay  above 
it.  Bowlders  of  granite  syenite,  greenstone 
and  quartzite  are  not  uncommon,  and  occa- 
sionally nuggets  of  native  copper  and  small 
specimens  of  galena  are  to  be  met  with  in 
these  gravelly  clays  in  this  county. 

Stratified  Rocks. — The  rock  formation 
proper  in  this  county  all  belong  to  the  upper 
coal  measures,  and  the  only  seam  in  this 
county  that  has  been  worked  to  any  extent  is 
No.  16  of  the  general  section,  and  the  high- 
est seam  but  one  known  in  the  State.  There 
have  been  three  borings  made  in  the  county, 
one  at  Xenia  and  two  in  the  vicinity  of  Flora, 
but  none  of  them  were  carried  down  far 
enough  to  reach  the  main  workable  coals  of 


293 


HIST011Y   OF   CLAY   COUNTY. 


the  lower  measures.  The  flax  mill  boring  on 
the  eastern  edge  of  Flora  is  reported  as  fol- 
lows : 


Feet.  Inches. 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
6 
3 


Soil  and  drift  clay 13 

Sandy  shale  and  gray  sandstone 47 

Black  shale  and  Coal  No.  14 3 

Hard  sandstone 84 

Clay  shale,  soapstone 33 

Black  shale 3 

Shale  limestone 2 

Coal,  No.  13 7 

192  9 

A  shaft  was  commenced  near  where  this 
boring  was  made,  and  carried  down  to  a 
depth  of  115  felt,  mainly  through  sandstone 
and  sandy  shale.  The  flow  of  water  in  the 
shaft  was  so  strong  as  to  seriously  interfere 
with  the  prosecution  of  the  work,  and  finally 
filled  it  to  within  about  five  feet  of  the  sur- 
face of  the  ground,  where  it  still  remains. 
The  shaft  terminated  in  the  heavy  bed  of 
Sandstone  No.  4  of  the  preceding  section. 
Another  boring  two  miles  to  the  westward  of 
this,  near  the  fair  grounds,  was  reported  as 
follows: 

Feet.  Inches. 

Soil  and  drift  clay 13 

Sandstone 40 

Clay  shale,  soapstone 7 

Hard  gray  sandstone 38 

Hard  rock,  probably  sandstone 3 

Sandstone 47 

Impure  limestone 4 

Black  shale 8 

Limestone 8 

Clay  shale,  soapstone 37 

205  6 

These  borings  commence  at  least  forty  or 
fifty  feet  below  the  coal  and  limestone  north- 
west of  Louisville,  and  were  discontinued 
before  reaching  the  horizon  of  any  workable 
coal.  The  boring  at  Xenia  was  carried  to 
the  depth  of  450  feet,  passing  through  three 
thin  coals,  one  of  which  was  reported  to  be 
four  feet  thick.  The  following  is  the  section 
of  this  boring  as  furnished  by  Capt.  Dyer: 


Feet.  Inches. 

Soil  and  drift 14  0 

Clay  shale,  soapstone 92  0 

Bluish  gray  sandstone 31  0 

CoalNo.13 0  9 

Crevice,  probably  soft  fire  clay 1  6 

Clay  shale,  soapstone 3  0 

Limestone 1  6 

Conglomerate 3  0 

Bluish  gray  sandstone 4  0 

Blue  shale 64  0 

Hard  rock 1  0 

Blue  shale  No.  12 9  0 

Sandstone 12  0 

Blue  Shale 14  6 

Coal  No.  11 4  0 

Fireclay 0  6 

Sandstone 15  0 

Pebbly  rock 2  0 

Shale 2  6 

Blue  Shale 29  0 

Micaceous  sandstone 4  0 

White  sandstone 4  0 

Hock  with  few  fossils 1  0 

Coal  No.  10 1  6 

FireClay 2  6 

Sandstone 11  6 

Blue  shale 4  0 

Sandstone 2  0 

Blackshale 15  0 

Flint  rock 10  0 

Shale 23  0 

Hard  rock 4  0 

Shale 11  0 

Sandstone .' 7  0 

Clay  shale  6  0 

Sandstone 14  0 

Blue  shale 6  0 

Gray  sandstone 14  0 

444  9 

So  far  as  it  is  possible  to  correlate  this 
section  with  what  is  known  as  the  upper  coal 
measure  strata  of  Central  Illinois,  we  are 
inclined  to  believe  that  the  ten-foot  bed  of 
hard  rock  described  in  the  boring  as  flint  is 
the  limestone  of  Shoal  Creek  and  Carlinville, 
which  is  usually  a  very  hard  rock,  and  that 
the  succeeding  coals  are  10,  11,  12  and  13  of 
the  general  section.  The  small  coal  outcrop- 
ping north    of    Hoag's  quarries    about    two 


' 


TJlcjfd 


HISTORY   OF  CI, AY  COUNTY. 


295 


miles,  at  Jacob  Spiker's  place,  is  probably 
No.  1 5,  and  the  nest  succeeding  seam  would 
be  the  Nelson  coal  of  Effingham  County, 
which  outcrops  in  this  county  about  two 
miles  northwest  of  Louisville,  and  at  several 
points  northwest  of  there  in  the  bluffs  of  the 
Little  Wabash  and  its  tributaries,  and  will 
be  more  particularly  described  further  on  in 
this  chapter. 

One  mile  north  of  Xenia,  a  fine,  evenly- 
bedded  freestone  is  extensively  quarried  by 
Mr.  Hoag;.  The  rock  is  a  rather  fine  grained 
sandstone  in  even  layers,  from  two  inches  to 
two  feet  in  thickness,  and  can  be  easily  quar- 
ried in  large  slabs.  It  is  partly  brown  and 
partly  of  a  bluish  gray  color,  dresses  freely 
and  hardens  after  being  taken  from  the 
quarry,  and  is  the  best  building  stone  known 
in  this  portion  of  the  State.  The  rock  is  as 
evenly-bedded  as  the  magnesian  limestone  of 
Joliet,  and  the  thin  layers  make  good  flag- 
stones, while  the  heavier  beds  afford  a  fine 
quality  of  cut-stone  for  ashlars,  window- 
caps  and  sills,  lintels,  etc.  A  large  quantity 
of  this  stone  is  furnished  to  the  city  of  St. 
Louis,  where  it  bears  an  excellent  reputation 
as  a  superior  building  stone.  About  eight 
feet  in  thickness  of  this  freestone  is  worked 
in  this  quarry,  the  heaviest  beds  ranging  from 
one  foot  to  thirty  inches  in  thickness.  This 
sandstone  is  overlaid  in  the  vicinity  of  this 
quarry  with  twenty  to  twenty -five  feet  of  soft 
brown  shale,  with  numerous  bands  of  iron 
ore,  closely  resembling  the  shales  on  the 
waters  on  Raccoon  Creek,  southwest  of  Flora, 
and  described  in  the  report  on  Wayne  Coun- 
ty. The  waters  (if  a  well  sunk  in  this  shale, 
about  half  a  mile  south  of  Hoag's  quarry, 
has  the  same  taste  as  that  of  McGannon's 
spring,  near  the  north  line  of  Wayne  County, 
and  no  doubt  the  shales  are  identical.  The 
shale  here  contains  numerous  bands  of  iron 
ore  of  good  quality,  and  several  points  were 


observed  on  the  small  branches  northeast  of 
the  quarry,  and  not  more  than  a  mile  distant, 
where  from  twelve  to  sixteen  inches  of  good 
ore  could  be  obtained  from  a  vertical  thick- 
ness of  four  or  five  feet  of  shale.  The  thin 
coal  at  Spiker's  place  overlies  this  shale,  and 
the  beds  exposed  there   gave  the  following 

section: 

i  eet. 

Bituminous   shale 4 

Hind  blue  limestone — septaria 6  inches  to  1J 

Blue  shale 1   to  1J 

Coal i 

Fire  Clay  and  clay  shale 1 

A  few  well  preserved  fossils  were  found  in 
the  septaria  over  the  coal,  among  which  were 
Nautilus  occidentalis,  Macrocheilua  primi- 
genious,  Productus  pertenuis,  Spirifer  ca- 
meratus,  Myalina  subquadrata,  Chonetes, 
joints  of  Crinoidea,  etc.  All  the  beds  ex- 
posed from  Hoag's  quarry  to  this  point  are 
probably  above  those  passed  through  at  the 
Xenia  bore. 

At  Mr.  John  Lampkin's  place,  about  two 
miles  northwest  of  Louisville,  on  the  north- 
west quarter  of  Section  20,  Town  4,  Range  6, 
there  is  an  outcrop  of  gray  limestone,  under- 
laid by  a  coal  seam,  with  ranges  from  twelve 
to  eighteen  inches  in  thickness,  and  is  worked 
by  Mr.  Lampkin  in  a  limited  way.  affording 
a  coal  of  fair  quality.  The  limestone  over 
the  coal  is  a  compact,  hard,  gray  rock,  rang- 
ing from  three  to  four  feet  in  thickness,  con- 
taining numerous  fossils  that  may  be  ob- 
tained from  the  calcareous  shaly  layers  asso- 
ciated with  the  limestone  in  a  fair  state  of 
preservation.     The  section  here  is  as  follows: 

ButT  shale  with  iron  bands 5  to  8  feet 

Compact   gray  limestone 8  to   I  feet 

Calcareous  shale 2  to  3  feet 

Coal   1  to  i    feet 

Clay  shale  or  fire  clay 1  to  3  feel 

Sandy  shales ? 

The  fossils  observed  here  include  the  fol- 
lowing   species:       Orthis    Pecosi,    Fusulina 

17 


296 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


cylindrica,  Spirifer  cameratus,  Spiriferina 
Kentuckensis,  Lophophyllum  proliferum, Pro- 
duetus  longispinus,  P.  costatus  and  P.  punc- 
tatus. 

On  Section  10,  Town  4?  Range  5,  this 
limestone  is  found  on  Crooked  Creek,  but  lit- 
tle above  the  creek  bed,  aud  the  coal,  if 
found  at  all,  would  be  below  the  water  level. 

On  the  southwest  quarter  of  Section  25, 
Township  5,  Range  5,  about  two  miles  east 
of  Larkinsville,  the  coal  and  the  overlying 
limestone  outcrop  in  the  bluffs  of  Dismal 
Creek.  The  limestone  is  here  from  four  to 
five  feet  in  thickness,  and  the  coal  is  reported 
to  be  about  the  same  as   at   Lamkin's  place. 

There  are  here  from  ten  to  twelve  feet  of 
sandy  shale  exposed  in  the  bluffs  of  the 
creek  below  the  coal. 

On  Section  16,  Township  4,  Range  5,  near 
the  northwest  corner  of  the  section,  a  bed  of 
hard  shaly  sandstone  outcrops  in  the  bank  of 
a  small  branch,  overlaid  by  slaty  bitumi- 
nous shale  of  a  foot  or  more  in  thickness, con- 
taining lenticular  masses  of  a  black 
limestone  or  septaria. 

The  shaly  sandstone  was  about  three  feet 
in  thickness,  and  it  probably  overlies  the 
limestone  and  coal  at  Lamkin's  place,  though 
the  exact  connection  between  them  was  not 
determined. 

On  the  southeast  quarter  of  Section  21, 
Township  4,  Range  6,  a  sandstone  quarry 
has  been  opened  where  the  rock  shows  a  per- 
pendicular face  from  four  to  six  feet  in 
thickness  The  sandstone  is  overlaid  by  a 
buff-colored  shale,  succeeded  by  a  black 
laminated  shale  containing  concretions  from 
black  or  dark-blue  limestone  or  septaria, 
containing  a  few  fossils. 

On  Section  16,  in  the  same  township,  a 
hard  sandstone  is  found  in  the  bluffs "  of 
Crooked  Creek,  which  resembles  the  rock  at 
lhe  quarry  on  Section  21,  and  it  is  here  un- 


derlaid by  shaly  sandstone  and  shale  to  the 
water  level.  If  these  sandstones  are  identi- 
cal, the  section  here  would  show  the  follow- 
ing order  of  succession: 

Black  laminated  shale,  with  septaria...  5  to  6  feet 

Buff  or  drab  shale 6  to  8  feet 

Sandstone  quarry  rock 4  to  6  feet 

Sandy  shale — partial  exposure 12  to  15  feet 

Just  below  the  mouth  of  Crooked  Creek, 
in  the  bluffs  of  the  Little  Wabash,  we  find  the 
following  section: 

Soil  and  drift  clay 12  to  15  feet 

Soft  shales— partly  argillaceous 15  feet 

Irregularly   bedded   sandstone 3  to    4  feet 

Sandy  shales 12  to  15  feet 

These  beds  outcrop  at  intervals  along  the 
bluffs  of  the  stream  from  the  mouth  of 
Crooked  Creek  to  Louisville,  and  at  the  old 
mill  dam  we  find  nearly  a  repetition  of  the 
above  section,  as  follows: 

Black  laminated  shale 2  to    3  feet 

Coal i  foot 

Buff  and  blue  shales — partial  exposure  6  to  12  feet 
Irregularly  bedded  hard  sandstone.  . .  4  to  6  feet 
Sandy  shales  extending  below  the  river 

bed 10  to  12  feet 

Buff  and  blue  shales — partial  exposure  6  to  12  feet 
Irregularly  bedded  hard  sandstone.  . .  4  to  6  feet 
Sandy  shales  extending  below  the  river 

bed 10  to  12  feet 

The  thin  coal  in  the  above  section  is  local- 
ly overlaid  by  a  few  inches  of  chocolate 
colored  shale,  passing  into  a  hard  blue  lime- 
stone containing  a  few  fossils,  among  which 
we  were  able  to  identify  Productus  Pvatte- 
ni  si  its,  Choneles  granulifera,  Lingula  uujti- 
loi  es,  Pleurotomaria  carbonaria,  Macrochei- 
his,  etc.  This  thin  coal  is  probably  identical 
with  that  of  Mr.  Spiker's,  three  miles  north 
of  Xenia,  and  is  either  of  local  seam  or  else 
represents  Coal  No.  15  of  the  general  section. 
The  beds  on  the  Little  Wabash  at  Louisville 
underlie  the  limestone  and  coal  at  Lamkin's 
place  and  on  Dismal  Creek,  but  the  exi     - 


HISTOEY  OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


297 


iires  were  too  isolated   to  obtain   a  complete 
section  of  the  strata. 

Four  miles  southwest  of  Flora,  on  a 
branch  of  Raccoon  Creek,  sandstone  and 
sandy  shales  outcrop  along  the  bluffs  of  the 
stream  for  some  distance.  The  bed  is  alto 
gether  some  ten  or  twelve  feet  in  thickness, 
the  upper  part  a  sandy  micaceous  shale  pass- 
ing downward  into  micaceous  sandstone 
interstratified  with  the  shales.  The  sand- 
stone strata  vary  in  thickness  from  six  to 
fourteen  inches,  and  when  freshly  quarried 
the  rock  is  rather  soft,  b.ut  hardens  on  ex- 
posure and  becomes  a  durable  building  stone. 
The  quarry  opened  here  belongs  to  Mr.  John 
McGannon,  and  is  located  on  Section  3, 
'I1!  iwnship  2,  Range  6  east.  In  the  same 
township,  a  massive  sandstone  outcrops 
in  the  bluffs  of  Raccoon,  in  an  appar- 
ently solid  bed,  projecting  in  some  places 
several  feet  over  the  bed  of  the  stream  by 
the  wearing  away  of  the  lower  strata. 

On  Bear  Creek,  another  tributary  of  Elm 
Creek,  just  over  the  line  in  Wayne  County, 
on  Section  21,  Township  2  south,  Range  6 
east,  this  massive  sandstone  is  found  in  per- 
pendicular cliffs  of  twenty  to  thirty  feet  in 
height,  above  the  bed  of  the  stream.  This 
is  probably  a  part  of  the  sandstone  passed 
through  in  the  shaft  and  borings  at  Flora, 
and  it  forms  a  bed-rock  over  a  considerable 
area  in  the  south  part  of  Clay  and  the  north- 
ern part  of  Wayne  Counties. 

On  Willow  Branch,  about  six  miles  south- 
west of  Flora,  a  blue  argillaceous  shale  is 
found  containing  several  bands  of  arsilla 
ceous  ore  of  good  quality.  The  exposure  of 
shale  is  twenty  feet  or  more  in  thickness, 
with  a  streak  (if  smutty  coal  or  bituminous 
shale  near  the  top  of  the  exposure.  The 
water  that  percolates  through  the  shale  be- 
comes highly  impregnated  with  salts,  and 
acts  as  an  effective  cathartic  on  those  who  use 


it  freely.  This  shale  probably  overlies  the 
massive  sandstone  on  Raccoon  Creek,  but  no 
continuous  outcrop  is  found  that  will  deter- 
mine definitely  their  true  relations. 

The  following  notes  of  localities  are  re- 
ported from  the  notes  of  Prof.  Cox:  On  a 
branch  of  Skillet  Fork,  on  Section  32,  Town- 
ship 4,  Range  5.  found  the  following  beds: 

Feet. 
Drift  clay 4  to  5 

Blue  argillaceous  shale 8 

Bituminous  shale  and  limestone  in  the  bed  of 

the   creek ? 

Crystalsof  selenite  (sulphate  of  lime)  of 
small  size  were  found  disseminated  through 
the  shale,  and  are  reported  to  be  abundant  at 
many  points  on  this  branch,  and  also  on  the 
main  creek. 

On  Mr.  R.  T.  Roberts'  place,  two  miles 
and  a  half  south  of  Clay  City,  a  thin  coal  is 
found  underlaid  by  fire  clay  and  argillaceous 
shale.      The   section  of  exposure  hero  is   as 

follows: 

Feet,    [nches. 

Soil  and  drift 10  0 

Shall- 0  6 

Coal 0  6 

Fireclay 0  4 

Argillaceous  shale 1  0 

Siliceous  shale 2         0 

In  digging  a  well  on  the  top  of  the  hill 
about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  this  outcrop, 
Mr.  Roberts  went  through  from  four  to  six 
inches  of  fossil  if  erous  limestone,  which  prob- 
ably belongs  above  the  coal. 

Three-quarters  of  a  mile  south  of  Mays- 
ville  is  a  sandstone  quarry  owned  by  Hugh 
Miller.  The  rock  is  of  a  yellowish  gray 
color,  and  the  exposure  from  seven  to  eight 
feet  thick.  The  so-called  "  sail  pond  "  is 
on  the  south  half  of  Section  4,  Township  :!, 
Range  8,  and  is  a  bog  surrounded  by  high 
ground.  Sticks  may  be  thrust  into  it  through 
the  spongy  mass  to  the  depth  of  ten  or  fif- 
teen feet,  and  cattle,  and  formerly  wild  ani- 
mals also,  resorted  here  for  water. 


298 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


At  Moore's  quarry,  on  Section  14,  Town- 
ship 4,  Range  6,  there  is  a  fine-grained 
buff  sandstone  that  was  used  in  the  founda- 
tion and  also  for  caps  and  sills  for  the  Ma- 
sonic Hall  building  in  Louisville.  There  are 
three  layers  of  the  rock  exposed  from  eight 
to  ten  inches  thick,  overlaid  by  two  feet  of 
siliceous  shale. 

At  J.  Elkin's  place,  on  Section  36,  Town- 
ship 5,  Range  5,  the  following   section  was 

found : 

Feet 

Soil  and  drift  2 

Gray  argillaceous  shale 8 

Limestone  in  the  bed  of  the  creek  1 

Down  the  creek,  the  limestone  is  two  feet 
thick,  the  upper  part  full  of  encrinite  stems 
and  fusulina  cylindrica.  The  limestone  is 
quite  compact,  and  will  take  a  good  polish. 
Still  lower  down  on  the  creek,  there  is  a  thin 
coal  below  the  limestone.  This  limestone  is 
again  seen 'on  Limestone  Creek,  on  Section 
34,  Township  6,  Range  4,  near  the  north 
line  of  the  county.  The  limestone  above 
mentioned  is  undoubtedly  the  same  as  that 
found  over  the  coal  at  Lamkin's  mine  near 
Louisville,  and  on  Dismal  |Creek,  east  of 
Larkinsburg,  and  a  limestone  very  similar  in 
appearance  is  found  on  Muddy  Creek  near 
the  northeast  corner  of  the  county,  where  it 
is  quarried  both  for  lime  and  building  stone. 
Coal. — The  only  coal  seam  in  the  county 
that  promises  to  be  of  any  value  for  mining 
operations  is  that  on  Mr.  Lamkin's  place, 
northwest  of  Louisville,  and  this  is  so  uneven- 
ly developed  that  there  are  probably  but  few 
localities  in  the  county  where  it  will  prove  to 
be  of  any  practical  value.  At  some  points,  it 
affords  from  eighteen  to  twenty  inches  of 
good  coal,  and  possibly  may  thicken  at  some 
localities  to  a  little  more  than  that,  while  at 
othors  it  thins  out  to  a  few  inches  or  is  want- 
ing altogether,  and  its  place  is  only  indicated 
by  a  thin  streak  of  bituminous  shale.    "Where 


well  developed,  it  affords  a  very  good  quality 
of  coal,  and  may  be  worked  to  advantage  in 
a  limited  way  to  supply  the  local  demand. 
We  believe  it  to  be  the  same  as  the  Nelson 
coal  found  in  the  southwest  corner  of  Effing- 
ham County,  which  is  No.  16  of  the  general 
section,  and  the  highest  workable  coal  in  the 
State.  The  main  coals  of  the  lower  coal 
measures  are  j>robably  from  eight  hundred  to 
a  thousand  feet  below  the  surface  in  any 
part  of  the  county,  and  borings  or  shafts 
should  not  be  encouraged  unless  parties  are 
prepared  to  go  to  that  depth.  The  coal  seam 
reported  to  have  been  found  four  feet  in  thick- 
ness in  the  boring  at  Xenia  could  not  have 
been  lower  in  the  series  than  No.  11  or  12, 
and  if  its  thickness  was  correctly  ascertained, 
it  is  probably  only  a  local  thickening  of  one 
of  these  upper  coals.  The  lower  coals  offer 
no  serious  impediment  to  their  being  mined 
successfully,  whenever  the  demand  for  coal 
shall  be  such  as  to  justify  such  an  expendi- 
ture of  capital  as  will  be  required  to  open 
up  a  mine  at  this  depth. 

Building  Stone. — Sandstone  of  fair  quality 
for  building  purposes  is  found  at  several  lo- 
calities in  the  county  and  the  quarries  near 
Xenia,  described  on  a  preceding  page,  afford 
a  freestone  of  superior  quality  that  is  ex- 
tensively quarried  for  exportation  to  St.  Louis 
and  other  points  where  a  stone,  suitable  for 
architectural  display,  may  be  required.  This 
rock  had  a  very  even  texture,  dresses  freely 
and  can  be  easily  cut  into  elaborate  designs 
for  ornamental  work.  A  rock  similar  enough 
in  texture  and  general  appearance  outcrops 
on  Raccoon  Creek,  south  of  Flora,  which 
probably  belongs  to  the  same  bed,  as  the  gen- 
eral trend  of  the  strata  appears  to  be  from 
northwest  to  southeast.  Other  sandstones 
that  afford  a  fair  quality  of  building  stone 
outcrop  iu  various  parts  of  the  county,  as  has 
already  been  noted  in  the  preceding  pages. 


HISTOKY  OF   CLAY   COUNTY. 


•J99 


The  limestone  over  the  eighteen-inch  coal 
seam  in  the  northern  part  of  the  county  will 
afford  a  very  hard  and  durable  stone,  but  re- 
quires a  greater  amount  of  labor  to  quarry  it 
and  prepare  it  for  use  than  the  sandstone 
found  in  the  same  neighborhood,  and  hence 
has  been  but  little  used. 

Lime. — The  only  rock  in  the  county  that 
seems  at  all  adapted  to  the  manufacture  of 
lime  is  the  limestone  above  mentioned  as 
overlying  the  eighteen-inch  coal  at  Lamkin's 
mine,  and  outcropping  at  several  other  points 
in  the  north  part  of  the  county.  This  rock 
varies  in  thickness  from  two  to  four  feet. 
and  seems  usually  pure  enough  to  afford  a 
fair  quality  of  lime,  and  has  been  burned 
for  that  purpose  in  a  limited  way  at  two  or 
three  points  in  the  county. 

Iron  Ore. — Bands  of  iron  ore  of  good 
quality,  intercalated  in  a  bed  of  shale,  were 
observed  in  two  or  three  places  in  the  coun 
ty,  especially  in  the  upper  course  of  Elm 
Creek,  and  on  some  small  tributaries  of  the 
same  stream  southwest  of  Flora  and  near  the 
Wayne  County  line. 

Clays. — Clay  suitable  for  pottery  occurs  on 
Mr.  Bothwell's  place,  one  mile  south  of  Clay 
City,  and  good  brick  clays  may  be  found  in 
almost  every  neighborhood  in  the  subsoil  of 
the  uplands. 

Timber. — Although  much  of  the  timbered 
land  has  been  subdued  and  brought  under 
cultivation  since  the  first  settlement  of  the 
county,  the  rapid  growth  of  the  remaining 
portion,  with  the  addition  of  the  brush  lands, 
which,  since  the  annual  tires  have  been  kept 
down,  have  hoen  covered  with  a  fine  growth 
of  young  timber,  lias  nearly  or  quite  kept  up 
the  original  supply,  and  there  js  probably 
about  as  much  timber  in  the  county  at  the 
present  time  as  there  was  in  its  early  settle- 
ment. 

Prospects  for  Coal.    -There  is  no  doubt  but 


all  this  portion  of  Southern  Illinois  is  under- 
laid with  heavy  coal  veins.  But  the  dip  of 
the  rock  and  the  coal  is  to  the  northwest, 
and  the  Belleville  vein  is  probably  1)00  or 
1,000  feet  below  the  surface.  The  pit  at 
Mattoon  is  now  being  worked,  and  is  over 
900  feet  deep.  The  difficulties  to  contend 
with  here  will  probably  be  water  or  quick 
sand,  or  both.      . 

Mineral  Waters. — No  county  in  Illinois  is 
probably  so  well  supplied  in  this  respect  as 
Clay.  The  fame  of  the  Sailor  Springs  has 
already  extended  all  over  the  country,  and 
the  healing  and  restoring  properties  of  these 
waters  are  constantly  working  wonders.  Only 
fifteen  years  ago,  these  now  celebrated 
springs,  where  has  sprung  into  existence 
splendid  hotels  and  a  prosperous  village,  and 
where,  during  the  summer  months  thousands 
of  visitors  flock,  were  considered  and  called 
the  "  poison  springs,"  and  the  people  pre- 
ferred to  go  a  long  way  around  rather  than 
pass  them.  They  were  supposed  to  be  so 
strongly  impregnated  with  milk-sick  that  they 
poisoned  the  air  for  a  distance  around.  And 
the  people  fenced  them  up  to  keep  their  stock 
away  from  them,  and  by  common  consent  they 
were  called  the  "  Milk  sick  Springs." 

In  1869,  Mrs.  Thomas  M.  Sailor  ex- 
changed property  in  Fjrbana,  Ohio,  for  400 
acres,  on  which  these  springs  were.  Her 
husband  visited  the  place,  examined  the  wat- 
ers, tested  them  and  became  satisfied  they 
were  valuable  mineral  waters,  that,  gave  only 
health  to  those  who  might  use  them  and  not 
disease.  There  are  sixteen  of  these  springs 
grouped  together.  Mr.  Sailor  had  one  of 
the  largest  analyzed,  and,  without  giving  the 
proportions,  he  found  contained  in  the  water 
soil  i  um.  potassium,  calcium,  magnesium,  iron, 
chlorine,  sulphuric  and  carbonic  acid.  There 
are  nearly  as  many  different  varieties  of  water 
as  there  are  springs;  and  this  constitutes  one 


300 


HISTOKY   OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


of  the  great  values  of  them.  Some  of  them 
are  as  hue  artesian  springs  as  have  been  found 
in  the  country.  There  is  a  constant  emission 
of  strong  gases,  which  can  be  caught,  and 
burns  with  a  strong  white  light,  much  re- 
sembling the  electric  lights. 

Two     large    hotels,    containing    together 


about  100  rooms,  are  filled  during  summer 
months,  and  hundreds  of  people  are  in  tents 
all  about  the  grounds.  New  and  important 
improvements  are  projected  and  are  much 
needed  by  the  constantly  increasing  public 
patronage  that  flows  toward  these  celebrated 
waters. 


CHAPTER    II. 


177S— GEORGE  ROGERS  CLARK-CAPT.  HELM  AND  PRIVATE   HENRY— CLAY  COUNTY  REVOLUTION- 
ARY GROUNDS— ITS  SOIL  MADE  SACRED  BY  THETREAD  OF  THE  REVOLUTIONARY  ARMY 
—THE   HANNIBAL  OF  THE  NORTHWEST— AN  ARMY  OF  AN  OFFICER  AND 
PRIVATE— OUR  LAND  TITLES— NAMES  OF  SOME  OF  THE  ARMY 
THAT  PASSED  THROUGH  CLAY  COUNTY,  ETC.,  ETC. 


ALONG  the  Atlantic  Coast  the  conflict 
for  American  independence  was  raging 
fiercely  with  the  armies  of  England.  The 
American  settlements  in  the  West  were  beset 
by  the  bloodiest  savages,  urged  on  in  their 
hellish  work  by  British  emissaries.  The 
West  just  then  was  in  great  distress  and  often 
was  threatened  with  extermination,  and  the 
truth  is  the  country  here  was  just  then  sadly 
in  want  of  a  hero  to  prevent  these  indiscrim- 
inate slaughters  of  the  people  and  to  wrest 
this  great  Mississippi  Valley  from  the  Crown. 
At  the  critical  moment  the  hero  came — 
George  Rogers  Clark — who  has  been  not  in- 
aptly called  the  Hannibal  of  the  West. 

To  know  that,  this  remarkable  man  and 
his  equally  remarkable  band  of  less  than  two 
hundred  men  were  once  encamped  and 
marched  through  and  won  their  imperishable 
victory,  and  countermarched  again  through 
Clay  County,  is  enough  to  demand  of  us 
more  than  a  passing  account  of  the  com- 
mander and  of  his  army,  aB  well  as  a  word  in 
reference  to  their  accomplishment. 


George  Rogers  Clark  was  born  in  Albe- 
marle County,  Va.,  November  19,  1752,  and 
when  only  a  well-grown  lad,  the  stories  of 
the  West  attracted  him  irresistibly,  and  he 
followed  the  bent  of  his  inclination;  and 
when  a  very  young  man  he  was  the  chief  act- 
or, assisted  by  Gabriel  Jones,  in  the  erection 
of  the  territory  and  the  forming  of  the  coun- 
ty of  Kentucky.  Here  would  have  been  a 
sufficient  work  for  an  ordinary  man  to  have 
been  content  with,  as  he  had  not  only  been 
the  architect  of  the  State  of  Kentucky,  but, 
at  the  head  of  the  militia,  he  had  fought  out 
the  bitter  fight  with  the  foe  that  has  given  it 
the  name  of  the  ' '  Dark  and  Bloody  Ground." 
He  was  the  first  to  discover  and  carry  to  Gov. 
Patrick  Henry  and  Thomas  Jefferson  the  in- 
telligence that,  the  Indian  outrages  were 
caused  largely  by  British  emissaries.  To 
this  discovery  do  we  owe  the  fact  that  Gov. 
Henry  sent  Clarke  with  a  force  to  dislodge 
the  British  strongholds  in  this  portion  of  the 
country,  especially  Indiana  and  Illinois. 
Clark  started   down   the   Ohio  River  on  the 


HISTORY   OF   CLAY    COl'NTY'. 


301 


24th  day  of  June,  1778.  The  day  is  posi- 
tively fixed  by  the  fact  that  almost  at  the 
moment  of  launching  the  expedition  the  sun 
was  in  total  eclipse.  He  dropped  down  the 
river  to  near  Fort  Massac,  where,  concealing 
the  boats  in  a  small  creek,  the  expedition 
started  across  the  country  for  Kaskaskia. 
Everything  depended  upon  secrecy.  They 
came  in  the  vicinity  of  the  place  on  the  4th 
of  July,  1778.  He  reconnoitered  during  the 
night,  and  the  next  day  the  bloodless  victory 
was  made  and  the  American  flag  floated  in 
triumph  over  the  place.  So  complete  was  the 
surprise  that  not  a  gun  was  tired,  and  so  wise 
and  just  was  his  government  on  taking  pos- 
session, that  at  once  the  entire  population 
were  won  over  and  remained  true  and  loyal. 
M.  Rocheblave,  the  British  commandant,  was 
not  aware  that  he  was  a  prisoner  till  the  offi- 
cer of  the  detachment  which  had  captured 
the  fort,  entered  his  bedroom  and  tapped  him 
on  the  shoulder. 

An  equally  bloodless  victory  and  surprise 
captured  Cahokia. 

When  the  Virginia  Legislature  learned  of 
the  conquests  of  Clark,  tho  Legislature  of 
that  State  in  October.  1778,  organized  the 
county  of  Illinois,  which  included  all  the 
territory  of  the  commonwealth  west  of  the 
Ohio  River.  This  immense  region,  exceed- 
ing in  superficial  extent  the  whole  of  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland,  was  at  that  time  the 
largest  county  in  the  world, and  contained  the 
garden  spot  of  the  continent 

Gen.  Clark  now  turned  his  attention  to 
the  British  post  of  Vincennes  (called  St.  Vin- 
cents). He  therefore  called  in  M.  Gibault, 
the  Catholic  priest  of  both  Vincennes  and 
Kaskaskia,  and  through  him  secured  an  em- 
bassy favorable  to  securing  a  transfer  of 
allegiance  of  the  people  of  Vincennes.  The 
embassy  under  De  Lafont  and  a  spy  went 
to  Kaskaskia,  and  in  a  short  time  fully    ac- 


complished their  mission,  appointed  a  tem- 
porary Governor  and  returned  to  Kaskaskia. 
This  expedition  returned  and  reached  Kas- 
kaskia about  the  1st  of  August.  The  his- 
torian of  the  expedition  modestly  concludes 
his  narrative  by  saying:  "This  news  was 
both  a  source  of  astonishment  and  gratifica- 
tion, as  such  a  result  was  hardly  to  be  ex- 
pected. " 

Thus,  in  three  short  months,  by  a  mere 
squad  of  ragged,  half-starved,  half-equipped 
patriots,  and  without  bloodshed,  was  accom- 
plished the  most  marvelous  campaign  in 
history,  the  most  splendid  conquests  in  all 
the  annals  of  war.  The  essence  of  true  great- 
ness and  heroism  are  the  same,  whatever  may 
be  the  scale  of  action,  and  although  numbers 
are  the  standard  by  which  military  honors 
are  usually  awarded,  they  are  in  reality  only 
one  of  the  extrinsic  circumstances. 

But  it  is  of  the  recapture  of  Vincennes  by 
Gen.  Clark  in  person,  and  the  marvels  of  that, 
expedition,  that  we  propose  mostly  to  speak 
of  him  and  his  army,  because  it  was  this  that 
brought  this  heroic  band  into  the  confines  of 
Clay  County,  and  the  fact  that  they  had 
kin  ih' I  their  camp  fires  here  should  inspire 
the  entire  people  to  learn  to  know  and  ap- 
preciate them  more  completely  than  they  have 
heretofore. 

After  his  great  conquest,  he  commenced 
the  work  of  negotiations  aud  treaties  of  peace 
and  friendship  with  the  surrounding  Indians. 
While  thin  engaged,  the  British  Governor  at 
Detroit  heard  of  Clark's  invasion,  and  was 
incensed  that  the  country  which  he  had  in 
charge  should  be  wrested  from  him  by  a  few 
ragged  militia  from  Virginia.  He  therefore 
hurriedly  collected  a  force,  consisting  of 
thirty  regulars,  fifty  French  Canadians  and 
400  Indians,  and  marching  by  way  of  the 
Wabash,  appeared  before  the  fort  at  Yin 
cennes  on  December    15,  1778.     The  inhab- 


302 


HISTORY  OF  (LAY  COUNTY. 


itants  made  no  effort  to  defend  the  town,  and 
when  Hamilton's  forces  arrived  Capt.  Helm 
and  a  man  by  the  name  of  Henry  were  the 
only  Americans  in  the  fort.  Henry  loaded  a 
cannon  and  placed  it  in  the  principal  gate- 
way, Capt.  Helm  taking  his  position  be- 
side it;  as  soon  as  Hamilton's  army  came 
within  hailing  distance,  he  called  "  Halt!  " 
The  British  officer  halted,  but  demanded  the 
surrender  of  the  place.  Helm  replied  that  no 
man  could  enter  there  until  he  was  informed  of 
the  "  terms  offered."  Hamilton  replied,  "  you 
shall  have  the  honors  of  war."  Thereupon, 
Capt.  Helm  and  private  Henry  surrendered 
with  the  "honors  of  war,"  and  is  it  now  too 
much  to  say  that  they  also  had  something  of 
the  honors  of  immortality! 

It  was  six  weeks  before  the  news  of  this 
reached   Gen.  Clark   at   Kaskaskia.     He   at 
once  sent  Col.  "Vigo  to  reconnoiter.     An  ad- 
mirable  selection    it   proved   to  be.     When 
within   five  miles  of  Vincennes,  he  was  capt- 
ured by  the  Indians    and  taken  before  Gov. 
Hamilton.     He  was  regarded  as  an  American 
spy,  but  being  a  Spaniard,  and  well  known 
to  all  the   people  about  Vincennes,  and  very 
popular,  the  Governor  did  not  dare.to  treat 
him  severely.     Hamilton  agreed  to  let  him  go 
if  he  would  agree  during  the    war  to  do  no 
act   injurious  to  the  British.     Col.  Vigo  re- 
fused  these  terms,  but   agreed  to  do  no  act 
prejudicial  on   his  way  home.      He  returned 
to  St.  Louis,  remained  long  enough  to  change 
his  clothes,  and  reported  to  Gen.  Clark.     He 
informed   Clark  of  Hamilton's  intentions  of 
regaining  Illinois  at  all  hazards,  and  then  to 
push  his  victories   until  he  had  re-conquered 
all  to  Fort  Pitt,  so  that  he  would  be  master 
of  the  Virginia   territory  between  the   Alle- 
ghanies  and  the  Mississippi. 

Clark,  realizing  the  critical  state  of  affairs, 
wrote  the  facts  to  Gov.  Henry,  and  at  once 


commenced  preparations  to  attack  Hamilton, 
because,  as  he  afterward  said.  "  I  knew  if  I 
did  not  take  him  he  would  take  me."  Vigo 
had  informed  him  that  there  were  eighty 
men,  three  cannon,  and  some  swivels,  and 
now  if  he  could  attack  the  town  before  Ham- 
ilton could  recall  his  troops  which  he  had 
dispersed,  he  might  succeed,  but  in  no  other 
way.  Without  a  moment's  delay,  a  galley 
was  fitted  up,  mounting  two  four  pounders  and 
four  swivels,  and  placed  in  charge  of  Capt. 
John  Rogers,  with  forty -six  men,  with  orders 
to  force  their  way  to  the  mouth  of  White 
River,  and  there  await  orders. 

On  February  7,  1779,  just  eight  days  after 
the  reception  of  the  news,  the  little  army  of 
170  men  started  overland  from  Kaskasia  to 
Vincennes.  On  the  13th,  four  days  out,  they 
reached  the  forks  of  the  Little  Wabash,  the  low 
bottoms  of  which  were  covered  with  water. 
At  this  point  of  the  stream,  the  banks  were  five 
miles  apart,  and  the  water  so  deep  in  many 
places  as  to  be  waded  with  the  greatest  difficul- 
ty. It  rained  almost  incessantly.  They  con- 
structed a  raft  to  ferry  over  their  baggage. 
The  men  had  not  murmured,  although  their 
sufferings  had  been  great  from  the  start,  until 
now.  A  little  Irish  drummer  boy  would 
wade  along  until  he  came  to  water  too  deep, 
when  he  would  mount  his  drum  and  request 
some  tall  soldier  to  push  him  along,  when 
he  would  sing  a  comic  song,  at  which  he  was 
most  excellent,  and  this  simple  fact  would 
often  cheer  the  others  to  another  effort  when 
'.  they  were  ready  to  lie  down  in  despair. 

On  the  morning  of  the  18th,  eleven  days 
after  leaving  Kaskaskia,  they  heard  the  sig- 
|  nal  guns  of  the  fort,  and  the  evening  of  the 
same  day  arrived  at  the  Great  Wabash,  nine 
miles  below  Vincennes.  The  galley  had  not 
arrived,  and  hence  the  exhausted  supplies 
I  could  not  be  replenished,  and  the  men  were 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


.«)3 


almost  starving.  It  is  doubtful  if  there  were 
many  other  men  alive  who  could  have  kept 
up  the  spirits  of  the  men  as  did  Clark. 

Fortunately,  from  this  point  on.  we  have 
a  description  of  the  journey  in  Gen.  Clark's 
own  words,  and  no  human  pen  can  tell  them 
half  so  well,  and  we  prefer  to  give  as  we 
find  them: 

"The  nearest  land  to  us  in  the  direction  of 
Vincennes  was  a  spoi  called  the  'Sugar 
Camp,'  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  slough. 
I  sounded  the  water,  and  finding  it  as  deep  as 
my  neck,  returned,  with  the  design  of  having 
the  men  transported  on  board  the  canoes  to 
the  camp,  though  I  know  it  would  spend  the 
whole  day  and  the  ensuing  night,  as  the  ves- 
sel would  pass  slowly  through  the  bushes. 
The  loss  of  so  much  time  to  men  half-starved 
was  a  matter  of  serious  consequence,  and  I 
would  now  have  given  a  great  deal  for  a  day's 
provision  or  one  of  our  horses.  When  I  re- 
turned,  all  ran  to  hear  the  report.  I  unfort- 
unately spoke  in  a  serious  manner  to  one  of 
the  officers;  the  whole  were  alarmed  without 
knowing  what  1  said.  I  viewed  their  eon- 
fusion  for  a  minute,  and  whispered  for  those 
near  me  to  do  as  I  did.  I  immediately  put 
some  water  in  my  hands  and  poured  powder 
on  it.  blackened  my  face,  gave  the  war 
whoop,  and  marched  into  the  water.  The 
party  immediately  followed,  one  after  an- 
other, without  uttering  a  word  of  complaint. 
I  ordered  those  near  me  to  sing  a  favorite 
song,  which  soon  passed  through  the  line, 
and  all  went  cheerfully.  I  now  intended  to 
have  them  transport e<  I  across  the  deepest 
part  of  the  water,  but  when  about  waist  deep 
one  of  the  men  informed  me  that  he  thought 
he  had  discovered  a  path.  We  followed  it, 
and  finding  that  it  kept  ou  higher  ground, 
without  further  difficulty  arrived  at  the  camp. 
where  there  was  dry  ground  on  which  to 
pitch  our  lodges.      The  Frenchmen   that  we 


had  taken  on  the  river  appeared  to  be  uneasy 
at  our  situation,  and  begged  that  they  might 
be  permitted  during  the  night  to  visit  the 
town  in  two  canoes,  and  bring  from  their 
own  houses  provisions.  They  said  that  some 
of  our  men  could  go  with  them  as  a  surety 
for  their  conduct,  and  that  it  would  bo  im- 
possible to  leave  that  place  till  the  waters, 
which  were  too  deep  for  marching,  subsided. 
Some  of  the  officers  believed  that  this  might 
be  done,  but  I  would  not  suffer  it.  I  could 
never  well  account  for  my  obstinacy  on  this 
occasion,  or  give  satisfactory  reasons  to  my- 
self or  anybody  else  why  I  denied  a  proposi- 
tion apparently  so  easy  to  execute  and  of  so 
much  advantage;  but  something  seemed  to 
toll  me  it  should  not  be  done. 

"  On  the  following  morning,  the  finest  we 
had  experienced,  I  harangued  the  men. 
What  I  said  I  am  not  now  able  to  recall,  but 
it  may  be  easily  imagined  by  a  person  who 
possesses  the  regard  which  I  at  that,  time  en- 
tertained for  them.  I  concluded  by  informing 
them  that  passing  the  sheet  of  water,  which 
was  in  full  view,  and  reaching  the  opposite 
woods,  would  put  an  end  to  their  hardships; 
that  in  a  few  hours  they  woidd  have  a  sight 
of  their  long-wished  for  object,  and  immedi- 
ately stepped  into  the  water  without  waiting 
for  a  reply.  Before  a  third  of  the  men  had 
entered,  I  halted  and  called  to  Maj.  Bowman, 
and  ordered  him  to  fall  into  the  rear  with 
twenty-five  men  and  put  to  death  any  man 
who  refused  to  march  with  us,  as  wo  did  not 
wish  to  have  any  such  among  us.  The  whole 
gave  a  cry  of  approbation,  and  on  wo  went. 
This  was  the  most  trying  of  all  the  difficulties 
we  experienced.  I  generally  kept  fifteen  of 
the  strongest  men  next  myself,  and  judge 
from  my  own  feelings  what  must  bo  that  of 
others,  (letting  near  the  middle  of  the  in- 
undated plain,  I  found  myself  sensibly  fail- 
ing, and  as  there  wero  no  trees   for   the  men 


304 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY   COUNTY. 


to  support  themselves,  I  feared  that  many  of 
the  weak  would  be  drowned.     I  ordered  the 
canoe  to  ply  back   and    forth,   and   with  all 
diligence  to  pick  up  the  men;  and  to  encour- 
age   the    party,   sent  some  of  the   strongest 
forward,  with  orders  that,  when  they  had  ad- 
vanced a  certain   distance,  to  pass   the  word 
back  that  the  water  was  getting  shallow,  and 
when  near  the  woods  to  cry  out  land.     This 
stratagem  had  the  desired   effect.      The  men, 
encouraged  by  it,  exerted  themselves  almost 
beyond  their  abilities,  the  weak  holding  on 
the  stronger.      On  reaching  the  woods,  where 
the  men  expected  land,  the  water  was   up  to 
their  shoulders;  but  gaining  the  timber  was 
the    greatest   consequence,    for    the    weakly 
hung  to  the  trees  and  floated  on  the  drift  un- 
til they  were  taken  off  by  the  canoes.     The 
strong  and  tall  got  on  shore  and  built  fires; 
bat  many  of  the  feeble,  unable  to  support 
themselves  on  reaching  land,  would  fall  with 
their  bodies  half  in  the  water.     They  were 
so  benumbed  with  cold,  we  soon  found  that 
fires  would  not  restore  them,  and  the  strong 
ones  were   compelled  to  exercise  them  with 
great  severity  to  revive  their  circulation. 

"  Fortunately,  a  canoe  in  charge  of  some 
squaws  was  going  to  town,  which  our  men 
captured,  and  which  contained  half  a  quarter 
of  buffalo  meat,  some  corn,  tallow  and  ket- 
tles. Broth  was  made  of  this  valuable  prize, 
and  served  out  to  the  most  weakly  with  great 
care.  Most  of  the  men  got  a  small  portion, 
but  many  of  them  gave  a  part  of  theirs  to 
the  more  famished,  jocosely  saying  some- 
thing cheering  to  their  comrades.  This  lit- 
tle refreshment  gave  renewed  life  to  the 
company.  We  next  crossed  a  deep  but  nar- 
row lake  in  the  canoe3,  and  marching  some 
distance,  came  to  a  copse  of  timber  called 
Warrior's  Island.  We  were  now  distant  only 
two  miles  from  town,  which,  without  a  sin- 
gle tree  to  obstruct  the  view,  could  be  seen 
from  the  position  we  occupied. 


"  The  lower  portions  of  the  land  between  us 
and  the  town  were  covered  with  water,  which 
served  at  this  season  as   a  resort  for  ducks 
and  other  fowl.     We  had  observed  several 
men  out  on  horsoback  shooting  them,  half  a 
mile  distant,  and  sent   out  as  many  of  our 
active  young  Frenchmen   to  decoy  and  take 
one  of  them  prisoner,  in  such  a  manner  as 
not  to   alarm   the  others.      Being  successful 
in    addition   to    the    information  which  had 
be9n  obtained  from  those  taken  on  the  river, 
the    captive   reported    that   the  British  had 
that  evening  completed  the  wall  of  the  fort, 
and  that  there  were  a  good  many  Indians  in 
town.      Our  situation  was  truly  critical.      No 
possibility  of  retreat  in  case   of  defeat  and 
in  full  view  of  the  town,  which  at  this  time 
had   600  men  in  i t. — troops,  inhabitants  and 
Indians.      The  crew  of  the  galley,  though  not 
fifty  men,  would  now  have  been  a  reinforce- 
ment   of    immense  magnitude  to    our   little 
army,    we   could   not   think   of  waiting   for 
them.     Each  had  forgotten  his  suffering,  and 
was  ready  for  the  fray,  saying  what  he  had 
suffered  was  nothing  but  what  man   should 
bear  for  the  good  of  his  country.     The  idea 
of  being    made    a    prisoner   was    foreign   to 
every  man,  as  each  expected  nothing  but  tort- 
ure if  they  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Indi- 
ans.     Our  fate  was  to  be  determined  in  a  few 
hours,  and  nothing  but  the  most  daring  con- 
duct would   insure   success.     I   knew  that  a 
number  of  the  inhabitants  wished  us  well; 
that  many  were   lukewarm   to    the  interests 
of    either    party.     I    also    learned    that  the 
Grand  Door  had  but  a  few  days  before  openly 
declared,  in  council  with  the  British,  that  he 
was  a  brother  and  a  friend  of  the  Long  Knives. 
These  were  favorable  circumstances,  as  there 
was  but  little  probability  of  our  remaining 
until   dark   undiscovered.      I   determined  to 
commence  operations  immediately,  and  wrote 
the  following  placard  to  people  of  the  town: 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


305 


"  '  To  the  Inhabitants  of  Vincknnes: 

"  'Qentlemen— Being  now  within  two  miles  of  your 
-village  with  my  army,  determined  t'>  take  your  fort 
this  night,  and  not  being  willing  to  surprise  you,  I 
take  this  opportunity  to  request  such  of  you  as  are 
true  citizens,  and  willing  to  enjoy  the  liberty  which 
I  bring  you,  to  remain  still  in  your  houses,  and 
those,  if  there  1"-  any.  who  are  friends  of  the  king. 
let  them  instantly  repair  to  the  fort,  and  join  the 
Hair  Buyer  General  and  light  like  men;  and  if  any 
of  the  latter  do  not  go  to  the  fort  and  shall  be  dis- 
covered afterward,  they  may  depend  upon  severe 
punishment.  <>n  the  contrary,  those  who  are  true 
friends  to  liberty,  may  depend  upon  being  well 
treated,  and  I  once  more  request  them  to  keep  out 
of  the  street--,  for  everyone  I  find  in  arms  on  my 
arrival    shall  be  treated  as  an  enemy 

We  don't  care  to  give  the  details  of  the 
capture  of  Gov.  Hamilton  and  his  forces  in 
the  fort  and  running  up  again  over  the 
stronghold  the  American  flag,  although  it, 
like  nearly  every  act  of  the  great  Clark's  life, 
■wtis  a  historical  fact  that  transcends  in  thrill- 
ing interest  all  fiction.  Nothing,  reader, 
could  interest  you  more,  if  you  are  not  al- 
ready familiar  with  the  story,  than  to  read 
in  detail  the  history,  as  made  by  George 
Rogers  Clark,  of  how  the  great  Mississippi 
Valley  was  saved  from  the  British  Empire. 
There  is  not  a  line  in  the  history  of  his 
transactions  while  here,  by  order  of  Gov. 
Henry,  but  that  is  material  enough  and  to 
spare  for  the  biography  of  almost  any  other 
hero.  If  there  was  any  man  in  American 
history,  except  George  Washington,  who 
contributed  as  much  to  the  material  glory  of 
our  country,  and  who  toiled  amid  greater  pri- 
vations and  .sufferings  and  with  truer  heroism, 
we  are  frank  to  say  we  do  not  just  now  re- 
member him.  He  was  a  true  hero,  great 
soldier  and  wise  statesman,  and  it  is  strange 
the  neglect  that  has  followed  his  memory. 
There  were  Vigo,  Helm.  Private  Hour;  and 
their  superb  commander.  Chirk,  who  here 
made  the  very  ground  of  Clay  County  sacred 
by  their   presence  here,  as  one   of  the  most 


important  parts  of  the  Revolutionary  army. 
We  know  of  no  other  warrior  in  history  who 
won  as  many  battles — battles  of  more  impor- 
tance than  Waterloo  or  Thermopylae— without 
tiring  a  gun  or  wasting  a  drop  of  blood,  but 
solely  by  his  commanding  and  overpowering 
presence.  With  his  little  ragged  squad  of 
tatterdemalions,  yet,  each  in  his  suffering, 
starvation  and  rags,  made  a  sublime  hero 
because  of  his  commander,  and  with  this 
burlesque  of  our  ideas  of  an  army,  he  never 
hesitated  to  invest  any  stronghold  of  the 
enemy,  and  to  boldly  demand  an  unconditional 
surrender.  He  always  struck  his  blow  when 
most  unexpected,  and  the  language  that  he 
used  in  his  bold  demand  was  of  itself  a 
panoplied  army,  and  before  the  enemy  had 
time  to  recover  from  the  blow  of  the  an- 
nouncement of  his  investment,  he  would  be 
so  pressed  that  he  would  call  for  a  conference, 
and  then  Clark's  victory  was  assured.  The 
conference  convened,  his  demands  were  only 
the  more  peremptory,  and  he  stood,  in  the 
presence  of  the  already  conquered  the  one 
supreme  master  spirit,  and  the  truce  always 
ended  by  his  receiving  the  enemy's  surrender 
on  his  own  terms,  and  then  he  would  exhibit 
almost  a  stern  ferocity,  and  just  as  the  fallen 
foe  had  given  up  all  for  the  executioner,  he 
would,  as  he  had  intended  all  the  time,  at 
the  last  moment,  relent,  and  bid  the  trembling 
supplicants  stand  up  and  be  a  brother,  and 
then  show  them  how  magnanimous  he  could 
be  as  a  friend,  and  thus  the  wisest  purposes 
wore  carried  out.  This  original  diplomacy, 
especially  with  the  Indians,  made  those 
people  both  fear  and  love  him,  above,  per 
haps,  any  other  man  who  appeared  in  that 
And  the  descendants  of  the  pioneers 
of  all  this  great  valley  have  really  little  or 
no  conception  of  the  debt  of  gratitude  they 
owe  the  memory  of  Clark,  in  this  particular 
respect,  if  in  no  other  way. 


306 


HISTORY  OF   CLAY  COUNTY. 


Thus,  all  this  magnificent  domain  of  the 
northwest  was  acquired,  or  rather  we  have 
briefly  mentioned  a  few  of  the  acts  of  the 
man  to  whom  we  owe  this  rich  and  magnifi- 
cent empire  that  has  literally  already  fed  the 
world. 

To  take  possession  of  this  after  Clark  had 
wrested  it  from  the  enemy  was  the  next  nat- 
ural step. 

In  the  spring  of  1779,  Lieut.  John  Todd,  of 
Kentucky,  by  commission  of  Patrick  Henry, 
came  to  Kaskaskia  and  organized  civil  gov- 
ernment, which  has  gone  on  uninterruptedly 
ever  since,  and  under  its  continuation  we  now 
live. 

At  this  period,  with  the  exception  of  the 
French  along  the  Mississippi,  and  a  few  fam- 
ilies along  the  Wabash,  the  whole  country 
was  the  abode  of  the  savage  Indian. 

The  first  Western  emigration  commenced 
at  this  time,  and  the  descendants  of  several 
of  +hese  early  pioneers  are  here  yet.  It  is  a 
singular  fact  that  it  was  the  wars  that  always 
helped  Illinois.  Soldiers  would  be  sent 
campaigning  over  the  State,  and  the  country 
was  so  beautiful  that  they  would  return,  and 
to  this  we  owe  many  of  the  best  citizens  that 
have  ever  come  to  the  State  of  the  noble  band 
of  Clark's  soldiers  who  made  that  immortal 
march,  from  Kaskaskia  to  Vincennes,  and 
passed  through  Clay  County,  and  that  at 
once  became  permanent  citizens  of  Illinois; 
we  have  the  record  of  James  Piggot,  John 
Doyle  (afterward  the  first  school  teacher), 
Robert  Whitehead  and  a  Mr.  Bowen. 

St.  Clair  County  was  organized  in  1700, 
and  named  in  honor  of  the  first  territorial 
Governor.  The  boundaries  of  this,  the 
mother  of  counties  in  this  State,  included 
the  present  State  boundaries,  extending  as 
far  north  as  the  Little  Mackinaw  Creek  on 


the  Illinois  River.      This  of   course  included 
what  is  now  Clay  County. 

The  next  step  in  which  the  local  history  of 
this  part  of  Illinois  is  concerned,  was  the 
extinguishment  of  the  Indian  titles  to  the 
lands  we  now  enjoy  and  possess.  Our  peo- 
ple as  a  rule,  in  fact  without  exception,  in  all 
matters  of  transfer  of  lands,  make  no  further 
inquiry  after  titles,  except  to  trace  them  to  the 
Government,  but  as  a  fact  and  as  a  part  of 
the  history  of  every  acre  of  land  in  all  this 
part  of  the  world,  the  titles  were  all  at  one 
time  in  the  Indians,  and  the  country's 
records  show  that  these  original  owners 
passed  the  title  first  to  the  Government,  and 
this  was  a  condition  precedent  to  that  power 
possessing  a  title  to  give  to  its  inhabitants. 

August  13,  1803,  the  treaty  of  Vincennes 
was  concluded  with  the  Kaskaskias.  The 
expressed  consideration  being  $580  in  cash, 
an  increase  in  their  annuity,  under  the  treaty 
of  Greenville,  to  $1,000,  and  $300  toward 
building  a  church  and  an  annual  payment 
for  seven  years  of  $100  to  a  Catholic 
priest  stationed  among  them.  The  tribe  of 
Kaskaskias,  reduced  to  a  few  hundred  individ- 
uals, but  still  representing  the  once  powerful 
confederacy  of  the  Illinois,  ceded  to  the 
United  States,  except  a  small  reservation, 
all  that  tract  included  within  a  line  beginning 
below  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois,  descending 
the  Mississippi  to  its  junction  with  the 
Ohio,  as  ending  the  latter  to  the  Wabash,  and 
from  a  point  up  the  latter,  west  to  the  Missis- 
sippi River,  embracing  the  greater  part  of 
Southern  Illinois,  some  8,608,167  acres. 

The  reader  will  readily  understand  that  we 
have  not  attempted  a  synopsis  of  the  early 
history  of  Illinois,  but  only  the  briefest  refer- 
ence to  that  portion  of  the  general  history 
as  has  references  or  connection  with  this 
particular  part  of  Illinois. 


HISTORY  OF  (LAY   COUNTY. 


307 


CHAPTER    II!. 


THE  EARLIEST  SETTLERS— WHO  THEY  WERE  AND  HOW  THEY  CAME— APPEARANCE  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

—JOHN  McCAWLEY— HOW  OUR  TITLES  TO  THE  LAND  CAME— THE  INDIANS— A  LIST  OF  EARLY 

SETTLERS— THOMAS     McCRACKIN     AND      MANY     OTHERS— TRUNDLE     BED— SCHOOL 

TEACHER— SINGING   MASTER— FIRST  DUDES— WRITING  MASTER— BOTTLE   RACE 

—WEDDINGS— MANY    OTHER     INTERESTING     FACTS     AND   FANCIES,    ETC. 

reader  must  bear  in  mind  that  the  whole  face 
of  the  country  has  undergone  during  the  past 
thirty  or  forty  years  a  great  change.      Natural 
and  artificial  drainage  has  dried  the  lagoons 
and  swamps  until  farms   in  a  high   state  of 
cultivation    have    taken    their   places.       The 
once  almost  impenetrable  forests  have  given 
place  to  well   trimmed  and  cleaned  pasture 
lands,    and    all    of    that  wildness  that    once 
reigned  here  oppressively  in  its  magnitude 
has  disappeared  before  the  patient  industry 
of  man.      Only  a  few  years  ago,  during  the 
rainy  spring  seasons,  it  was  almost  impossi- 
ble to  cross  these  prairies  with   a  team,  even 
where  the  road  had  been   thrown  up  in  the 
center,  and  ditches  had  been  cut  at  the  sides 
to  let  off  the  world  of  surplus  water.     On  the 
untouched  prairies  was  a  strong  sod,  strong 
enough  to  bear  up  a  horse  and  man,  as  well 
as  strong  enough  to    bear    a   wagon,  unless 
heavily  laden.     And  it  would  bear  even  the 
heaviest    wagon,    except    in    this    very    wet 
spring  weather.     Plenty  of  men  can  well  re- 
member that  at  one  time  vou  could  by  jump- 
ing up  and  down  at  times   and   iu  numerous 
places  shako  the  sod   for  a   rod   all  around. 
The  action  of  the  strong  sod  was  as  though 
it  rested  solely  upon  water,  and  to  a  certain 
extent    this  really  seems  to    have    been   the 
case.     Where    once   were   large    ponds  that 
would    be  the   resort  of   all  kinds  of  water 
fowls  in  the  spring  of  the  year,  are  now  dry 


rpHE  first  settler  in  Clay  County  was  John 
-*-     McCawley,   as  tine  a   specimen  of  the 
pioneer  and  genuine  man  in  every  respect  as 
ever  made  his  name  a  household  word  that 
cannot  perish  in  any  new  community.    When 
it  was  simply  a  desert  wild,  with  nothing  but 
the  wild  beast,  the  game  and  the  Indian,  this 
man  came  and  took  up  his  abode,   and  he 
made  friends  of    the   Indians,   captured  the 
game  for  his  family  supplies,  and  commenced 
the  work  of  exterminating   the  wild   beasts, 
which  were  the  enemies  to  every  living  thing 
that    came    in   their    way,    and    contributed 
nothing  toward  the  good  of  the  world.      He 
was  a  splendid  type  of  man  evidently  for  the 
heroic  work  that  had  been  set  apart  for  him 
to  do.     It  is  much  to  say  of  any  one  that  he 
was  the  first  white  man  to  settle  in  a  county. 
The  simple  statement  of  the  fact  to   any  one 
who  at  all   bears  in  mind  all  that  the  term 
implies — its  hardships  and  dangers,  its  drear- 
iness and  loneliness  in  the  eternal   solitudes; 
its  oppressive  silence,  save  the  scream  of  the 
panther,  or  the  "  war-whoop    that  oft   woke 
the  sleep  of  the  cradle;  "  the   prowling   wolf 
and  the  fear-inspiring  hoot  of  the  owl,  like  a 
midnight  messenger  of  evil — and   when  the 
day  and    its  quiet   solitude  would    come,   it 
only  aroused  the  greonhead  fly,  whose  ravon- 
ous  armies  upon  the  broad  prairies  made  any 
attempt  to  dispute   their  possession   both  a 
daring    and  a  dangerous  one    indeed.      The 


308 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


farms.  The  water  would  fall  over  a  large 
portion  of  the  prairies,  and  lie  where  it  fell, 
and  have  to  await  the  slow  process  of  evapor- 
ation or  soaking  into  the  ground  before  it 
would  disappear.  The  rainfall  was  not 
greater  then  than  now,  but  so  small  a  quanti- 
ty had  such  lasting  effects  and  was  slow  to 
disappear,  that  the  evils  the  superabundant 
waters  produced  were  an  hundred-fold  great- 
er then  than  now.  To  these  waters  upon  the 
prairies  was  added  the  dense,  tall,  prairie 
grass,  almost  every  vestige  of  which  has  now 
disappeared. 

This  country  was  once  the  regular  rang- 
ing place  of  the  buffalo,  and  a  fact  not  known 
to  many  people  is,  that  with  the  disappear- 
ance of  the  buffalo,  disappears  invariably  the 
buffalo  grass.  Hence  this  peculiar  grass 
must  have  atone  time  prevailed  all  over  these 
prairies,  and  as  the  buffalo  crossed  the  Mis- 
sissippi not  to  return  again,  his  grass  seems 
to  have  followed  him,  and  then  it  was  that 
the  prairie  grass  came  to  be  in  its  turn  ex- 
terminated by  the  present  grasses,  and  it  is 
the  judgment  of  the  writer  that  a  few  years 
will  witness  the  disappearance  of  all  the 
present  wild  grasses,  to  be  followed  by  the 
final  grass  that  is  the  handmaiden  of  the 
highest  state  of  laud  cultivation — the  blue 
grass. 

Mr.  McCawley  had  started  West.  His  pi- 
lot and  guiding  star  on  his  route  was  the  old 
"  Vinsans  "  trace,  as  the  old  Vincennes,  St. 
Louis  &  Kaskaskia  Indian  and  buffalo  path 
was  called  and  known  in  the  early  day. 
When  he  came,  it  had  been  twenty-two  years 
since  George  Rogers  Clark  and  his  noble 
band  of  heroes  had  passed  over  the  ground 
where  MaCawley  concluded  to  stop  and  erect 
his  roof- tree. 

The  Kaskaskia  Indians  had  ceded  to  the 
Government  all  these  lands  in  Illinois  seven 
years  before  he  came  here,  that  is,  the  treaty 


was  made  in  1803,  and  the  title  had  run  in 
the  General  Government  seven  years  before 
any  white  man  came  to  claim  any  part  or  por- 
tion of  them  as  a  home.  The  Indians  were 
here,  and  they  alone  were  the  only  semblance 
of  man  to  hold  dispute  with  the  wild  beasts. 
The  best  title  had  belonged  to  the  Kaskaskias, 
and  it  was  of  them  the  Government  acquired 
its  title,  but  other  Indians  were  here,  chiefly 
the  Kickapoos.  but  all,  Indian-like,  were 
roving  hunters,  nomadic  in  all  their  habits, 
always  professing  the  greatest  friendship 
for  the  whites  when  begging  salt  and  some- 
thing to  eat;  yet  by  those  who  knew  them 
best,  they  were  always  trusted  the  least.  The 
Indian  and  his  congeners,  the  wolf  and  the 
greenhead  fly,  the  bear  and  the  deer,  and  the 
panther,  have  gone,  and  one  has  left,  like  the 
other,  nothing  but  a  memory.  All  these 
were  beasts,  but  the  Indian  is  called  human, 
because  of  his  vastly  superior  sense,  but  as  to 
values  there  were  many  species  of  game  that 
have  disappeared  whose  loss  will  always  be 
regarded  as  far  greater  than  that  of  the  red 
man.  We  know  nothing  of  the  Indian  ex- 
cept what  we  saw  of  him  after  we  found  him 
in  the  possession  of  a  country  that  he  had 
not  the  intelligence  to  hold  or  appreciate. 
How  long  they  had  been  in  this  country  we 
now  have  no  means  of  knowing — it  is  doubt- 
ful if  the  race  knew  anything  on  this  subject 
themselves.  Their  interest  and  information 
as  to  their  own  early  history  was  satisfied 
with  a  few  incoherent  and  impossible  tra- 
ditionary tales.  And  now  the  white  man, 
the  natural  archaeologists  of  the  world,  are 
prying  everywhere  in  the  Indian's  tracts  to 
trace  his  story  back  to  its  origin.  For  a  long 
time  it  was  believed  they  had  built  the 
mounds,  and,  therefore,  they  had  once  pos- 
sessed a  superior  civilization  and  had  been 
the  happy  possessors  of  great  and  strong  cen- 
tralized governments;   perhaps    spelling  na- 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


309 


tion  with  a  big  N.  This  theory  is  not  yet  en- 
tirely abandoned,  but  the  better  opinion 
among  patient  investigatoi-s  is,  that  at  the 
most,  the  Indian  found  the  mounds  here 
when  he  came,  and  that  he  used  portions  of 
them  as  suitable  burying  places,  and  it  is 
only  possible  that  there  was  among  the  many 
different  tribes  of  fighting  red  men  here, 
some  of  the  many  who  had  sufficient  intelli- 
gence to  do  this.  Because  we  have  seen 
that  those  we  found  hero  buried  their  dead 
in  trees,  on  poles,  and  in  various  ways  above 
ground.  No.  The  Indians  that  the  whites 
found  here  built  no  mounds,  nor  did  they 
build  anything  else.  Every  pulsation  of 
their  nature  opposed  the  very  idea  of  slavery. 
The  Indian  was  ready  to  die,  but  never  to  be 
a  slave.  The  peoples  who  built  all  such 
works  as  the  mounds  were  slaves.  This  is 
true  of  all  the  groat  historical  works — works 
where  great  time  and  innumerable  numbers 
of  men  were  necessary  to  do  the  actual  labor. 
Thus,  the  pyramids,  a  monument  to  slaves 
alone — slaves  did  the  work,  and  the  infinites- 
imal glory  that  may  bo  extracted  therefrom 
belongs  to  them  alone.  And  this  silly  hunt 
of  half-cracked  enthusiasts  wbo  go  upon  their 
pilgrimages  to  thesphynx  and  the  pyramids, 
the  Kremlin  and  the  ruins  of  Alhambra,  are 
only  feeding  a  transparent  delusion,  in  sup- 
posing they  will  ever  find  there  the  evidences 
of  some  supremely  exalted  evidences  of  civ- 
ilization and  intelligence. 

We  say  it  was  the  opposite  of  all  we  know 
of  the  Indian  character  to  suppose  he  or 
any  of  his  kind  over  built  a  mound.  The 
Indian  was  intelligent;  and  shiftless,  but 
every  tissue  of  his  body  was  at  war  with  be- 
coming a  slave.  The  Brat  whites  that  ever 
looked  upon  the  shores  of  this  continent  saw 
about  the  same  characteristics  in  the  Indian 
that  we  see  to  day.  His  shrewdness  taught 
him  to  bo  jealous  of  the  superior  white  man 


and  his  coming,  and  he  inaugurated  a  war 
that  he  then  could  not  know,  must  sooner  or 
later  end  in  the  utter  extermination  of  his 
race.  The  struggle  was  long  and  bitter. 
Many  a  campaign  was  planned  by  warriors 
fit  to  command  great  armios  for  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  whito  invaders.  Their  King 
Philip  was  beyond  doubt  their  Napoleon  and 
Hannibal,  and  when  he  delivered  his  blow  the 
white  man  for  the  first  time  was  awakened  to 
the  serious  and  bloody  work  before  him.  The 
endurance,  courage  and  bravery  of  the  whito 
man  was  taxed  to  its  utmost  throughout  all 
New  England.  Then  in  the  West  was  his 
compeer,  Tecumseh,  who,  like  Philip,  real- 
ized the  power  of  organization  and  union 
among  the  roving  tribes,  and  his  was  to  be 
the  supreme  general  effort  in  the  West  to 
stay  the  on-marching  civilization.  The 
Creeks  challenged  the  people  of  the  South  to 
mortal  combat,  and  it  required  all  the  genius 
of  a  Jackson  to  withstand  the  desperate  as- 
saults. In  1814  was  fought  the  decisive 
battle  of  Tohopeko,  and  since  then  there  has 
been  no  memorable  battles  with  the  Indians, 
at  least  none  where  the  supremacy  of  the 
whites  was  seriously  menaced.  The  Black 
•Hawk  war,  about  the  last  organized  effort, 
required  but  a  few  weeks'  service  of  raw 
militia  to  quell.  Since  that  day,  in  1832,  cam- 
paigns have  dwindled  into  mere  raids,  battles 
iDto  mere  skirmishes  or  ambuscades,  and  the 
Custer  massacre  in  Montana  was  merely  an 
accident.  No  possible  number  of  such  oc- 
currences could  menace  any  fractional  portion 
of  the  country.  It  was  a  melancholy  affair 
indeed,  but  like  a  sad  accident  at  a  fire  or 
railroad  and  no  longer  felt  than  they. 

The  Indian,  as  a  race,  is  doomed  by  the 
inexorable  laws  of  humanity  to  a  speedy  ex- 
tinction.  Accepting  the  inevitable  with  the 
stoical  indifference  which  the  instinct  of 
self-preservation   or   the  promptings  of    re- 


310 


HISTORY   OF   CLAY  COUNTY. 


venge  seldem  disturb,  he  may  excite  pity 
only  now,  certainly  not  fear.  Discouraged 
and  demoralized,  helpless  and  hopeless,  he 
sits  down  to  await  a  swiftly  approaching 
fate;  and  if  now  and  then  in  feeble  and 
hopeless  bands  he  treads  the  war-path,  and 
takes  here  and  there  a  defenseless  scalp,  it  is 
more  from  force  of  habit  and  the  savage  in- 
stinct for  blood,  than  from  any  hope  of  check- 
ing or  crippling  the  power  that  is  swiftly 
sweeping  him  and  his  out  of  existence. 

AVhatabrief  time  ago  it  was  the  white  man 
lived  in  this  country  by  the  red  man's  consent, 
and  less  than  a  century  ago  the  combined 
Indian  strength  properly  handled  might  have 
driven  the  whites  into  the  sea.  In  the  oldest 
settlements  of  the  country  are  still  to  be 
found  the  moldering  remains  of  the  rude 
fortifications  the  settlers  had  to  build  to  de- 
fend themselves  and  families  from  the  hosts 
of  enemies  around  them,  but  now  where  can 
need  be  for  snch  protection  from  the  Indian  ? 
If  any,  certainly,  only  a  few  points  in  Arizo- 
na, New  Mexico  and  Oregon.  The  fierce 
enemy  that  once  encamped  his  clans  in  their 
hideous  war  paint,  within  sound  of  the  waves 
of  the  Atlantic  shores,  has  retreated  across 
the  Alleghanies,  the  Mississippi,  the  Rockies, 
and  now  in  all  this  settled  country  of  fifty 
millions  of  people,  there  is  nothing  left  of 
the  tribes  save  an  occasional  name  that  was 
of  their  invention  or  use,  with  here  and  there 
a  degraded  remnant  of  a  once  powerful  tribe, 
dragging  out  a  miserable  existence  as  the 
most  wretched  of  beggars,  and  outcasts 
among  their  conquerors.  A  very  few  years 
hence  and  the  Indian  will  live  only  in  story 
and  song.  He  will  leave  nothing  behind 
him  but  a  memory,  for  he  has  done  nothing 
and  been  nothing.  He  has  been  consistent 
only  in  his  resistence  to  all  attempts  to  civi- 
lize him — every  attempt  to  inject  the  white 
man's  ideas  into  the  Indian  brain.      He  has 


not  wanted  and  would  never  have  our  morals, 
manners,  religion  or  civilization,  and  has 
clung  to  his  own  and  perished  with  them. 
There  is  but  one  redeeming  thing  that  should 
linger  forever  in  the  memories  of  the  savage, 
and  that  was  that  he  preferred  the  worst  pos- 
sible freedom  to  the  best  and  even  luxurious 
slavery.  More  attempts  were  made  to  enslave 
him  than  to  civilize  him;  a  nod  of  assent  to 
hew  wood  and  draw  water  for  the  superior  race, 
and,  like  the  negro,  he  might  now  be  living 
by  the  million  and  enjoying  the  blessings  of 
Bible  and  breeches,  and  sharing  the  honors  of 
citizenship  and  the  sweets  of  office,  seeking 
and  receiving  the  bids  of  rival  political  par- 
ties, and  selling  his  vote  and  even  his  influ- 
ence at  the  polls,  and  then  going  to  a  na- 
tional convention  and  gathering  in  more 
shekels  for  a  single  district  vote  than  all  his 
tribe  got  for  an  indefeasible  title  to  the  half 
of  the  State  of  Illinois.  No;  he  would  not 
do  this,  because  his  make-up  was  such  he 
could  not  be  a  slave.  He  chose  rather  to  die. 
Whether  his  choice  was  a  wise  one,  the  read- 
er can  say  for  himself;  but  it  is  impossible 
not  to  find  some  little  spark  of  respect  to  that 
indomitable  spirit  that  accepted  sufferings 
unspeakable,  and  hardships  cruel  unto  death, 
but  who  never  bowed  his  neck  to  the  yoke, 
never  called  any  man  "  master." 

The  treatment  of  the  Indian  by  the  white 
race  is  not  defensible  as  a  whole.  Gov- 
ernment officials  have  robbed,  cheated  and 
lied  to  them  so  long  and  so  persistently — not 
satisfied  with  this,  the  rascally  Government 
Indian  rings  have  time  and  again,  indeed 
almost  times  without  number,  forced  them  to 
commit  depredations,  or  white  men  would 
commit  an  outrage  to  lay  at  their  doors,  and 
all  that  these  rascals  might  call  out  the  army 
to  punish  the  Indian,  but  really  to  increase 
their  stealings.  Such  accursed  action  on  the 
part    of  officials  and   their  ring   friends  was 


HISTORY   OF   CI. AY    COl'NTY. 


it  13 


not  only  a  deep  outrage  upon  the  Indians 
and  whites,  but  against  humanity.  What- 
ever else  the  red  man  may  be.  he  is  no  fool, 
and  for  250  years  ho  has  experiences  of  thp 
white  man's  dishonesty  and  double  dealing 
that  were  dismal  enough  to  cause  us  not  to 
wonder  that  he  will  have  none  of  our  man- 
ners, morals  or  religion,  and  away  back  of 
these  swindling  agencies  was  a  sickly  sen- 
tiniontalism,  that  read  Cooper's  silly  novels 
about  the  Indian,  and  went  over  the  country 
prating  and  mouthing  about  taking  away  his 
birthright  and  his  lands.  One  was  the  hon- 
est sentimentalism  of  fools,  and  the  other  the 
cunning  of  crafty  thieves.  The  talk  of  the 
sentimentalists  about  the  Indian  being  here 
first,  as  beautiful  as  it  may  be,  applies  with 
as  much  force  to  the  wolves  and  snakes  the 
red  man  found  here  as  it  does  to  the  Indian. 
The  snakes  were  here  probably  before  the 
wolves.  So  long  as  there  was  none  to  dis- 
pute their  title,  they  wore  not  disturbed,  but 
the  snake  or  the  wolf  when  he  came  be- 
tween the  Indian  and  his  welfare  and  exist- 
ence, was  mercilessly  scotched  and  killed. 

The  Indian  stood  as  a  barrier  in  the  path- 
way of  civilization,  and  it  was  best  that  he 
has  perished.  It  is  nonsense  to  talk  about 
his  being  a  human;  in  the  economy  of  God 
even,  everything  human  perishes,  and  the 
existence  of  the  Indian  was  not  only  not  pos- 
sible, but  it  was  infinitely  better  that  it 
should  be  as  it  is.  It  is  the  law  of  the  "  sur- 
vival of  the  fittest."  A  law  of  nature  appli- 
cable to  all  living  things,  animal  or  vege- 
table or  human,  and  like  all  nature's  laws 
cannot  change,  nor  can  it  possibly  be  avoid- 
ed. It  is  inflexible,  inexorable,  eternal,  and 
cunning  schemes  to  cheat  nature  are  only 
prolonging  the  agony,  the  inevitable  throes 
of  death  and  extinction  that  await  the  infe- 
rior in  the  presence  of  its  superior.  The 
white  man  is  civilized,  not  perfect,  not  per- 


Eeotible,  but  he  is  the  Indian's  superior,  as 
lit*  is  the  superior  of  the  negro  and  the  Mon 
golian.  The  Anglo  Saxon  is  the  superior  of 
the  white  races,  and  he  is  becoming,  and  will 
be,  if  he  is  not  already,  the  world's  master, 
because  "  blood  will  tell." 

The  Tribes  of  Southern  Illinois  wero  the 
Delawares,  Kickapoos,  Shawnoes  and  Pianke- 
shaws,wi  th  many  fragmentary  bands  of  various 
other  tribes.  Of  these,  the  Delawares  were 
once  the  most  powerful  tribe.  They  called 
themselves  the  Lenno-Lenape,  signifying 
"unmixed"  men.  When  the  country  was 
first  discovered,  they  occupied  much  of  the 
shores  of  the  Hudson  River,  and  along  the 
Atlantic  coast.  Their  traditions,  not  enti- 
tled to  much  consideration,  however,  were 
that  they  had  occupied  the  whole  continent 
at  one  time  and  another. 

Tecumseh' s  Army. — As  previously  stated, 
Mr.  John  McCawley  had  located  where  the 
old  town  of  Maysville  was  afterward  laid  off 
in  1810.  He  had  proceeded  quietly  in  build- 
ing him  a  home  for  his  family,  and  opening 
the  first  improvement,  not  only  in  what  is 
now  Clay  County,  but  the  first  for  a  wide 
stretch  of  country  in  every  direction  then  in 
Illinois.  Vincennes  was  his  nearest  trading 
point,  and  as  for  neighbors  he  had  none  ex- 
cept the  Indians  With  these  he  held  honor- 
able and  friendly  intercourse. 

Ho  had  lived  along  in  this  way  for  nearly 
two  years,  when  Tecumseh's  army  that  he 
had  been  gathering  in  the  north  began  to 
pass.  The  very  presence  of  these  men  meant 
war  upon  all  whites.  McCawley  was  informed 
by  some  friendly  neighbors  of  what  was  go- 
ing on,  and  that  he  must  fly  for  his  life. 
But  the  details  of  all  this  are  fully  given  in 
the  history  of  Clay  City  Township,  to  be 
found  in  another  chapter,  and  to  which  we 
refer  the  reader. 

In  every  line  of  the  history  of  the  county 

18 


814 


HISTORY  OF   CI. AY   COUNTY. 


and  the  story  of  this  portion  of  the  State  be- 
fore the  county  was  formed,  the  name  of 
John  McCawley  is  connected  and  is  in  fact 
the  chief  part ;  and  from  that  day  to  the  pres- 
ent hour,  the  name  has  passed  along  and 
borne  the  same  honorable  distinction  and 
wide  respect  that  was  conferred  upon  it  by 
its  original  founder.  His  two  sons  now  re- 
side in  the  county  and  they  are  both  men  of 
wealth,  high  standing  and  untarnished  repu- 
tations. But  as  their  biographies  appear  in 
full  in  another  part  of  the  work,  the  reader 
will  naturally  turn  there  for  further  par- 
ticulars. 

Philip  Devore,  Seth  Evans  and  a  Mr. 
Circles  soon  followed  the  second  coming  of 
John  McCawley  to  the  county.  We  cannot 
now  find  any  one  able  to  tell  us  Mr.  Circles' 
given  name,  but  he  is  remembered  well  by 
all  the  very  early  settlers,  because  of  the  fact 
that  he  put  up  a  horse  mill  east  of  Flora,  and 
for  some  time  furnished  bread,  or  the  means 
of  grinding  their  own  corn,  to  the  early  set- 
tlers. 

John  and  Benjamin  Bishop  settled  near 
where  the  town  of  Iola  now  stands,  and  were 
the  first  adventurers  in  this  portion  of  the 
county. 

John  Sutton  and  a  family  named  Smith  set- 
tled near  what  is  now  Oskaloosa.  For  many 
years  this  was  known  as  Sutton's  Point,  tak- 
ing its  name  from  John  Sutton's  improve- 
ment. It  would  seem  that  without  any 
strong  reason,  it  was  a  pity  not  to  continue 
to  know  the  place  perpetually  by  its  original 
name  in  honor  of  this  early  settler. 

In  1818,  William  Lewis  brought  his  family 
and  settled  in  the  western  portion  of  the 
county. 

At  the  same  time  Thomas  Elliott  settled  and 
commenced  an  improvement  where  John  A. 
Gerhart  now  lives,  a  little  east  of  Flora.  And 
Math i as  Meisenheimer  came  at  the  same  time, 


and  settled  on  the  west  side  of  Raccoon  Creek, 
on  a  farm  owned  now   by    Seth  F.  Hinkley. 

In  1S'2'2,  came  Isaac  Elliott,  Isaac  Mont- 
gomery, James  McGrew,  John  M.  Griffith  and 
John  Onstott,  who  settled  in  the  western  por- 
tion of  the  county. 

The  following  is  a  tolerably  complete  list 
of  the  early  settlers  of  Clay  County  with  their 
respective  ages:  Francis  Apperson,  eighty - 
three;  Isaac  Elliutt,  eighty-five;  John  L. 
Crutchfield,  seventy-four;  J.  J.  Spriggs, 
sixty-five;  Abraham  Songer,  seventy-seven; 
John  Peirce,  seventy-two;  Jacob  Songer, 
eighty-one;  Jesse  Blair,  seventy- four;  Joseph 
Bishop,  seventy- six;  Sarah  Bishop,  seventy- 
one;  Enoch  Sceif,  seventy-two:  Elizabeth 
Sceif,  seventy-one;  Crawford  Erwin,  sixty- 
five;  M.  A.  Davis,  sixty-five;  A.  P.  Cox,  sev- 
enty-five; A.  J.  Moore,  seventy-four;  Felix 
Cockerell,  seventy  four;  Robert  N.  Smith, 
sixty-five;  Basil  Davis,  sixty-nine;  Margaret 
Davis,  sixty-two;  Isaac  Baity,  sixty-eight; 
James  Baity,  sixty-seven;  Mary  S.  Saunders, 
sixty-three;  Alexander  Baity,  fifty-seven; 
Louis  A.  Tolliver,  sixty  six;  Levi  Onstott, 
sixty-seven;  W.  L.  Colclasure,  sixty-two; 
James  Hoard,  sixty-seven;  Sarah  A.  Morris, 
fifty-nine;  Theodore  McKennelly,  sixty-six; 
Silas  Ooton,  fifty-eight;  R.  McClellan,  fifty- 
two;  Jesse  Montgomery,  seventy-one;  Feild- 
den  Bridgewaters,  sixty-seven;  Samuel  Jones, 
fifty-one;  I.  W.  Craig,  fifty  one;  Daniel 
Moore,  sixty;  J.  P.  Aldridge,  fifty-one; 
Henry  Long,  seventy;  J.  C.  Craig,  fifty-one; 
Thomas  Higgenbotham,  fifty-oDe;  F.  C. 
Smith  sixty-seven;  Harvey  Gray,  fifty-nine; 
M.  P.  Harris,  eighty-one;  William  McCoily, 
Joseph  Colclasure,  Mrs.   E.  J.  Colclasure. 

As  seen  in  the  records  of  the  offices  and  the 
courts,  among  the  prominent  men  here  at 
the  organization  of  the  county  was  Thomas 
McCrackiu.  In  1825,  he  was  appointed  to 
take  the  census  of  the  county,  and  in    1835 


HISTORY   OF   CLAY   COUNTY. 


815 


Robert  Toler  was  appointed  to  till  the  Fame 
duties. 

This  list  does  not  include  all  the  first  settlers 
in  the  county,  nor  all  of  those  who  were  here 
thetirst  decade  of  the  county's  existence  as  a 
municipality.  Of  course  the  first  scattered 
and  sparsely  populated  settlement  was  col- 
lected around  the  McCawley  settlement;  the 
next  was  probably  around  the  settlement  made 
by  Thomas  Elliott. 

This  is  a  pretty  full  list  of  those  who  may 
properly  be  termed  old  settlers  here  who  are 
now,  or  were  a  few  months  ago,  still  among 
tin'  living.  They  are  the  relics  of  the  One- 
Leg  Bedstead  Age  that  came,  nourished 
in  its  day  of  usefulness,  and  is  gone> 
never  to  return.  To  many  readers  of  to-day 
this  will  sound  strange,  and  they  will  not 
comprehend  that  this  is  possible.  The  writer 
having  made  one  and  slept  in  it,  is  prepared 
to  say  that  nearly  all  the  first  bedsteads  were 
made  with  one  post  or  leg.  To  start  with, 
you  must  have  an  unplastered  log  house, 
then  a  post  and  two  bed  rails;  each  rail  is 
fastened  in  an  auger  hole  in  the  wall,  the 
sides  of  the  house  wall  forming  the  end  and 
one  side  of  the  bed,  and  thus  a  one-legged 
bedstead  is  complete,  and  here  has  been 
found  as  refreshing  rest  and  as  sweet  dreams 
as  ever  came  to  the  royal  iulaid  bedstead  of 
magnificent  carving,  and  that  was  clothed  in 
down  and  royal  laces.  Another  part  and 
accompaniment  of  the  one-legged  bedstead, 
was  the  fact  that  this  bed  was  not  rolled 
about  over  the  house  to  sweep,  but  was  sta- 
tionary, and  one  of  the  earliest  purchases  of 
tho  family  was  a  few  yards  of  bright  calico 
— this  was  a  great  tax  too,  and  only  the 
wealthiest  could  afford  it — to  make  a  "  val- 
ance "  to  run  around  the  bed  from  wall  to 
wall.  In  those  days  flooring  was  either  hewn 
puncheons  or  plank  that  came  from  the 
"  whip  saw,"  and   therefore  the  space  under 


the  bed,  being  hid  from  sight  was  left  with- 
out any  floor  at  all.  True  the  dogs  some- 
times made  free  use  of  this  from  their  kennels, 
which  was  all  under  the  house,  to  the  warm 
corner  with  the  children,  with  furtive  looks 
at  the  food  as  the  family  ate,  and  sometimes 
ii"  doubt  a  sweet  pilfered  morsel.  But  as 
said,  the  one-legged  bedstead  passed  away, 
no  one  can  tell  exactly  when  or  how,  but  not 
one  has  been  in  the  county  for  years  and 
years.  It  was  in  some  way  succeeded  by  the 
trundle-bed,  the  bed  of  nearly  all  our  early 
ancestors  here.  It  came;  it  seemed  to  strike 
all  creation  hereabouts  at  once,  and  mightily 
did  it  and  its  trundle-bed  trash  flourish  for  a 
long  period  It  was  simply  a  bed  cinder  a 
regular  bed.  The  result  of  the  happy  com- 
bination was  such  that  about  every  lied  in 
the  county  might  be  said  to  be  a  two-story 
one.  If  the  house  was  large  enough,  or  the 
housekeeper  not  too  indifferent,  this  trundle- 
bed  would  be  pulled  out  at  night,  if  there 
was  room  to  do  this,  and  during  the  day 
shoved  back  under  the  big  bed,  and  thus  a 
happy  purpose,  where  house-room  was  scarce 
and  children  plenty,  was  served. 

The  trundle-bed,  too,  has  come  and  gone. 
It  served  its  time  and  purpose,  and  its  days 
are  numbered,  and  now  for  years  it  is  only  a 
recollection  among  our  older  people,  and,  in 
a  short  time,  the  coming  generation  will  read 
this  and  conclude  that  we  are  only  romanc- 
ing. But  the  writer  can  bear  testimony  that 
boys  slept  in  the  trundle  bed;  in  very  cold 
weather  it  seems  it  was  an  economy  in 
clothing  to  leave  it  in  its  place  all  night,  un- 
til they  were  nearly  huge  enough  to  begin  to 
oai  (  sheep's  eyes  at  Maria  Jane  away  ai 
at  the  Point. 

Then  came  the  store  bed  with  its  splendid 
sea  grass-rope  cord,  that  would  be  tightened 
up  at  least  every  spring,  this  requiring  a 
man  to  get  up  on  the  ropes  and  walk  on  them 


310 


HISTORY  OF   CLAY   COUNTY. 


by  turns.  It  is  proper  to  state  that  the  first 
had  holes  bored  in  the  rail,  and  it  was  some 
time  afterward  that  the  elegant  improvement 
of  turned  knob  or  button,  fastened  on  top  of 
the  rail,  was  introduced.  It  took  many  years 
to  supersede  this  real  advance  in  the  early  bed- 
stead. There  was  a  loud  and  musical  creak 
about  these  old  rope  bedsteads,  that  must 
have  been  inherited  from  the  "  truck  "  wagon 
— at  one  time  the  only  musical  instrument  in 
the  county.  Did  you,  reader,  ever  see  or 
hear  a  truck  wagon?  The  wheels  were  sawed 
out  of  a  large  log,  and  were  a  solid  piece  of 
wood  with  a  hole  in  the  center;  soft  soap 
was  the  only  grease  ever  used  on  them,  and 
the  writer  can  testify,  when  a  little  dry  of 
soap,  their  "hullabaloo!"  could  bo  heard 
for  miles  as  they  passed  along  the  road. 

Social  life  at  first  was  confined  to  house 
raisings  and  weddings.  That  is,  these  suc- 
ceeded the  days  of  "forting. "  The  fun  at 
these  was  boisterous  and  rough,  but  innocent 
and  happy  as  the  day  was  long.  The  young 
men  when  rigged  out  in  a  new  tow-linen  suit 
(commencing  at  about  seventeen  years  old) 
were  ready  to  go  courting.  They  would  most 
generally  meet  some  of  the  brothers  at  a 
shooting  match  or  at  meeting,  and  go  home 
with  them  and  stay  all  night,  sometimes 
three  or  four  sleeping  in  the  same  bed.  If 
there  were  many  of  the  neighbors'  girls  there 
visiting  at  the  same  time,  these  were  stowed 
away  about  as  thickly.  Somewhere  in  about 
these  days,  a  great  drink,  called  "  metheglin," 
was  here.  This  was  made  in  every  house- 
hold when  they  took  their  winter's  honey;  it 
was  a  part  of  the  honey  crop,  and  was  simply 
the  water  of  the  waste  honey  made  very  sweet, 
and,  by  putting  in  a  place  with  exactly  the 
proper,temperaturo,  a  slight  fermentation  took 
place,  and  it  was  then  ready  to  drink.  But 
the  good  old  "  metheglin  "  days  and  times 
are  gone.     The  memory  of  the  writer  is  that 


they  fled  before  the  writing  master,  who 
came  armed  with  the  clarified  goosequill, 
and,  ye  gods!  what  a  flourish  he  was — what 
outstretched  eagles,  what  twisted  birds,  and 
how  he  could  write  and  encircle  in  flourishes 
the  name  of  every  one  of  his  pupils,  but  the 
belle  of  the  neighborhood  he  would  always 
bring  to  his  feet  by  the  extra  touch  of  dot- 
ting the  letters  of  her  sweet  name  with  poke- 
berry  juice — red  and  blue! — he  always  used 
blue  ink — emblems  of  his  constancy  and  his 
bleeding  heart.  He  thus  had  assailed  every 
well-to-do  farmer's  daughter  in  every  neigh- 
borhood he  had  ever  visited,  but  could  mortal 
girl — Martha  Clementina  Rhoda  Emelina — 
withstand  all  of  Cupid's  assaults,  think  you? 
Indeed  no!  The  wedding  was  the  affair  of 
the  day.  She  caught  the  writing  master, 
and  only  one  or  two  envious  girls  of  doubt- 
ful age,  who  tossed  their  heads  and  rattled 
their  corkscrew  curls  in  contempt  of  "  such  a 
catch!"  while  all  others  rejoiced,  and  the 
little  world  for  miles  determined  to  attend 
the  wedding. 

At  the  house  of  the  bride  was  commotion, 
and  a  gathering  of  the  neighbor's  girls  for 
days  before  the  great  event.  Pumpkin  pies, 
apple  pies,  plum  pies,  bride's  cake  and  sweet 
cake  and  cakes,  and  raisin  cakes  and  chick- 
ens and  float!  ah!  thou  nectar,  float!  and 
more  chicken  and  cake  and  float,  and  hams 
boiled  by  the  cauldron  and  kettleful,  and 
still  more  hams  and  cake  and  pie,  and  float! 
oh!  float  on  forever!  The  morning  of  the 
great  day  came,  and  the  watchmen  from  the 
house  of  the  bride,  cried  out:  "  Behold  the 
bridegi-oom  cometh!"  and  then  there  was 
swiftly  mounting  of  all  about  the  premises 
who  rushed  out  to  meet  the  groom  and  his 
party,  and  put  forth  their  fleetest  horse  and 
safest  rider  in  the  "race  for  the  bottle." 
The  party  with  the  groom  accepted  the  chal 
lautre,  and  sent  forth   their  best    horse   and 


HISTORY    OF   CLAY    COUNTY. 


317 


rider;  a  straight  stretch  in  the  road,  about 
half  a  mile  usually,  was  selected,  judges 
posted,  the  riders  mounted  and  the  race  ran; 
the  winner  then  was  handed  the  bottle  and 
all  its  fluttering  ribbons,  and  the  cavalcade 
rode  to  the  house  in  great  glee. 

But  the  "  race  for  the  bottle  "  has  passed 
away,  and  there  arc  grown  people  now  here 
who  have  never  heard  of  this  innocent  pas- 
time. We  should  qualify  this  as  people  now 
race  far  the  bottle,  and  both  sides  pretty  much 
always  win  and  always  lose — the  only  winner 
now  being  the  bottle,  and  does  the  modern 
bride  watch  the  race  with  swelling  heart  as 
did  the  bride  of  our  fathers?  Alas,  alas  she 
cannot  help  but  see  the  race  now,  but  instead 
of  a  swelling  it  is  a  breaking  heart,  for  well 
she  knows  the  goal  is  death.  The  writing- 
master,  perhaps,  should  have  gone  with  his 
congeners,  but  he  has  lingered,  and  the  writer 
can  safely  affirm  that  he  saw  a  live  one  but 
recently  on  tho  train;  he  was  really  alive, 
had  his  flourishes  with  him,  which  looked 
more  lively  and  natural  than  he  did,  and  as 
he  showed  his  masterwork  there  was  an  air 
of  triumph  playing  about  his  features  that 
caused  as,  in  the  language  of  Webster  when 
he  landed  the  fish,  but  was  thinking  of  an 
address  to  the  siguers  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  to  exclaim:  "Venerable  Sirs! 
You  have  come  down  to  as  from  a  former 
generation!" 

Then  there  was  the  young  man  of  the 
period,  with  a  quilted  saddle  and  strapped 
breeches  and  no  3uspenders.  How  grand, 
how  regal  he  was  in  bears  grease  and  "  con- 
gress knife!"  He  would  bo  a  dude  now,  but 
he  was  immense  at  the  singing  school  then; 
the  next  greatest  man  in  the  world  to  the 
singing  master  himself — that  magician  of 
the  tuning  fork  and  master  of  the  square 
notes;  his  open  sesame  to  the  world's  oyster 
was  the  good  old  Missouri  harmony,  and  then 


"From  Greenland's  icy  mountains,  from  In- 
dias'  .-oral  strands,"  they  all  "rolled  down 
their  golden  sands,"  and  thus  these  innocent, 
good  souls  sang  themselves  one  and  all  into 
love  and  into  matrimony,  and  each  and  all 
set  up  their  own  music  factories,  that  may 
not  have  been  so  ecstatic  as  the  original  sing- 
ing school,  but  it  was  more  lasting  and  let 
us  hope  really  more  gratifying. 

Was  that  lovely  and  harmless  creature, 
the  dancing  master,  an  invention  or  a  neces- 
sity of  that  day  and  age?  Indeed,  no!  For 
every  boy  and  every  girl  was  a  dancing  mas- 
ter unto  himself  and  herself.  They  literally 
danced  at  the  weddings,  fiddle  or  no  fiddle; 
and  this  meant  to  commence  early  in  the  af 
ternoon  of  the  day  of  the  wedding,  and  dance 
until  breakfast  nest  morning;  then  catch  their 
horses  and  in  pairs  ride  to  tho  groom's 
father's  residence,  and  as  soon  as  a  great 
"  infair"  dinner  was  over,  resume  the  dance, 
and  all  night  until  a  late  breakfast  again  the 
next  day,  and  "  infair  "  day  sometimes  ex- 
tended over  two  or  three  days,  and  the  whole 
thing  was  dancing,  dancing  with  ouly  cessa- 
tions for  eating.  Terpsichore!  what  danc- 
ing. Not  your  dreamy  waltz  nor  gentle 
walk,  but  a  genuine  walk  talk-ginger  blue 
break  neck  race  and  jig.  thai  tilled  their  in- 
nocent hearts  with  gladness,  but  their  legs 
with  soreness  and  pains. 

The  clock  peddler  has  come  and  gone,  and 
with  him  has  disappeared  the  good  old- 
fashioned  Yankee  wooden  clocks  that  he  s.ild 
at  such  enormous  figures.  It  was  only  the  best 
farmers  that  could  afford  those  luxuries, 
which,  we  believe,  never  were  delivered  for 
Mess  than  $25.  Can  the  children  of  that  day 
ever  forget  the  honest  old  clock  faces,  with 
their  pictures  of  the  Capitol  at  Washington, 
or  William  and  Mary  College.  Often  this  was 
the  only  work  of  art  about  the  house  for  the 
study  of  the  young,  until  the  colporteur  came 


318 


HISTORY    OF   CLAY   COUNTY 


along  with  those  flaming,  red  dressed,  red 
faced,  wonderful  wood-cut  girls — "  morning 
and  evening  " — the  blonde  and  the  brunette. 
Sweet,  fat,  putty  faced,  great,  red  daubed 
idiots  in  curls  and  low  necked  red  dresses,  we 
can  now  worship  thee  still  in  sweet  memories 
— recall  faintly  how  beautiful  and  grand  you 
once  were  in  our  young  imagination — how 
radiantly  beautiful  yon  were  to  a  childish 
mind,  and  how  eventually  by  closely  scan- 
ning your  features  daily,  you  grew  to  look 
like  Maria  Jane  and  her  freckles.  Hideous 
daubs,  but  in  your  day  and  time  who  shall 
say  you  did  not  discharge  a  good  and  a  holy 
work  ? 

The  Hardshell  Baptist  preacher,  with  his 
nasal  blasts  that  will  linger  in  the  memory 
of  our  fathers  as  long  as  one  is  left  alive, 
and  the  Methodist, shouting  and  "jerking"  his 
way  toward  heaven  and  literally  snatching  sin 
baldheaded;  and  thebully.with  head  about  the 
size  of  a  teacup  and  boots  "  the  next  size  to 
the  box,"  a  brute  even  when  sober,  but  filled 
with  lighting  whisky,  he  was  worse  than  the 
meanest  fighting  dog,  without  a  solitary  one 
of  his  better  instincts.  It  altogether  must 
have  made  this  a  rather  severe  and  practical 
age.  With  the  bruising  bully  on  one  side, 
and  the  preacher  with  his  literal,  roasting, 
fr\ing  lake  of  tire  and  brimstone  on  the 
other,  a  man's  life  must  have  been  much  of 
a  running  of  the  gantlet  from  the  start  to 
the  grave. 

Early  Schools. — Tbey  were  pioneer  schools, 
very  primitive  in  character,  but  meeting  the 
great  want  of  the  people  quite  as  fully,  if 
not  much  more  so,  than  the  so-called  splen- 
did schools  of  to-day.  They  were  pay 
schools;  now  we  have  free  schools.  The  pay 
school  cost  about  $1  per  head  a  pupil  per 
annum;  the  free  schools  cost  from  SI  |,>  S'jn 
per  head — a  singular  comment  on  how  cheap 
a  thing  may  bo  had  if  the  people  are   left  to 


do  their  own  bargaining,  and  how  expensive 
a  free  thing  is  the  moment  Government  steps 
in  to  pay  the  bills. 

There  was  much  simplicity,  in  fact  no 
great  pretensions,  about  the  early  schools.  A. 
small  room  in  some  empty  cabin  was  pro- 
cured if  possible,  or  failing  in  this,  a  room 
in  some  outhouse  or  part  of  some  man's 
house  was  secured,  and  here  a  three  months' 
school  was  taught.  The  other  nine  months 
of  the  year  were  given  to  work  upon  the 
farms  and  truck  patches  by  the  children. 
Here  was  the  most  rigid  economy  in  all  the 
families.  It  costs  more  to  buy  the  average 
child  novv-a-days  toys  than  did  all  the  ex- 
pense of  support  nt  the  pioneer  children. 
We  are  not  going  to  say  that  this  extrava- 
gance now  is  better  than  the  rigid  and  severe 
economy  of  that  day.  We  are  not  called  up- 
on to  discuss  the  question.  But  we  have  no 
hesitation  in  expressing  the  belief  that  one 
of  the  greatest  evils  of  our  fathers  was  that 
inability  of  the  people  to  indulge  the 
children  in  more  of  the  comforts  of 
life,  and  to  send  them  to  travel  and 
mix  more  with  and  see  something  of  the 
world.  A  school  teacher  was  required  to  be 
able  to  read  and  write  and  mend  goose-quill 
pens,  and  in  comparatively  modern  times  it 
became  necessary  for  him  to  understand  the 
three  R's — reading,  'riting,  and  'rithmetic  to 
the  rule  of  three.  And  by  this  time,  the 
neighbors  had  gathered  together  and  built  a 
cabin  schoolhouse,  split  out  the  benches  for 
seats  from  logs,  and  had  cut  out  a  log  on  one 
side  of  the  house  for  a  window.  Running 
all  along  in  front  of  this  window  was  a 
writing  desk— a  plank  slightly  inclined,  aud 
placed  far  enough  above  the  seat  for  the  big 
pupils  to  turn  around  in  their  seats  by  throw- 
ing their  feet  over,  and  there  making  their 
pot  hooks  and  straight  marks  from  line  to 
lino,  and  then   rows  of  m's  and  n's,  running 


III.STOltV    OF   CLAY    I'lUN'TV. 


310 


entirety  across  the  page, and  then  the  alphabet; 
and  at  once  this  was  followed  by  the  copies  of 
"Many  men  of  many  minds,"  etc.,  that  at 
this  mere  suggestion  will  come  back  to  the 
recollection  of  every  reader  who  was  there  to 
see  for  himself  in  the  long  ago.  The  whole 
school  would  study  aloud,  and  what  a  wild 
confusion  it  was.  The  chief  exercise  was 
spelling,  and  Webster's  old  spelling  book, 
costing  ten  cents,  turned  out  just  as  good 
"  spellers "  as  are  to  be  found  now.  The 
readers  used  were  cheap  copies  of  the  Bible, 
and  any  chance  book  the  youngster  could 
find  about  the  house ;  for  the  very  big  scholars 
it  was  often  the  life  of  Gen.  Francis  Marion, 
The  arithmetics  were  generally  Diebold"s  or 
Pike's,  and  "Do  my  sum"  was  often  and 
often  the  only  break  in  the  monotony  of 
studying  mathematics.  Generally  two  chil- 
dren would  use  the  same  book,  and  sometimes. 


by  taking  turns,  throe  and  four,  and  thus 
often  a  fair-sized  school  got  along  with  no 
more  books  than  you  can  now  see  one  child 
lugging  along  the  streets  on  its  way  to 
school. 

As  said,  the  school  desks  were  split  logs 
with  pins  in  them,  and  of  course  no  backs, 
and  the  trusteees  were  only  watchful  that  the 
teacher  earned  his  money  by  teaching  full 
hours.  School  would  commence  at  least  by 
7:30  in  the  winter  mornings,  then  a  short  hour 
for  dinner,  and  at  it  again  until  sundown. 
Between  nine  and  ten  hours  pent  up  in  this 
log  den,  and  the  little  fellows  whose  legs 
were  too  short  to  sit  on  the  rough  benches 
and  place  their  feet  on  the  floor,  had  to  sit  it 
out,  and  swing  their  feet  was  all  they  could 
do  to  prevent  a  stoppage  in  the  circulation 
of  the  blood,  that  otherwise  would  certainly, 
have  been  fatal. 


CHAPTER    1  V. 


ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  COONTY— ITS  NAME— HENRY  CLAY— THE  FIRST  COUNTY  SEAT— FIRS!  OFFI- 
CERS— GRAND  JURIES— INCIDENTS,  ETC.— CLAY  COUNTY— ITS  NAME— DATE  ORGANIZED- 
COMMISSIONERS— FIRST  COUNTY  COl  RT   AND  OFFICERS,  AND  LIST  COMPLETE  TO 
1850— HUBBARDSVILLE,  MAYSVILLE  AND  LOUISVILLE  THE  THREE  COUNTY 
CAPITALS— THE   COUNTY    BUILDINGS— FULL  ACCOUNT   OF    EARLY 
ROADS,  BRIDGES  AND  JURIES— A  CHAPTER  IN  WHICH  EYERY 
PARAGRAPH    IS    FULL   OF    INTEREST,  ETC.,    ETC. 


CLAY  COUNTY  was  created  by  act  of  the 
Legislature  December  23,  1824.  Simply 
to  mention  the  namo  is  to  suggost  to  even  the 
youngest  school  children  where  it.  came  from 
and  in  whose  honor  it  was  given  to  the 
county.  There  has  been  but  one  Henry 
Clay.  Others  still  bear  the  name,  as  well  as 
the  lineal  blood,  of  the  great  commonor,  yet 
they  are  mere  shadows  of  the  great  orator. 


He  was  unquestionably  the  culmination  of 
A  ii.'rican  oratory,  and  when  be  passed  away 
its  decadence  commenced,  and  doubtless  this 
will  go  on  until  it  will  literally  cease  to  cut 
any  figure  in  the  world's  affairs.  Its  decay 
the  past  fifty  years  has  been  so  great  and  so 
rapid,  that  this  conclusion  is  not  only  jus- 
tifiable  but  inevitable.  For  centuries,  the 
great  orators  ruled  the  affairs  of  the  world; 


320 


HISTORY   OF  CLAY   COUNTY. 


but  this  age.  and  it  is  what  so  strongly  marks 
it  as  the  practical  age,  is  a  time  when  erudi- 
tion and  thought  are  something   that  those 
who  really  control  look  to  for  guidance  and 
counsel.      The  power  of  the  orator  is  almost 
wholly  physical — a  personal  magnetism  that 
sways  men  irresistibly,  and  a  power  to  say 
the  simplest  or  most  foolish  thing,  but  to  say  it 
as  to  make  men  weep  or   fight  at  pleasure. 
It  is  wholly  the  voice,  the  look,  the  gesture 
that  now  melts  into  sadness,  now  maddens  to 
crime;  it  is  the  appeal  to  passion  only.     But 
men  may  contend  that  the    higher  type   of 
oratory  may  combine  strong  thoughts  with 
great  oratory.     The  sufficient  answer  to  this 
is,  it  has  never  yet  been  done.     There  is  not 
one  single  instance  in  all  history — only  one 
that  approaches  it,  and  that   was    Socrates, 
and  we  do  not  know  that  he  was  an  orator  at 
all.     The  evidences  are  that  he  did  not  think 
so,  nor  did  any  of  his  cotemporaries,  and  it 
is  only  the  simple  and  sublime  thoughts  of 
his  that  have  come  to   us  creates  this  false 
impression.      Then,    it  has    been    said    that 
certain  writers  wrote   eloquently.      This  is  a 
mere    misuse   of    terms.      Writing    may    be 
sublime,    grand    and    impassioned,   and   the 
reading  thereof  may  move  the  world.      It  is 
the    supremost    talent    of    clothing    strong 
thoughts  in  the  most  befitting  dress,  and  the 
writer  generally  is  in    his    cheerless   room, 
surrounded   by    every    discomfort,    suffering 
even    the    pangs  of    hunger,   working   for  a 
crust,  while  the  world  sleeps. 

But  if  the  world  ever  possessed  one  who 
rose  to  the  pinnacle  of  greatness  through  his 
oratory,  purity  of  intentions  and  his  pa- 
triotism, that  man  was  Henry  Clay,  the  great 
commoner  of  Kentucky,  after  whom  this 
county  was  named. 

The  act  forming  the  county,  defines  its 
limits  as  follows: 

"Beginning  at  range  line  dividing  town- 


ships four  and  five,  where  the  middle  of 
Township  No.  2,  north  of  the  base  line, 
strikes  said  range  line;  thence  east  with  the 
middle  line  of  said  township  to  Fox  River; 
thence  north  with  said  river  to  the  township 
line  dividing  Townships  5  and  6;  thence 
west  with  said  line  to  the  range  line  dividing 
4  and  5;  thence  south  with  said  line  to 
the  place  of  beginning,  shall  constitute  a 
separate  county  to  be  called  Clay.  James 
Bird,  Israel  Jennings  and  John  H.  Morris 
were  appointed  Commissioners  to  locate 
county  seat  and  required  to  meet  at  house  of 
John  McCawley,  and  to  meet  on  or  before 
the  1st  day  of  April,  1824." 

Section  2  [required  parties  owning  the  land 
to  give  not  less  than  twenty  acres,  etc. 

Section  3  provided  that  until  public  build- 
ings were  erected,  the  courts  were  to  meet  at 
John  McCawley's  house. 

Section  4  required  an  election  to  be  held 
at  McCawleys  on  the  third  Monday,  February, 
1824,  to  elect  a  Sheriff,  Coroner  and  three 
County  Commissioners,  who  were  to  hold 
office  until  the  next  general  election. 

Clay  County  was  authorized  to  vote  with 
Wayne  County  in  the  election  for  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly,  and  with  Wayne  and  Law- 
rence Counties  in  the  election  of  a  Senator. 

An  examination  of  the  State  map  of  that 
time  will  show  that  this  act  changed  the 
boundary  lines  and  the  territories  of  Fayette, 
Crawford,  Lawrence  and  Wayne  Counties. 
And  that  the  act  itself  was  crude,  hasty  or 
illy  constituted  for  the  future  of  the  people 
we  will  proceed  to  show  in  the  many  changes 
that  eventuated  in  the  present  county  limits, 
and  that  are  now  supposed  to  be  permanent. 

On  Tuesday,  the  8th  day  of  March,  1825, 
at  the  house  of  John  McCawley,  assembled 
the  first  County  Commissioners'  Court  for  the 
then  new  county  of  Clay.  There  were  present, 
in  the  language  of  the  County  Clerk,   "  the 


HISTORY   OF   CLAY   COUNTY. 


321 


Worshipful "  John  H.  Lacy  and  William 
Lewis,  two  of  the  three  County  Commis- 
sioners; the  other  Commissioner,  Samuel  G. 
Weatherspoon,  did  not  enter  his  appearance 
until  the  next  day.  Willis  C.  Osborne  had 
been  appointed  County  Clerk  by  the  Com- 
missioners, and  the  first  paper  ever  put  in 
this  com-t's  records  is  his  commission  as 
Clerk,  signed  by  the  above-named  Lewis, 
Weatherspoon  and  Lacy,  and  bears  date 
February  23,  1825.  John  H.  Lacy,  a  Justice 
of  the  Peace,  certifies  that  on  the  8th  day  of 
March.  1825,  Osborne  had  taken  the  oath  of 
office  beforejhim  in  due  form  of  law. 

The  first  appointment  of  this  court  in  the 
organization  of  the  county,  in  thoir  official 
capacity  as  a  court  in  actual  session,  was  the 
appointment  of  Thomas  Elliott  and  Levi 
Jordan,  Overseers  of  the  Poor  for  the  county. 
The  next  act  was  to  appoint  James  I.  Pierce 
and  Robert  M.  Gordon.  Constables.  The 
court  appointed  Mathiaa  Meisenhoimer  the 
first  Road  Supervisor  for  the  road  "  leading 
from  John  McCawley's  bridge  to  the  Marion 
County  line."  John  McCawley  was  ap- 
pointed Supervisor  of  the  Vincennes  &  St. 
Louis  lload.  This  was  the  first  day's  work  of 
the  court. 

The  second  day  the  court  commenced  busi- 
ness by  ordering  the  following  to  be  sum- 
moned as  grand  jurors  for  the  April  term, 
1825,  of  the  first  Circuit  Court  in  the  new 
county:  Benjamin  Bishop,  William  Smith, 
Jacob  Dean,  James  Embrey,  Levi  Shurwood, 
Peter  Kinney.  Thomas  Nichols,  Abraham 
Koberson  (the  spelling  of  this  name  follows 
the  Clerk),  Isaac  Brady.  Enoch  Wilcox,  Jo- 
seph Brimhall,  William  Binion,  Isaac  Elliott, 
John  Chapman,  William  Nash,  Alexander 
Rogers,  Thomas  Elliott,  Jacob  Perkey.  Will- 
iam Daniel,  Levi  Daniel  and  John  Jeffries. 
The  traverse  jury  ordered  was  as  follows: 
Levi  Self,  William  Lewis,  Mathiaa  Meisen- 


heimer, Samuel  Weatherspoon,  John  H.  Lacy, 
Basil  Daniel,  John  Mathis,  David  Elliott, 
Daniel  McCall,  Robert  M.  Gordon,  John 
.McCawley,  Tilman  Wright,  John  Binion, 
Philip  Devore,  John  Miller,  Daniel  May, 
John  W.  Miller,  James  I.  Pierce,  David 
Oiley,  Willis  W.  Boon,  Isaac  Roniine,  Jacob 
Elliott,  Isaac  Franchier  and  Binion  Fran- 
chier. 

Then  Jacob  Dean,  Benj.  Bishop  and  Levi 
Jordan  were  appointed  to  examine  the  road 
"  leading  from  McCawley'  s  bridge  to  Van- 
dalia  as  lies  between  George  Faris'  and  the 
Hickory  Point." 

Daniel  May.  William  Lewis.  John  Mc- 
Caw  ley,  James  Nelson,  Andrew  Evans,  Thomas 
Elliott,  Mathias  Meisenheimer,  Isaac  Elliott 
and  Thomas  Nichols  were  each  granted  a 
"  tavern  license "  for  the  term  of  one  year. 
This  was  a  goodly  array  of  landlords  in  the 
wilderness,  and  their  integrity  as  good  feeders 
for  man  and  beast  is  well  attested  by  the  fact 
that  all  of  them  lived  to  a  green  old  age. 
The  license  fee  for  a  tavern  was  fixed  at 
$2.50  "  in  specie  or  its  equivalent  in  State 
paper,"  and  $1  "in  specie"  to  the  County 
Clerk.  The  court  evidently  deemed  it  a  duty 
to  define  just  the  kind  of  money  that  it 
would  take  for  a  dollar. 

It  was  then  ordered  that  each  tavern-keeper 
be  governed  by  the  following  rates: 

For  keeping  horse  one  night 37i 

Lodging 12J 

Supper 25 

"Brexfast" 25 

Dinner 37^ 

Horse  feed 12i 

One  quart  whisky '-'5 

One  pi ni  whisky 181 

One  gill  whisky 6J 

When  the  county  was  thus  comfortably 
fixed  for  housekeeping,  it  seems  to  have 
occurred  to  the  court  to  make  some  arrange- 
ments   for    a   county's    dwelling    house    and 


322 


HISTORY   OF  CLAY   COUNT V. 


home,  and  thereupon  Daniel  May  proceeded 
to  produce  in  open  court  his  bond  for  twenty 
acres  of  land  upon  which  the  "  permanent 
seat  of  justice  for  the  county  is  located,  by 
James  Bird,  Israel  Jennings  and  John  H. 
Morris,  the  Commissioners  appointed  by  the 
Legislature  of  the  State  at  their  late  session 
to  locate  the  permanent  seat  of  justice  in  and 
for  the  county  of  Clay."  The  securities  on 
May's  bond  were  Samuel  G.  Weatherspoon, 
George  Goble,  Thomas  Elliott  and  William 
Lewis.  The  act  of  the  Legislatvire  required 
these  Commissioners  to  make  their  selection 
and  report  their  doings  to  the  proper  authori- 
ties. They  met  at  McCawley's  house  as. 
directed,  and  made  this  report: 

Agreeable  to  the  act  of  the  Legislature  of  Illinois, 
entitled  an  act  forming  a  new  county  out  of  the 
counties  of  Wayne,  Lawrence,  Crawford  and  Fay 
ette,  the  Commissioners  appointed  by  said  act  to 
locate  the  permanent  seat  of  justice  for  said  county, 
to  wit:  James  Bird.  Israel  Jennings  and  John  II. 
Morris  met  at  the  house  of  John  McCawley  on  the 
first  Monday  in  February  inst.,  and  after  being  duly 
sworn,  proceeded  to  view  the  most  eligible  situation 
for  a  county  seat,  taking  into  consideration  the  con- 
venience of  the  present  and  future  population  of 
the  county.  On  and  after  mature  deliberation,  the 
said  Commissioners  unanimously  agreed  to  locate 
thi'  permanent  seat  of  justice  on  the  land  of  Daniel 
May,  in  Section  lit.  Township3,  RaugeS  east  of  the 
Third  Principal  Meridian,  being  the  southwest  quar- 
ter of  the  said  section.  And  the  said  Commis- 
sioners did  further  agree  by  and  with  the  advice 
arid  consent  of  the  citizens  of  the  said  county  to 
give  the  said  permanent  seat  of  justice  liy  them  so 

located  the  name  of  Hubbardsville. 

The  Commissioners  deem  it  their  duty  to  add 
as  information  for  the  County  Commissioners  to 
be  elected  for  the  said  new  county,  the  before 
named  Daniel  May  is  prepared  to  give  his  own  bond, 
together  with  the  bondsof  Thomas  Elliott,  Thomas 
Nichols,  George  Goble  and  William  Lewis  for  the 
purpose  of  securing  to  the  new  county  the  dona- 
tion of  twenty  acres  required  by  the  before-men- 
tioned act  to  be  made  by  tin  proprietor  of  the  land 
where  the  said  seat  of  justice  should  be  located. 


Given  under  our  hands  this  8th  day  of  February, 
1825. 

(Signed)  James  Bird, 

Israel  Jennings, 
John  H.  Morris. 
At  the  house  of  McCawley,  Clay  County,  in  the 
presence  of  W.  Turner. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  first  county 
seat  was  Hubbardsville.  The  name,  most 
probably,  was  in  honor  of  Gov.  A.  F.  Hub- 
bard, of  Shawneetown,  of  whom  an  extended 
account  may  be  found  in  the  Wayne  County 
history  in  this  volume. 

Daniel  McCall  was  appointed  County  Sur- 
veyor, and  ordered  to  lay  off  and  plat  the 
new  town  on  May's  donation  "  on  or  before 
the  25th  day  of  the  present  month;"  "the 
main  street  is  to  be  forty  two  feet  in  width," 
and  the  "  cross  streets  thirty  feet  in  width." 
A  sale  of  lots  was  ordered  to  be  had  on  the 
12th  day  of  April,  and  the  Clerk  was  ordered 
to  advertise  the  sale  in  the  Illinois  Gazette 
and  the  Illinois  Intelligencer. 

Willis  C.  Osborne  was  then  appointed 
County  Treasurer.  He  gave  bond,  and  his 
sureties  were  Thomas  McCracken,  Daniel 
May,  William  Lewis,  Alexander  Rogers, 
Thomas  Nichols  and  George  Goble. 

The  court  recommended  the  Governor  to 
appoint  William  Lewis  and  Willis  C.  Osborne 
Justices  of  the  Peace. 

The  following  were  declared  the  taxable 
property  of  the  county:  "  Horses,  mares  and 
colts,  mules  and  jacks;  all  cattle  over  two 
years  old;  till  kinds  of  wagons,  and  carriages 
of  every  description;  all  watches  of  every 
description,  gold  or  silver  'stiles;'  all  ne- 
groes and  mulattoes." 

Dean,  Jordan  and  Bishop  reported  they 
had  cut  out  and  opened  a  road  from  Faris'  to 
Hickory  Point,  and  John  McCawley  was  ap- 
pointed to  work  this  road  and  make  it  pass- 
able. 

Then  comes  this  curious  order  in  regard  to 


HISTORY  OF   CLAY   COUNTY. 


3-2'5 


the  first  court  house,  as  follows:  "  Ordered, 
that  Daniel  May  is  authorized  arid  permitted 
to  build  and  put  up  a  house,  which  he  has 
now  ready  all  the  timbers  to  put  together 
upon  the  public  square  in  the  town  of  Hub- 
bardsville,  the  seat,  of  justice  in  and  for  the 
county  of  Clay,  at  any  time  he  may  think 
proper,  for  the  purpose  of  holding  a  court  in 
and  keeping  the  Clerk's  office  in.  On  con- 
ditions that  the  said  May  raise,  weatherboard 
and  put  doors  and  window  shutters  to  the 
said  house,  and  lay  plank  on  the  lower  and 
upper  floor,and  make  a  partition  across  the  said 
house,  so  as  to  make  two  rooms  to  the  same. " 

A.  road  was  ordered  cut  out  on  the  most 
eligible  route  from  James  Elliott's  house  to 
George  Goble's  mill  on  the  Little  Wabash, 
and  from  thence  to  the  Fayette  County  line 
to  Asa  Ledbetter's.  To  this  work  was  as- 
signed James  Leavitt,  William  Daniel  and 
George  Goble.  Another  road  was  ordered 
opened  from  Hubbardsville,  to  pass  by  the 
house  of  Enoch  Wilcox,  and  thence  to  the 
line  dividing  Clav  and  Lawrence  Counties 
in  the  direction  of  Mt.  Carmel,  and  this  was 
to  be  attended  to  by  Levi  Jordan,  William 
Binion  and  James  Embrey. 

A  tax  of  one  half  per  cent  was  fixed  upon 
the  taxable  property  of  the  county  above 
specified,  and  a  portion  of  this  money  was  to 
go  to  making  county  roads. 

Willis  C.  Osborne  was  appointed  to  sell 
the  lots  in  Hubbardsville. 

At  the  Juno  term  of  this  court,  same  year, 
the  first  act  was  to  order  "  Willis  C.  Osborne 
to  pay  to  the  Sheriff  the  sum  of  $8,  the 
amount  which  he  received  as  County  Treas- 
urer, and  that  he  personally  appeared  in 
open  court  and  resigned  his  appointment  as 
such." 

Then  appears  this  order: 

"  Ordered,  that  the  seat  of  justice  of  Clay 
County  bo   and   hereby   is  named   Maysville, 


and  that  it  shall  and  is  hereby  recognized  by 
that  name." 

And  from  that  time,  and  for  many  years, 
the  place  that  from  March,  1825,  to  June  of 
the  same  year  had  been  named  and  called 
Hubbardsville,  became  Maysville,  in  honor, 
no  doubt,  of  Daniel  May,  the  man  who  do- 
nated the  twenty  acres  of  his  land  and  built 
the  court  house  for  the  seat  of  justice. 

Benjamin  Bishop  was  appointed  Road  Su- 
pervisor of  that  part  of  the  county  embrac- 
ing Bishop's  aud  Goble's  settlements,  and 
Joseph  Brimhall  was  appointed  for  that  part 
including  Smith's  settlement,  and  Philip 
Devore  for  the  Jordan  settlement. 

At  the  June  term,  1825,  the  court  received 
and  accepted  the  new  court  house  that  had 
been  built  by  Daniel  May. 

Daniel  May  was  ordered  and  commanded 
to  build  upon  the  public  square  an  office  for 
the  County  and  Circuit  Clerks. 

Willis  C.  Osborne  was  appointed  the  first 
County  Assessor,  and  he  was  also  appointed 
at  the  same  time  Recorder. 

Peter  Kinney  was  recommended  to  the 
Governor  for  County  Surveyor. 

For  the  October  Circuit  Court,  1825.  the 
following  were  designated  as  grand  jurors: 
Isaac  Brady,  Isaac  Elliott,  Ephraim  Haines, 
Benjamin  Campbell,  William  Hargis,  Basil 
Daniel,  William  Daniel,  Levi  Sceif,  Francis 
Harman,  Levi  Daniel.  William  Smith,  Isaac 
Romine,  Andrew  Evans,  James  Richerson, 
Seth  Evans,  John  Jeffries,  C.  D.  Worthen, 
James  Leavitt,  William  Nash,Elisha  Anglin, 
William  Binion,  John  Miller,  Sr.,  and  Jacob 
Perkey. 

Traverse  jury — Benjamin  Bishop,  George 
Goble,  John  R.  Taylor.  William  Lewis,  Levi 
Jordan,  James  Embrey.  Abraham  Robeson, 
Bonnet  Robeson,  Enoch  Wilcox,  Alexander 
Rogers,  Samuel  G.  Weatherspoon,  Jacob 
Dean,  Mathias   Moisenheimer,    Daniel  May, 


324 


HISTORY  OF  (LAY   COUNTY. 


Solomon  Sherwood,  Philip  Devore,  John  Go- 
ble,  Leonard  Melton,  John  McCawley,  Dan- 
iel Speaks,  Thomas  Elliott,  George  Faris, 
John  H.  Lacy  and  John  Mathis. 

Daniel  May  had  bo  far  constructed  all  the 
public  buildings,  the  court  house,  Clerk's 
office,  etc.,  and  he  had  been  paid  in  all  $200 
in  notes  that  were  given  for  town  lots  at  the 
Bale. 

In  December,  1825,  the  Sheriff  settled 
with  the  court  for  the  year's  tax,  and  the 
following  is  the  total  amount,  $84. 70  J. 
Thomas  McCracken  was  allowed  for  his 
year's  salary  as  Sheriff  and  Treasurer  $27.50. 
At  the  sale  of  lots  in  Maysville,  Daniel 
May  purchased  lots  numbered  28,  37,  31,  26 
and  23.  John  H.  Lacy  purchased  Lots  16 
and  33.  Jonathan  McCracken  bought 
32,  James  Bird  40,  and  William  Lewis  4 
and  13. 

The  grand  jurors  for  the  April  term,  1S26, 
of  the  Circuit  Court,  were  as  follows:  Levi 
Jordan,  Enoch  Wilcox,  Ephraim  Haines, 
Alexander  Rogers,  John  Goble,  Leonard 
Melton,  William  Melton,  William  Daniel, 
Benjamin  Bishop,  William  Hargis,  Francis 
Harman,  John  Bishop,  James  Leavitt.  Isaac 
Romine,  Joseph  Brimhall,  William  Smith. 
In  March,  1826,  the  final  payment  was 
made  to  Daniel  May  for  all  the  county  build- 
ings, making  a  total  of  $325. 

William  Hargis,  William  Smith  and  Alex- 
ander Rogers  were  appointed  to  lay  out  that 
part  of  the  State  road  commencing  at  the 
Wayne  County  line  and  extending  to  the 
Marion  County  line. 

All  voters  residing  north  of  Hurricane 
Creek,  and  northwest  of  Muddy  Fork  and 
northeast  of  William  Smith's  were  author- 
ized to  hold  their  elections  at  the  house  of 
Samuel  G.  Weatherspoou,  "  formerly  occu- 
pied by  George  Goble,  it  being  at  or  near 
Goble's  Mill,"  and  Thomas  Leavitt,  George 


Riley  and  Basil  Daniel  were  appointed  Elec- 
tion Judges. 

W.  C.  Osborne  resigned  the  office  of  Coun- 
ty Clerk,  and  July  8,  1826,  the  court  ap- 
pointed John  R.  Taylor  County  Clerk. 

At  the  August  election,  1826,  Thomas 
Elliott,  John  McCawley  and  Levi  Jordan 
were  chosen  .County  Commissioners,  and 
they  held  their  first  court  in  September  fol- 
lowing. The  first  act  of  the  new  court  was 
to  appoint  Isaac  Elliott  Constable. 

The  new  names  that  appear  in  the  grand 
jury  list  for  the  October  term,  1826,  of  the 
Circuit  Court  gave  it  interest  enough  to  pub- 
lish it  in  full  as  follows:  Levi  Self,  Benja- 
min Bishop,  Basil  Daniel,  John  Goble, 
Thomas  Leavitt,  Thomas  Nichols,  S*th 
Evans,  Alexander  Rogers,  George  Riley, 
George  Faris,  William  Webb,  John  Jeffard, 
Elisha  Anglin,  David  Moore,  Marcus  Wil- 
son, John  Evans,  James  Nelson,  Sr.,  Andrew 
Evans,  Jacob  Perkey,  Philip  Devore,  William 
Smith,  Levi  Daniel,  John  Binion  and  Daniel 
Evans. 

James  Nash  was  the  second  Sheriff  of  Clay 
County,  elected  in  1826. 

In  March,  1827,  John  McCawley  was  li- 
censed to  keep  a  toll  bridge  across  the  Little 
Wabash,  "  where  the  road  crosses,  leading 
from  Vincennes  to  St.  Louis,  in  Section  21, 
Town  3,  Range  8." 

Traussy  P.  Hanson  was  appointed  County 
Assessor  for  the  year  1827. 

At  the  June  term,  1827,  John  Jeffards 
was  County  Commissioner,  vice  Levi  Jordan. 
The  county  was  divided  in  two  voting 
precincts,  and  James  Embrey,  Mathias  Mei- 
senheimer  and  Thomas  Nichols  were  ap- 
pointed Judges  of  the  south  district,  and 
James  Leavitt,  Hackley  Sams  and  Euos 
Johnson,  Judges  of  the  north  district. 

Seth  Evans  was  appointed  Treasurer  of 
the  county. 


HISTORY  OF   CLAY  COUNTY. 


325 


Elections  were  held  at  James  Cook's 
house  near  Goble's  Mill,  and  at  the  town  of 
Maysvillo. 

The  new  names  that  appear  in  the  grand 
jury  list  for  the  October  term  of  the  Circuit 
Court,  1828,  shows  there  were  new  people 
coming  into  the  county:  William  Smith, 
Francis  Harman,  Levi  Daniels,  Washington 
Bishop,  William  Elliott,  Absalom  Sergeant, 
Jacob  Calclasure,  William  Blakeman,  Jacob 
Holmes,  Joseph  Andrews,  John  Speaks, 
Hugh  McDaniel,  Charles  Tankersley,  Will- 
iam Webb,  Seth  Evans,  John  Hix,  David 
Moore,  Eli  Barbreo,  George  Smith,  Wilson 
M.  Miller,  John  Binion,  Moses  Angler, 
Stephen  Constable  and  Marcus  Wilson. 
In  1828,  George  Riley  was  Sheriff 
In  1S2S,  Thomes  Nichols  moved  out  of  the 
county,  and  Moses  Angler  was  appointed  to 
fill  his  place  as  Election  Judge. 

The  August  election,  1828,  the  new  court 
was  John  Hix,  Benjamin  Bishop  and  Will- 
iam Lewis. 

In  1828,  James  L.  Wickersham  contracted 
to  build  a  county  jail  in  Maysville  for  the 
sum  of  $24.12. 

Mathias  Meisenheimer  had  failed  to  qualify 
as  County  Treasurer,  and  thereupon  the 
Commissioners'  Court  appointed  Tere  Scutch- 
field  to  act  in  his  place. 

At  the  June  term,  1829,  John  McCawley 
appeared  as  Commmissioner,  vice  John  Hix. 
The  State  appropriated  "  three  hundred 
State  paper  dollars"  for  the  improvement  of 
the  bottom  between  the  Little  Wabash  and 
the  Muddy  Fork. 

In  June,  1829,  Francis  Apperson  was  ap- 
pointed County  Treasurer. 

The  order  of  the  coming  of  new  settlers  is 
indicated  by  the  grand  jury  list  selected  for 
the  May  term  of  the  Circuit  Court,  1830,  as 
follows:  P.  Sullivan,  William  Sceif,  John 
Sceif,  Enoch  Sceif,  Thomas  Whiteley,  Isaac 


Elliott,  Jesse  Bishop,  Strother  B.  Walker, 
Frederick  Songer,  John  Onstott,  William  H. 
Sams,  John  Galloway,  Thomas  Elliott,  Sew- 
ell  Heflin,  John  Miller,  John  Ditter,  Elijah 
S.  Nelson,  George  Sirkle,  Isaac  Creek,  Levi 
Daniel,  Francis  Harman,  John  Jeffards,  Cy- 
rus Wrigbt  and  John  Sutton. 

The  State  Legislature  having  ordered  the 
opening  of  the  Vincennes  &  St.  Louis  road, 
it  was  surveyed,  platted  and  recorded  in 
June,  1830,  through  Clay  County. 

At  the  September  court,  1830,  Isaac  Elliott, 
T.  P.  Hansen  and  John  McCawley  were  duly 
qualified  as  County  Commissioners. 

In  the  fall  of  1830,  James  L.  Wickersham 

authorized  to  rent  out  the  court  house 

for  75  cents  a  month,  and  J.  R.  Taylor  was 

authorized  to  rent  out  the  clerk's  offices  at  the 

rate  of  $1.50  a  month. 

Wickersham  was  Sheriff  in  1830. 
March,  1832,  Thomas  Elliott  was  appointed 
Treasurer;  Robert  Toler  was  then  appointed 
Sheriff. 

John  R.  Taylor  resigned  the  office  of  Coun- 
ty Clerk  in  March,  1832,  and  William  T. 
Duff  was  appointed  to  the  office.  This  year, 
Washington  Hughes  appeared  as  the  new 
member  of  the  County  Court. 

At  the  September  court,  John  Onstott  and 
William  Erwin  held  the  County  Commission- 
ers' Court,  John  McCawley  not  being  prosent. 
In  1S35,  Richard  Sorrells  appeared  as  the 
new  member  of  this  court. 

The  first  symptom  that  the  "  permanent 
county"  seat  at  Maysville  was  about  to  plume 
its  wings  and  fly  to  some  other  portion  of  the 
county  is  given  by  the  following  court  entry 
in  1835:  "Ordered,  that  Lots  57  and  55  in 
the  town  of  Maysville  be  offered  for  sail  on 
the  29th  of  April,"  etc. 

By  this  time,  the  license  for  keeping  a 
tavern  had  been  fixed  or  graded  from  $10  on 
the  road  from  St.  Louis  to  Yincennes;  on  the 


326 


HISTORY   OF  CLAY   COUNTY. 


Vandalia  road,  $5;  on  the  Shelby ville  road, 
$2;  and  on  the  Mount  Carmel  road,  $1. 

William  Sneed  now  settled  up  all  his  ac- 
counts as  County  Treasurer.  This  year  the 
jail  was  ordered  to  be  lined  on  the  inside  with 
two- inch  plank,  well  spiked.  This  was  prob- 
ably intended  to  keep  the  prisoners  from  roll- 
ing out  through  the  cracks  when  asleep.  This 
year,  repairs  were  ordered  upon  the  court 
house.  Among  other  things,  a  Judge's  bench 
"  four  feet  high,"  and  a  lawyer's  bar  "eight- 
een inches  from  the  floor,"  and  two  jury 
boxes  were  constructed.  David  D.  Duff  was 
then  appointed  County  School  Commissioner. 

In  1836,  the  Legislature  appointed  Craw- 
ford Lewis,  of  Clay,  William  J.  Hankins,  of 
Effingham,  and  Edward  Reed,  of  Shelby, 
County  Commissioners  to  lay  out  a  road  from 
Maysville  to  Shelbyville.  These  Commission- 
ers duly  performed  their  work  in  this  respect. 

William  Hance  was  a  member  of  the  Com- 
missioners' Court  in  1836.  In  December  of 
this  year,  F.  B.  Thompson  was  appointed 
School  Commissioner. 

The  Legislature,  by  act  of  1831,  1836  and 
1837,  appropriated  moneys  arising  from  the 
State's  saline  lands  in  Gallatin  and  Vermill- 
ion, and  the  county  of  Clay  very  sensibly  in 
1837  used  this  money  to  build  bridges  across 
the  Little  Wabash  on  the  road  from  Elijah 
Nelson's  to  John  Orender's,  and  across  Fox 
River  on  the  Maysville  &  Mt.  Carmel  road, 
and  also  one  on  Buck  Creek  on  the  road  from 
Maysville  to  Shelbyville,  and  across  Crooked 
Creek  on  the  last  named  road.  September, 
183J,  John  Ochiltree  was  paid  $496  for  repair- 
ing the  court  house,  and  then  the  job  of  repair 
ing  and  enlarging  again  the  jail.  In  1838, 
Erwin  Webster  appeared  as  the  new  member 
of  the  Commissioners'  Court.  F.  B.  Thomp- 
son resigned  the  uffice  of  School  Commis- 
sioner March,  1838,  and  Amaziah  Treat  was 
appointed  to  fill  the  vacancy.     Robert  Toler, 


Sheriff,  was  charged  with  $363.82,  "the 
amount  of  the  whole  revenue  for  1837." 

Francis  Apperson  and  Peter  G.  Terry  be- 
came members  of  the  County  Court  in  1838. 
This  year  the  county  revenue  increased  to 
$407. 28.  George  Green  was  County  Collector 
in  1839,  and  gave  a  bond  of  $1,300,  with 
Peter  Green,  James  M.  Hogue  and  Joseph 
Maxwell  as  securities.  At  the  September 
County  Court,  1839,  George  Baity  was  the 
new  Commissioner.  Joseph  M.  Hogue  was 
elected  County  Clerk,  and  filed  his  bond  and 
assumed  the  office  in  December,  1839.  The 
same  year,  Thomas  P.  Gilmore  was  County 
Collector,  and  Nathan  M.  Thompson  was 
Assessor.  At  the  June  term,  1840,  James 
Cheek  was  appointed  Collector.  In  Septem- 
ber, 1840,  Francis  Apperson  was  qualified  as 
County  Clerk,  and  entered  upon  the  duties 
of  the  office.  William  Aldridge  was  the  new 
member  of  the  court  this  year. 

Removal  of  County  Seat  to  Louisville  — 
February  26,  1841,  the  Legislature  enacted 
that  Ferris  Foreman,  of  Fayette  County,  John 
Trapp,  of  Effingham  County,  and  James 
Bowman,  of  Jefferson  County,  be  "Commis- 
sioners, to  relocate  the  county  seat  of  Clay 
County."  They  were  required  to  meet  in 
Louisville  in  May,  and  after  examining  the 
county,  to  select  an  eligible  site,  etc.  If 
they  selected  private  property,  the  owner  was 
required  to  lay  off  twenty  acres  and  deed  the 
square  to  the  county  for  public  purposes,  and 
to  give  one  third  of  the  lots  in  the  twenty 
acres  to  the  county — these  lots  the  county 
was  to  sell,  and  the  money  was  to  be  used  in 
constructing  county  buildings.  The  County 
Commissioners  were  ordered  to  advertise  and 
sell  the  county  buildings  in  Maysville,  ex- 
cept the  jail,  which  should  be  reserved  and 
used  until  a  new  jail  should  be  built.  The 
Commissioners  were  ordered  to  immediately 
erect   a  new  court  house  and  buildings,  and 


HISTORY   OF   CI. AY    COUNTY. 


821 


they  were  authorized  to  make  a  loan  of  $5,000 
for  this  purpose.  The  spring  terms  of  the 
courts  in  1841  were  to  be  hehl  in  Maysville, 
and  the  fall  terms  out  at  the  new  county  seat. 
At  the  June  term  of  the  Commissioners' 
Court,    the    following   report  was  made: 

"State  of  Illinois,  Clay  County:  We, 
John  Trapp,  James  Bowman  and  Ferris 
Foreman,  Commissioners  appointed  by  the 
Legislature  to  relocate  the  county  seat  of 
Clay  County  aforesaid,  do  hereby  certify  that. 
we  have  fixed  and  located  the  site  for  said 
relocation  upon  the  north  end  of  the  east 
half  of  the  southwest  quarter  of  Section  23, 
in  Town  4  north,  of  Rango  0  east  of  the 
Third  Principal  Meridian,  the  whole  town 
plat  containing  forty  acres  of  land.  Given 
under  our  hands  and  seals,  5th  of  May, 
1841." 

The  last  County  Commissioners'  Court 
that  ever  assembled  in  Maysville  met  on  the 
4th  of  August,  1841.  George  Baity  and 
William  Aldridge  composed  the  court.  The 
tirst  session  of  this  court  in  Louisville  com- 
menced on  the  21st  day  of  August,  1841, 
and  was  composed  of  Georgo  Baity  and  Ja- 
cob Stipp. 

The  County  Commissioners'  Court  of  the 
September  term,  1842,  was  composed  of 
William  Lewis,  Jacob  Stipp  and  John  Law- 
son.  The  County  Assessor  for  this  year  was 
John  \V.  Tucker.  The  Collector  was  Jesse 
R.  Sorrells  (this  family  name  in  Effingham 
County  was  Sorrells). 

The  Circuit  Court  was  held  in  a  room 
rented  of  Isaac  Coleman,  in  Louisville,  for 
the  years  L842  and  1843. 

At  the  September  term,  1843,  Samuel  Slo- 
cumb  presented  his  bill,  and  demanded  pay- 
ment for  building  the  new  court  house  in  Lou- 
isville— §35.99.  This  demand  was  rejected, 
and  the  bill  not  allowed,  and  the  court  would 
not  receive  the  house,  and  from  this  judg- 


ment Slocumb  appealed  to  the  Circuit  Court. 

Francis  Apperson  entered  upon  a  new  term 

as  County  Clerk.    September,    1843.      June, 

1844.  Thomas  S.  Parvin  resigned  the  office 
of  County  Treasurer,  and  William  T.  Cole- 
man was  appointed  to  the  office.  In  1844, 
FranciB  Apperson  was  delegated  to  secure  a 
house  for  holding  the  next  term  of  the  Cir- 
cuit Court. 

A  special  term  of  the  County  Court  con- 
vened 23d  of  September,  1844,  when  Thomas 
J.  Killian  ai5d  George  Sapp  were  sworn  into 
office,  when  they  determined  "by  lot"  as  the 
law  directed  the  number  of  years  each  should 
serve,  when  Killian  was  elected  for  one  year, 
and  to  preside  over  the  court,  and  Sapp  for 
three  years.  At  the  November  term,  same 
year,  Killian  resigned.      At  the  March  term, 

1845,  W.   P.  Thompson    and   George   Baity 
presented  their  credentials  as  Commissioners, 
and  by  lot  it  was  determined  that  Thompson 
should   serve  until  August,  1845,  and  Baity 
until  August,  1840.     W.  P.  Thompson  there- 
fore was  the   presiding  officer   of  the  court. 
In  March,  1845,  Robert  Toler  furnished  bond 
and  security   as  County   Collector;    William 
T.  Coleman  was  County  Treasurer   in   1845, 
which  office  he  resigned  in  December  of  this 
year,  and  Anslam   Hobbs  was  appointed    to 
the'  office.     In    June,    1846,   Hartwig   Sam- 
uelson  was  instructed  to  finish  the  new  court 
house.      At  the  December  term  of  the  County 
Commissioners'   Court,  the  members  thereof 
were    William   P.   Thompson,    John   Onstott 
and    George    Sapp.     The   court    appointed 
William    Lawson    County    Treasurer.      This 
year  the  Collector,  Robert  Toler,  was  charged 
with    the    county    revenue-    $1,330.02.      In 
1847,  John  W.  P.  Davis  was  elected  County 
Clerk  and  duly  qualified,  and  entered  upon 
his  duties  in  September  of  that  year.     Rob- 
ert Colborn  was   a   member   this  year  of  the 
County  Court.     In  1848,  William  Deremiah 


328 


HISTORY   OF  CLAY   COUNTY 


was  the  County  Treasurer;  J.  W.  Murry  was 
the  new  member  of  the  Commissioners' 
Court.  1848.  A.  Green  was  chosen  Treas- 
urer under  the  law;  the  new  order  of  things 
in  reference  to  the  County  Court  were  in 
force,  and  therefore  at  the  March  term,  1850, 
the  County  Court  met.  Robert  Field  was 
County  Judge,  and  William  Nicholson  and 
Robert  Colborn,  Associates. 

Francis  Apperson,  Clerk. 

As  we  have  spoken  of  the  various  changes 
in  the  matter  of  the  county  seat,  that  is,  of 
those  that  have  occurred,  it  may  not  be  out  of 
place  to  mention  the  fact  here  that  as  early 
as  1861,  the  question  was  agitated  to  that 
extent  that  an  election  was  held  in  the 
county  on  the  question  of  removing  the  seat 
of  justice  from  Louisville  to  Flora.  Louis- 
ville triumphed,  but  the  question,  it  seems, 
was  not  settled  by  a  vote  of  the  people,  that 
is,  in   the  minds  of  some  Floraites,  as  they 


continued  to  talk  bravely,  and  for  some  years 
would  keep  the  people  of  Louisville  in  con- 
stant hot  water;  but  we  believe  we  are  now 
safe  in  saying  that  matters  generally  quieted 
down,  and  are  as  a  general  rule,  regarded  as 
settled  at  least  for  some  years  to  come. 

It  was  not  the  selection  by  the  Commis- 
sioners of  Louisville  as  the  point  to  remove 
the  county  seat  that  first  started  the  idea  of 
a  town  there,  as  we  find  that  as  early  as 
1838,  Isaac  Coleman  was  licensed  to  mer 
chandise  in  Louisville,  and  at  the  same  time 
Peter  G.  Gray  was  licensed  to  keep  a  tavern 
at  the  same  place.  It  probably  was  the  lim- 
pid waters  of  the  noble  Okaw  that  caught 
the  eye  of  these  city  builders.  Something  of 
the  idea  of  the  growth  of  Louisville  may  be 
gained  from  the  vote  on  the  question  of  in- 
corporation held  in  1850.  The  vote  stood  19 
for  and  1  against,  indicating  a  population  of 
about  100. 


CHAPTER    V. 


ADDITIONAL  ACCOUNTS  OF  THE  PEOPLE— NEIGHBORHOOD   FEUDS— REGULATORS   AND  SOME   OF 
THEIR  VICTIMS— MARRIAGES,  COMMENCING  WITH  NUMBER  ONE— THE  COURTS— JURIES 
AND  LAWYERS  AND  COURT  AND  COUNTY  OFFICERS  TO  DATE— FIRST  INDICT- 
MENTS—FIRST COUNTY  OFFICERS— THE  PRESIDING  JUDGES,  ETC. 


SOMETHING  of  the  Old  Settlers.  —Fran  - 
cis  Apperson,  aged  thirty-three,  was  born 
in  Abingdon  County,  Va. ,  came  here  in 
1820.  Now  lives  in  Lebanon,  Mo.,  where  he 
went  about  eight  years  ago.  He  married 
Sally  Duff  in  Virginia,  a  relative  of  D.  D. 
and  N.  H.  Duff,  the  latter  now  living  in 
Clay  City.  Apperson' s  oldest  son,  Albert, 
died  in  the  army,  next  was  Elizabeth,  who 
married  Isaac  Martin,  Jr.,  she  died  some 
years  ago,  and  Martin  married  again.     John 


Apperson  was  a  long  time  Circuit  Clerk,  Master 
in  Chancery,  and  in  fact  held  many  offices  in 
the  county.  His  accounts  eventually  were 
short  and  he  went  to  New  Mexico,  where  he 
now  lives.  Then  there  was  Stephen,  now  in 
Lebanon, Mo. ,  with  his  father.  Charles  mar- 
ried Dr.  Wining's  daughter,  and  died. 
Ellen, who  married  Simeon  Bishop,  is  now  in 
Utah.  John  L.  Scut-chfield  married  Ellen 
Colclasure  in  an  early  day,  some  time  in  the 
thirties.     She  was  at  that  time  living  with 


1ISH3AINA 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


331 


William  Lewis,  her  uncle.      He  is  still  living 
and  is  seventy- four  years  old. 

The  Songers  were  Abraham,  John  and 
Jacob,  who  were  very  early  settlers.  John 
married  Dr.  Daveuport's  daughter.  Abraham 
Songer  is  now  living  below  Xenia.  Jesse 
Blair  died  in  1S83,  he  was  from  Orange 
County,  Ind.,  and  was  seventy-three  years  old 
when  he  died;  he  married  Ann  Shirley, 
daughter  of  Charles  Shirley.  His  son 
George  now  lives  north  of  Louisville  about 
three  miles.  His  daughter  married  a  man 
named  Cox.  Joseph  Bishop,  son  of  John 
Bishop,  a  brother  of  Ben's;  old  John  Bis- 
hop's  wife  was  the  Widow  Whiteley ;  Joseph's 
wife  was  Sarah  Whiteley.  John  Sceif  and 
his  brother  Enoch  were  sons  of  old  Jesse 
Sceif;  John  was  a  carpenter,  and  for  years  a 
prominent  man  in  the  county;  they  were 
from  Tennessee.  Basil  Davis  was  Mat  H. 
Davis's  father;  he  was  from  Gallatin  County, 
Term.;  of  this  family  were  Allen  and  John; 
the  two  latter  died;  Allen  died  in  Centralia. 
A.  P.  Cox,  now  seventy-five  years  old,  was 
born  near  Lebanon,  111.:  Jacob  B.  Cox,  was 
a  Mexican  soldier;  he  is  said  to  be  the  second 
child  born  in  Illinois;  he  was  buried  in  Blair 
Township  at  the  Union  Chapel  Cemetery. 
Alfred  J.  Moore,  from  Wilson  County,  Tenn., 
married,  first  wife,  daughter  of  William 
Erwin,  named  Jane;  had  large  family  by  her; 
William,  Crawford  and  Till  were  his  sons; 
William  is  in  Arkansas;  the  others  are  in  the 
ity.  Felix  Cockorell  (see  his  biography 
in  another  department):  Robert  N.  Smith's 
father,  Robert,  came  here  very  early;  they 
were  Tennesseaus;  Robert,  Sr.,  died  some 
time  in  the  sixties.  John  Craig  cam  •  anion  : 
the  pioneers;  married  ;i  I'.ishoii,  had  suns 
John  and  Wesley;  Wesley  is  the  only  surviv- 
or now  living  in  county.  Samuel  Dillman 
H-  from  Kentucky.  John  Jordan,  the 
father  of   William   Jordan,  was    from   South 


Carolina;  he  was  here  early  enough  to  serve 
on  the  first  grand  jury;  his  son  was  William 
Jordan.  George  Faris  married  John  Me- 
Cawley's  sister;  he  died  of  cholera  in  1834. 
Levi  Daniel  married  a  Whiteley;  had  a  large 
family,  and  died  on  Crooked  Creek.  John 
Jeffries  lived  in  Fox  Prairie;  a  cabinet 
workman;  married  an  Evans;  had  throe  chil- 
dren. Ephraim  Haines  lived  with  Thomas 
Elliott,  and  his  family  kept  house  for  Elliott 
when  he  was  a  widower;  he  died  in  that  part 
of  the  county  many  years  ago.  The  Selfs  and 
Bishops  lived  neighbors;  Levi  Self  died 
many  years  ago  at  a  great  age.  Francis 
Harman  was  from  Tennessee;  a  son  named 
Francis  died,  and  his  daughter,  Polly  married 
a  man  named  Saunders;  Harman  built  a 
horse  mill.  There  were  Basil,  Seth,  Andrew 
and  Daniel  Evans;  were  brothers;  they  are 
all  dead.  Walter  Gill  married  Seth  Evans' 
daughter,  and  a  man  named  Devore  married 
the  other  daughter.  Rev.  John  M.  Griffith 
came  in  1830,  from  Henry  County,  Ky.; 
married  in  Kentucky,  Margaret  Sutton,  a 
sister  of  John  Sutton,  who  settled  Sutton's 
Point.  There  were  two  other  sisters;  one 
married  Scott  Smith  and  the  other  Levi  Rol- 
lins. These  settled  in  Sutton's  Point.  John 
M.  Griffith  had  eight  children,  six  girls  and 
two  boys;  one  is  now  Joe  McGrews  wife. and 
lives  in  the  county;  Hamilton  McGivw's  wife 
is  now  in  Wayne  County.  Mrs.  Griffin,  now 
of  Louisville,  is  the  only  other  daughter  liv- 
ing. Elijah  Griffith  lives  in  Mt.  Erie,  Wayne 
County;  Thomas  died  in  Wayne  Countj  in 
August.  1S(')4.  leaving  three  daughters  and 
two  sons  and  widow.  Rev.  John  M.  Griffith 
was  licensed  to  preach  in  the  .Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  just  before  he  came  to 
this  country.  A  man  named  Claybaugh.who 
drove  the  stage  at  a  very  early  day,  was  a 
MeCawley  man.  and  one  day,  jusl  as  he  had 
the  mail  coach  it,  there  was  a 


32 


HISTORY  OP  (LAY  COUNTY. 


big  row  going  on.  Claybaugh  got  off  his 
stage  box,  took  a  clapboard  and  attacked 
Ephraim  Haines,  and  came  very  near  killing 
him.  He  would  have  been  severely  handled 
by  the  Lewis  crowd,  but  he  jumped  back  on 
his  seat  and  told  them  he  was  now  on  the 
United  States  Mail  and  they  dared  not  molest 
him. 

In  the  early  forties,  the  Regulators  were 
organized.  This  organization  extended  all 
over  the  county.  The  claim  for  its  existence 
was  the  great  prevalence  of  horse-thieves, 
who  could  not  be  convicted;  and  the  people, 
composed  of  all  classes  and  ages,  by  common 
consent, banded  together  to  punish  these  men 
when  caught.  The  crowd  that  was  in  these 
Regulators  were  some  of  the  best  men  in  the 
county,  and  others  again  were  of  the  rougher 
kind.  The  majority  of  the  people  were  for 
sustaining  the  law.  Their  movements  (the 
Regulators)  were  very  secret,  and  so  were 
their  meetings. 

Among  others  they  "  regulated  "  was  a  man 
named  Daniel  Pugh,  who  had  a  cabin  in  the 
north  part  of  the  county,  and  in  whose  pos- 
session they  found  counterfeiting  materials. 
They  took  his  son  Tom  out  and  strung  him 
up  until  he  confessed  all  he  knew,  and  then 
some  were  for  pulling  him  up  and  leaving  him 
in  the  air.  But  better  counsel  prevailed,  and 
he  was  let  off  with  his  life.  The  old  man  was 
caught  and  sent  to  the  penitentiary.  Among 
the  last,  and  perhaps  the  very  worst  of  all  the 
acts  of  the  Regulators,  was  with  a  young 
Frenchman  named,  it  is  thought,  Baptiste. 
Old  man  Baptiste  lived  south  of  Georgetown, 
and  was  a  man  of  marked  intelligence  and  a 
fine  mechanic.  The  son  was  a  rollicking, 
gooddooking  young  fellow,  and  was  quite 
popular  with  the  girls.  He  was  taken  out, 
and  without  any  possible  show  of  defense, 
was  whipped  to  death.  The  only  crime  al- 
leged against  him  by  his  merciless  execution- 


ers was  seduction.  Allec  Trinkle,  near 
Xenia,  was  taken  out  and  hung  on  the  sup- 
position of  being  a  horse-thief.  Robert  Col- 
clasure  was  taken  out  and  shot. 

A  great  many  others  were  savagely 
whipped,  and,  as  the  few  now  left  who  can 
remember  those  days,  will  tell  you  with  a 
shudder  at  the  recollection  of  the  terror  that 
one  Grimes  and  his  company  of  regulators, 
were  at  all  hours  of  the  day  and  night 
the  rough  riders  of  the  county.  This  com- 
pany were  said  to  follow  the  mere  dictation 
of  Grimes,  and  if  he  wanted  bloody  revenge 
upon  any  one  he  simply  rode  with  his  crowd 
in  the  dead  hour  of  night  to  the  house  of  his 
victim  and  in  his  night  clothes  pulled  him 
out,  and  if  he  got  back  to  his  family  alive  he 
was  in  big  luck.  It  is  reported  that  one  of 
the  victims  of  these  riders  was  left  dead  in 
the  byway  and  the  hogs  had  nearly  devoured 
his  body  when  it  was  found.  It  is  now  sup- 
posed that  in  this  organization  there  were 
from  100  to  150  men. 

Away  back  in  the  history  of  the  county 
there  were  divisions  here,  and,  sometimes, 
over  the  matter  of  ownership  of  half-wild 
hogs  in  the  woods,  hot  and  fierce  contention. 
And  at  one  time,  running  probably  down  to 
1830,  if  not  later,  it  was  a  fact  that  every 
new  comer  in  the  county  was  literally  com- 
pelled to  take  one  side  or  the  other  in  this 
fierce  and  relentless  hog  war.  The  first 
division  was  headed  by  McOawley  and  his 
friends  on  one  side,  and  the  Lewises  and 
their  friends  on  the  other,  and  it  is  a  tradi- 
tion that  for  years  all  new-comers  had  to  take 
sides;  neutrality  or  indifference  was  not  al- 
lowed, and  on  muster  days,  elections,  and 
sometimes  at  house-raisings,  when  the  day's 
work  was  over,  it  was  in  order  to  range 
themselves  on  sides  and  fight  it  out.  John 
McCawley  was  one  of  those  strong,  command- 
ing men,    and    he  marshaled  his  clans  and 


HISTORY   OF  CLAY    COUNTY. 


333 


held  them  to  their  work  where  and  when  it 
was  no  child's  play  to  defend  your  person 
and  your  life  from  enraged  assailants.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  Lewises  were  fighters  from 
the  word  go.  They  never  hesitated  to  open 
the  battle  or  attack  the  opposite  bullies:  and 
in  the  matter  of  rough-and-tumble-knoek- 
down-and-drag-out,  they  were  holy  terrors 
from  long- taw.  Both  sides  generally  fought 
for  glory  and  fresh  pork,  or  at  least  the 
title  to  the  hogs  as  they  ranged  through  the 
woods  on  foot. 

When  James  J.  Sprigg  came  to  the  county 
in  1829,  there  was  a  man  living  on  Buck 
Creek,  on  the  old  Shelbyville  road,  named 
Fredrick  Tartar,  who  then  seemed  to  be  an 
old  citizen.  His  was  the  only  settlement 
from  Maysville  to  what  is  now  Iola.  The 
next  nearest  neighbor  was  Thomas  Elliott's, 
just  west  of  Flora. 

John  McDaniel  was  a  very  early  settler  in 
the  southeast  part  of  the  county,  on  the  river- 
At  one  time  he  kept  a  ferry.  This  was  long 
known  as  the  McDaniel  settlement.  His 
sons,  Hugh,  John  and  Robert,  all  died  in 
that  neighborhood  years  ago.  They  were 
plain  people,  hunted  and  worked,  and  Hugh 
McDaniel  eventually  became  an  influential 
and  prominent  citizen. 

John  Devore  lived  near  McDaniel's.  He 
was  a  Kentuckian.  He  died  near  McCaw- 
ley's.  His  son  Jerry  married  Seth  Evans' 
daughter.  George  White.  Jacob  Rister  and 
Henry  Rister,  Levi  Bostwick  (son-in-law  of 
Met  awley's),  George  Faris,  Isaac  Walton, 
Jefferson  and  Gladden  Creek  all  lived  in  thi.-, 
part  of  the  county. 

The  next  nearest  settlement  in  Clay  ('nun 
ty  was  at  Sailor  Springs.  A  man  named 
Hack  Sams  settled  there  and  built  the  first 
cabin.  He  finally  went  crazy.  The  place 
was  afterward  owned  by  Thomas  Rogers.  He 
resided   here   seven   or   eight   years.     Then 


Stansberry  settled  there.  Among  the  settlers 
bere  were  David  and  Henry  Simcoe,  Jai 
Mi'Kinney.  John  WarmBck,  Henry  Co 
and  John  Ditter,  all  from  Wilson  Comity, 
Tenii.,  came  and  settled  here.  They  came  in 
a  colony,  and  were  a  valuable  acquisition  to 
the  population  of  the  county. 

East  of  this  (Sailor  Springs)  was  the  Ja 
Leaviti  settlement.  This  was  a  very  early 
settlement.  His  brother  Noah  lived  there. 
.lames  Leavitt  had  sons,  John  and  Obadiah. 
John  died  there,  and  Obadiah  went  West. 
Solomon  Curbow,  the  hunter,  lived  there. 
Old  man  Maples,  a  groat  hunter,  also  lived 
there. 

There  was  a  settlement  in  Pisley.  An  old 
man  named  Woods  settled  there,  and  started 
a  horse  mill,  and  finally  a  little  carding 
machine.  The  Ingrahams,  strong  Campbell- 
ites.  and  very  popular,  settled  here,  and  soon 
called  around  thoin  a  settlement.  The  first 
post  office  was  Ingraham. 

The  Lewis  settlement  (now  Bible  Grove) 
was  then  the  next  settlement.  Here  Ben  and 
Lock  Stal lings  lived.  Ben  went  to  Effing- 
ham County,  where  his  descendants  now  re- 
side; Lock  went  to  the  Black  Hawk  war  and 
was  killed,  or  (lied  of  sickness. 

The  Bishop  settlement  (now  Larkinsburg) 
was  the  oldest,  settlement  in  that  part  of  the 
county.  Benjamin  Bishop's  sons  (Jesse, 
Washington.  Nathan  and  Jones)  all  grew  to 
be  men  and  good  citizens.  All  died  in  the 
county. 

Sutton's  Point  was  another  very  early  set- 
tlement. Levi  Rollins,  Levi  Daniels.  John 
Craig,  Robert  Smith,  Sr.,  Henry  Cox  and 
Thomas  Dunham  and  S.  B.  Walker  and  S.,1 
Heflin,  and  the  Sceifs,  the  old  man  Jesse,  his 
son^  John.  Enoch  and  Jesse,  and  Francis 
Harman. 

S.  B.  Walker  became  Sheriff  of  Clay  Coun- 
tv.      His  widow  now  lives  in  Mason. 


334 


HISTORY   OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


J.  W.  Sullivan  came  in  1S26,  from  Pen- 
dleton District,  S.  C. ;  born  July  28,  1809; 
youngest  of  a  family  of  nine,  four  boys — 
Eliphas,  Paul,  Benjamin  and  J.  W. ;  girls 
— Jane,  Lucy,  Mary  and  Elizabeth.  Of 
these.  Lucy,  Elizabeth  and  Mary  came  to 
this  county  after  the  coming  of  J.  W.  and 
Paul.  The  last-named  left  the  county,  and 
died  in  Pittsburgh  in  1849.  Two  of  the  sis- 
ters died  in  the  county.  Lucy  married  Eli- 
jah Spriggs.  Elizabeth  married  Wesley  Rob- 
inson.  J.  W.  was  married  twice.  His  first 
wife  was  Margaret  Green,  and  he  had  five 
children.  Of  these,  three  are  now  living — 
John,  of  Louisville;  Ann  E.  Hobbs,  of  Ma- 
son; and  F.  L.,  now  in  Terre  Haute.  His 
second  wife  was  Harriet  Brown,  with  whom 
he  had  five  children,  only  two  living — 
Thomas  and  Rosa  Belle.  These  children  are 
now  keeping  house  for  their  father  in  Louis- 
ville. 

Marriages.  — -The  first  marriage  in  Clay 
County  was  on  the-ith  of  March,  1825;  John 
Binion  and  Sarah  Baron,  all  of  Clay  Coun- 
ty. They  were  married  by  Levi  Jordan, 
Justice  of  the  Peace.  On  the  30th  of  same 
month,  John  H.  Lacy,  a  Justice,  married 
James  J.  Pierce  and  Ruthy  Oily. 

The  next  coupling  occurred  July  26  of 
this  year,  Levi  Jordan  officiating;  this  was 
Abraham  Wilson  to  Anna  Binion.  Then 
Enoch  Wilcox  comes  to  the  front  as  a  Justice, 
and  married,  June  30,  1825,  Seth  Evans  and 
Rittony  Congo.  On  December  10,  same  year, 
Wilcox  married  Levi  Jordan  and  Anna  Conger. 

On  the  9th  of  June,  1825,  Squire  Samuel 
G.  Woatherspoon  officiated  at  the  marriage  of 
Jeremiah  Daniel  and  Susan  Self.  The  same 
year,  November  1,  Willis  C.  Osborne  was 
married  to  Rohesa  D.  Lacy,  by  Squire  Enoch 
Wilcox.  This  was  perhaps  a  sequel  to  the  first 
divorce  suit  in  the  county,  and  as  soon  as 
Osborne  got  his  divorce  ho  married  again. 


George  Smith  and  Elizabeth  Nelson  were 
married,  July  16,  1826,  by  Levi  Jordan. 
June  15.  same  year,  Gray  B.  Fancher  and 
Sarah  Daniel  were  married  by  Squire  William 
Lewis.  August  21,  of  this  year,  the  same 
Esquire  married  Jesse  Bishop  and  Hannah 
Trash.  On  the  28th  December,  same  year, 
Benjamin  Sanford  and  Elizabeth  Sanders 
were  married  by  Squire  Jordan. 

This  seems  to  have  been  the  sum  total  of 
weddings  for  the  year  1826,  in  the  county. 
And  in  the  year  1827,  they  waited  the  early 
spring,  like  the  birds,  and  then  mating  com- 
menced on  the  26th  of  April,  when  Squire 
Lewis  married,  or  at  least  said  he  did,  "  the 
within  named  parties."  Whoever  they  may  be, 
we  give  it  up.  As  there  are  no  names  given, 
except  the  "within  named,"  and  as  the 
whole  thing  happened  long  before  the  writer 
was  born,  he  is  compelled  to  confess  to  a 
slight  obfuscation.  Squire  William  Lewis 
might  have  known  that  in  the  com-se  of  sixty 
years  it  would  be  some  question  of  doubt  as 
to  who  were  the  "within  named,"  with  no 
hint  of  a  name  given.  Perhaps  the  old 
Squire  thought  that  would  do  to  start  the 
year  with. 

On  June  27  of  this  year,  James  Gallant  and 
Mahala  Brumley  were  married  by  Squire 
Lewis.  On  the  6th  of  August,  1827,  the 
joiner's  trade  seems  to  have  absolutely 
stopped  with  the  marriage  of  A.  A.  O'Neal 
and  Persis  Shaw. 

From  this  time  until  1831 — four  years — 
the  market  is  barren,  and  not  a  wedding 
seems  to  have  occurred.  What  was  the  mat- 
tery The  fighting  went  on — the  discussion 
"with  fists"  over  wild  hogs  continued  as 
hot  and  furious  as  ever.  The  rough  riders, 
called  regulators,  at  all  hours  of  the  night 
aroused  the  terror  of  the  wakened  sleepers; 
there  are  no  records  that  the  "sparking" 
abated  one  jot  or  tittle,  but  as   for  marrying, 


HISTORY    OF   CI. AY    col'NTY. 


:S35 


that  was  not.  The  institution  seems  to  have 
got  off  its  "calico-boose"  and  for  four  long 
years  sterility  and  indictments  for  "adul- 
tery "  threatened  to  take  the  country.  Final- 
ly, on  April  23,  1831,  Sylvester  Dunbar  was 
married  to  Rachel  Walker.  But  we  ought 
to  have  explained  that  an  example  had  been 
set  them  in  January,  by  the  marriage  of 
Leonard  Price  and  Sally  Thomas.  And  on 
the  20th,  same  month,  Joseph  Bishop  and 
Sally  Davis  were  married  by  John  Craig. 
But  in  looking  further  along  in  the  record, 
we  find  there  was  a  wedding  in  182S,  May 
29,  of  Washington  Bishop  and  Elizabeth 
Trash.  This  seems  to  have  been  the  first 
time  the  ceremony  was  performed  by  a 
preacher- -John  Miller.  On  February  17, 
1831,  the  same  minister  married  David  Mc 
Millin  and  Sally  P.  Anno  (we  print  it  just 
as  it  is  written.)  John  Craig,  Esq.,  married, 
December  13, 1830,  William  Aldridge  and  Din 
Davis;  November  26,  1827,  Squire  Mich- 
ael Thornton  married  Andrew  Lylba  to  Irena 
McCoy;  January  3,  1828,  Squire  John  Jef- 
fard  married  Matthew  Weaver  to  Matilda 
Crabtree;  December  7,  1830,  J.  R.  Taylor 
married  Willis  Stallings  to  Lucinda  White; 
February  26,  1831,  Preacher  John  Miller 
married  Washington  Hughes  to  Miriam 
Clark;  January  17,  1829,  by  John  Jeffard, 
Eli  Barbree  to  Anna  Wilson;  December  11, 

1828,  Preacher  Miller  joined  in  wedlock 
John  McDaniel  and  Catharine  Hughes 
(Hewsl.       By  the  same   party,  January    14, 

1829,  Ichabod  C.  Hehsley  to  Nancy  Webb; 
by  Squire  John  Craig.  April  10,  1831,  James 
Tompkins  to  Mahala  Brooks;  and  the  17th, 
by  the  same,  James  Leo  to  Malinda  Goble; 
March  11,  1829,  Reuben  Binion  and  Fran- 
ces Johnson.  And  the  record  says:  "Sun- 
day, 21,  1830,  Christopher  Uppermon  to 
Mary  Pierce''  by  the  same  preacher,  John 
Miller;  August    12,  1829,  Thomas   Elliott  to 


Lavina  Riley,  by  Squire  John  Craig;  Robert 
McDaniel  to  Lucinda  Parish,  January  14, 
1830,  by  Squire  John  R.  Taylor;  December 
1,  1829,  James  Gallant  to  Nancy  Cinco,  by 
Squire  J.  R.  Taylor;  February  27,  1830, 
William  Webb  to  Nancy  Hill,  by  Squire 
William  H.  Sams;  November  10,  1829, 
Thomas  Whiteley  to  Keziah  Bishop,  by  Rev. 
John  Miller;  February  14,  1831,  John  Mar- 
tin to  Milly  Hews,  by  Squire  J.  R.  Taylor; 
March  11,  1830,  Jesse  Scief  to  Sophia 
Bishop,  by  Squire  John  Craig;  December  25, 
1830,  Samuel  Hoosley  to  Sarah  Bonsley,  by 
Squire  J.  R.  Taylor;  July  17,  1830,  John 
Hughes  to  Amanda  Morri  s,  by  Squire  J.  R. 
Taylor;  July  20,  1830,  by  the  same,  John 
Melton   to   Oney   C.  Taylor;    September   2, 

1830,  John  Ferril  to  Nancy  Miller,  by  the 
same  Justice  of  the  Peace;  March  1.  L830, 
George  Francher  to  Nancy  Whiteley,  by 
Thomas  Whiteley,  Justice  of  the  Peaee;  Au- 
gust 23,  1830,  by  the  same,  Martin  Whiteley 
to  Nancy  Bishop;  December  13,  1830,  Will- 
iam Aldridge  to  Dice  Davis,  by  Squire  John 
Craig;  February  23,  1831,  Ashabel  Atherton 
to  Polly  Mathews,  by  Squire  J.  R.  Taylor; 
March  19,  1831,  Alfred  McDaniel  to  Nancy 
Westrii.    \<\    Squire    J.   R.    Taylor;   July   7, 

1831,  by  the  same,  Isaac  Creek  to  Nancy 
Hoddy;  May  10,  1832,  by  Squire  David  D. 
Duff,  William  Snead.  to  Mary  Ano;  May 
(without  day),  1832,  Fredrick  Teal  to  Betsy 
Barton,  by  Squire  J.  L.  Wickersham;  August 
13,  1K',2,  by  Squire  David  D.  Duff, Alexander 
Dolton  to  Margaret  Brady:  May  31,  1832,  by 
the  same,  John  Ridgeway  to  Iteheeea  Kidge- 
way;  May  (without  day  I.  L832,  by  W'aleot 
Lewis,  Jacob  Brooks  to  Selena  Hampton; 
September  25,  1832,  Nathaniel  H.  Duff  to 
Margaret  Apperson,  by  Squire  David  D. 
Duff;  December  15,  IN:'.'-!.  Abner  Coats  to 
Elizabeth  Richardson,  by  Benjamin  Coats; 
November  29,  1832,  Presley  Funkhowser  to 


33G 


HISTORY  OF   (LAV   COUNTY. 


Nancy  Bishop,  by  Thomas /Whiteley,  Justice 
of  the  Peace;  August  26,  1832,  by  Squire 
John  Mathews,  Madison  Willhite  to  Susan 
Sloo;  March  10,  1S33.  Allen  Walston  to  Ma- 
linda  Greenwood,  by  Squire  J.  L.  Wicker- 
sham:  April  11,  1833,  Bennett  W.  Moreley 
to  Elizabeth  Creek,  by  Squire  S.  B.  Curbow; 
June  27,  1833,  by  Squire  David  D.  Duff, 
William  Hilliard  to  Martha  Ann  Barnet; 
August  3,  1833,  Thomas  Leavitt  to  Parmelia 
Stallings,  by  Squire  S.  B.  Curbow;  July  11, 
1833,  John  Mathews  to  Susan  Clark,  by 
Squire  J.  L.  Wickersham;  October  S,  1833, 
W'illiam  George  to  Elizabeth  Songer,  by  Rev. 
Zadock  Casey. 

Courts,  Judges  and  Lawyers.— The  first 
Circuit  Court  of  Clay  County,  Hon.  James 
Hall,  Presiding;  Judge,  assembled  at  the 
house  of  John  McCawley,  on  Monday,  11th 
day  of  April,  1825. 

Willis  C.  Osborne  produced  his  commission 
and  was  sworn  in  as  Clerk.  This  was  the 
Fourth  Judicial  Circuit.  Osborne's  commis- 
sion bore  date  January  27,  1825,  and  the 
records  he  has  left  bear  testimony  to  his 
qualifications  to  fill  the  office.  We  have  seen 
no  better  record  anywhere  in  the  new  coun- 
ties. 

Thomas  McCrackin  was  the  Sheriff,  and 
he  gave  bond  in  the  sum  of  $10,000,  with 
Daniel  May,  Enoch  Wilcox,  William  Lewis 
and  Willis  C.  Osborne,  as  sureties.  Henry 
Eddy  produced  a  commission  signed  by  Gov. 
Coles,  as  Circuit  Attorney. 

The  first  case  ever  docketed  was  James 
Bird  vs.  John  McCawley,  in  case.  This  was 
continued  for  service. 

The  first  grand  jury  returned  the  first  in- 
dictment into  open  court,  entitled  the  People 
vs.  David  Elliott  and  Fanny  Rutherford, 
adultery.  The  second  case  was  the  same  vs. 
Daniel  Brumley,  hog  stealing.  The  third 
indictment,  and  this  constituted  all  the  bills 


of  this  term  of  court,  was  the  same  vs.  the 
same,  Daniel  Brumley,  rape.  It  would  seem 
that  Daniel  was  rather  a  rough  citizen  gen- 
erally. 

At  the  October  term,  1825,  James  O.  Wat- 
tles was  the  Presiding  Judge.  At  this  term 
of  the  court  appears  the  first  divorce  suit  ever 
recorded  in  the  county.  It  was  Willis  C. 
Osborne  vs.  Rachel  Osborne.  ,  It  seems  from 
the  papers  Mrs.  Osborne  was  not  a  resident, 
and  hence  Willis  got  a  divorce  by  default. 
At  this  term  of  the  court  the  grand  jury  re- 
turned indictment  against  Willis  Boon  and 
John  Chapman  for  "  forcible  and  stolen  mar- 
riage," and  another  indictment  against  same 
"  for  carrying  away  Rose  Wallace  against  the 
will  of  her  father."  William  Lewis  was  in- 
dicted for  "  setting  fire  to  the  prairie,"  and 
Robert  M.  Gordon.  "  assault  and  battery," 
and  Daniel  Mays,  ditto.  Robert  M.  Gordon 
attended  as  a  Constable  on  this  term  of  the 
court.  It  appears  in  justice  to  David  Elliott, 
that  at  the  April  term,  1826,  of  the  court,  as 
per  Clerk's  entry,  that  he  had  married  the 
Rutherford  girl,  and  the  case  was  dismissed. 

The  April  court,  1826.  Judge  James  Hall 
presided.  Willis  C.  Osborne,  the  Clerk,  was 
indicted  for  sending  a  challenge  to  fight  a 
duel.  John  Robinson  was  indicted  for  per- 
jury. The  ease  of  Enoch  Wilcox  vs.  B.  and 
J.  Robinson  was  arbitrated,  and  the  court  ap- 
pointed Alexander  Rodgers  and  John  Mc- 
Cawley, referees. 

October  term,  1826,  Judge  James  Hall, 
presiding.  The  second  divorce  suit  of  Will- 
iam Webb  vs.  Peggy  Webb.  Hon.  John  M. 
Robinson  was  attorney  for  plaintiff  Webb 
got  his  divorce  by  Peggy's  default.  The  in- 
dictments in  the  Boon  case,  noticed  above, 
were  reported  lost  or  missing,  and  the  State's 
Attorney  had  leave  to  file  new  ones.  A  not 
pros  was  entered  in  the  case  of  William 
Lewis  for  firing  the  prairie. 


HISTORY   OF   CLAY   COUNTY. 


337 


May  term,  1S28,  William  Wilson  was  the 
Presiding  Judge.  John  R.  Wilson  was  ap- 
pointed by  Judge  Wilson.  Circuit  Clerk  vice 
Willis  C.  Osborne,  who  it  seems,  had  gone 
into  Wayne  County.  Taylor's  appointment 
was  dated  March  29,  1827.  His  bondsmen 
were  Levi  Self  and  Francis  Harmau.  At  this 
term,  four  indictments,  viz.,  against  W.  W. 
Boon,  Robert  Gordon,  Willis  C.  Osborne  and 
John  Robinson  were  stricken  from  the  dock- 
et. At  this  term,  a  case  of  Cornelius  Dunham 
vs.  Enos  Johnson.  The  attorneys  were  John 
M.  Robinson  and  W.  L.  D.  Ewing.  In  a 
case  of  John  Mathew  vs.  James  Cook,  Benja- 
min Mills  appears  as  one  of  the  attorneys. 
The  grand  jury  at  this  term  returned  four 
bills  as  follows:  Daniel  Robinson,  adultery; 
Sarah  Pew,  fornication;  John  Mathews,  as- 
sault; John  Evans,  assault.  George  Riley 
was  the  Sheriff,  and  was  required  to  give 
bonds  of  $10,000.  His  sureties  were  Will- 
iam Nash,  William  Webb.  George  Faris, 
Seth  Evans  and  William  H.  Sams.  This 
term  of  the  court  lasted  just  one  day.  At 
the  October  term,  same  year,  Wilson  again 
presiding,  James  L.  Wickersham  appeared 
and  gave  bond  as  Sheriff,  with  Joseph  An- 
drews, George  M.  Hanson.  William  Lewis, 
Crawford  Lewis  and  John  Miller  as  sureties. 
Joseph  Andrews  was  Coroner. 

August  term,  1831,  Robert  Toler  appeared 
and  tiled  his  bond  as  Sheriff.  His  sureties 
were  John  R.  Taylor,  Seth  Evans,  Hiram 
Keach,  Peter  Green,  William  Duff,  John 
Mathews  and  David  D.  Duff.  Henry  Taylor 
was  Coroner.  March  20.  1838,  Caleb  Ridge- 
way  tiled  his  bond  as  Clerk  of  the  Circuit 
Court.  Robert  Toler  was  again  commis- 
sioned Sheriff  in  1834  March  term,  1835, 
Justin  Harlan  was  the  Presiding  Judge. 

September  term,  1835,  Alexander  Grant 
was  Judge  presiding.  .March  term,  1836, 
Jastin    Harlan    asrain    held    court.      At    the 


April  term,  1839.  Judge  Harlan  appointed 
James  M.  Ho^rue  Clerk  of  the  Circuit  Court 
for  Clay  County. 

After  Willis  C.  Osborne's  indictment  for 
trying  to  fight  a  duel,  the  matter  seems  to 
have  rested  until  1839,  when  John  Golden 
was  indicted  and  tried  for  this  offense.  A 
jury  was  impaneled  as  follows:  Francis 
Apperson,  foreman,  Alexander  Bruce,  Arthur 
McCawley,  John  Grooms,  Josiah  Blair,  Wash- 
ington Bishop,  Robert  Bennyfield,  David 
Sweezy,  Edmund  Jones,  Thomas  S.  Parvin, 
Hugh  McDaniel  and  George  Green  were  the 
jury  called  upon  to  consider  the  case.  They 
found  Gordon  guilty  as  charged.  Where- 
upon he  was  lined  $5  and  cost. 

April  3,  1839,  James  M.  Hogue  filed  his 
bond  as  Clerk  of  tbe  Circuit  Court,  with 
Francis  Apperson  and  Peter  Green  as  sure- 
ties. Judge  Harlan  approved  the  bond,  and 
Hogue  entered  upon  the  duties  of  the   office. 

At  the  October  term,  1839,  G.  B.  Shelle- 
dy's  name  appears  on  the  record  as  an  attor- 
ney. At  this  term  of  the  court,  John  Serv- 
ice was  tried  for  assault  with  intent  to  com- 
mit murder,  and  sentenced  to  one  year.  The 
order  sentencing  him  says:  "There  being  no 
Sheriff  of  the  county  at  this  time,  the  Cor- 
oner be  allowed  to  take  with  him  as  guard  to 
convey  the  defendant  to  the  penitentiary 
two  persons,"  etc.  The  jury  in  this  case 
were  Robert  Scoggs,  Richard  G.  Sorrells, 
George  Baity,  John  Colclasure,  John  Bullard, 
Daniel  Evans,  James  Riley,  John  L.  Apper- 
son, James  Leavitt,  William  Sneed,  James 
Ano  and  William  L.  Lankston. 

In  1S41,  Judge  William  Wilson  again  was 
Presiding  Judge  at  the  March  term.  At  this 
term  Francis  Apperson  presented  his  bond  as 
Circuit  Clerk,  Nathaniel  H.  Duff  and  Daniel 
McCawley,  sureties.  Judge  William  Wilson 
approved  the  bond.  Apperson  had  been 
appointed  by  Judge  Wilson,  Chief  Justice  of 


338 


HISTORY   OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


the  Supreme  Court.  The  grand  jury  at 
this  term  presented  tivi>  indictments:  three  of 
which  were  for  larceny  and  were  against 
Benjamin  Goble.  James  Lee,  and  William 
Mangum  respectively.  And  against  Matthew 
Lippet,  selling  whisky,  and  Fredrick  P.  Par- 
ker, malicious  mischief.  At  the  August  term, 
L842,  the  grand  jury  returned  seven  indict- 
ments; one  was  for  attempt  to  murder,  and 
the  other  six  were  for  "  adultry."  For  the 
last-mentioned  there  were  indicted,  David 
West,  Samuel  Freeman,  Mary  Egan,  Mary 
Pate,  William  E.  Henry  and  Martha  Perkins. 
The  case  for  attempted  murder  was  bound 
over  in  $50  and  the  others  $30  each. 

At  the  second  term  of  the  court,  in  1825, 
Isaac  Romine  and  William  Smith  appeared 
in  open  court  and  purged  themselves  of  con- 
tempt for  a  failure»to  appear  as  jurors  at  the 
preceding  court.  At  the  same  time  John  M. 
Robinson,  attorney,  on  motion  discharged 
William  Webb  and  George  Faris,  sureties  for 
Robert  M.  Gordon. 

In  1843,  Edmund  Jones,  was  elected  Sheriff. 
He  gave  bond  with  James  Rusk,  Isaac  Martin. 
John  Maxwell,  Henry  Kenley,  Charles  A. 
Moon,  Joseph  Maxwell  and  William  Lewis 
as  sureties.  Judge  William  Wilson  approved 
the  bond.  Francis  Apperson  was  Clerk  of 
the  Circuit  Court. 

At  the  May  term,  1845,  Judge  William 
Wilson,  the  following  grand  jury  was  called: 
Jacob  Stipp,  foreman.  James  McKinney, 
Aaron  O.  Finch,  John  S.  Ridgeway,  Ben- 
jamin T.  Randall,  John  H.  Hill,  Gideon 
Higginbotham,  John  Ditter,  Stephen  Hardin, 
John  Weaver,  Jarrett  Erwin,  Washington 
Lewis,  Alexander  Cockrell,  James  Hender- 
son, Charles  Lockhart,  Jacob  Colclasure, 
William  Sutherland,  Lewis  Allgood,  Alexan- 
der Vickrey,  M.  C.  Minnis  and  Wesley 
Wood. 

The   traverse  jury  were  William  T.   Duff, 


Abraham  Stanford,  John  R.  Randall,  Isaac 
Stanford,  John  Sutton,  William  Martin. 
Hugh  Young,  Gideon  Bailey,  James  J. 
Spriggs,  John  Ingraham,  Crawford  Erwin 
and  Benjamin  A.   Vernatter. 

At  the  May  term.  1845.  Robert  Toler 
tiled  his  bond  as  Sheriff,  and  John  A.  Mc- 
Cawley  filed  his  as  Coroner. 

To  the  September  term,  1848,  William 
Wilson,  Chief  Justice  of  Illinois,  continued 
to  hold  all  the  courts.  He  was  then  legislat- 
ed out  of  office,  and  the  great  man  retired  to 
private  life  and  seclusion  from  the  public,  at 
his  home  in  Mt.  Carmel.  where  he  resided 
until  he  died.  Here  was  an  instance  of  a 
great  Judge  being  outraged,  and  all  the  peo- 
ple thereby  wronged  by  a  contemptible  league 
of  little  demagogues  and  politicians.  When 
they  turned  Wilson  out  of  office,  they  prob- 
ably thought  they  did  a  very  smart  thing, 
when  the  truth  is  they  were  only  making 
their  own  record  and  staining  all  their  tribe 
of  little  demagogues.  At  the  next  term  of 
the  court  in  1849,  Justin  Harlin  presided  as 
Judge. 

At  the  May  term,  1849.  Strother  B.  Walker 
was  the  Sheriff. 

At  the  March  term.  1851,  Stephen  Hardin 
was  the  Sheriff. 

In  1854,  Henry  Neff  was  Sheriff;  in  1856, 
Henry  Phelps;  1858,  B.  F.  Reynolds;  1860, 
Henry  Phelps;  1862,  Henry  Hortenstein; 
1863,  James  Gammon;  1865,  Walton  Finch; 
1868,  Tom  Monical;  1870,  John  R.  Tanner. 

The  following,  though  incomplete,  is  a 
record  of  the  county  officers,  commencing  in 
1858  and  continuing  down  to  date. 

1858— Wyatt  Cook,  Treasurer;  Luther  S. 
Hopkins,  County  Judge;  John  P.  Hungate. 
County  Clerk;  Thomas  J.  Smith.  School 
Commissioner;  William  Gammon  and  Wes- 
ley Wood,  Associate  Judges. 

1865— C.  D.  Kendall,  County  Clerk:  L.  S. 


HISTORY  OF    CLAY   COUNTY. 


339 


Hopkins,  Judge;  James  A.  W.  Walker. 
Treasurer;  John  Russell,  School  Commis- 
sioner; E.  Nixon,  County  Surveyor. 

1869— John  L.  Moore,  County  Clerk;  C.  H. 
Murry,  School  Superintendent;  John  A.  Ap- 
person,  Treasurer;  Harry  S.  Watson,  County 
Treasurer-,  Ethelred  Nixon,  Surveyor;  L.  S 
Hopkins,  Judge. 

1872— John  11.  Tanner,  Circuit  Clerk; 
Samuel  R.  Rea,  County  Clerk;  Robert  Gray, 
Sheriff;  David  L.  Chase,  Coroner. 

1873— Richard  J.  Burns,  County  Clerk; 
Henry  S.  Watson,  Treasurer;  Jacob  H.  Song- 
er,  County  Superintendent;  Rolla  B.  Henry, 
County  Judge. 

1874— Looker  Nixon,  Sheriff;  Robert  H. 
Jones, Coroner;  G.  A.  1 1  otY,  State's  Attorney; 
George  W.    Smith,  County   Su(M'rintendent. 

1870 — James  A.  Finch,  State's  Attorney; 
Silas  Hallowell,  Sheriff;  Robert  E.  Duff,  ex 
officio  Recorder. 

1877 — Gershom  A.  Hoff,  County  Judge; 
Richard  J.  Burns,  County  Clerk;  Samuel 
Enyart,  Circuit  Clerk;  David  M.  Laswell, 
County  Treasurer;  George  W.  Smith,  County 
Superintendent:  James  H.  Jenkins,  Coroner. 

1878— Elias  D.  Vickrey,  Sheriff. 

1879 — Edward  Hawkins,  County  Treasurer; 
A.  H.  Monro,  County  Surveyor;  James  R. 
Cravens,  Coroner. 

1880— D.  C.  Hagle.  State's  Attorney;  Sam- 
uel Enyart,  Clerk  of  the  Circuit  Court;  Elias 
D.  Vickrey,  Sheriff;  Henry  G.  Louchner, 
Coroner;  S.  Enyart,  Circuit  Clerk. 


1882— G.  A.  Hoff,  County  Judge;  William 
J.  Clifton,  County  Clerk;  John  R.  Block. 
County  Treasurer;  Robert  McCullom,  Sheriff; 
Cleveland  W.  Mills,  County  Superintendent; 
James  W.  Suggett,  Coroner. 

Of  the  Circuit  Clerks  from  1852,  where  we 
traced  them  to,  on  the  records  above,  we  tind 
at  that  time  J.  P.  Hungate  was  Clerk.  1860, 
R.  Taliaferro;  ISC,  l,  Henry  Hortenstein;  1868, 
Hortenstein  re-elected;  1872,  John  R.  Tan- 
ner; 1876,  R.  E.  Duff,  and  as  statod  above; 
1877,  Sam  Enyart  was  elected,  and  still  iB  in 
office  (1884).  * 

In  1856,  Johu  T.  Whitman  was  appointed 
Treasurer  to  till  a  vacancy,  and  then  (1857) 
was  elected  for  a  full  term.  He  resigned  in 
1858,  and  was  succeeded  by  Wyatt  Cook, 
who  was  re-elected  in  1859.  William  Bishop 
in  1861,  and  re-elected;  then  J.  A.  Walker, 
two  terms;  1867,  James  B.  Smith;  1869,  John 
A.  Apperson,  1872,  two  terms;  H.  S.  Watson, 
1875;  P.  P.  Brown,  1877;  D.  Melton  Laswell, 
who  died  in  the  winter  of  1877,  and  E.  H. 
Hawkins  was  then  until  the  fall  of  1882, 
when  the  present  incumbent  J.  L.  Block  was 
elected. 

Of  the  County  Clerks,  in  addition  to  the 
incumbents  named  in  a  former  chapter  we 
learn  that  in  1861  J.  P.  Hungate  was  County 
Clerk;  1855,  C.  D.  Kendal;  1869,  John  J. 
S.  Moore,  who  died  in  office  and  S.  S.  Ray, 
was  appointed  to  fill  the  vacancy.  In  1871, 
S.  R.  Apperson,  and  in  1873,  R.  J.  Burns,  who 
served  until  1SS2. 


340 


HISTORY  OF   CLAY   COUNTY. 


CHAPTER    VI. 


AGRICULTURE   AND    HORTICULTURE— STOCK-RAISING— DAIRYING— MATTERS   OF    INTEREST    AND 

VALUE  TO   EVERY  ONE— APPLES   AND   SORGHUM— HOW  TO  MAKE   YOUR 

LAND   WORTH   §500    PER    ACRE,   ETC.,   ETC.,   ETC. 


C~1LAY  and  Wayne  Counties  are,  so  far  in 
J  their  respective  histories,  almost  ex- 
clusively composed  of  tillers  of  the  soil. 
When  we  add  to  this  the  industry  of  stock- 
raising,  we  have  included  about  all  there  is, 
or  probably  will  be  here,  in  the  way  of  lead- 
ing industries  for  many  years  to  come.  In 
previous  chapters  we  have  given  extended  no- 
tices of  the  general  geological  formations  of 
the  two  counties.  With  the  exception  of 
there  being  more  prairie  land  in  Clay  than 
in  Wayne  County,  there  is  but  little  differ- 
ence in  the  soils  and  general  topography  of 
the  two  counties.  The  bottom  lands  are  al- 
ways rich  in  alluvium  and  the  humus  that  go 
to  furnish  abundant  plant  food.  The  uplands, 
especially  the  prairies,  are  of  grayish  soil, 
not  very  deeply  laid  upon  a  tough,  stiff  clay, 
that  is  often  called  hard-pan.  The  fact  is, 
there  is  not  much  hard-pan  to  be  found  in 
either  county,  yet  there  are  localities  where 
the  genuine  article  can  be  found  in  abundance. 
The  facts  are,  that  the  most  of  this  so-called 
hard-pan  is  a  clay  that  is  full  of  plant  food, 
but  that  must  be  exposed  to  the  air  in  order 
to  prepare  it  to  give  off  this  plant  food.  The 
soil  of  the  two  counties  is  in  many  places 
underlaid  with  limestone,  and  this  we  believe 
is  never  found  in  connection  with  hard-pan. 
This  clay  often,  however,  is  so  compact  that 
neither  the  roots  of  young  trees  nor  of  the 
cereals  will  penetrate  it  and  draw  out  its  rich 
substance.     The   main   difficulty,   we   appre- 


hend, is  the  want  of  air  in  reaching  these 
roots.  So  compact  is  it  often  that  we  incline 
to  the  belief  that  no  more  air  penetrates  it 
than  will  go  into  standing  water.  This  is 
the  main  reason  why  they  have  remained  prai- 
ries and  treeless.  Gov.  Reynolds  tells  us 
that  the  prairies  are  made  by  fires,  and  many 
will  tell  you  that  now,  for  years  since  the  fires 
have  been  stopped,  the  timber  land  is  rapidly 
spreading  over  the  prairies,  where  it  has  not 
been  kept  cleared  away.  The  learned  geolo- 
gists differ  on  this  subject  in  their  discus- 
sions of  the  question  of  the  formation  of 
prairies,  but  we  believe  that  the  opinion  that 
the  timber  will  not  of  itself  grow  upon  prai- 
rie soil  is  the  true  one — that  the  timber  never 
encroaches  upon  the  prairies.  There  is  this 
quality  in  all  the  soil  of  the  two  counties. 
It  retains  most  completely  all  the  fertilizers 
that  may  be  placed  upon  it  ;  and  another 
thing,  that  almost  any  kind  of  fertilizer  has 
the  effect  to  loosen  and  lighten  up  the  entire 
soil,  and  it  is  really  capable  of  being  made 
the  most  productive  land  in  the  world,  and 
once  it  is  enriched  it  will  scarcely  ever  wear 
out  again.  This  is  true  of  both  its  agricult- 
ural and  horticultural  advantages.  Even 
this  prairie  land,  which  in  its  natural  state  is 
so  repellent  to  all  tree  growth,  and  that  there- 
fore would  for  perhaps  all  time,  while  un- 
touched, have  remained  prairies,  may  thus  be 
readily  made  into  the  finest  orchards  suitable 
to  this  climate;  but  all  species  of  trees  may 


HISTORY   OF   CLAY    COUNTY. 


341 


be  induced  to  grow  here  most  rapidly  and  in 
the  thriftiest  manner.  Tho  writer  has  in 
this  latitude,  by  properly  loosening  the  earth 
and  fertilizing,  made  peach  trees  to  bear  a 
small  crop  the  third  year  by  trees  that  had 
within  that  time  come  from  the  seed.  The 
ground  properly  prepared,  and  the  free  use 
of  rough  mulching,  will  make  apple  and 
cluriy  trees,  and  nearly  all  shade  and  yard 
trees  grow  unite  as  well  as  the  peach  tree. 

Domestic  grasses  grow  here  in  great  abund- 
ance. Their  cultivation  gives  most  abundant 
and  never-failing  crops.  This  fact  should 
long  ago  have  pointed  out  to  the  people  that 
the  open  doorway  to  wealth  here  was  in  stock- 
raising.  The  direct  profits  here,  and  the 
quick  returns  are  largo  and  certain,  and  yel 
a  quarter  of  a  century  at  least  has  been  lost 
by  the  people  in  their  persistent  folly  of  pur- 
-niug  the  old,  beaten  tracks  of  the  early 
fathers  in  planting  perpetually  com  and 
wheat,  and  to-day  there  are  people  living  on 
farms  where  they  have  been  nearly  fifty  years, 
and  the  farm  is  still  as  treeless  as  was  the 
pristine  prairie  on  which  it  was  made;  nor 
has  there  ever  been  a  graded  or  blooded  hoof 
of  stock  of  any  kind.  But  the  land  has  been 
skinned  from  year  to  year,  and  all  such  farm- 
er.- can  readily  tell  you  that  "  farming  does 
not  pay."  Of  course,  enough  such  farming 
would,  in  the  end.  bankrupt  the  country. 
At  the  same  time,  and  with  less  labor  and 
really  great  profits  the  farm  could  have  been 
made  as  rich  as  any  land  in  the  world. 

The  time  will  come — the  rapidity  of  its 
coming  depends  upon  the  sound  sense  of  our 
farmers — when  all  this  land  will  bo  worth 
from  spin  to  $500  per  acre.  To  commence 
with,  there  are  no  gre  !  inded  tates  here, 
and  a  few  years  will  greatly  subdivide  these 
present  tracts,  and  here  lies  the  wealth  and 
glory  of  all  agricultural  countries.  Small 
farmers  and  intelligent  ones— an  aver: 


twenty  acres  to  the  farm — would  in  time  make 
this  the  richest  section  in  the  world.  It  is 
said  that  English  agriculture  has  suffered  the 
past  few  years  from  the  importation  of  Amer- 
ican products,  but  we  incline  to  the  belief 
that  the  sole  reason  why  the  agriculture  of 
France  has  been  so  especially  prosperous, 
has  been  the  great  fact  that  all  over  France 
it  is  the  small  farmers  that  prevail. 

In  France  the  landed  property  of  the 
country  is  reported  at  132,000,000  acres, 
about  one-fouth  available  for  culture.  In 
L850,  the  rent  value  of  French  lands  was 
$161,000,000;  at  present  it  is  $529,000,000, 
having  more  than  trebled  in  a  generation. 
The  selling  value  of  an  average  acre  of 
French  land  has  increased  in  the  same  time 
from  $100  to  $107;  meadow  land  has  risen 
from  $105  to  $237  per  acre;  vineyards  from 
810.")  to' $237;  gardens  and  orchards,  $350  to 
$440  per  acre.  These  figures,  which  are  the 
result  of  very  close  estimates,  show  the  val- 
ues of  lands  in  France  which  have  a  no 
greater  productive  capacity  than  lands  in 
Illinois,  which  are  rated  only  one-tenth  as 
high.  There  is  in  France  little  of  the 
landlordism  that  acts  like  a  millstone  round 
the  neck  of  the  Irish  people,  and  has 
an  injurious  effect  in  England,  and  Scotland, 
too;  there  are  no  immense  estates  held  by  a 
few  wealthy  proprietors,  The  lands  in 
France  are  mainly  occupied  by  their  owners, 
and  owned  by  those  who  till  them;  and  it  is 
this  fact,  in  connection  with  patient  and 
cheerful  labor  and  close  economy,  that  ex- 
plains the  conservative  nature  of  the  French 
rural  population  and  their  ability  to  main- 
tain themselves  in  competition  with  America. 
There  is  no  j  ere  there  can  be  more 

inducements  to  dain  farming  than  here.  At 
the  international  cattle  show  in  Paris  in 
1878,  every  Swiss  cow  exhibited  bore  off  a 
prize,  although   there  were  competitors  from 


342 


HISTORY   OV  CLAY  COUNTY. 


England,  Holland,  Denmark  and  many  other 
famous  cattle  and  milk  producing  districts  of 
Europe,  and  "yet  that  those  fine  butter  and 
milk  producing  animals  of  Switzerland  are 
fed  only  on  grass  and  hay  the  year  through." 
High  feeding  on  grain,  bran,  meal,  oil-cake, 
ensilage  and  boiled  fodder,  so  greatly  relied 
on  in  England  and  the  eastern  parts  of  the 
United  States  for  large  products,  are  either 
unknown  in  that  country  or  never  practiced. 
Swiss  cows  are  kept  in  low,  dark  and  warm 
stone  stables,  with  walls  two  feet  thick, 
not  only  all  the  winter,  but  frequently  all 
the  summer,  their  owners  arguing  that  the 
discomfort  of  confinement  in  warm  weather 
is  more  than  compensated  for  in  the  exemp- 
tion from  flies  which  harass  animals  running 
in  pastures.  All  the  feed  is  taken  to  the  an- 
imals. In  the  summer,  they  are  given  as 
much  fresh  cut  grass  as  they  can  eat,  and  in 
the  winter  about  thirty  pounds  of  hay  a  day 
each.  A  Swiss  acre  of  grass  land  on  the 
lake  of  Zurich  is  worth  §300  to  $400,  and  it 
is  estimated  that  one  and  a  half  to  two  acres 
produce  sufficient  grass,  green  and  dried,  for 
one  cow.  The  milk  is  sold  by  farmers  at  2k 
to  3  cents  a  quart  by  wholesale,  and  the  us- 
ual yield  is  two  gallons  to  the  cow  the  year 
round.  At  these  rates  a  well-managed  dairy, 
stocked  with  cows,  worth  $90  to  $125  each, 
on  land  worth  $300  to  $400  an  acre,  is  ex- 
pected to  yield  about  ten  per  cent  on  the  in- 
vestment. Dairy  hands  are  paid  $10  a 
month  and  board,  and  one  hand  is  expected 
to  take  care  of  twelve  cows. 

It  would  appear  that  the  conditions  of 
dairying  in  this  country  are  much  more 
favorable  than  in  Switzerland,  for  here  the 
price  of  milk  is  at  least  one-half  higher,  and 
the  value  of  farms  is  but  little  over  one-tenth 
what  it  is  here.  It  will  be  hard  to  convince 
American  dairymen  that  high-feeding  is  not 
the  true  policy  in  dairy  farming.      The  Swiss 


admit  that  it  increases  the  quantity  of  milk, 
but  at  the  expense  of  the  quality.  The  finest 
flavored  milk,  butter  and  cheese,  they  assert, 
comes  from  grass.  "  If,"  said  a  Swiss  dairy- 
man, "  Americans  would  turn  their  attention 
less  to  fancy  feeding  and  more  to  draining, 
fertilizing  and  improvement  of  meadows, 
they  would  have  more  and  better  milk." 

Here  is  the  experience  of  centuries  of  the 
best  dairy  farmers  in  the  world,  and  could  it 
be  put  in  practice  on  say  at  least  one  forty - 
acre  tract  of  every  quarter  section  in  the 
county,  a  very  few  years  would  produce  a 
transformation  here  that  would  now  seem 
incredible,  and  make  of  our  people  the 
richest  farmers  in  the  world,  and  as  enor- 
mous as  the  direct  milk  and  butter  profits 
would  be  the  enrichment  of  the  land,  and  the 
increased  value  of  it  would  be  equal  t  o  the 
direct  profits.  It  is  astounding  how  slowly 
mankind  are  to  learn  from  experience.  So 
persistent  is  man  to  follow  in  the  beaten 
track  of  his  forefathers  that  he  will  often 
pursue  that  track,  though  it  may  be  strewn 
with  the  starved  wrecks  of  his  fellows,  and 
he  will  not  turn  aside,  although  possibly  on 
every  hand  just  off  his  way  may  be  extrav- 
agant abundance.  Polly  and  short-sighted- 
ness are  persistent  and  all  enduring. 

Fruit  Culture. — In  the  last  few  years,  more 
and  more  of  the  citizens  of  these  counties 
have  been  giving  their  attention  to  fruit  cult- 
ure. And  many  of  the  most  practical  farm- 
ers are  beginning  to  believe  that  there  is  no 
crop  that  pays  any  better  than  orchards.  In 
fact  all  kinds  of  fruits,  both  small  and  large, 
seem  to  grow  in  great  profusion.  This  last 
season  the  apple  crop,  however,  has  been  of 
such  proportions  as  to  become  one  of  the 
principal  resources  of  Wayne  and  Clay  Coun- 
ties' farmers.  While  the  other  crops  were  all 
either  partial  or  total  failures,  this  one  has 
been  the  means  of   balancing  up    many  an 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


343 


account..  A  larger  number  than  ever  invested 
in  the  nursery  stock  this  year,  and  fruit-rais- 
ing in  Wayne  and  Clay  Counties  has  become 
a  settled  fact.  As  yet,  however,  there  are 
but  few  very  large  orchards,  but  as  each 
farmer  is  augmenting  his  number  of  trees 
more  and  more  each  year,  it  will  not  be  long 
before  this  section  will  stand  among  the  first 
in  the  list  of  fruit-raising  counties.  As  yet 
he  largest  orchard  in  Wayne  County  is  that 
of  Mr.  Jones,  of  Johnsonville.  It  extends 
over  eighty  acres,  and  this  season  the  crop 
was  about  5,000  bushels  from  that  one  or- 
chard. 

As  we  have  said  before,  the  apple  crop  this 
past  year  was  larger  than  ever  before.  So 
large  in  fact  that  it  has  attracted  gen- 
eral attention  in  the  different  parts  of  the 
State.  Through  the  kindness  of  the  station 
agents  in  the  different  towns,  we  are  enabled 
to  givo  the  amount  of  fruit  shipped  from 
certain  stations: 

From  Fairfield  via  the  0.  &  M.  Railroad,  4,560  bbls. 
From  Fairfield  via  the  L.  &  X.  Railroad,  1,575  bbls. 
From  Cisne  via  the  O.  &  M.  Railroad.... 5, 200  bbls. 
From  Rinard  via  the  O.  &  M.  Railroad.  .5,415  bbls. 
From  Jeffersonville  via  tin-  O.  iV.  M.  Kail- 
road  1,775  lil  ils. 

From  Boyieston  via  the  L.  &  N.  Railroad,    500  bids. 
From  Wayne  City  via  the  L.   &  X.  Rail- 
road ..." 1,500  bbls. 

From  Keen  Station  via  the  L.  &  N.  Hail- 
road  591  bbls. 

From  Merriam  via  the  I..  ^V  X.  Railroad,  500  bbls. 
From  Flora  via  the  L.  &  N.  Railroad. .  .7,500  bbls. 
From  Clay  City  via  tie  [,.  &  X.  Railroad,  3,120  bbls. 
From  Louisville  via    the  I..   &   X.   Mail 

road 3,622  bbls. 

From  Xenia  via  the  L.  &  X.  Railroad.  .  .2,800  bbls. 

From  other  stations  where  we  could  not 
get  the  figures,  we  estimate  the  total  crop  in 
Wayne  and  Clay  Counties  shipped  over  50,000 
barrels.  Now  on  an  average  of  two  and 
three  fourths  bushels  to  a  barrel,  that  will 
make  137,500  bushels.  The  price  paid  per 
bushel    varied   quite    a    good    deal.       Some 


shippers  paid  as  high  as  §1  per  bushel  for 
the  apples  as  they  hung  on  the  trees,  they  to 
pick  what  they  wanted.  At  first  the  prices 
for  fruit  in  bulk  at  the  warehouse  ranged 
from  60  to  80  cents.  Toward  the  latter  part 
of  the  season,  the  price  dropped  down  to  50 
cents.  Figuring  on  that  as  a  minimum  price 
for  137,500  bushels  it  would  be  $68,750, 
which  is  probably  far  below  the  actual 
amouut  of  money  brought  into  these  coun- 
ties this  season  by  apples  alone.  Taking  that 
amount  for  a  basis,  however,  it  shows  that 
this  branch  of  horticulture  is  soon  to  become 
one  of  the  leading  industries  of  the  counties. 
As  to  the  best  varieties  to  be  handled, 
nurserymen  and  fruit-growers  generally  differ 
considerably.  From  observation,  however, 
we  are  led  to  say  that  the  Ben  Davis  and 
Roman  Beauty  are  considered  the  hardiest 
and  best  varieties  for  this  latitude,  especially 
where  the  fruit  is  to  be  shipped  any  groat  dis- 
tance. This  past  season  the  peach  crop  did 
not  amount  to  very  much.  In  the  forepart 
of  the  summer  and  spring,  the  prospects  for 
a  large  crop  seemed  to  be  very  flattering,  but 
after  the  fruit  had  almost  matured,  some  in- 
sect seemed  to  blast  it  to  a  great  extent. 
Experienced  peach-growers  claim,  however, 
that  this  section  generally  is  considered  as 
good  for  that  kind  of  fruit  as  any  other 
locality,   either  North  or  South. 

As  yet  the  culture  of  small  fruit  has  not 
reached  to  such  extensive  proportions  as  in 
the  more  southern  counties  of  the  State. 
However,  those  who  have  devoted  any  at- 
tention to  it  at  all  find  that  it  pays  very 
well  indeed.  And  we  cannot,  see  why  the 
county  does  not  stand  equally  as  good  a 
chance  to  become  noted  for  its  fruit-raising 
as  has  either  Union,  Johnson,  Alexander  or 
other  counties  of  the  south  part  of  tho  State. 
This  past  season,  tho  gathering  of  the  wild 
blackberry  was  a  source  of  much  pleasure  and 


344 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY   COUNTY. 


profit  to  the  people.  The  crop  was  indeed 
very  large,  and  many  an  honest  penny  was 
turned  in  the  marketing  of  this  fruit.  Take 
it  all  in  all,  we  cannot  see  why  the  people  of 
this  section  cannot  become  as  noted  in  their 
horticulture  as  their  more  southern  neigh- 
bors. Fruit  culture  of  any  kind  of  course 
seems  to  be  and  is  to  a  great  extent  in  its 
infancy.  But  as  the  soil  and  climate  in  this 
portion  of  the  State  is  almost  entirely  similar 
to  that  of  Southern  Illinois,  with  a  little  ex- 
pense we  have  no  doubt  all  kinds  of  fruit 
could  be  raised  in  such  abundance  and  with 
so  much  profit  that  in  a  few  years  horticult- 
ure in  all  its  branches  will  become  the  lead- 
ing vocation  of  the  people. 

Sorghum.—  There  is  another  industry  that 
is  fast  gaining  ground  in  this  locality.     We 
refer    to   the   raising    and    manufacture    of 
sorghum.     This  species   of    agriculture  has 
only  attracted  any  considerable  attention  in 
this  part  of  the  State  in  the  last  few  years.    Of 
late,  however,  there  has  been  quite  a  good 
deal  written  and  said  about  it.    Farmers  now 
claim  that  the  raising  of  sorghum  pays  as 
good  if   not  better  than  the  corn  crop,   and 
considerable  attention   is  being  paid  to  it. 
Quite  an  acreage  of  it  was    sown  this  past 
season,  and  in  nearly  every  township  there  is 
one  or  more  machines  for  the  manufacture  of 
the  crude  juice  into  molasses.      It  was  our 
privilege  to  visit  Mr.  Roberts'  mill  in  Fair- 
field, and  from  him  we  gleaned  many  useful 
and  interesting  facts  regarding  the  maufact- 
ure  of  this  article.       According  to  statistics 
gathered  by  this  gentleman,  one  acre  of  the 
stalk  will    produce   from  500    to  1,500  gal- 
lons of  the  crude  juice.     This  juice,  like  the 
sap  of  the  maple,  is  capable  of  being  boiled 
down  to    almost    any    consistency,  from  the 
thinnest  molasses  to  sugar.   The  molasses  sells 
from  50  to  75  cents  per  gallon,  according  to 
its  quality.       The  sugar  brings  as  much  as 


cane  sugar.  The  sorghum  stalk  differs  from 
the  original  sugar  cane  of  the  South  in  having 
a  seeded  top,  while  the  latter  species  is  en- 
tirely without.  The  seed  of  the  sorghum  is 
almost  similar  to  that  of  buckwheat,  and  is 
pronounced  unexcelled  for  horse  feed,  and 
when  ground  the  flour  is  used  for  batter  cakes. 
Of  comparatively  recent  date,  yet  the  cultiva- 
tion of  sorghum  is  nevertheless  growing  in 
popularity  among  the  farmers  of  this  section 
of  Illinois.  None  of  the  many  farmers  who 
have  raised  the  article  are  prone  to  give  it 
up,  and  nearly  all  are  expecting  to  embark  in 
it  to  a  greater  extent  than  ever  before  next 
season.  As  probabilities  for  success  in  this 
branch  of  agriculture  are  so  promising  and 
the  prospects  of  remuneration  are  so  flattering, 
we  do  not  see  why  next  year  the  farmers 
should  not  devote  a  fair  share  of  their 
means  to  the  production  of  this  article,  and 
why  many  more  should  not  interest  them- 
selves in  the  manufacture  of  the  article. 

Total  indebtedness  of  Clay  County  is 
$233,719.  This  includes  all  the  indebted- 
ness of  the  county,  towns,  cities,  villages  and 
school  districts. 

The  total  manufactured  products  of  the 
county  are  $252,834;  manufacturing  estab- 
lishments, total,  thirty-seven;  capital.  §84,- 
000;  employes,  ninety-seven.  The  popula- 
tion of  the  county,  according  to  the  United 
States  census,  was,  in  1860,  9,330;  in  1870, 
15,877;  and  in  1880,  16,192.  This  is  di- 
vided as  follows:  Bible  Grove,  1,044;  Blair, 
983;  Clay  City  Township,  including  Clay 
City,  1,450;  Harter  Township,  including 
Flora.  2,878;  Hoosier,  1,136;  Larkinsburg 
Township,  1,179;  Louisville  Township,  in- 
cluding Louisville,  1.235  (town  of  Louis- 
ville, 514);  Oskaloosa  Township,  1,035; 
Pixley,  1,506;  Songer,  1,000;  Stanford, 
1,268;  Xenia  Township,  including  Xenia 
Village,  1,418  (Xenia  Village,  898). 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY    COUNTY- 


345 


Of  the  population  of  Clay  there  are  natives 
15,737;  born  in  Illinois.  9,934;  Ohio,  1,142; 
New  York,  95;  Indiana.  2,589;  Pennsylva- 
nia, 27S;  Kentucky,  553.  There  are  foreign 
born  in  the  county  455;  British  America,  21; 
England  and  Wales,  92;  Ireland,  66;  Scot- 
land, 10;  German  Empire,  229;  France,  17. 
In  the  county  are  2,093  farms,  and  these 
include  1.94,637  acres  of  improved  land. 
These  farms,  including  land,  fences  and 
buildings,  are  valued  at  $3,495,421.  Farm- 
ing implements  are  worth  §154,506.  Total 
value  of  live  stock,  §607,990.  Estimated 
value  of  all  farm  productions  sold,  consumed, 


or  on  hand  for  1879,  was  §2,128,529.  Prin- 
cipal vegetable  productions  in  1880  wore 
buckwheat,  1,400  bushels;  corn,  1,058,186 
bushels;  oats,  157,063  bushels;  rye,  2,742 
bushels;  wheat.  223,520  bushels;  orchard 
products,  $31,000;  hay,  18,000  tons;  potatoes, 
64,063  bushels;  sweet  potatoes,  993  bushels; 
tobacco,  19,321  pounds.  Live  stock,  there 
Vere,  in  1880,  5,546  horses,  1.236  mules  and 
asses;  milch  cows,  4,290;  other  cattle, 
6,897;  sheep,  10,718;  swine,  25,693;  wool, 
55,000  pounds;  butter,  238,102  pounds; 
cheese,  2,683  pounds. 


CHAPTER    VII. 


SCHOOLS— A  REFERENCE  TO  THE  ORIGINALS— SOME  THOUGHTS  ON  THE  SUBJECT  GENERALLY- 
THE  FIRST  SCHOOLS  AND  TEACHERS— THE  EARLY  SCHOOLS  AND  THOSE  OF  TO- 
DAY COMPARED  AND  ESTIMATED— THOUGHTS  ON  THE  SUB- 
JECT OF  GENERAL  INTEREST,  ETC.,  ETC. 


AMONG  the  oldest,  if  not  the  very  oldest 
organized  institution  in  the  world, 
that  passes  along  unquestioned  and  without 
dispute,  are  the  public  schools,  or  rather  the 
school  system  that  prevails  in  some  form  or 
other  throughout  the  civilized  world.  Prac- 
tically they  are  contemporaneous  with  our 
Christianity,  because  within  the  church,  and 
side  by  side  with  its  institutions,  it  has  spread 
and  flourished,  and  against  it  there  has  been 
no  revolt  nor  bloody  revolutions,  nor  wars, 
nor  reformations,  nor  schisms,  either  bloody 
or  peaceful.  It  has  moved  along  the  nineteen 
centuries  unchallenged — the  progeny  and 
helpmeet  of  all  branches  and  faiths  of  the 
church — and  was  fostered  and  jealously  pro- 
tected by  every  schism,  even  when  they  warred 
upon    one    another    to   extermination    over 


their  foolish  and  puerile  dogmas.  The  ebb 
and  flux  of  civilization,  the  rise  and  fall  of 
ompires,  the  youth,  lusty  manhood  and  the 
slow  decay  of  great  nations  and  the  growth 
and  passing  away  of  splendid  cities,  have 
had  nothing  more  than  temporary  and  inci- 
dental effects  upon  the  schools.  The  idea 
and  system  of  the  Pietistic  schools  of  the 
Lower  Nile  have  emerged  unscathed  and  un- 
harmed from  these  great  shocks  and  prolonged 
tragedies  of  the  human  race. 

The  magnificent  superstructure  that  we 
now  see  raised  rests  upon  the  foundations 
laid  by  the  churchmen  eighteen  centuries 
ago,  and  this  is  true  in  the  face  of  the  con- 
stant iteration  of  tho  schoolmen  that  the 
whole  system  has  been  made  new  and  that 
now  the  scheme  is  as  near  perfect  as  it  is  pos- 


346 


HISTORY  OF   CLAY  COUNTY. 


sible  to  make  a  human  institution.  True  there 
have  been  many  changes  and  great  improve- 
ments, particularly  in  the  last  half  century, 
but  the-e  all  apply  to  the  immaterial  and  the 
external,  and  the  fundamental  principles  of 
today  are  identical  with  the  first  schools  that 
were  taught  at  the  birtb  of  our  Christianity. 
Those  first  schools  came  into  existence  to  pre- 
pare priests  for  their  office,  and  they  taught 
Latin,  Greek,  Hebrew  and  the  catechism, 
and  this  teaching  and  learning  was  commit- 
ting to  memory.  That  is  all  there  is  to-day 
in  our  public  schools,  and  so  far  as  history 
tells  us,  it  was  all  there  ever  was  in  any  of 
the  schools  past  or  present.  And  the  church 
and  the  schools  are  ever  proclaiming:  "  Be- 
hold in  all  this  splendid  civilization  our  ex- 
clusive handiwork.  See  our  magnificent 
churches  and  schoolhouses  that  dot  the  land, 
where  no  man  is  ever  out  of  hearing  of  the 
bells  proclaiming  'come  and  let  us  worship 
God,"  and  the  clanging  school  bells  are  say- 
ing "  Come  and  be  educated  philosophers." 

What  is  the  measure  of  the  progress  of  our 
civilization?  It  is  by  the  work  and  thoughts 
of  our  great  geniuses  who  discover  new  truths 
in  the  mental  and  physical  laws — new  and 
useful  inventions  in  the  arts — and  the  promise 
and  expectancy  of  others  still  greater  to  im- 
mediately follow  these;  by  the  growth  and 
spread  of  freedom  among  the  people — free- 
dom from  oppression  and  government  med- 
dling— freedom  from  errors — freedom  from 
prejudices  and  freedom  from  superstitions. 

These  are  the  master  spirits  of  all  the 
blessings  of  civilization  that  we  possess.  In 
the  world's  history,  they  have  been  the  very 
few,  and  have  mostly  been  persecuted  unto 
death  by  the  many.  To  discover  and  give 
the  world  a  new  fact  in  the  truths  of  the 
natural  laws  has  invited,  not  the  world's 
gratitude  and  applause,  but  the  rack,  the 
fagot  and  the  sword.     But  in  the  long  ages, 


perhaps  centuries  after  these  glorious  immor- 
tals have  found  rest  in  bloody,  unknown  and 
unhonored  graves,  "  the  world  does  move!  " 
And  the  long  delayed  triumph  of  truth  over 
error  comes,  and  then,  mayhap,  those  who 
murdered  the  great  discoverer  rise  up  and 
say,  "Behold  the  blessing  we  have  given 
you!  "  Truth  gains  her  victories  in  the  end, 
but  justice  never,  because  the  overwhelming 
majority  are  always  on  the  side  of  wrong. 
Truth  cannot  enact  bloody  statutes,  cannot 
persecute,  but  error  has  strewn  the  shores  of 
time  with  its  millions  of  murdered  victims, 
and  inflicted  cruelties  from  the  contemplation 
of  which  the  mind  turns  away  aghast.  "  The 
voice  of  the  people  is  the  voice  of  God,"  says 
ignorance,  and  thus,  fattening  upon  its  own 
corruption,  it  rises  in  its  might  and  murders 
the  true  friends  of  humanity — those  grand 
geniuses  who  cast  pearls  before  the  swine. 
There  seem  to  be  two  inherent  evils  that 
enter  the  great  majority  of  all  minds,  and 
that  hold  them  in  undisputed  possession 
from  the  cradle  to  the  grave.  These  are  a 
blind  reverence  and  belief  in  the  greatness, 
purity  and  wisdom  of  the  ancient  times,  and 
our  literature  is  tainted  with  it,  and  poets 
sing  of  the  glories  of  the  Golden  Age— a  sil- 
ly fable  born  of  excited  imaginations  and 
enfeebled  judgments,  that  deride  the  glori- 
ous present  and  mourn  over  fallen  man. 
The  other  companion  evil  is  a  belief  in  the 
infallibility  of  the  majority.  These  errors, 
once  well  intrenched  in  the  mind,  are  about 
as  immovable  as  the  mountains;  and  they 
carry  along  the  great  tide  of  suffering  hu- 
manity toward  the  plunging  Niagara,  and 
error  does  not  cease  to  be  dangerous  when 
truth  is  left  free  to  combat  it;  nor  is  truth 
ever  left  free  to  combat  error,  because  error 
holds  the  reins  of  power,  the  sword,  the 
police,  and  the  vast,  over  crowded  and  count- 
less majority. 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


347 


If  the  school  men  could  point  to  the  fact 
that  they  had  long  ago  discovered  either 
these  or  other  evils  that  beset  men's  minds, 
and  had  made  a  manly  and  heroic  effort  to 
stamp  them  or  either  of  them  out,  we  would 
be  free,  nay,  gladly  confess  it  the  friend,  the 
builder  and  architect  of  some  of  the  grand 
civilization  we  have. 

The  school  teachers  of  the  dark  ages  were 
cloistered  monks  mostly  for  the  teaching  of 
males  only.  They  could  translate  the  dead 
languages  and  glibly  tell  off  the  catechism, 
and  for  everything  else  they  were  not  to  blame 
for  their  phenomenal  ignorance,  because 
their  life  training  and  education  had  been 
such  it  could  not  be  otherwise.  In  the 
course  of  ages,  common  decency  forced  open 
the  schools  to  the  female  portion  of  child- 
hood, and  to  this  day  and  hour  the  astound- 
ing fact  exists  that  many  of  the  most  polite 
and  refined  training  schools  for  the  daugh- 
ters of  the  wealthy  are  taught  by  cloistered 
females — pure,  noble  and  good  women — who 
concern  themselves  only  about  the  future, 
and  look  with  serene  contempt  upon  the 
present  and  all  of  this  world's  surroundings. 
To  pray  and  fast  and  hear  mass  without 
ceasing  is  the  acme  of  that  higher,  holier 
and  only  real  education  in  their  minds.  And 
the  prevalent  idea  of  a  proper  education  for 
females  furnishes  the  foundation  upon  which 
this  anomalous  state  of  facts  has  existed,  and 
will  continue  until  poople  learn  more  defi- 
nitely what  education  is. 

The  State  or  public  schools,  like  nearly  all 
State  institutions,  are  encircled  with  a  vast 
and  complicated  machinery,  that  add  indef- 
initely to  the  expense  and  show,  and  in  that 
proportion  curtail  their  utility.  A  State 
Superintendent  is  over  each  County  Super- 
intendent, and  Boards  of  Directors,  and 
Directors,  Trustees  and  Treasurers  and  the 
County  Superintendents    are    elected  by  the 


wise  majority,  and  they  examine  teachers 
and  give  certificates  only  to  those  qualified 
the  best  to  teach.  This  amazing  farce  is 
fully  portrayed  when  the  writer  is  able  to  af- 
firm that  in  the  school  room  of  a  city  that 
boasts  the  excellence  of  its  graded  schools, 
he  heard  a  teacher  ask  of  a  pupil  the  ques- 
tion, ,;  Has  the  bell  been  rang?"  or  this, 
"Has  Mr. came  ?"  This  is  no  ex- 
aggeration, nor  is  there  the  slightest  false 
coloring  given  to  the  language  used,  and 
upon  inquiry  he  learned  the  teacher  using 
this  language  had  passed  a  splendid  exami- 
nation for  a  second-grade  certificate.  Re- 
member it  is  the  second-grade  teachers  who 
are  placed  over  the  children  at  that  age  wheu 
their  language  that  will  cling  to  them 
through  life  is  formed.  Does  not  this  ac- 
count for  the  fact  that,  in  the  face  of  the 
many  free  schools  all  over  the  country,  you 
can  never  hear  a  half  dozen  sentences  pass 
between  young  or  old  without  hearing  about 
as  many  blunders  as  sentences,  and  you  may 
see  young  men  and  young  lady  graduates  of 
the  high  schools,  who  could  not  properly 
write  the  address  upon  a  letter  if  life  de- 
pended upon  it — Greek  and  Latin  scholars 
who  know  little  or  nothing  more  of  the  En- 
glish language  than  the  slangy  hoodlums  of 
the  streets.  This  may  be  labeled  education 
and  turned  adrift  from  the  school  rooms  as 
such  until  the  world  ceases  to  turn,  but  it 
will  not  be  education,  nor  even  an  approach 
to  it 

Are  the  public  schools  a  failure?  We  do 
not  say  they  are,  yet  who  can  fail  to  see  that 
they  are  daily  and  by  the  hundreds  and 
thousands  taking  up  the  children  of  the  poor 
and  unfitting  them  for  their  station  in  life, 
and  are  not  giving  them  a  fair  substitute  in 
exchange.  A  farmer's  or  mechanic's  son 
comes  home  from  school  or  graduates  from 
the  high  school  room   of    some   city  school 

20 


us 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


that  ranks  high,  and  he  cannot  longer  be  a 
farm  boy  or  mechanic,  nor  ib  he  prepared  to 
support  himself  except  as  a  school  teacher  or 
a  clerk,  either  of  which,  until  he  learns  the 
trade,  he  is  not  qualified  to  do.  It  does 
about  as  much  for  the  wash -woman's  daugh- 
ter. In  fact,  the  majority  of  the  poor  men's 
children  who  are  pushed  the  farthest  in 
these  unnatural  hot-beds  are  the  suffering 
victims  who  are  splendidly  prepared  to  be 
either  loafers  or  tramps.  Nature's  laws  are 
omnipotent,  eternal,  inexorable,  and  they 
will  not  excuse  ignorance,  whether  it  is 
clothed  in  rags  and  piety  or  in  royal  purple 
and  rascality,  and  every  error  or  delusion  a 
man  harbors  and  hugs  to  his  bosom  through 
life  is  an  avenging  Nemesis  that  cannot  be 
appeased,  but  that  carries  its  afflictions  from 
father  to  son  and  from  generation  to  genera- 
tion. 

Hence,  upon  the  subject  of  educating  your 
children,  you  cannot  afford   to  make  a  mis- 
take.    A    mistake    here    is    irreparable — its 
consequences   may   revisit   with    its    horrid 
pains  and  penalties  your  remotest  generation. 
It  is  not  at  all  certain  that  because  you  may 
have    money    to   spend   upon    your  children 
that  you  can  thereby  hire  and  buy  for  them 
the  best  education,  and  thus  dismiss  the  sub- 
ject after  you  have  spent  a  sufficient  amount 
of  money,  and  if  there  is  failure  in  the  child 
transfer  all  the  blame   from  your  own  shoul- 
ders to  the  child's.      You  may  deceive  your- 
self with  such  delusions — you  cannot  deceive 
Dame  Nature.      If  your  child's  life  is  a  fail- 
ure after  you  have  been  permitted  to  control 
and  watch  over  its  infancy  and  growth,  mark 
you!  the  fault  is  yours   and  not  the  child's. 
The  child   is  and   can  be  shaped  into  full- 
grown    life    by  only  two  things — the  law  of 
heredity  and  its  education.     And   these  all 
can  only  come  from   the  parents.      You  may 
hire  a  substitute  or  vou  may  have  the  State 


give  your  child  its  education,  but  upon  your 
head  alone  rests  all  the  responsibility  and 
much  of  the  pains  and  agony  that  will  follow 
a  mistake  here.  Here  is  the  important  con- 
cern of  life,  the  supremest  of  questions  to 
men. 

The  corollary  to  the  above  proposition  that 
nature  puDishes  ignorance  is  the  fact,  which 
mankind  generally  it  seems  cannot  learn,  is  the 
fact  that  much  error — widespread  and  nearly 
universal  error — is  that  people  are  good  or 
bad,  moral  or  immoral  in  the  same  proportion 
as  morality  is  drilled  into  them.     This  was 
perhaps  the  sole  reason   why  that,  until  very 
recent  times,  all  the  schools  were  in  the  care 
of  the  churchmen,  and  teachers  were  all  at 
one  time  priests  or  preachers.     They  believed 
if  the  morals   were  sufficiently  drilled  they 
were  the  salt  that  alone  saved  and  made  men 
good,  sober,  pure  and  honest,  and  then  edu- 
cation would  take  care  of  itself.     In  this  they 
traversed  the  laws  of  nature,  as  we  believe. 
Because  the  truth  is  that  all  peoples   in   all 
time  have  been  sober,  moral  and  good  in  the 
exact  proportion  that  they  have  been  wise  or 
ignorant.      And  the    only  way  to  make  men 
pure  and  noble  is  to  make   them    wise.     To 
preach   interminable  moral  homilies  to   the 
ignorant  people    is    as    foolish  as  to  try  to 
whistle    down  the  cyelone,   or    prate  of  the 
pangs  of  hell  to  a  Texas  steer.     An  ignorant 
semi -barbarous  people  will  all   get  drunk  or 
stupefy  themselves   with  some  drug  or  nar- 
cotic every  time  they  can  get  it  to  devour. 
Ignorance   is  the  essence  of  demoralization 
and  depravity  the  world  over,  and  has  been 
so  since  the  birth    of  man,  and  will  so  con- 
tinue  forever. 

The  world  is  full  of  shams  and  empirics, 
and  the  keystone  in  this  arch  has  been  those 
mistaken  men  who  have  taken  charge  of  the 
world's  morals  and  education.  Their  un- 
questioned honesty  of  purpose  and  zeal  have 


HISTORY  OF  el. AY  COUNTY. 


849 


only   aggravated    the  monster  evil,    because 
they  hied  to  reverse  the  law  of  nature.     And 
all  mankind  are  empirics  — we  examine   only 
one  side  of  anything,  and   hence  the  world's 
best  live  and  suffer  and  go   to  their  graves 
filled    with    ignorance    and   prejudices.      An 
empiric  is  one  who  from  a  superficial  inves- 
tigation or  a  one-sided  view  of  any  subject, 
makes    up  his     mind,   forms    his    judgment 
(there  is  but  one  chance  in  a  milliou  that  he 
is  not  wrong)  and  proposes  to  look  no  farther 
and  never  change  his  mind,  except  upon  still 
another  one-sided  view  and   prob  bly  an   in- 
creased amount  of  error  and   mistake   in  his 
conclusions.      It  is  a  matter  of  the  gravest 
doubt  whether  this   evil  of  empiricism  can 
ever  be  even  in  a   measure   dislodged  from 
men's    minds,  because  it  is  so  universal,  so 
much  a  part    and  essence  of  the  very  tissue 
of  men's  brains,  that  it  must  appal    the   in 
vestigatov  and  turn  him  away  from   its  con- 
templation   sick  at    heart.      If  even   all    the 
thinking  men   in  this  world,  and   there   are 
very,  very  few  of  them,  could  but  be  brought 
to   realize    and    reflect    every  time   they  are 
about  to  form  a    judgment   on  some  matter 
after  one  of  these  hasty,  one-sided  investiga- 
tions,   "now,    I  am   an  empiric — I  have  the 
malady  in   the  most  malignant  form."     We 
say.  if  this  reflection  could  be  always  brought 
up    to    men's    minds    just    before    they    had 
formed    their    unchangeable     judgments,    it 
would   be  a  stride    toward    that    higher   and 
purer  civilization  and  the  world's  good,  such 
as  has  never  yet  and  probably  never  will  be 
taken.      We  question  if  the  human  mind  is 
not,  per  ge,  (oo  feeble  to  give  even  the  faintest 
hope   of  this    becoming  a  possibility.     The 
result  of  this  universal  and  hopeless  empiri- 
cism is  that  we  are  a  mere  bundle  of  preju- 
dices, and   a  man    of  prejudices  is  a  man  of 
ignorance,  and  he  is  as  incurable  as  the  leper. 
The    earlv    settlers    of   Clay    County    had 


more  pressing  concerns  when  first  they  c 
here  than  the  Bubjecl  of  schools  for  theii 
children.  Among  these  wants  would  nat 
orally  be  a  mill  to  crack  their  corn  in  order 
that  they  might  have  bread  and  hominy.  A 
clapboard  roof  to  protect  the  family  from  the 
elements,  a  bushel  or  two  of  cracked  coin,  a 
pumpkin  for  occasional  "  sass,"  and  a  plentj 
of  bear,  turkey  and  deer  for  meat,  and  he- 
would  be  the  happy  lord  of  the  new  demesne, 
and  about  literally  "  lord  of  all  he  surveyed  " 
with  his  eye.  Keal  money  was  an  unknown 
quantity  in  their  heaviest  financial  schemes, 
and  he  generally  hunted,  and  carried  his  corn 
on  horseback  to  the  horse  mill,  and  the  family 
attended  the  .truck  patch:  the  women  and 
children  in  the  early  spring,  when  vegetables 
had  long  since  disappeared,  would  gather 
"sheep-sorrel"  and  eat  it,  and  ransack  the 
woods  for  wild  onions,  and  gather  thistle  and 
other  weeds  for  greens,  and  then,  like  niggers 
in  the  rolling  season  on  sugar  plantations, 
they  began  to  wax  fat  and  sleek.  "  It  was  a 
hard  country  on  women  and  oxen,  but  a  kind 
of  lazy  paradise  for  men  and  dogs,"  in  the 
language  of  O.  B.  Ficklin. 

The  first  mill  in  the  county  was  built  in  what 
is  now  Louisville,  in  1823,  by  Goble  iV  Weath- 
erspoon.  It  had  then  been  thirteen  years 
since  John  McCawlev  had  come  to  the  county. 
The  county  was  most  probably  organized  and 
called  Clay  County  before  there  were  enough 
people  here  to  form  any  one  community  with 
children  enough  to  attempt  the  employment 
of  a  teacher.  An  extended  account  of  all 
these  early  schools  and  the  names  of  the 
teachers  the  reader  will  find  in  the  respective- 
township  histories  in  this  volume.  The] 
wereof  the  most  primitive  character,  but  this 
is  not  saying  they  were  a  whit  inferior  to  the 
schools  of  to-day.  They  made  no  preten- 
sions, even  the  highest  or  best  of  thei 
more  than  teach  the  children  to  read  and  writ* 


350 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


and  the  first  few  simple  rules  of  arith- 
metic. Three  mouths'  school  a  year  were  for 
a  long  time  the  utmost  limits  of  any  one's 
thoughts  on  that  subject.  If  they  made 
mistakes,  they  were  on  the  right  side.  That 
is,  they  did  not  attempt  to  take  the  children 
racing  over  a  cart  load  of  text  books,  as  is 
the  agony  now,  but  they  simply  tried  to  take 
them  over  very  little  ground,  but  to  keep  them 
at  it  until  the  pupil  knew  it  as  well  and  thor- 
oughly as  his  mind  could  comprehend.  And 
the  return  to  this  practice  would  be  a  blessing 
to  the  children  of  this  age.  We  realize  these 
earliest  schools  were  very  poor  ones.  The  mis- 
takes of  our  fathers  were  many  and  grievous, 
but  the  great  fact  remains,  and  we  record  it 
to  their  everlasting  credit,  that  in  this  one 
respect  of  confining  themselves  to  the  three 
simplest  branches  in  the  school  room  they 
were  far  wiser  than  we.  And  could  the  truth 
be  ascertained,  we  have  no  doubt  but  that  the 
pupils  that  went  into  the  world  from  these 
rude  cabins  have  in  the  end  produced  an 
average  of  successful  and  partially  well-edu- 
oated  men  in  their  after  lives  as  has  been 
averaged  by  the  schools  of  the  present  gen- 
eration. These  early  schools  filled  a  great 
want  of  the  people  of  that  day,  and  filled  it 
well.  Their  results  were  the  best,  and  their 
adaptation  to  the  wants  of  society  and  the 
demands  of  the  age  were  admirable.  They 
were  organized,  run  and  controlled  and  paid 
for  by  the  people,  and  it  was  no  bad  illustra- 
tion of  the  happy  results  of  the  people  man- 
aging their  own  affairs  without  the  officious 
meddling  of  government. 

These  primitive  schools  joined  hands  with 
the  early  churches,  and  very  often  the  teacher 
taught  school  the  six  days  in  the  week,  and 
preached  the  simple  and  sublime  truths  of 
Christ  and  Him  crucified  on  Sunday  to  pupils 
and  parents,  as  did  Elder  John  \T.  Griffith 
for  many  years.     These    men    taught  school 


for  their  bread,  and  preached  for  the  love  of 
God.  And  preaching  and  teaching  were 
adapted  to  wants  and  yearnings  of  their  peo- 
ple, and  were  healthy  food  for  mind  and  soul. 
Their  effects  were  visible  upon  the  community 
then,  and  with  the  descendants  of  these  peo- 
ple they  linger  with  us  yet.  The  only  theo- 
logical school  these  early  preachers  ever  at- 
tended were  "  found  in  the  lids  of  the  Bible," 
and  the  only  normal  school  these  teachers 
ever  graduated  in  were  Diebold's  arithmetic 
and  Webster's  spelling  book,  by  a  rush  light 
and  camp  fire.  He  knew  nothing  of  a  State 
institution  for  the  manufacturing  of  school 
teachers  by  the  wholesale  and  retail,  who  an- 
nually went  forth  in  swarms  upon  communi- 
ties, with  no  other  well  fixed  idea  about 
schools  and  school  children  than  that  they 
were  made  solely  for  the  benefit  and  behoof 
of  the  teachers,  and  who  can  never  be  exactly 
happy  until  the  State  passes  a  compulsory 
education  law,  and  furnish  policemen  to  lead 
half-naked  urchins  by  the  ear  to  his  school 
room,  where  and  when  he  can,  with  his  pat- 
ent Normal-educational  sausage -stuffer,  cram 
them  to  bursting  with  knowledge.  No!  the 
early  teacher  was  a  plain,  simple,  sincere  man, 
who  believed  that  a  knowledge  of  reading, 
writing  and  the  four  simple  rules  of  arith- 
metic were  the  sure  and  only  foundation  for 
a  future  education,  and  the  rest,  after  get- 
ting these,  was  with  each  pupil  himself. 
He  believed  this,  and  his  faith  and  practice 
were  an  unmixed  blessing  to  his  day  and  age. 
Commencing  with  the  first  little  three 
months'  school  of  fifteen  children,  this  insti- 
tution from  the  first  more  than  kept  an  even 
pace  with  the  growth  of  the  population  of  the 
county  and  the  other  material  improvements 
made  by  the  people.  The  people  built  school - 
houses  before  they  built  churches,  and  then 
they  were  used  for  meetings  on  Sunday,  and 
all  manner  of  sects  and  preachers  were  freely 


HISTORY    OF   (LAY    COUNTY. 


351 


admitted,  even  the  Mormons  not   being  ex 
eluded. 

The  total  number  of  children  in  the  county 
at  this  time,  under  twenty -one  years  of  age, 
is  8.240;  of  these  there  are  males,  4,335; 
females,  3,979.  Between  the  ages  of  six 
and  twenty-one  years,  mules,  2,901;  females, 
2,722.  In  the  county  are  ten  brick  school 
buildings,  seventy-three  frame  and  nine  log 
schoolhouses,  making  a  total  of  ninety-two 
school    buildings.     The    average    number  of 


months  taught  in  the  schools  is  six  and  one- 
half  months  each  per  year.  There  are  710 
children  who  attend  graded  schools,  and  693 
who  attend  the  ungraded  schools.  The  total 
attendance  of  children  in  the  county  is  1,775. 
There  are  138  teachers,  and  of  these  are  ten 
males  and  fifteen  female  teachers  in  the 
graded  schools.  The  total  amount  of  funds 
received  for  school  purposes  in  the  county. 
$40,493.41;  and  the  total  amount  of  town- 
ship funds  is  $31, 10S.59. 


CHAPTER    Vlll. 


WAR— REVOLUTIONARY  SOLDIERS— BLACK  HAWK.  WAR— THE  LATE  CIVIL  WAR— THE  HEROIC  CON- 
DUCT AND  BEARING  OF  THE  PEOPLE   OF  CLAY  COUNTY— GEN.  L.  15.  PARSONS, 
CAPT.  J.  W.  WKSTCOTT  AND  MANY  OTHERS,  ETC.,  ETC.,  ETC. 


AS  we  have  shown  in  another  chapter,  the 
territory  comprising  Clay  County  is  a 
part  of  the  ground  trod  by  the  heroes  of  the 
war  for  our  independence.  Its  date  goes 
back  to  the  year  1778,  when  it  lay  in  the  line 
of  the  expedition  of  Con.  George  Rogers 
Clark  and  his  little  band  of  great  heroes. 
Thus  early  in  the  annals  of  our  country  was 
this  made  historic  ground.  The  centennial 
month  of  that  wonderful  expedition,  its  sore 
trials  and  magnificent  outcome  has  come  and 
gone,  and,  we  regret  to  record  it,  without  so 
much  as  a  remembrance  by  the  people  of  the 
county.  These  men  were  the  heroes  and  ben- 
efactors of  the  human  race.  They  gave  us 
the  Mississippi  Valley  and  its  millious  of 
happy  homes,  its  incomparable  wealth,  and 
its  splendid  civilization,  and  to  forget  or  neg- 
lect so  soon  smacks  of  ingratitude  and  igno- 
rance of  our  noble  sires  that  is  melancholy 
to  contemplate. 

In   1840.  there  were   three  of  the  Revolu- 


tionary fathers,  who  were  pensioners,  resid- 
ing in  Clay  County,  to  wit:  Samuel  Parks, 
aged  ninety-three  years;  Moses  Johnson, 
aged  one  hundred  years,  and  Nathaniel  West, 
aged  ninety  years.  This  little  band  of  aged 
heroes  have  quietly  passed  away,  and  they 
sleep  in  unknown  graves.  History  will  tell 
you  of  their  sufferings,  hardships  and  invin- 
cible heroism.  How  these  men  fought,  bled 
and  died,  that  we  their  children  might  be  a 
free  and  independent  people.  And  they 
fought  solely  for  their  friends  and  their  fam- 
ilies, and  their  sworn  statements,  in  every 
case  where  they  applied  for  a  pension,  was 
that  they  had  struggled  for  bread  so  long  as 
even  the  feeblest  effort  was  possible,  and  only 
when  they  tottered  and  fell  by  the  wayside, 
hungry  and  dying,  did  they  apply  to  the 
Government  to  which  they  had  given  so  much 
for  a  pittance  on  which  to  linger  out  the  few 
remaining  days  of  their  lives.  Some  suita- 
ble   commemoration    of    the    dust   of    these 


3.V2 


HISTORY  OF   CLAY  COUNTY. 


heroes  would  be  a  most  becoming  act  upon 
the   part  of  the  people  of  Clay  County.      It 
would  tell  at  least  the  rising  generation  who 
these  men  were,  and  teach  them  the  lesson, 
that   busy  selfish   man  is  only  too  apt  to  for- 
get, that   the   memory  and  fame  of  our  real 
benefactors   should  be  cherished   and  not  at 
once   forgotten.      No  monument,  no  name  of 
town,  village  or  municipality,  we   believe  in 
the  county,  commemorates  the  lives  of  any 
of  these  old  heroes,  whose  heroic  deeds  were 
in  some  way  connected  with  the   history  of 
the    county.       Amends    should    be    made    at 
some  early  day  for  such  an  omission  of  what 
should  have  been  both  a  duty  and  a  pleasure. 
We  are  informed,  but  we  could  learn  noth- 
ing of  the  particulars   of  his  life,  that  there 
was   a  man   named  Bartley — known  univer- 
sally as   "  Grandpa  Bartley  " — who  lived   in 
the  extreme  northwest  portion   of  the  county, 
and  died  there  we  believe  in  1879,  whose  life 
was  the  most  remarkable  chapter  in  the  his- 
tory   of    the   United    States.     He   was    born 
July  4,  1776,  and  was  alive  and  a  vigorous 
old   man   July  4,   1876,  when  the  American 
centennial  was  in   progress  in  Philadelphia. 
He   died  as  stated   above   in   1879,  and  was 
consequently   one   hundred   and  three  years 
old    when    he    died.     Certainly    in    all   that 
goes  to  form   the  leading   coincidences  of   a 
long  life  the  whole  country  has  not  perhaps 
had  a  single  person  whose  life  was  so  singu- 
larly marked  as  this  man's. 

Black  Hawk  War — When  this  war  came, 
Clay  County  had  been  organized  a  few  years, 
and  enough  people  were  here  to  receive  a 
call  from  Gov.  Reynolds  to  furnish  a  quota 
of  men  to  go  out  and  tight  the  Indians.  We 
were  furnished  a  communication  from  Mr. 
Pierce,  of  Xonia,  which  was  published  a  few 
years  ago  by  him  in  the  Flora  Journal.  As  the 
paper  was  written  by  an  eye  witness,  we  feel 
justified  in  re-producing  it  entire,  as  follows: 


"  Seeing  some  historical  sketches  of  Clay 
County  in  your  paper  lately  in  which  I  have 
felt  an  interest,  I  have  ventured  to  call  up 
from  '  the  misty  past '  an  event  that'occurred 
in  this  ancient  town,  now  so  silent  and  still, 
that  one  might  well  be  pardoned  for  skepti- 
cism as  to  its  ever  being  otherwise;  but  many 
years  ago,  before  Clay  City,  its  rival,  in 
whose  shadow  it  now  lies,  was  even  thought 
of,  it  was  the  county  seat  and  the  scene  of 
many  a  stirring  event,  especially  during  the 
week  of  Circuit  Court.  But  the  event  I  al- 
lude to  occurred  in  the  spring  of  1832. 

' '  During  the  early  spring,  rumors  were 
prevalent  that  the  Sac  and  Fox  Indians,  led 
by  the  famous  chief  Black  Hawk  and  the 
Prophet  were  laying  waste  the  Northwestern 
frontier,  at  that  time  the  Rock  River  country, 
killing  the  men  and  carrying  off  as  captives 
the  women  and  children. 

"  About  the  '24th  of  May,  these  rumors  as- 
sumed tangible  shape  by  the  arrival  of 
Robert  Biackwell,  Esq.,  with  a  dispatch 
from  Gov.  Reynolds  to  Maj.  John  Ridgway, 
calling  for  a  company  of  mounted  men  from 
this  county  to  go  in  pursuit  of  the  Indians. 
RunDers  were  immediately  sent  out  over  the 
county,  and  the  following  Satm-day  the 
hardy  settlers  began  to  gather  in  this  old 
county  seat  of  Clay,  in  obedience  to  the 
summons,  and  a  more  enthusiastic  gathering 
was  never  seen  there  before  or  since. 

"  When  the  drum  and  fife  begau  to  call  for 
volunteers,  young  men  who  had  not  thought 
of  going  in  the  company  when  they  left 
home  that  morning,  found  themselves  step- 
ping into  the  ranks  as  defenders  of  their  coun- 
try against  the  hostile  savage. 

"To  illustrate  how  earnest  the  people 
were  in  this  matter,  I  will  relate  a  little  in- 
cident that  occurred.  When  a  Mr.  Chamber- 
lain remarked.  '  If  I  had  a  horse  I  would 
go,'  the  reply  came  quickly   from  the    now 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


858 


venerable  Isaao  Elliott,  '  You  need  not  let 
that  hinder  you;  I  have  a  horse,  saddle  and 
bridle  which  you  can  have.'  He  accepted 
the  offer  and  went  with  the  company. 

"To  give  up  a  horse  at  the  beginning  of 
the  crop  season,  every  far<ner  knows,  means 
a  sacrifice,  unless  he  has  a  surplus;  now  the 
first  settlers  of  Clay  County  in  general  were 
free-hearted  and  open-handed,  but  they  were 
not  burdened  with  wealth,  .yet  in  this  case 
they  stood  ready  to  make  any  sacrifice. 

•' The  company  was  soon  made  up  to  forty- 
eight  members;  the  lato  -Maj.  John  Onstott 
was  chosen  as  their  Captain,  Alfred  J.  Moore 
Second  Lientenant  and  the  other  officers,  owing 
to  the  lapse  of  time,  have  been  forgotten. 
They  reported  to  Gov.  Reynolds,  were  ac 
cepted  and  ordered  to  be  at  Hennepin,  on  the 
Illinois  River,  by  June  the  10th.  Soon  after 
they  assembled  at  '  Sutton  s  Point,'  now  the 
present  site  of  Oskaloosa,  and  on  the  9th  of 
June  reported  at  Hennepin,  and  were  attached 
to  the  Third  Illinois. 

•'Of  that  company  of  forty-eight  men,  but 
three  are  now  known  to  be  living  in  Clay 
County,  viz. ,  Alfred  J.  Moore,  James  McKin- 
ney  and  Abram  Songer." 

This  company  formed  a  part  of  Thin! 
Regiment  of  the  First  Brigade  of  Illinois 
Mounted  Volunteers,  called  into  service  on 
requisition  of  Gen.  Atkinson,  by  Gov.  Rey- 
nolds' proclamation.  Tho  company  organized 
May  29,  1832.  and  was  murstered  out  August 
15.  1S32.  The  following  is  supposed  a  com- 
plete roster  of  the  company:  Captain,  John 
Onstott;  First  Lieutenant,  Trussey  P.  Han- 
son; Second  Lieutenant,  Alfred  J.  Moore; 
Sergeants,  Cyrus  Wright.  Elisha  Bashford, 
Arch  T.  Patterson  and  James  Tompkins; 
Corporals,  Samuel  Whiteley.  Strother  B. 
Walker,  Joseph  Whiteley,  Francis  Herman ; 
Privates,  James  T.  Ano,  Jefferson  Creek, 
James  Cook,  Sol   B.   Curbow.    Young  Cham- 


berlin,  Auger  Campbell,  Levi  Daniels,  A.  S. 
Fitzgerald  (broke  down  and  rel  urned  home), 
Joseph  Lethcoe,  Russell  Logan  (furloughed 
by  Maj.  Campbell),  Hugh  McDaniel  (dis- 
charged by  Gen.  Scott),  Robert  McDaniel 
John  McGrew,  James  McKenny,  Bennett  W. 
Moseley,  Perkey  Morton,  John  G.  Nicholson 
James  Nelson  (furloughed  by  Col.  Sam 
Leech),  Isaac  Rogers,  Thomas  Rogers,  Jesse 
Sceif.  Abram  Songer,  Lockhard  Stallin  ;s. 
David  Simcoe,  John  Sutton,  John  Speaker, 
Fredrick  Tartar,  James  Van  Cleve,  Isaac 
Walker,  James  L.  Wickershain,  Martin 
Whiteley. 

The  company  took  up  its  line  of  march 
from  Sutton's  Point  June  2,  1832;  were 
mustered  into  the  service  June  16.  The 
Third  Regiment  w^as  commanded  by  Col. 
Sam  Leech,  of  Wayne  County. 

This  company  was  in  the  second  campaign 
of  the  Illinois  soldiers  to  the  Rock  River 
country.  A  previous  expedition  had  driven 
Black  Hawk's  army  across  the  Mississippi 
River,  and  a  treaty  had  been  entered  into 
stipulating  he  would  stay  there.  But  not- 
withstanding this  treaty  in  April.  1832, 
Black  Hawk  recrossed  the  river  and  com- 
menced his  march  up  Rock  River  Valley,  ac- 
companied by  about  500  warriors  on  horse- 
back, while  his  women  and  children  went  up 
tho  river  in  canoes.  Gen.  Atkinson,  stationed 
at  Fort  Armstrong,  warned  him  against  this 
aggression  and  ordered  him  to  return,  but  he 
continued  forward  to  the  country  of  the 
'v\  inaebagoes,  with  whom  Black  Hawk  made 
arrangements  to  make  a  crop  of  corn.  The 
Winnebagoes  and  Pottawatomies,  however, 
refused  to  accede  to  his  propositions,  or  to 
join  hiin  in  a  war  against  the  whites  There- 
upon Gov.  Reynolds  called  for  1,000  troops 
from  tho  central  and  southern  parts  of  the 
State,  to  rendezvous  at  Beardstowu;  1,800 
men  met  at  Beardstown  and  were  formed  into 


3:>4 


HISTORY   OF   CLAY   COUNTY. 


four  regiments,  a  brigade,  and  an  "odd" 
and  a  "  spy ''  battalion.  Another  call  from 
the  Governor  was  sioon  made  for  1,000  more 
men.  This  last  call  was  caused  by  the 
skirmish  at  Kellogg's  Grove,  which  came 
very  near  being  a  massacre  by  the  Indians. 

June  6,  Black  Hawk  with  150  warriors 
made  an  attack  on  Apple  River  Fort,  situated 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  north  of  the  present 
village  of  Elizabeth,  and  twelve  mileB  from 
Galena 

On  the  17th  day  of  June,  Col.  John 
Dement,  with  his  spy  battalion  of  150  men, 
was  ordered  to  report  himself  to  Col.  Zach 
Taylor  at  Dixon.  The  main  army  was  soon 
to  follow.  On  arrival  at  Dixon,  he  was 
ordered  to  take  position  in  Kellogg's  Grove. 
A  trail  of  about  300  Indians  who  were  reported 
by  scouts  as  discovered  *hovering  near  the 
grove  was  found,  and  Dement  was  ordered  to 
take  fifty  picked  men  and  reconnoiter.  They 
sallied  forth  at  daylight,  and  soon  discovered 
several  Indian  spies.  The  raw  soldiers  at  once 
became  excited,  and  breaking  all  semblance 
of  order,  and  despite  the  command  and  cries 
of  Col.  Dement,  they  gave  chase.  The  In- 
dians fled  and  the  pursuit  was  reckless,  and 
as  Dement  and  Casey  suspected,  the  foolish 
men  were  led  into  an  ambush,  when  they 
were  suddenly  confronted  by  300  howling, 
naked  savages  under  the  command  of  Black 
Hawk  in  person.  A  panic  among  the  soldiers 
at  once  followed,  and  each  man  struck  out 
for  the  fort,  with  all  the  speed  he  could 
command. 

In  the  confused  retreat,  five  whites,  who 
were  without  horses,  were  killed,  while  the 
others  reached  the  fort,  dismounted  and  en- 
tered, closely  pursued  by  the  enemy.  The 
fort  was  vigorously  assailed  for  two  hours, 
when  the  savages  were  repulsed  and  retired. 
Several  were  wounded  in  the  fort,  but  no  one 
was  killed.    The  next  day  Gen.  Posey  started 


in  pursuit  of  the  Indians,  but  their  tracks 
showed  the  usual  savage  tactics  of  dispersing 
in  squads  and  going  in  different  directions. 
It  was  ascertained  that  they  had  fled  in  the 
direction  of  the  Mississippi  River. 

Od  the  21st  of  July,  Gen.  Henry,  in  com- 
mand of  the  American  forces,  after  pursuing 
Black  Hawk,  overtook  his  army  on  the  bluffs 
of  the  Wisconsin  River,  and  at  once  attacked. 
A  gallant  charge  drove  back  the  enemy  with 
great  loss.  This  was  the  first  important  ad- 
vantage over  the  Indians  gained  in  this  war. 
The  Indians  left  168  dead  upon  the  field,  and 
twenty-four  more  dead  were  found  the  next 
day  on  the  trail,  while  Gen.  Henry  had 
only  one  man  killed  and  eight  wounded. 

On  the  25th,  the  whole  army  was  again  put 
in  motion,  to  try  to  find  the  Indians.  Two 
days  were  spent  in  crossing  the  Wisconsin 
River.  On  the  28th  they  found  the  trail  of 
the  fleeing  enemy.  On  the  morning  of  the 
2d  of  August,  the  army  reached  the  bluffs  of 
the  Mississippi,  some  distance  however  from 
the  stream.  The  Indians  had  reached  the 
river  and  were  making  active  preparations  to 
cross.  Some  had  already  crossed,  and  some 
of  the  women  and  children  had  started  down 
the  river  in  canoes  to  Prairie  du  Chien,  which 
they  afterward  reached  in  a  starving  condition. 
In  this  condition  the  Indians  were  attacked 
by  a  force  under  command  of  ('apt.  Throck 
morton,  who  was  on  the  steamer  Warrior,  and 
who,  with  a  six-pound  cannon,  loaded  with 
canister,  destroyed  many  of  the  luckless 
fugitives,  although  they  had  displayed  a 
white  flag,  which  he  refused  to  recognize. 
The  fuel  of  the  steamer  having  failed,  the 
boat  dropped  down  to  Prairie  du  Chien. 
Although  he  had  killed  twenty-thiee  Indians 
and  wounded  many  more,  he  intended  to  re- 
turn when  wooded  up,  and  finish  the  re- 
mainder. Before,  however,  he  could  return. 
Gen.   Atkinson    had    fallen    on    the    savages 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


355 


where  they  were  encamped,  at  the  mouth  o 
the  Bail  Axe,  and  had  commenced  a  general 
battle,  in  which  the  Indians  were  completely 
routed,  and  suffered  a  loss  of  L50  killed,  be- 
sides many  drowned  and  many  wounded.  A 
large  number  of  women  and  children  lost 
their  lives  owing  to  the  fact  that  it  was  "  im- 
possible to  distinguish  them  from  the  men." 
The  American  loss  was  seven  killed. 

This  battle  ended  the  Black  Hawk  war, 
and  the  boys  came  home  and  were  paid  off, 
and  this  money  was  the  first  great  flood  of 
money  that  ever  was  poured  into  the  county. 
Several  of  the  men  entered  their  first  laud 
with  their  soldier  money  and  thus  laid  the 
little  foundations  for  their  future  farms  and 
homes. 

The  Rebellion.  -We  have  no  doubt  that 
the  present  race  of  small  demagogues  will 
have  long  put  away  their  little  slippers  and 
cease  to  convert  these  soldier  re-unions  into 
electioneering  camps  and  thinly  veneered  po- 
litical stamping  grounds  or  vote  factories  in 
the  always  coming  elections,  before  the  real 
historian  who  will  tell  the  history  of  that 
cruel  war  will  be  around  taking  notes  to 
print  the  terrible  story  and  giving  the  world 
the  truth  and  nothing  but  the  truth,  without 
prejudice  or  passion.  Such  histories  are 
only  finally  written  by  those  who  were  born 
long  after  the  event  happened,  and  who  had 
no  friends  who  could  have  any  interests  iu 
them  directly  or  remotely.  He  will  topple 
over  many  an  idol  of  foolish  worship,  per 
haps,  and  upon  the  vacated  pedestal  place 
the  now  obscure  hero,  and  thus  undo  much, 
and  make  heroes  of  many  that  this  genera- 
tion has  idolized  or  condemned.  This  is 
the  routine  course  of  all  history.  It  exem- 
plifies the  struggle  between  truth  and  error, 
that  goes  on  from  generation  to  generation, 
and  from  century  to  century.  In  the  end 
perhaps  truth  triumphs  after  her   long  and 


many  defeats,  but  the  coming  of  that  blessed 
end,  who  can  foretell  f 

The  early  people  of  Clay  County  were  by 
nature  more  or  less  belligerent.  The  majori- 
ty of  men  wore  the  Irishman's  long-tailed 
coat,  which  they  were  always  politely  asking, 
often  begging,  some  one  to  please  tread  on. 
Thev  met  on  election  days,  shooting  matches 
and  other  social  places,  and  every  man  had 
his  arms  full  of  fight.  It  was  a  more  ele- 
vated humanity  than  the  modern  prize  fight- 
er and  sneak  thug;  that  essence  of  cowardice, 
pickpocket  and  blood-tub.  The  pioneer 
must  tight  when  his  word  was  questioned  or 
his  honor  in  any  manuer  impugned,  and  if  one 
man  told  another  that  he  lied,  he  knew  he 
had  to  back  his  assertion  with  a  tight.  There 
was  no  exception  to  this  rule.  If  the  person 
insulted  was  physically  unable  to  tight  his 
insulter,  he  could  and  would  get  his  friend  to 
take  up  his  quarrel,  and  the  aggressor  had 
to  fight  whoever  he  might  be.  Often  when 
he  went  into  the  tight  with  a  proxy,  he  knew 
he  was  going  to  be  whipped;  still  he  had  to 
tight.  Thus  you  can  see  it  was  no  particular 
advantage  always  to  insult  a  cripple  or  a 
man  physically  unable  to  defend  himself. 
In  fact,  this  was  generally  the  most  danger- 
ous man  to  assail,  because  the  assailant  was 
;  almost  certain  to  be  soundly  thrashed.  The 
moral  effect  of  all  this  was  good.  A  man 
who  learns  thus  to  cherish  and  defend  his 
honor  and  character,  will  eventually  learn  to 
guard  and  protect  it  by  his  own  actions. 

The  spirit  of  patriotism  has  ever  burned 
brightly  upon  the  altars  of  the  people  of  the 
county.  They  had  no  lot  nor  parcel  in  the 
vicious  agitation  that  plunged  the  country  in 
civil  war.  There  was  not,  at  least  years  ago, 
an  agitator  in  the  county — not  a  man  but 
that  his  patriotism  taught  him  that  all  good 
citizens  respected  the  laws,  loved  the  consti 
tut  ion  of  our  fathers,  and  whose  blood  was 


356 


HISTORY   OF   (LAV    COUNTY. 


quickened  with  an  impulse  of  patriotism  at 
the  sight  of  the  flag.  They  were  not  agita- 
tors, but  when  the  Government's  sore  trial 
cause  came,  and  the  country  called  upon  its 
sons  to  come  to  its  rescue,  they  responded  to 
that  call,  and  with  their  lives  in  their  hands 
and  through  flood  and  field,  fought  it  out  to 
the  bitter  end,  and  many  of  her  heroic  sons 
yielded  up  their  lives  upon  nearly  every  bat- 
tle ground,  and  sleep  in  the  long  trenches 
where  they  fell.  The  people  of  Clay  County 
were  an  unpretentious  people.  They  could 
not  understand  the  lire-eating  idiots  of  the 
South,  nor  the  canting  agitators  of  the 
North.  They  simply  loved  freedom  and  jus- 
tice, and  in  their  eyes  there  was  no  divided 
interests  in  this  country.  It  was  all  their 
country,  and  the  wise  government  adopted, 
fought  for  and  established  by  our  Revolution- 
ary heroes,  was  good  enough  as  they  had 
transmitted  it.  They  were  content  to  let 
well  enough  alone,  and  they  could  see  no 
cause  for  war  and  the  butchery  of  brothers 
over  the  imaginary  woes  of  a  few  "  d — d 
stumped -tailed  niggers,"  as  John  Logan  put 
it  about  the  time  of  the  breaking-out  of  the 
war,  or  rather  after  he  had  made  up  his 
mind  not  to  compel  the  Northern  abolition 
army  to  march  over  his  cold  corpus  down 
about  the  Big  Muddy. 

The  part  of  Clay  County  in  the  late  war 
is  a  chapter  that  some  day  will  honor  the 
tfame  and  fame  of  her  people  incomparably 
above  that  of  some  of  the  loud  localities 
that  now  so  plume  themselves  that  they 
brought  about  the  war  that  freed  the 
slaves.  The  people  of  Clay  never  were 
the  echo  of  that  savage  sentence  of  Johnson's 
that  "patriotism  is  the  last  refuge  of  a 
scoundrel."  While  prominent  people  of 
other  localities,  whom  posterity  may  con- 
clude that  patriotism  was  not  only  their  last 
bnt  their  first  refuge,  wore  denouncing  this 


portion  of  Illinois  as  the  land  of  ignorance 
and  traitors,  the  people  were  organizing,  and 
their  sons,  husbands  and  fathers  buckled  on 
their  armor,  and  in  person  went  to  the  front 
with  muskets  in  their  hands,  at  a  time  when 
Massachusetts  in  her  loud  super  loyal  way 
was  sending  her  rich  emissaries  even  to 
Cairo,  111.,  for  negro  substitutes.  The  peo 
pie  of  Clay  County  did  not  grow  bloated  in 
wealth  over  the  calamities  of  the  country,  or 
in  coffins  and  headstones  for  the  unknown 
soldier  graves — they  did  not  even  proclaim 
they  were  the  only  saints  and  patriots  of  the 
earth,  and  then  stay  at  home  to  steal,  rob, 
speculate,  grow  rich  and  fill  all  the  offices 
with  fat  salaries,  and  multiply  fat  places  for 
their  families  and  friends,  to  be  quartered 
upon  the  bounty  of  the  Government.  They 
heard  not,  heeded  not  the  lying  taunts  of 
their  "  loyal"  slanderers,  but  above  the  wails 
of  their  families,  and  the  sobs  of  the  broken- 
hearted, they  heard  their  country's  call,  and 
to  this  they  responded  like  the  true  heroes 
and  patriots  that  they  were. 

The  incontestible  proofs  of  all  this  are 
abundantly  furnished  in  the  statistics  of  the 
war.  as  they  are  found  in  the  Adjutant  Gen- 
eral's office  of  this  State. 

In  1860,  at  the  breaking-out  of  the  war, 
the  population  of  Clay  County,  as  given  by 
the  United  States  census  report,  was  9,309. 
Her  total  quota  under  all  the  calls  of  the 
Government  for  troops  was  1,462;  her  total 
credits  were  1,482,  or  an  excess  of  twenty 
men  over  and  above  all  demands  made  upon 
the  county. 

In  the  102  Illinois  counties,  there  were 
only  thirty-six  counties  that  furnished  any 
men  in  excess  of  their  quotas,  and  these 
range  from  one  to  160  per  county.  The  total 
of  excess  over  the  quota  in  the  thirty-six 
counties  was  819.  In  sixty-six  counties,  there 
was  a  deficit  that  had  to  be  filled  by  draft. 


HISTORY   OF  (LAY   COUNTY 


307 


The  total  deficit  in  the  sixty  six  counties,  was 
"\715.  the  largest  being  Cook  County,  with  a 
deficit  of  1,633;  the  second  was  Adams 
County,  328.  Union  County  and  Clay  Coun- 
ty furnished  '.the  largest  excess,  and  they 
were  the  continual  targets  for  more  slanders 
and  vituperation  than  any  other  portions  of 
Illinois.  It  is  only  some  of  these  public  in- 
justices that  so  often  come  of  that  clamor  of 
simpletons  when  they  are  led  by  demogogues 
and  scoundrels. 

The  conspicious  tigure  in  the  war  from  the 
county  was,  of  course,  Maj.  Gen.  L.  B. 
Parsons,  who  tilled  with  wonderful  executive 
ability  the  responsible  position  of  Master  of 
Transportation  for  all  the  armies  of  the  West 
and  South.  His  resources  were  equal  to  the 
most  sudden  and  extraordinary  demands  that 
the  exigencies  of  the  army  ever  demanded. 
He  had  to  bear  about  on  the  tips  of  his  fin- 
gers the  entire  system  of  railroads  ami  the 
capacities  in  rolling  stock,  etc.,  as  well  as 
the  rivers  and  the  steamboats  that  plied 
their  waters.  To  take  charge  of  all  these 
vast  resources  and  bring  them  at  once  into  a 
vast  system  and  order,  so  as  to  serve  bestthe 
great  and  often  sudden  exigencies  of  the 
army,  was  a  task  within  the  power  of  few 
men  to  successfully  accomplish.  In  this  po- 
sition Gen.  Parsons  fixed  his  reputation  far 
and  wide  as  one  of  the  ablest  organizers  and 
executive  officers  developed  during  the  late 
war. 

Capt.  W.  R.  Westfali  was  in  command 
of  Company  B,  Eighteenth  Regiment  Illinois 
Infantry.  Captains,  Jacob  L.  More,  Wood- 
ford Ti.  Blocklidge,  Robert  F.  Davidson  and 
I-  ac  Creek.  The  First  Lieutenants  of  this 
company  were  Blocklidge,  Davidson,  and 
Isaac  Creek.  The  Second  Lieutenants,  Jo- 
seph Figg,  Howlet  H.  Cook,  Davidson, 
James  B.  Smith  and  George  A.  Miller. 

Capt  Francis  M.   Loller  was  in  command 


of  Company  F,  Forty -sixth  Regiment.  In 
the  Forty-eighth  Regiment  was  Maj.  Will 
iam  J.  Stephenson,  who  died  in  St.  Louis 
August  10,  1863.  He  was  succeeded  by 
Benjamin  F.  Reynolds.  Charles  D.  Monroe 
and  John  W.  Farris  were  at  different  times 
Adjutant  of  this  regiment.  Maj.  W.  J.  Ste- 
phenson had  gone  out  as  Captain  of  Com- 
pany B  in  this  regiment.  Afterward  Ferdi- 
nand B.  Stephenson,  Simeon  H.  Netf  and 
Adam  E.  Hoffman  were  Captains  in  this 
company.  The  First  Lieutenants  in  this 
company  were  Stephenson,  Elbert  S.  Apper 
son,  S.  H.  Neff,  Adam  E.  Hoffman  and  An- 
drew Fender.  The  Second  Lieutenants  in 
this  company  were  William  Sneed,  E.  S. 
Apperson,  Christian  C.  Monroe,  Adam  S. 
Hoffman  and  David  F.  Wattles.  In  the 
Forty  eighth  Illinois  Regiment,  Capt.  Ben- 
jamin F.  Reynolds  commanded  Company  K, 
and  after  him  Capt.  Noah  Webster.  The 
First  Lieutenants  were  Jefferson  Farris, 
William  Berkley,  Webster  and  John  Kenner. 
Second  Lieutenants,  William  N.  Berkley, 
Webster,  Farris  and  John  W.  Colburn. 

In  the  Ninety-eighth  Regiment  was  Com- 
pany A,  Capts.  Enoch  P.  Turner,  John 
Fnnkhauser  and  Austin  W.  Standford.  First 
Lieutenants,  George  W.  Foster,  Silas 
Jones,  Austin  W.  Standford  and  James  B. 
Maxwell.  The  Second  Lieutenants  were 
Joseph  B.  Gadd,  James B.  Maxwell  and  James 
B.  Finnell.  Company  F  was  also  in  thisregi 
mint.  The  Captains  were  A.  F.  LeCrone 
and  Thomas  J.  Smith,  and  the  First  Lieuten- 
ants were  Wyatt  Cook,  George  W.  Hobbs, 
Thomas  J.  Smith  and  Francis  Harman,  and 
Second  Lieutenants,  George  W.  Hobbs,  Smith 
and  John  T.  Iverr. 

In  the  One  Hundred  and  Eleventh  Illinois 
Regiment,  William  T.  Monical  and  Fredrick 
\Y.  Songer  were  First  Lieutenants;  and  Com- 
pany D,  One  Hundred  and  Fifty  fifth  Regi- 


358 


HISTORY  OF  (LAY  COUNTY. 


ment,  Charles  J.  Pershall  and  James  Mains 
were  First  Lieutenants  The  Second  Lieu- 
tenant was  James  Lewis. 

In  the  Fifth  Illinois  Cavalry,  Capt.  Robert 
N.  Toler  was  in  command  of  Company  D. 

To  conclude  the   chapter,    we  need  only 


mention  the  fact  that  J.  W.  Westcott  was  one 
of  the  prominent  figures  in  Clay  County 
during  all  the  late  unpleasantness,  and  to  his 
prudent  forethought  and  wise  counsels  is  due 
the  fact  of  the  county  standing  in  the  front 
rank  of  all  the  patriotic  counties  of  the  land. 


CHAPTER     [X.s 


HAKTER    TOWNSHIP    AJJD    FLORA. 
WHO  CAME,  AND  ABOUT  THEM— THOMAS   ELLIOTT,  MATTHIAS  MISENHEIMEK.  8ET1I   F.  HINKLEY, 
RUSSELL  T.  LOGAN,  ROBERT  BRYANT,  JAMES  JACOBS,  WILLIAM  NICHOLS  AND  OTHERS- 
LAND  ENTRIES,  FIRST  SCHOOLS,  TEACHERS  AND  CHURCHES— FLORA  AND  ITS 
HISTORY  — ANECDOTES  — RAILROADS  — BUSINESS.    ETC.,    ETC.,    ETC. 


"Take  away  the   sword;   States  can  be   saved 
without  it  ;  bring  the  pen." 

—  Richelieu. 
T^X.  SENATOR  ROSCOE  CONKLING 
-*— '  once  said  that  population,  wealth  and 
intelligence  move  on  lines  of  longitude  and 
not  on  lines  of  latitude.  The  reverse  of  this 
proposition  is  true  of  Clay  County;  the  sur- 
plus of  population  and  wealth  is  south  of 
the  center  and  is  rapidly  increasing  every 
year.  Appearances  indicate  that  from  the 
earliest  settlement  of  the  county,  Harter 
Township,  or  that  part  of  the  county  which 
now  forms  Harter  Township,  was  destined  to 
take  the  lead.  The  old  State  road  leading 
from  Yincennes  to  St.  Louis,  was  the  great 
highway  by  which  many  reached  this  part  of 
the  State  to  make  their  future  homes.  This, 
coupled  with  the  advantages  of  soil  and  cli- 
mate, gave  us  a  class  of  settlers,  who  for 
sobrioty.  industry  and  intelligence  is  not  ex- 
celled anywhere. 

The  days  of  yore  in  this  township  were 
very  like  the  same  days  elsewhere — a  time  of 
home-made  clothing  and  limited  educational 
facilities,  and  hardships  such  as  the  present 

•!ivG  W.  Smith. 


generation  know  but  little  about.  Six  yards 
was  considered  an  extravagant  amount  to  put 
into  one  dress,  which  was  made  plain  with 
two  widths  in  the  skirt,  the  front  one  cut 
gored;  the  waist  was  up  under  the  arms  with 
a  draw-string  between  the  shoulders  behind, 
with  "sheep  shank"  or  "'pillow"  sleeves, 
and  graceless  young  rascals  would  speak  of 
kissing  the  girls  at  parties  as  "  squeezing  the 
pillow."  Bonnets  were  made  from  splits,  and 
occasionally,  among  the  more  aristocratic, 
leghorn  hats  were  seen.  When  a  girl  could 
succeed  in  fretting:  a  little  indigo  blue  in  her 
dress  she  was  considered  as  '"putting  on 
airs."  The  clothing  of  the  women  were 
hung  upon  wooden  pegs  around  the  walls  of 
the  house,  and  one  could  see  their  stock  in 
this  line  at  a  glance.  They  had  none  of  the 
ruffles,  silk  hats,  curls  and  jewels  that  now 
adorn  the  young  lady  of  this  period.  ' '  Reared 
in  simplicity,  surrounded  by  poverty,  cared 
for  by  brave  parents,  their  lives  were  one 
long  dream  of  sunshine,  unbroken  by  a  single 
storm-cloud  poured  out  as  a  shameful  liba- 
tion to  dim  the  horizon  of  their  happiness." 
Corn  bread  and  wild  game  constituted  the 


HI>TOHY  OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


359 


principal  articles  of  food.  Wheat  bread  was 
a  luxury  which  few  possessed.  Mills  were 
few  and  far  between,  and  at  one  time  the 
nearest  flouring  mill  to  the  people  of  this 
count}  was  at  Lawrenceville,  to  which  most 
of  our  people  had  to  go  to  get  their  wheat 
ground,  often  being  gone  a  week.  The  old 
State  road  was  the  great  outlet  for  commerce, 
and  the  only  substantial  route  of  travel.  Old 
traders  now  living  in  our  midst  speak  of 
starting  to  St  Louis  (ninety-six  miles  dis- 
tant) on  Monday  morning,  and  arriving  there 
on  Thursday  or  Friday.  When  the  Ohio  & 
Mississippi  Railroad  was  constructed  through 
this  township,  and  people  were  told  that  a 
mau  could  eat  breakfast  at  home,  ride  to  St. 
Louis,  transact  his  business,  and  get  back  in 
time  to  take  an  early  supper  with  his  family, 
the  statement  was  received  as  something  too 
absurd  for  sensible  belief.  Even  when  Bach 
rapid  transit  was  verified,  there  were  plenty 
of  old  folks  who  predicted  no  good  from  such 
fast  manners,  and  sighed  for  the  "  good  old 
days"  of  slow  coaches  and  almost  absolute 
safety.  These  were  the  days  when  it  took 
weeks  to  travel  from  Pittsburgh  to  Shawnee- 
town,  and  a  person  leaving  the  East  to  go  to 
Illinois  or  Missouri  was  regarded  in  about 
the  same  light  as  we  now  view  the  man  who 
is  about  to  depart  for  China  or  Australia. 

While  we  may  have  degenerated  somewhat 
from  the  sturdy  manhood  of  those  early  days, 
we  have  certainly  gained  in  intelligence, 
variety  and  easy  living  to  compensate  for  it. 

Harter  Township  lies  in  the  southern  and 
central  part  of  Clay  County,  and  has  a  geo- 
graphical area  of  fifty-four  square  miles, 
comprising  the  north  half  of  Township  2 
north,  Range  G  east,  and  all  of  Township  3 
north,  Range  6  east,  of  the  Third  Principal 
Meridian.  It  is  bounded  on  the  north  In 
Louisville  Township,  by  Stanford  on  the 
east,  by  Songer  and  Xenia  on  the  west,  and 


by  Wayne  County  on  the  south.  It  is 
drained  by  Raccoon  Creek,  which  enters  the 
township  near  the  northwest  corner  of  Sec- 
tion 7,  flows  in  a  southeasterly  direction  to 
the  southeast  corner  of  the  township.  South 
of  this  is  Bear  Creek,  which  traverses  the 
southeast  corner  of  the  township.  Elm 
Creek  has  its  source  in  Section  28,  just  west 
of  the  residence  of  J.  A.  Gerheart,  Esq.. 
flows  north  and  east,  and  leaves  the  township 
in  Section  13.  The  north  part  of  the  town- 
ship is  drained  by  Buck  Creek,  which  enters 
the  township  in  Section  5  and  leaves  it 
in  Section  12.  These  streams,  with  their 
smaller  tributaries,  afford  sufficient  drainage 
for  the  entire  township,  and  furnish  an  al- 
most inexhaustible  supply  of  good  timber, 
consisting  of  oak,  hickory,  ash,  walnut,  etc.. 
which  is  found  along  their  banks.  A  large 
portion  of  the  township  is  a  beautiful  roll- 
ing prairie,  which  for  fertility  is  not  sur- 
passed anywhere.  The  soil  is  well-adapted 
to  agricultural  purposes,  and  produces  large 
crops  of  wheat,  corn,  oats,  flax  and  barley 
without  the  aid  of  fertilizers.  With  proper 
management  the  land  could  be  cultivated  for 
centuries  without  seriously  impairing  its  pro- 
ductive qualities. 

When  the  first  settlers  came  here,  they 
found  these  silent  virgin  plains  unclaimed, 
untouched,  unfilled,  hedgeless,  free  to  all, 
awaiting  the  civilizing  influences  of  man. 
The  prairies  in  their  natural  state  were  cov- 
ered with  a  dense  growth  of  grass,  the  best 
8  man  ever  saw,  so  high  that  a  person 
riding  through  on  horseback  would  be  com- 
pletely hi,dden  from  view,  and  so  thick  that 
the  sun's  rays  were  entirely  excluded  from 
the  soil  beneath.  As  a  result  of  this,  the 
ground  was  always  damp  and  slushy,  and 
served  as  a  breeding  place  for  myriads  of 
green-headed  flies,  the  common  enemy  of 
man  and  beast.      They  were   so  bad  at  times 


3G0 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


that  farmers  were  compelled  to  plow  at  night 
to  avoid  them.  These  pests,  together  with 
the  miasma  that  was  generated  in  the  decay- 
ing vegetation,  induced  the  early  settlers  to 
avoid  the  prairies,  and  to  select  sites  for  their 
homes  along  the  streams  and  in  the  wood- 
land. Some  of  the  best  and  most  valuable 
farms  in  the  township  are  made  from  lands 
the  pioneer  believed  to  be  worthless.  There 
is  but  little  land  in  the  township  which  cannot 
be  cultivated.  A  large  portion  of  the  tim- 
bered land,  which  lies  mostly  along  Raccoon, 
has  been  cleared,  and  is  now  in  a  high  state 
of  cultivation.  Its  productive  cpialities  in 
most  things,  especially  that  of  wheat,  ranks 
with  the  prairie  lands. 

During  the  time  since  the  first  settlement 
of  the  township,  agriculture  seems  to  have 
been  the  leading  employment  of  the  people, 
but  of  late  years  some  of  our  progressive, 
wide-awake  citizens  have  turned  their  atten- 
tion to  stock-raising,  which  is  rapidly  com- 
ing to  the  front  as  one  of  the  leading  indus- 
tries. Recently  much  attention  has  been 
given  to  fruit  culture.  Experience  has 
proven  this  to  be  a  paying  investment  in 
Southern  Illinois,  and  that  the  business  can- 
not be  overdone.  It  is  said  by  those  who 
have  accurate  information  upon  the  subject, 
that  25,000  apple  trees  were  put  out  in  this 
township  alone  in  the  fall  of  1883  and  spring 
of  1884 

The  first  permanent  settlement  within  the 
present  limits  of  Harter  Township  dates  back 
to  the  year  1 S18.  If  any  were  made  previous 
I  i  this  time  we  have  been  unable  to  ascer- 
tain the  fact. 

In  the  above  year, Thomas  Elliott,  a  brother 
of  the  venerable  Isaac  Elliott,  came  here 
with  bis  family  from  Washington  County, 
Ind. ,  and  settled  on  the  southwest  quarter  of 
Section  27,  where  he  erected  a  log  house 
which   is  believed  to  be  the    first  dwelling 


house  built  in  the  township.  In  1822,  he 
built  a  two-story  brick  adjoining  the  log 
house,  where  he  kept  a  country  hotel  or  tav- 
ern, as  they  were  popularly  called  in  those 
days.  Being  situated  on  the  old  Vincennes 
&  St.  Louis  State  road,  the  house  was  a  con- 
venient stopping  place  for  the  large  number 
of  travelers  who  passed  along  this  road  in  an 
early  day  seeking  homes  in  the  far  West, 
as  Illinois  and  Missouri  were  then  called. 
The  buildings  are  still  standing  where  they 
were  first  built,  and  are  now  owned  and  oc- 
cupied by  John  A.  Gerheart. 

In  the  same  year  and  in  company  with 
Thomas  Elliott,  came  Matthias  Misenheimer, 
who  settled  on  what  is  now  known  as  the 
Seth  T.  Hinkley  place.  He  first  built  a  log 
cabin,  and  in  1820  he  erected  a  hewed-log 
house.  This  house  now  stands  on  the  hill 
just  east  of  Raccoon  Creek  bridge,  where  it 
was  removed  a  few  years  ago  by  its  present 
owner.  Mr.  Misenheimer  was  a  prominent 
citizen  of  the  county,  and  was  highly  respect- 
ed by  all  who  knew  him.  He  died  in  1S15 
on  the  farm  he  first  settled.  His  sons  Levi 
and  John  I.,  and  his  daughter,  Elizabeth, 
wife  of  Thomas  Golden,  still  live  in  this 
county. 

There  seems  to  have  been  but  few  addi- 
tions to  the  residence  of  the  township  until 
about  1829-30.  In  the  former  year  Russell 
T.  Logan  settled  in  the  north  part  of  the 
township,  on  Buck  Creek,  and  Johnson  Furr, 
who  came  with  him  from  Indiana,  made  his 
home  just  west  of  where  Flora  now  stands. 
They  both  married  daughters  of  Thomas 
Elliott.  In  1840,  Furr  left  this  county,  and 
finally  went  to  Texas.  Soon  after  this  Logan 
settled  on  Section  21,  on  the  farm  which  af- 
terward was  the  home  of  Allen  Landivtl). 
and  is  now  owned  by  E.  J.  Bowen.  Logan 
was  a  good  farmer,  and  traded  extensively  in 
cattle  and  hogs. 


HISTORY   OF   CLAY   COUNTY. 


:S61 


In  an  early  day,  probably  in  about  1836, 
Robert  Bryant  settled  on  the  old  State  road 
west  of  Flora,  near  where  the  flax  mill  now  is. 
He  was  particularly  noted  as  a  horse-thief 
catcher.  It  was  a  very  common  thing  for 
those  who  had  horses  stolen  to  go  for  old 
"  Bobby  "  Bryant,  and  it  is  said  that  he 
scarcely  ever  failed  to  get  the  horse  or  thief, 
one  and  frequently  both. 

In  1839,  James  Jacobs  came  to  this  coun- 
try from  Indiana,  and  settled  in  Songer 
Township,  near  the  line,  and  in  1842  his 
son  Isaac  married  Abbey  Colclnsure  arid 
settled  on  Section  18,  in  this  township,  where 
he  lived  till  a  few  years  ago  he  moved  to 
Flora,  and  is  now  one  of  the  Justices  of  the 
Peace.  In  1840,  Ephraim  Jenkins  settled  in 
the  north  part  of  the  township,  and  is  still 
one  of  our  most  respected  citizens.  Another 
of  the  old  pioneers  was  William  Nichols,  who 
settled  on  the  old  State  road  between  the  El- 
liott and  Misenheirner  farms.  Later  came  the 
Andersons,  the^Whites  and  many  others  who 
are  still  living  and  are  among  our  wealthiest 
and  most  honored  citizens. 

The  township  was  not  closely  settled  at  an 
early  date,  but  the  entries  of  the  public  lands 
were  quite  rapid  as  the  following  partial 
list  will  show,  and  had  each  entry  represented 
a  settler  the  population  would  have  been  quite 
large. 

In  1820,  entries  were  made  by  Matthias 
Misenheirner  on  Section  5,  and  by  Thomas 
Elliott  od  Section  27.  In  1836,  by  James 
McGrew  on  Section  16;  on  Section  12,  by 
Isaac  Half  acre;  on  Section  13,  by  Russell  T. 
Logan;  and  by  Jeremiah  Vincent  on  Section 
35.  In  1837,  by  Robert  Skuggs  on  Section 
1,  and  by  Elizabeth  Halfacre  on  Section  12. 
In  1838,  the  following  entries  appear: 
Abraham  Colclasure  on  Section  8,  Mica j ah 
Brooks  on  Section  7,  Silas  G.  Carter  on  Sec- 
tion 12  and  Jacob  Calclasure  on  Section    17. 


In  1830,  Martin  Delaney  entered  land 
on  Section  5,  David  Golden  on  Section 
7,  Thomas  Golden  on  Section  17,  John 
Thompson  on  Section  18,  Merrit  Young  on 
Section  27,  Harmon  Mills  and  William 
Nichols  on  Section  31,  and  Robert  Bryant  on 
Section  34.  In  1840,  by  McKondree  Thropp 
on  Section  6,  by  John  M.  Griffith  on  Section 
18,  by  William  Young  on  Section  19,  and 
by  Ephraim  Jenkins  on  Section  1.  In  1841, 
by  Thompson  Miller  on  Section  1.  by  John 
Pettyjohn  on  Section  13,  by  James  Jacobs 
on  Section  17.  and  by  Isaac  Misenheirner  on 
Section  32.  In  1843,  entries  were  made  by 
James  Sheller  on  Section  2.  and  by  James 
Cook  on  Section  13.  In  1844,  by  George 
Harter  on  Section  12,  and  by  Moses  Kerr  on 
Section  13.  In  1845.  by  Henry  Furgeson  on 
Section  27,  and  by  James  H.  Sorrey  on  Sec- 
tion 31.  In  1846,  entry  was  made  on  Section 
5  by  Thomas  Anderson,  and  on  Section  11 
by  Peter  Harter.  In  1851,  Daniel  Gregory 
made  a  large  number  of  entries  in  the  town- 
ship, and  William  Topping  made  an  entry 
on  Section  11.  In  1852,  John  Hitch,  Allen 
Landreth,  Samuel  White.  Wyatt  S.  Berry, 
Jones  Talafora,  Samuel  J.  Kinaman,  Joseph 
Anderson  and  many  others  made  entries  in 
different  parts  of  the  township.  In  ]853, 
entries  were  made  by  Colson  Chandler  and 
N.  B.  Russell,  and  a  large  slice  of  the 
township  seems  to  have  been  gobbled  up  by 
John  S.  Hayward  and  Robert  H.  Ives. 

It  has  always  been  one  of  the  character- 
istics of  the  American  people  in  going  into  a 
new  country  to  provide  for  the  education  of 
their  children  as  soon  as  possible.  This  our 
people  did  to  the  full  extent  of  their  ability. 
In  1840,  a  small  log  house  was  built  in  the 
west  part  of  the  township  for  school  purposes. 
This  is  believed  to  be  the  first  Behoolhouse  in 
the  township.  Caleb  McDaniel  was  the  first 
teacher.   About  two  voars  after  this,  a  school- 


362 


HISTORY   OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


house  was  erected  on  the  State  road  this  side 
of  the  Hinkley  farm.  Adam  Curry  taught 
the  first  school  in  this  house.  In  1846,  a 
log  schoolhouse  was  built  on  Section  18, 
where  Felin  Poe,  who  combined  the  two 
professions  of  teaching  and  preaching,  taught 
the  first  school.  He  was  a  Kentuckian  by 
birth,  was  considered  a  good  educator,  though 
a  man  of  not  much  education.  He  believed, 
however,  more  in  concussion  than  discussion, 
and  did  not  spare  the  rod  when  necessary. 
The  first  schools  were  generally  subscription 
schools,  and  the  teacher  "  boarded  around  " 
as  part  pay. 

In  1852,  a  frame  building  took  the  place 
of  the  log  schoolhouse  in  Section  18,  which 
was  the  first  schoolhouse  in  the  township 
heated  with  a  stove.  In  this  house  our  hon- 
ored citizen,  Judge  R.  B.  Henry,  wielded  the 
birch  for  several  terms.  This  house  soon 
became  too  small  for  the  rapidly  growing 
district,  and  was  replaced  by  what  is  now 
known  as  the  Golden  School,  which,  owing 
to  the  liberality  and  intelligence  of  its  inhab- 
itants, has  for  several  years  been  recognized 
as  one  of  the  best  schools  in  the  county. 

From  this  small  beginning  our  public 
schools  have  grown  till,  to-day,  we  have 
eleven  schools  in  the  township,  employing 
twenty-one  teachers,  an  average  daily  attend- 
ance of  nearly  1,000  children,  and  school 
property  valued  at  $50,000. 

From  the  old  elementary  speller  of  then, 
we  have  to-day  public  schools  with  a  course 
of  study  such  as  but  few  colleges  possessed 
at  that  date.  May  our  schools  continue  to 
grow  till  our  children  may  be  trained  and 
educated  in  those  sciences  which  must  be 
understood  in  the  every-day  business  of  life. 
Give  the  young  people  a  taste  for  true 
knowledge,  and  you  make  each  one  capable 
of  investigating  facts  and  forming  his  own 
opinion,  and  thus  he  will  be  full  of  self- 
reliance  in  all  the  relations  of  life. 


What  account  in  life,  are  purposeless,  vacil- 
lating people,  who  adopt  opinions  and  act 
upon  them  because  adopted  and  proclaimed 
by  others?  How  much  do  they  add  to  the 
social,  moral  and  political  power  of  a  com- 
munity!' What  better  are  they  as  voters 
than  if  they  were  so  many  baboons  trained  to 
the  wonderful  skill  of  dropping  a  furnished 
printed  ballot  into  the  hands  of  the  judges 
of  our  elections  ? 

Any  one  can  see  that  the  leading  features 
in  the  world's  future  history  are  to  be  dis- 
coveries and  great  inventions.  In  the  future 
legends  there  will  stand  forever  recorded  as 
the  fool -prints  which  mark  the  tread  of  the 
people  of  the  last  half  of  the  nineteenth 
century. 

Human  labor  wdl  be  made  to  yield  ten 
times  the  product  it  now  does.  The  work  of 
unfolding  nature  has  just  begun,  and  our 
public  schools  are  the  foundations  of  all 
these;  so  cherish  them  for  the  prosperity  of 
ourselves  and  for  those  who  .will  soon  take 
our  places. 

Bigotry  and  ignorance  must  not  quench 
the  fires  of  truth  and  true  discovery.  But 
few  of  the  younger  generation  who  live  here 
now  can  realize  that  a  few  years  ago  this 
country  was  thickly  inhabited  by  all  kinds 
of  wild  animals.  The  buffalo,  which  once 
roamed  all  over  this  country  in  countless 
thousands,  have  not  been  seen  here  since  the 
first  settlement.  But  deer  were  here  in  large 
numbers  as  late  as  1855,  and  even  later  than 
this  some  wandering  ones  were  seen.  Often 
the  midnight-like  stillness  would  be  broken 
by  the  howlings  of  hundreds  of  hungry  wolves, 
who  would  hold  high  carnival  over  the  re- 
mains of  one  of  the  noble  animals.  Bears 
were  found  in  the  bottoms.  Wild-cats,  rac- 
coons, skunks,  otters,  mink,  groundhogs, 
squirrels,  opossums  and  rabbits  were  found 
in  large  numbers.  The  bloodshot  eyes  of  the 
catamount  might  be    seen    glaring    through 


HISTORY  OF   CLAY   COUNTY. 


365 


the  foliage.  Serpents  were  here  in  great 
profusiou;  copperheads,  black  snakes,  blue 
racers,  moccasins  and  adders  predominating, 
with  hundreds  of  rattlesnakes  as  an  adjunct 
to  this  horrible  scene.  But  they  are  nearly 
all  gone  now.  and  will  soon  exist  only  in  the 
memory  of  the  past,  and  thus  will  forever 
perish  the  game  which  to  our  forefathers 
were  objects  of  mutual  pleasures  and  dangers, 
aire  Asa  Sullivan  informs  us  that  he 
killed  three  wolves  one  morning  near  where 
the  depol  now  si:'     I  .    without  mov- 

ing i  but  a  fen- 

minutes  till  he  ha  I  his  life     ^  the 

■!.  all 
arou 
a  pio 
one  . 

u 

no  1):  Uout 

hi?-  '  urch 

I  heir 
famines.      It  ,,, 

one  or  two  hunting  inci- 
dents to  illustrate  how  it  was  done  in  those 
In  the  winter  of  1841—42,  Mr.  Asa 
Sullivan,  who  was  a  great  hunter,  and  a  man 
by  the  name  of  Miller  left  their  homes  one 
morning,  went  down  on  "  Coou  "  Creek  south 
of  where  Flora  now  is.  selected  a  camping 
spot,  erected  some  poles  and  small  logs, 
which  they  covered  with  deer-skins,  and 
stopped  the  holes  with  dry  leaves.  A  "creep- 
ing hole"  was  left  at  one  end,  which,  after 
getting  inside,  they  would  stop  with  a  deer- 
skin. Thus  arranged,  they  had  comfortable 
quarters  for  the  winter,  but  only  remained 
two  days,  in  which  time  they  killed  eleven 
deer,  and  cut  one  bee-tree  which  yielded  over 
1<>()  pounds  of  honev. 

When  the  Ohio  &  Mississipi  Eailroad  was 
being  built   through   this   township,   one   of 


the  construction  trains  was  in  charge  of  a 
man  by  the  name  of  Parsons.  Now  Parsons 
knew  more  about  railroading  than  he  did 
about  hunting  the  wild  beasts  of  the  held; 
nevertheless  he  was  exceedingly  anxious  to 
kill  a  deer.  So,  securing  the  services  of  one 
of  the  most  noted  hunters  in  this  vicinity,  he 
started  out,  resolved  to  do  or  die. 

As  soou  as  they  reached  "Coon"  Creek 
timber  south  of  Flora,  they  separated.  It 
was  not  long  before  Parsons'  gun  was  heard 
and  he   imme  set  up   a   yell   for  his 

companion,  who  immedi;ueiy  re  I  to  his 

relief,  th  a      ling  had  gone  wrong; 

md  inquiring  the  cause  of 
>■>  inu'-h  ace,  the   conductor  replied 

killed  a  sorrel  hog."     He 

-,'.or 

tnied 

and 

auon  iree- 

•  Dem 

'  old 

Farsons' 

companion.      Parsons  cove  honor  of 

i  bout 
ant  piece  ot  work, 
he  offered  his  pari  I  to  permit  him  to 

tell  that  he  killed  the  deer.  This  kind  offer 
was  declined,  but  it  was  finally  agreed  that 
the  hunter  was  to  tell  that  Parsons  killed  the 
deer  and  Parsons  was  to  tell  that  his  com- 
panion killed  tiie  hog.  With  matters  thus 
arranged, they  placed  the  buck  on  a  _pole  and 
with  each  end  of  the  pole  on  their  shoulders, 
they  returned  to  the  town  where  Parsons 
swore  with  all  his  power  that  the  deer  was 
killed  by  himself.  This  his  fellow-railroad- 
ers were  loath  to  believe,  but  as  they  could 
not  prove  otherwise  the  matter  was  dropped. 
At  the  meeting  of  the  County  Court  in 
September,  1861,  a  petition  signed  by  Rich- 


366 


HISTOHY   OF   CLAY   COUNTY. 


ard  Talaford  and  fifty  others  was  presented 
to  the  court  praying  them  to  submit  to  the 
legal  voters  of  the  county  at  the  November 
election  the  question  of  township  organiza- 
tion. A  majority  of  the  voters  was  in  favor 
of  the  proposition,  and  at  the  December  meet- 
ing of  the  court,  Henry  K.  Neff,  Daniel  L. 
McCawley  and  Ethelred  Nixon  were  appoint- 
ed commissioners  to  divide  the  county  into 
towns  or  townships.  And  as  a  result  of  their 
labors,  we  have  Harter  Township,  named  in 
honor  of  George  Harter,  a  prominent  business 
man  of  Flora  at  that  time. 

The  first  town  meeting  after  the  adoption 
of  township  organization  was  held  on  the 
1st  day  of  April,  1862,  at  the  residence  of 
Samuel  A.  Stanford.  Fred  Pearce  was  the 
first  Moderator  and  C.  H.  Murphy  the  first 
Clerk.  At  this  meeting,  N.  A.  Eddy  was 
elected  Supervisor,  receiving  120  votes  to 
90  for  Jeremiah  Billings. 

C.  H.  Murphy  was  elected  Town  Clerk; 
F.  W.  Poe,  Assessor;  James  M.  Haines,  Col- 
lector; Noah  B.  Russell,  Overseer  oE  the 
Poor;  N.  E.  Dye,  Isaac  Jacobs  and  J.  L. 
Colclasure,  Commissioners  of  Highways;  E. 
B.  Turner  and  James  T.  Shore,  Justices  of 
the  Peace;  D.  L.  Melton  and  James  Porter, 
Constables.  But  little  business  seems  to 
have  been  done  at  this  meeting.  A  motion 
to  hold  the  next  annual  meeting  at  the  school- 
house  in  District  3  was  lost,  and  it  was  de- 
cided on  motion  of  Mr.  A.  R.  Kenner  to  hold 
it  at  Flora,  where  it  has  been  held  each  year 
since.  The  oath  of  office  administered  to 
those  officers  was  not  calculated  to  be  favor- 
able to  the  formation  of  dueling  societies, 
and  such  a  clause  seems  altogether  uncalled 
for  in  a  State  that  can  boast  of  but  one  duel 
and  in  that  the  challenged  party  was  killed 
and  the  survivor  hanged. 

The  following  is  the  clause  referred  to: 

"I    do   solemnly   swear  that   I    have  not 


fought  a  duel  nor  sent  or  accepted  a  chal- 
lenge; the  probable  issue  of  which  might 
have  been  the  death  of  either  party,  nor  in 
any  manner  aided  or  assisted  in  such  duel, 
nor  been  knowingly  the  bearer  of  such  chal- 
lenge or  acceptance  since  the  adoption  of  the 
Constitution."'  And  the  unlucky  official  was 
further  required  to  solemnly  pledge  himself 
that  he  would  not  be  guilty  of  so  gross  a 
violation  of  his  country's  laws  during  his 
continuance  in  office.  Probably  the  fear  of 
violating  their  official  oath  caused  some  of 
them  to  offer  their  resignation,  as  we  find 
that  on  the  5th  day  of  August,  1862,  E.  P. 
Turner  resigned  the  office  of  Justice  of  the 
Peace,  and  at  a  special  election  held  Septem- 
ber 5,  J.  W.  P.  Davis  was  elected  to  fill  the 
vacancy,  receiving  49  votes  to  37  for  B.  F. 
Cunningham.  The  voters  of  Harter  seemed 
to  be  well  satisfied  with  the  workings  of  the 
system  of  township  organization,  for  at  the 
annual  meeting  in  1865,  when  the  question 
was  again  submitted,  the  vote  was  183  for 
and  19  against  it. 

February  3,  1865,  an  informal  meeting  of 
the  citizens  was  held  at  the  Christian  Church 
to  devise  means  to  raise  volunteers  to  fill  the 
quota  of  the  township  under  the  President's 
last  call.  T.  P.  Vandaveer,  President,  and 
Daniel  Gunn  acted  as  Secretary.  A  com- 
mittee was  appointed  to  solicit  subscription 
for  a  bounty  fund,  and  to  report  at  an  ad- 
journed meeting.  On  February  9,  the  com- 
mittee reported  that  twenty-five  men  could  be 
induced  to  enlist  for  $100  each.  The  sub- 
scription not  reaching  this  amount,  it  was 
agreed  to  submit  a  proposition  to  raise  a 
bounty  fund  of  §2,500  by  a  tax  to  the  voters 
at  the  April  town  meeting. 

It  appears  from  this  vote  that  133  persons 
in  the  township  were  in  favor  of  hiring  some 
one  to  go  to  war,  and  that  sixty-seven  wen> 
too  old,  or  in  some  way  not  subject  to  military 


HISTORY   OF   CLAY    COUNTY. 


367 


duty,  as  thai  was  the  vote  for  and  against 
raising  the  bounty  fund.  If  voting  on  the 
question  had  been  the  only  thing  necessary, 
there  would  have  been  no  further  trouble,  but 
unluckily  for  the  majority,  the  funds  had  to 
be  raised  by  taxation.  At  a  meeting  of  the 
Board  of  Auditors,  held  June  8.  1865,  it  was 
ordered  that  a  tax  of  85  cents  on  the  $100  be 
levied  in  accordance  with  the  vote.  Some  of 
the  citizens  who  had  opposed  this  matter  se- 
cured an  injunction  to  prevent  the  levy,  and 
as  it  went  before  Judge  Shaw,  who  at,  that 
time  was  strongly  opposed  to  raising  money 
to  carry  on  the  war,  the  township  was  for- 
ever enjoined  from  levying  this  tax. 

Our  people  have  always  seemed  very  anx- 
ious to  vote  money  whenever  an  opportunity 
offered.  November  10.  1808.  the  township, 
by  a  vote  of  300  to  42,  donated  to  the 
Springfield  &  Illinois  Southeastern  Railway, 
the  sum  of  $20,000.  Not  having  the  $20,  • 
000—  if  they  had  it  would  not  have  been  so 
easily  voted — an  election  was  held  May  20 
to  decide  whether  bonds  should  be  issued,  or 
a  special  tax  Levied.  The  vote  stood  seventy- 
nine  for  issuing  the  bonds,  and  none  against. 
The  majority  was  not  so  large  as  in  the  orig- 
inal proposition,  but  mure  decided.  The 
bonds  were  issued  and  delivered  to  Thomas 
S.  Ridgeway,  and  the  township  still  holds 
his  receipt  for  the  same.  These  bonds  were 
funded  May  17,  1881,  by  a  vote  of  eighty- 
four  for  to  one  against,  at  an  election  called 
for  that  purpose. 

The  new  bonds  run  for  twenty  years,  and 
are  payable  in  five  years  at  the  option  of  the 
township,  and  bear  six  per  cent  interest. 

Our  township  has  been  remarkably  free 
from  crime,  only  a  few  cases  occurring  to 
leave  a  black  Bpoi  upon  her  fair  came.  These 
we  will  not  attempt  to  describe,  as  they  are 
mentioned  in  another  part  of  this  work. 
The  original  town  of  Flora  was  laid  out,  sur- 


veyed and  platted  in  February,  1854,  by 
Ethelred  Nixon.  County  Surveyor,  John 
Brown,  Trustee  for  Souger,  Camp  &  Co..  and 
Samuel  White,  and  embraced  eighty  ti\  a'-ivs 
of  the  west  half  of  Section  25,  Township  -\ 
north.  Range  (5  east.  White,  who  had  en 
tered  and  still  owned  the  land,  deeded  one- 
half  interest  in  forty  acres  of  land  to  John 
Brown,  Trustee,  with  a  view  of  securing  the 
town  and  depot,  as  an  effort  had  already  been 
made  to  establish  a  town  one  mile  west  called 
Mooresville,  where  over  100  lots  had  been 
sold  and  some  building  done.  After  the  col- 
lapse of  this  town,  the  principal  business 
house  was  removed  to  Flora,  and  is  now 
known  as  the  "  Commercial  House." 

Messrs.  White  &  Brown  sold  their  lots  at 
private  sale,  and  among  the  first  purchasers 
were  Sol  Finch,  George  Harter  and  George 
Gunn.  One  of  the  members  of  the  firm  of 
Songer.  Camp  &  Co.  had  a  very  lovely  daugh- 
ter named  Flora,  and  this  name  was  suggested 
for  the  infant  town,  and  as  the  town  was  al- 
most completely  taken  by  the  large  number 
of  wild  flowers,  the  name  seemed  to  be  ap- 
propriate, and  was  readily  adopted,  hence  we 
have  the  name  which  is  applied  to  our  city. 
White's  cabin,  which  stood  upon  the  forty 
acres,  may  lie  called  the  first  house  in  flora. 
It  has  long  since  disappeared.  The  old 
frame  building  adjoining  the  bank,  and  now 
occupied  by  W.  C.  Chaney  as  a  residence 
and  meat  market,  was  the  first  house  erected 
after  the  town  had  been  laid  out.  White 
soon   after  put  up  a  shanty,  long  since   re- 

red,  in   which  he   placed  a  stock  of  goods 

of  general  merchandise,  which  was  the  first 
of  this  kind  in  town.  He  soon  after  sold  to 
Sol  Finch,  who  took  George  Harter  in  as 
a  partner.  They  continued  in  business  till 
the  death  of  Finch,  when  White  became  a 
partner  in  the  store  with  Harter,  with  whom 
he  did  a    successful    business   till    the    war. 


368 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


Their  first  opposition  was  John  Sheaffer; 
nest,  the  firm  of  Gunn  &  Sons,  Kenner 
Brothers,  and  later,  Robert  Medley,  who 
kept  the  first  exclusive  grocery  store. 

The  Gunns  did  business  on  the  corner  now 
occupied  by  Warner  &  Luse,  in  the  frame 
building  standing  just  west  of  there,  used  now 
as  a  carpenter  shop,  in  which  the  first  pro- 
tracted meeting  Flora  ever  had  was  held. 

In  about  1855,  the  old  Major  House  was 
built  by  Mr.  Samuel  White.  It  was  first 
kept  by  Dr.  Rinard,  who  was  succeeded  by 
Alex  Dye;  then  Jeff  Murphy  had  charge  of 
it  for  awhile,  and  next  Press  Turney,  and  in 
1859  it  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Majors, 
who  kept  it  till  1872,  when  they  built  the 
large  three-story  brick  which  is  now  known 
as  the  Major  House,  where  the  hotel  busi- 
ness is  still  carried  on  by  Mr.  S.  J.  Major 
and  his  sister,  Mrs.  M.  A.' Graham.  Their 
business  increased  so  that  in  1882  they  were 
compelled  to  build  a  large  addition.  The 
Whites  kept  the  first  boarding  house  and 
livery  stable  in  Flora;  they  also  own  the 
first  blacksmith  shop. 

The  town  of  Flora  was  incorporated  under 
the  general  law  in  about  1857,  and  in  1867 
it  received  a  special  charter  from  the  Legis- 
lature, by  which  the  town  has  been  governed 
since.  In  1857,  a  small  mill  was  built  by 
N.  A.  Eddy,  which  supplied  the  wants  of  the 
people  who  were  compelled  to  go  to  Louis- 
ville previous  to  this.  In  1866,  A.  K.  Tate, 
James  Join,  J.  F.  Adduddell  and  P.  J.  Ray- 
mond formed  a  partnership,  and  built  the 
brick  mill  now  owned  by  Mr.  C.  T.  Johnson; 
owing  to  recent  improvements  and  additions, 
this  is  now  one  of  the  best  mills  in  Southern 
Illinois. 

In  1866,  a  small  flouring  mill  was  built  by 
the  Pearce  Brothers,  and  in  18S0,  Messrs. 
Cook  &  Chidister  purchased  the  mill  from 
Pearce  Brothers,  and  ran  it  successfully  till 


July  24,  1882,  when  it  was  totally  destroyed 
by  fire.  Mr.  Cook  went  to  work  with  his 
well-known  energy,  and  on  January  28,  1883, 
the  Farmers'  Mill  was  in  full  operation  on  the 
ground  formerly  occupied  by  the  Pearce 
Mil!,  and  under  the  management  of  Cook  & 
Snyder  has  been  making  money  ever  since. 

In  1872,  Mi-.  T.  E.  Hayward  built  the  Oak 
Mills,  and  they  have  been  under  the  manage- 
ment of  him  and  his  son,  L.  R. ,  ever  since.  It 
has  been  a  profitable  investment  to  the  owners. 
When  the  Ohio  &  Mississippi  Railroad  was 
finished.  Flora  became  the  principal  shipping 
point  for  the  country  both  north  and  south, 
the  merchants  of  Fairfield,  Jeffersonville  and 
Johnsonville  on  the  south,  and  Louisville, 
Bible  Grove  and  Hord  on  the  north,  receiv- 
ing nearly  all  their  goods  from  this  place. 

The  building  of  the  Springfield  &  Illinois 
Southeastern  Railway  brought  the  country 
on  both  sides  of  us  in  direct  communication 
with  the  railroad,  and  the  effect  was  noticea- 
ble among  our  merchants  in  decreased  sales. 
What  Flora  lost,  however,  in  the  country 
trade  was  amply  made  up  in  railroad  business. 

When  the  Ohio  &  Mississippi  took  con- 
trol of  the  "Branch,"  the  train  dispatcher's 
office  was  moved  to  this  place,  and  all  trains 
are  now  run  on  orders  issued  from  this  office. 
When  Flora  was  made  a  "  station, "  George 
Harter  was  appointed  the  first  agent.  He 
was  succeeded  by  H.  G.  Gunn,  who  had 
been  the  Adams  Express  agent,  for  some 
time.  The  office  of  agent  at  that  time  was  a 
responsible  one,  as  the  depot  was  scattered  all 
over  the  prairie,  freight  was  unloaded  wher- 
ever the  train  happened  to  stop,  and  the 
agent  might  find  it  if  he  could.  The  next 
agent  after  Gunn  was  A.  R.  Kenner,  who 
was  succeeded  by  J.  F.  Adduddell.  Addud- 
dell did  not  have  store  room  sufficient  to 
stoie  all  the  freight,  whereupon  he  conceived 
the  idea  of  building  a  depot. 


HISTORY    OF   CLAY   COUNTY. 


369 


This  was  done  by  subscription,  and  what  is 
now  used  for  the  freight  house  was  Flora's 
first  depot,  and  was  built  by  the  liberality  of 
her  citizens.  It  was  afterward  purchased  by 
the  company.  Adduddell  was  succeeded  by 
W.  G.  McCollough  and  he  by  the  present 
popular  agent.  Del  Beecher. 

Nothing  contributes  so  much  to  the  life 
and  prosperity  of  a  place  as  good  schools. 
This  Flora  has,  and  her  energetic,  liberal- 
minded  people  will  always  maintain  to  its 
fullest  extent. 

The  first  schoolhouse  was  built  in  1856, 
on  the  lot  just  west  of  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church.  It  was  a  small  frame  building, 
and  the  first  pedagogue  who  presided  there 
was  Claib  Brashew.  School  facilities  were 
very  limited  till  the  old  brick  school- 
house  was  finished.  May  20,  18(35,  a  con- 
tract was  entered  into  betweon  the  Board  of 
Directors  and  John  J.  Simons,  to  build  this 
house  at  a  cost  of  $7,000.  The  contract  to 
plaster  and  paint  the  house  and  fence  the 
lot  was  made  with  Isaac  Dye  for  $4,500. 
This  building  was  a  monster  piece  of  rubbish 
and  but  few  schools  were  taught  in  it  before 
it  was  condemed  by  the  directors.  For  sev- 
eral years  the  schools  were  almost  entirely 
neglected;  occasionally  a  room  was  rented 
and  school  was  had  for  a  short  time. 

May  29,  1N75,  an  election  was  held  to  vote 
on  the  proposition  to  build  a  new  school- 
house.  It  was  carried  by  a  good  majority,  and 
after  considerable  Bquabbling,  which  is  very 
common  upon  such  matters.  The  contract 
was  let  to  L.  L.  Leach.  Work  commenced 
about  the  middle  of  August. 

Our  present  magnificent  school  building 
was  completed  and  received  about  the  middle 
of  November.  It  is  one  of  the  finest  school 
buildings  in  the  State,  and  is  one  of  the  first 
objects  that  attracts  the  attention  on  coming 
into  town  from  any  direction. 


The  first  week  in  December.  1875.  Mr.  C. 
C.  Hutchinson  organized  the  first  school.  He 
was  ably  assisted  by  A.  H.  Moore.  Mr. 
Hutchinson  was  followed  after  one  year's 
work  by  Mr.  B.  F.  Conner,  who  in  time  was 
succeeded  by  Mr.  J.  T.  Hall. 

During  Mr.  Hall's  three  years'  administra- 
tion, the  school  was  thoroughly  graded  and 
a  practical  course  of  study  arranged.  This 
course  was  intended  to  prepare  the  student 
to  enter  the  State  University  without  further 
examination. 

Mr.  Hall  was  succeeded  by  G.  W.  Smith, 
who  had  charge  of  the  schools  from  1880  to 
1883. 

The  following  have  completed  the  course 
of  study,  and  now  hold  diplomas  as  gradu- 
ates of  the  Flora  High  Schools. 

Class  of  1879— Frankie  Presley,  Mary 
Nields,  Mary  E.  Wright,  Edward  L.  Howett, 
William  L.  Howett. 

Class  of  1880— Mary  Lowrey,  Welland  E. 
Walcott. 

Class  of  1881— Luell  Noel.  Hannah  Mar- 
tin, May  Hinkley,  Mamie  Wilson,  Martin  T. 
Snyder,  Adda  M.  Stevens. 

In  1882.  another  year  was  added  to  the 
course  of  study,  and  hence  there  was  no  class 
,,f  1882. 

Class  of  1883 — Florence  A.  Staples,  Agnes 
Howett,  Tena  Williams,  Emma  Shadwell, 
Will  Richey. 

The  school  is  now  in  a  prosperous  condi- 
tion, under  the  management  of  Mr.  D.  Ed- 
miston. 

In  1807,  Dr.  B.  F.  Cunningham  com- 
menced doing  a  banking  business  in  Flora. 
This  was  called  the  Savings  Bank,  and  in 
ISliS  George  Harter  was  taken  in  as  a  part- 
ner. These  gentlemen,  in  their  business, 
owing  to  their  well-known  integrity  and 
financial  standing,  had  the  confidence  of  the 
community.     They  did  a  successful  business 


870 


HISTORY    OF   CLAY   COUNTY. 


for  six  or  seven  years,  when  Harter  died. 
Dr.  Cunningham  continued  the  business  for 
about  a  year,  and  then  wound  up  the  affairs 
of  the  bank,  which  were  in  a  most  satisfac- 
tory condition,  and  returned  to  his  farm  near 
Flora  to  enjoy  the  rest  and  recreation  which 
a  long  and  successful  business  career  re- 
quired. 

In  about  1869,  our   estimable   townsmen, 
Messrs.  Kenner  and  Rider,  commenced  doing 
a  general  banking  business,  and  in  1871  they 
sold  their  business  to  L.  F.  Wilson  &  Co., 
who  started    the   Clay  County  Bank.     This 
was  organized  as  a  National  Bank,  and  re- 
ceived its  charter  in  April,  1872.     The  fol- 
lowing well-known  citizens  were  its  first  stock- 
holders: William  Hopkins,  A.  W.  Bothwell, 
M.  H.   Presley,  A.  R.  Kenner,   Rufus  Cope, 
W.  W.  Stewart,  Robert  Durland,  T.  P.  Van- 
da  veer,  D.  M.  Smith,  W.  J.  Moore,  S.  Web- 
ster, L.  F.   Wilson,  Morris  Brissenden,  J.   l\. 
Bothwell,    John    L.    Moore    and    Sylvester 
Rider.      The    capital   was    $75,000,    divided 
into  750  shares  of  $100  each.     Among  the 
largest  holders  of  stock  were  L.  F.  Wilson, 
who  had  260  shares;   William  Hopkins,  150; 
and  Hon.   Osman  Pixley  had   100.      At  the 
first  meeting  of  the  stockholders,  Hon.   Os- 
man    Pixley    was    elected    President  ;    Capt. 
William    Hopkins,    Vice    President  ;    L.    F. 
Wilson,   Cashier;  and  the   following  as  the 
first  board  of  directors:  Osman  Pixley,  Will- 
iam Hopkins,   W.  H.   Presley,  Rufus  Cope, 
W.  W.  Stewart,  A.  R,  Kenner,  L.  F.  Wilson, 
Sylvester  Rider  and  Morris  Brissenden. 

.March  31,  1878,  the  stockholders  bought 
the  interest  of  L.  F.  Wilson,  reduced  the 
capital  to  $50,000,  and  elected  Randolph 
Smith  Cashier.  There  has  beeen  no  change 
in  the  office  of  President  or  Vice  President 
since  the  first  organization.  This  bank  is 
one  of  the  soundest  and  best  managed  finan- 
cial  institutions  in  Southern  Illinois.     The 


directors  are  among  the  wealthiest  and  safest 
business  men  in  the  county.  Its  surplus  is 
now  over  $15,000;  the  deposits  exceed  $150,- 
000;  and  has  total  assets  of  over  $260,000. 
It  is  strongly  conservative,  and  has  by  its 
fair  and  straightforward  dealings  increased 
its  business  more  than  200  per  cent  in  the 
last  six  years.  No  better  evidence  of  its 
strength  and  usefulness  can  be  had  than  the 
universal  good  name  given  it  by  its  patrons 
and  the  community  at  large. 

Secret  Societies. — October  7,  1856,  Flora 
Lodge,  No.  204,  A.  F.  &  A.  Masons  was 
constituted  with  A.  B.  Morgan,  Oliver  P. 
Vail,  Samuel  J.  Kinaman,  Peter  Auspach, 
John  J.  Hill,  Lafayette  White  and  James 
Johnson,  as  charter  members.  Bro.  A.  B. 
Morgan  was  the  first  Worshipful  Master,  O. 
P,  Vail  the  first  Senior  Warden,  and  Samuel 
J.  Kiniman.  Junior  Warden.  The  first  lodge 
meetings  were  held  in  a  second  story  room  of 
the  residence  of-  Mr.  N.  B.  Russell,  who  then 
lived  in  the  residence  now  owned  by  Mr. 
John  Kenner,  in  the  western  part  of  the  town. 
The  meetings  were  held  here  for  some  time, 
when  the  lodge  was  moved  to  the  second 
story  of  the  brick  building  now  occupied  by 
Mr.  J.  C.  Ely  and  known  as  the  D.  M.  Smith 
property.  In  1865.  it  was  located  in  the 
Vandaveer  building,  where  it  has  remained 
ever  since. 

The  lodge  has  always  been  in  a  prosper- 
ous condition,  and  numbers  among  its  mem- 
bers some  of  the  best  men  in  the  county.  H. 
G.  Gunn  is  now  the  oldest  member  of  the 
lodge. 

October  4,  1872,  Flora  Chapter.  No.  154, 
Royal  Arch  Masons,  was  organized  with  the 
following  constituting  the  charter  members: 
Peter  J.  Raymond,  O.  H.  Clark.  George  T. 
Saxton.  Charles  James.  Joseph  F.  Wilcox, 
Andrew  Lebus,  Matthew  Law.  W.  W.  Saw- 
hill.  John  F.  Barr,  Edmond  C    Park.    John 


HISTORY  OF   (LAV   COUNTY. 


;s7i 


F.  Shadwell,  Mills  B.  Fletcher,  James  M. 
Williams  and  William  Westerman.  The 
membership  has  grown  steadily  till  now  it  is 
one  of  the  largest  chapters  ia  this  part  of  the 
State. 

Among  the  many  good  secret  societies,  tbe 
Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen  ranks 
with  the  best.  This  order  is  maintained  for 
the  purpose  of  furnishing  to  its  members 
life  insurance.  March  21.  1877,  a  lodgewas 
formed  here  with  J.  H.  Gunn,  M.  G.  Dur- 
land,  C.  H.  Vandaveer,  E.  H.  McPheters. 
\V.  M  Campbell,  A.  Nichols.  Alfred  Conley, 
H.  V.  Russell.  Edward  Pindar,  J.  F.  East- 
man and  William  Locke  as  charter  members. 

The  order  has  paid  $10,000  since  its  forma- 
tion here  to  deceased  members  families,  and 
has  been  the  means  of  doing  much  good, 
and  no  doubt  saved  the  poor  farm  inmates. 
The  lod  e  now  has  forty-seven  members. 

In  1880,  a  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic 
post  was  organized  in  Flora  with  ten  charter 
members,  and  was  called  Alexander  Post  in 
memory  of  Col.  James  F.  Alexander,  of  the 
Twenty-first  Illinois  Volunteers,  who  was 
killed  at  Chiekamauga.  It  now  has  a  mem- 
bership of  eighty. 

The  various  temperance  societies  have  been 
organized  and  for  a  time  maintained,  but  at 
present  none  are  in  existence. 

March  12,  L854,  a  council  consisting  of 
Elders  Joseph  H.  Odell  and  Stephen  Blair, 
met  at  the  residence  of  William  White  and 
organized  the  first  Baptist  Church  of  Flora. 
Previous  to  this,  missionary  work  had  been 
done  by  Elders  I.  H.  Elkin,  Joseph  EL. 
Odell  and  Stephen  Blair — three  good  men. 
Twenty-four  members  constituted  the  first 
society,  and  they  called  as  their  first  pastor 
Rev.  Jesse  Kenady,  who  preached  one  year. 
He  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  M.  C.  Blankenship, 
who  did  much  good  work  for  the  church. 

At  the  church  session  in  October,   L854,  a 


site  for  a  church  building  was  selected  and 
preparations  were  immediately  made  for  the 
erection  of  an  edifice.  Owing  to  the  small 
number  of  members  and  none  of  them  being 
incumbered  with  worldly  goods,  much  diffi- 
culty was  experienced  in  raising  the  neces- 
sary funds,  and  it  was  not  till  1859  that  the 
building  was  completed  and  ready  for  oc- 
cupancy. 

The  church  was  dedicated  to  the  service  of 
God  on  the  first  Sunday  of  April,  1859,  by 
Elder  I.  H.  Elkin.  It  has  a  seating  capacity 
of  about  400.  Rev.  I.  H.  Elkin  was  the  first 
pastor  in  the  new  church.  His  work  was  very 
successful  and  the  membership  has  gradually 
increased  till  now  it  is  about  eighty.  The 
congregation  of  the  Cumberland  Presbyte- 
rian Church  was  organized  by  Rev.  H.  W. 
Eagan  November  30, 1803,  with  the  following 
charter  members: 

John  W.  P.  Davis,  Elvira  P.  Davis,  Oliver 
H.  Myers,  W.B.  Wilson,  Margaret  I.  Wilson, 
Martha  Vandaveer,  Arabella  J.  Weed,  Cath- 
arine Medley,  Anna  Williams,  James  M. 
Williams,  Carrissa  Eddy,  Sarah  Hawkins, 
Mary  Chamberlain,  Louisa  Maria  Beekman. 
At  the  organization,  John  W.  P.  Davis  and 
Dr.  W.  B.  Wilson  were  chosi  n  Ruling  Elders, 
and  James  M.  Williams  and  Oliver  H. 
Myers  were  elected  Deacons.  All  were  or- 
dained by  Revs.  H.  W.  Eagan  and  J.  H. 
Nickell.  Soon  after  this  organization  of  the 
congregation,  a  church  edifice  was  erected. 
The  membership  of  this  church  has  never 
been  large,  but  it  has  always  been  noted  for 
the  earnestness  and  devotion  of  its  members. 
Rev.  C.  C.  Young  is  now  the  pastor. 

The  first  Presbyterian  Church  was  organ- 
ized at  Xenia.  111.,  by  the  Presbytery  of  Kas- 
kaskia,  April  21,  1858.  Rov.  R.  M.  Roberts 
and  P.  R.  Vanatta  and  Elder  T.  W.  Sweeny 
otliciating.  It  commenced  with  eleven  mem- 
bers, viz.  :    William  Townslev.  J.   M.   Haines, 


372 


HISTORY   OF   CLAY   COUNTY. 


Eliza  Taliafero,  Nancy  J.  Henderson,  Mar- 
garet Walker,  Amelia  Townsley,  Henry  S. 
Watson,  E.  Jane  Maiinagb,  Jane  Belding, 
S.  J.  Holman  and  Belinda  Haines,  and  Will- 
iam Townsley  was  the  first  Elder.  The 
church  was  ministered  to  occasionally  by 
Revs.  P.  R.  Vanatta,  F.  H.  L.  Laird  and 
D.  R.  Todd.  The  majority  of  the  members 
and  the  only  Elder  having  moved  to  Flora, 
on  the  28th  of  May.  1864,  Rev.  John  Crozier 
aDd  Elder  Thomas  Buchanan,  a  committee 
of  the  Presbytery  of  Saline,  met  at  Flora  and 
re-organized  the  church,  and  April  15,  1867, 
the  Presbytery,  then  in  session  at  Flora, 
changed  the  name  of  the  church  of  Xenia  to 
that  of  Flora,  and  received  it  under  their 
care  by  that  name.  The  first  regular  pastor 
was  Rev.  R.  C.  Galbraith. 

In  1870,  two  lots,  on  oae  of  which  was  a 
building  suitable  for  a  manse,  and  the  other 
suitable  for  a  church  building,  were  pur- 
chased. 

The  house  was  erected,  and  on  the  third 
Sabbath  in  May,  1871,  dedicated.  Rev. 
William  Reed  was  the  pastor  from  1874  to 
1875:  Rev.  M.  V.  B.  Van  Ausdale  from  1875  j 
to  1876.  The  last  regular  pastor  was  Rev. 
Allen  McFarland,  who  died  in  1883, 
after  a  lingering  illness  of  several  months. 
He  was  a  useful  man  in  the  church  and  in 
society,  and  was  greatly  beloved  by  all  who 
knew  him. 

The  Christian  Church  was  organized  in 
1855, by  Father  Schooley  in  an  old  log  school- 
house  which  stood  about  one  mile  west  of 
Flora.  Nine  persons  composed  the  first  con- 
gregation, among  whom  were  Walter  Kina- 
man,  Henry  Kinaman  and  wife,  Felin  Poe 
and  wife,  James  Moore  and  wife,  and  Samuel 
Kinaman  and  wife. 

The  meetings  were  held  at  this  schoolhouse, 
at  Henry  Kinaman's  residence  and  at  the 
houses  of  other  members  till  the  frame  school- 


house  was  built  in  Flora,  where  the  meetings 
were  held  till  1861,  when  the  present  church 
building  was  erected  at  a  cost  of  about 
$2,000.  This  building,  which  is  one  of  the 
neatest  and  best  arranged  churches  in  the 
county,  was  used  for  several  years  with  only 
boards  placed  on  blocks  for  seats.  Among 
the  first  preachers  was  Father  Schooley.  who 
preached  occasionally.  Rev.FelinPoewasthe 
first  Elder.  Rev.  John  Tinkler  was  also  an 
occasional  preacher.  Rev.  John  Flick  was 
the  fiist  regular  minister.  From  the  begin- 
ning, the  congregation  increased  rapidly  in 
numbers,  and  when  the  church  was  com- 
pleted numbered  nearly  three  hundred. 
The  congregation  has  always  been  prosper  - 
ous,  and  has  had  some  of  the  best  preaches 
in  the  State  for  its  pastors. 

Rev.  M.  T.  Hough  is  now  the  pastor  hav- 
ing been  unanimously  retained  for  the  sec- 
ond year. 

During  the  construction  of  the  Ohio 
&  Mississippi  Railroad,  a  large  number  of 
Catholics  were  residents  of  this  place, 
and  it  is  one  of  the  cardinal  principles  of 
that  faith  to  not  let  their  people  go  without 
religious  instruction,  a  priest  occasionally 
visited  them,  and  mass  was  said  at  Louis  V al- 
bert' s residence  south  of  town;  Father  Fisher, 
of  St.  Mary's,  was  the  visiting  priest.  The 
next  place  where  mass  was  said  was  at  Jerry 
Hagarty's  where  S.  T.  Hinkley  now  lives.  The 
society  was  visited  once  a  month  by  the  jwiest 
from  Olney.  For  about  a  year  before  the 
church  was  built  mass  was  said  at  S.  Rider's. 
After  the  completion  of  the  church  Father 
Day,  of  Olney,  visited  them  ohco  a  month. 
Father  Shagle  was  the  first  resident  priest; 
he  remained  about  eight  or  ten  months,  and 
was  succeeded  by  Father  Rasin,  who  had 
been  with  the  church  since  1878.  Louis 
Valbert,  Jerry  Hagarty,  Dennis  Whalen  and 
Tim  Buckley  were  among  the  first  members, 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


373 


and  Jerry  Hagarty  and  Sylvester  Rider  were 
tht>  first  trustees.  The  congregation  now 
numbers  fifty-five  families.  They  have  been 
visited  at  different  times  by  Bishops  Junker 
and  Baultes,  of  Alton. 

The  Flora  Circuit  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  Southern  Illinois  Conference, 
was  formed  in  the  fall  of  1S60;  Rev.  Jacob 
S.  Moore  was  the  hist  pastor.  In  the  spring 
of  1861,  when  our  country  was  calling  for 
defenders,  he  resigned  his  charge,  raised  a 
company  of  volunteers  and  went  to  the  war. 
The  circuit  was  without  a  preacher  for  some 
time.  The  place  was  finally  supplied  by 
Rev.  Richard  Randall:  owing  to  the  small 
number  of  members  this  circuit  was  in  1S62 
connected  with  the  Mt.  Erie  Circuit,  and  the 
different  societies  had  preaching  once  in 
about  every  four  weeks.  In  1864,  the  two 
charges  were  disconnected,  the  Flora  Circuit 
had  then  about  150  members,  and  Rev.  R. 
H.  Peter  was  the  paster. 

During  his  pastorate,  an  effort  was  made  to 
raise  funds  to  erect  a  church  building;  about 
$3,000  was  subscribed  and  §1,000  paid  in. 
In  1865,  Rev.  S.  L.  Rea  was  the  pastor,  and 
the  church  building  was  completed  at  a  cost 
of  $2,600.  In  1866,  Flora  was  made  a  sta- 
tion with  about  200  members,  and  Rev.  W. 
H.  Corrington  was  the  pastor.  The  follow- 
ing have  been  stationed  here  since:  Revs.   A. 


B.  Morrison,  Asa  Coho,  A.  B.  Nesbitt,  O.  H. 
Clark,  Dr.  John  Van  Cleve,  W.  D.  Mabry, 
B.  R.  Pearce,  M.  N.  Powers  and  J.  B.  Rav- 
enscroft. 

During  Rev.  Clark's  work  bere,  he  began  to 
build  the  parsonage,  which  was  completed 
soon  after  he  left  Rev.  Mabry  improved 
the  church  property  materially,  adding  a 
new  brick  front  and  tower,  and  a  room  above 
the  entry  for  a  pastor's  study.  The  present 
pastor  is  Rev.  J.  B.  Ravenscroffc,  who  is  now 
on  his  second  year's  work.  He  was  born  in 
England  in  1836;  came  to  this  country  with 
his  parents  in  1839;  settled  in  Indiana,  where 
he  grew  to  manhood;  he  entered  the  minis- 
try in  1852,  and  for  several  years  sustained 
the  relation  of  a  local  preacher.  In  1867,  he 
became  an  active  member  of  the  Southern 
Illinois  Conference,  and  is  now  recognized  as 
one  of  its  most  effective  and  popular  preach- 
ers. With  this  we  close  our  part  of  the  his- 
tory of  Clay  County.  In  a  work  of  this  char- 
acter, in  which  so  much  depends  on  early 
traditions  or  somewhat  incoherent  records,  it 
is  but  probable  that  some  errors  will  occur 
and  many  things  be  omitted;  we  have  tried  to 
guard  against  these,  and  to  give  such  matter 
as  will  aid  the  future  generations  in  getting 
at  least  a  partial  knowledge  of  our  past 
history,  and  if  this  has  been  accomplished  we 
shall  be  satisfied. 


374 


HISTORY   OF   CLAY   COUNTY. 


CHAPTER    X. 


LOUISVILLE    TOWNSHIP— CONFIGURATION,   BOUNDARIES,    ETC.— DRAINAGE— EARLY   PIONEERS- 
WATER  MILLS— EARLY  INDUSTRIES— LIFE  ON  THE  LITTLE  WABASH— BOATING— FIRST 
BUILDINGS   AND   BUSINESS   HOUSES— "  BLIND     TIGER"     AND     "HORNED 
ROOSTER"— THE     OLD   AGRICULTURAL     SOCIETY— CHURCHES 
AND    SCHOOLS— TOWNSHIP    RECORDS,    ETC.,    ETC. 


r  l^HE  traveler,  as  he  journeys  westward 
J-  over  our  Illinois  prairies,  enjoying  the 
comforts  of  a  Pullman  Palace  Car,  and  borne 
onward  with  the  speed  of  the  wind  does  not 
realize  that  the  country  he  is  borne  over,  and 
on  which  his  languid  gaze  notes  herds  of  cat- 
tle and  sheep  in  pastures,  improved  farms, 
good  roads,  churches  and  schoolhouses,  and 
where  the  tiller  of  the  soil  seems  surrounded 
by  ease  and  comfort — the  danger,  the  toil 
and  hardships  which  the  early  settler  en- 
countered as  he  with  his  ox-team  slowly 
wound  his  way  over  hill,  unbridged  slough 
and  trackless  prairie.  This  is  not  the  time 
nor  place  to  eulogize  the  early  settler  and 
the  heroic  efforts  put  forth  by  him  and  his 
self-sacrificing  wife  and  children  to  create  a 
home  and  surround  it  with  the  comforts  of 
civilization.  If  we  could  but  picture  the  lit 
tie  scene,as  the  mover  by  wagon  finally  stops  at 
the  place  which  is  to  be  the  future  home,  and 
knew  the  thoughts  which  surged  through  the 
minds  of  the  little  colony;  how  the  faithful 
wife  looks  around  in  the  wilderness  in  which 
is  still  heard  the  howl  of  the  wolf  and  the 
scream  of  the  panther,  and  with  a  brave 
heart  assists  in  planning  the  new  home;  or 
if  we  could  but  know  the  thoughts  of  the 
husband  as  he  fells  the  first  tree  which  is  to 
be  a  part  of  the  log  cabin  which  is  to  shel- 
ter them  from  the  bleak  storms  of  winter, 
the   picture  would  be   interesting.     But   we 


have  few  records  of  these  early  times,  and 
we  must  fall  back  on  tradition,  and  let  our 
imagination  picture  to  us  those  early  scenes 
of  pioneer  life,  which  were  the  starting  points 
of  our  present  prosperity.  Though  the  heroes 
of  those  early  days  sleep  peacefully  under  the 
soil  which  they  wrested  from  the  wilderness, 
which  now  teems  with  the  life  and  light  of 
civilization,  their  deeds  and  memory  should 
be  perpetuated  in  the  annals  of  local  his- 
tories. Meager  indeed  are  the  results  of  the 
laborious  and  extensive  researches  of  the 
historian,  whose  task  it  is  to  gather  the  facts 
clustered  around  the  early  settlement  of  that 
part  of  Clay  County  known  as  Louisville 
Township,  situated  in  Town  4  north,  Range 
6  east. 

It  derives  its  name  from  the  county  seat  of 
Louisville,  which  was  named  after  some  old 
families  by  the  name  of  Lewis,  wherefore 
the  proper  way  would  be  to  spell  the  name 
Lewisville,  the  mistake  having  been  made  by 
Mr.  Blackburn,  of  Vandalia,  who  made  the 
plat  of  the  town.  The  soil  of  Louisville 
Township  is  well  adapted  to  raising  grain 
and  corn,  but  although  it  can  compare  favor- 
ably with  other  towDships  in  agriculture,  we 
think  that  it  is  best  adapted  to  horticulture, 
which  fact  is  well  illustrated  by  the  many 
orchards  that  are  dotted  over  this  locality. 
It  is  well  timbered  and  watered,  and  seems 
also  especially  adapted  to  stock-raising.   The 


HISTORY   OF   CLAY   COUNTY. 


375 


timber  consists  of  several  different  species  of 
oak,  and  a  number  of  other  varieties  of  hard 
and  soft  wood,  such  as  are  found  in  other 
parts  of  Clay  County,  principally  along  the 
water -courses.  A  natural  system  of  drainage 
is  produced  by  the  Little  Wabash  River, 
which  Hows  diagonally  through  the  township, 
entering  it  in  Section  4  and  leaving  it  in 
Section  36.  Into  it  flow  a  number  of  tribu- 
taries, of  which  the  principal  one  on  the  east 
side  is  Panther  Creek,  and  on  the  west  Dis- 
mal and  Crooked  Creeks.  Buck  Creek  flows 
through  the  southwest  corner  of  the  town- 
ship. The  Little  Wabash  River  was  quite  a 
commercial  highway  in  an  early  day  when 
the  railroads  were  unknown,  and  for  many 
years  it  was  the  only  means  by  which  ex- 
ports, such  as  grain,  beef,  pork  and  other 
produce  could  be  shipped  to  more  thickly 
settled  countries,  mainly  New  Orleans.  It 
was  in  the  Legislature  declared  navigable  in 
an  early  day  by  the  Committee  of  Internal 
Improvements,  even  north  of  Clay  County. 
However,  more  in  regard  to  the  shipping  busi- 
ness will  appear  further  on. 

The  boundaries  of  Louisville  Township, 
are  as  follows:  On  the  north  by  Blair  Town- 
ship, on  the  east  by  Hoosier  Township,  on 
the  south  by  Harter  Township,  on  the  west  by 
Oskaloosa  Township.  Probably  the  first  set- 
tler in  the  limits  of  Louisville  Township  was 
George  Goble,  who  came  here  from  Indiana, 
and  settled  here  in  or  before  1N'_!0.  at  least 
he  entered  eighty  acres  of  land  that  year,  in 
Section  23,  where  Louisville  now  stands. 
Little  did  this  old  pioneer  dream  that  the 
land  which  he  entered  would  be  honored  by 
having  the  county  seat  located  on  it  in  after 
years.  He  at  one  time  owned  the  old  water 
mill  on  the  Little  Wabash,  the  first  in  the 
county,  and  for  twenty  years  afterward  it 
was  called  Goble's  Mill,  though  its  former 
owner  had  long  ago  gone  to  that  bourn   from 


whence  no  traveler  returns.  He  lies  buried 
in  the  old  Louisville  Graveyard.  He  had 
sold  his  land  to  Crawford  Lewis,  who  im- 
proved it  mainly.  George  Goble  has  no 
descendants  living  in  this  county.  His 
brother,  John  Goble,  lived  south  of  him,  he 
having  come  here  several  years  later,  and  is 
the  parent  of  George,  Benjamin  and  Polly 
Goble.  George  Goble  has  one  son  named 
Benjamin  yet  living  in  the  township.  Ben- 
jamin Goble  married  Elizabeth  Surrells;  his 
son  Gus  is  also  living  in  town.  Polly  Goble 
married  Jesse  Kinkaide.  Another  old  settler 
was  Grissom  Lee,  who  came  here  from  In- 
diana about,  the  time  the  Gobies  did. 
His  two  children,  Grissom,  Jr..  and  Ellen 
Burton  are  yet  living  in  the  State. 

The  Lewis  families  came  here  about  1830; 
there  were  five  brothers,  viz.,  William,  Robert, 
John,  David  and  Crawford.  They  came  here 
from  Indiana.  Crawford  Lewis  bought 
George  Goble's  farm  and  mill.  He  improved 
the  land  and  set  out  a  large  orchard,  which 
was  situated  between  the  river  and  the  pres- 
ent new  town  of  Louisville.  He  was  an 
industrious,  well-behaved  man,  and  much 
esteemed  by  his  neighbors.  He  was  fond  of 
the  chase,  hunting  and  trapping,  and  when 
more  people  settled  around  the  old  water  mill 
he  sold  out  to  Dr.  Green,  and  moved  to  the 
north  part  of  Blair  Township  where  the  game 
was  more  plentiful,  and  where  more  of  the 
name  of  the  man  appeal's  after  whom  Louis- 
ville is  named.  The  Williainses  were  also 
among  the  early  settlers,  and  have  descend- 
ants living  in  the  county.  They  were  also 
natives  of  Indiana. 

Old  Uncle  Isaac  Martin  came  here  in  a 
very  early  day.  He  was  conspicuous  in  the 
building  of  flat-boats,  and  is  the  father  of 
the  following  children,  vi^;. .  Hanson,  Isaac. 
Jr.,  and  Charlotte  Erwin.  His  brother, 
Abraham  Martin,  came  here  abuut  the  same 


376 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


time,  and  ran  a  blacksmith  shop,  and  died 
here.  Adam  Cullum,  Sr. ,  came  here  later, 
and  married  Sarah  Lewis,  a  daughter  of 
John  Lewis.  The  Surrells  came  to  Maysville 
from  Morgan  County,  111.,  in  1833.  There 
were  four  brothers,  viz.,  Peter,  Jesse,  Jor- 
dan, James  and  Richard.  They  all  finally 
came  to  Louisville  about  1838,  and  assisted 
in  the  building  of  flat-boats  and  running 
them  down  to  New  Orleans.  Phoebe  Surrells, 
who  yet  resides  in  Louisville,  was  a  sister  of 
the  above,  and  her  son,  Benjamin  Surrells,  is 
yet  among  us. 

Another  old  settler  was  John  Golden  from 
Kentucky.  John  W.  Sullivan  is  one  of  the 
few  old  landmarks  left  of  the  early  settlers 
of  Louisville  Township.  He  was  born  July 
28,  1809,  in  Pendleton  District,  S.  C.  He  is 
a  son  of  James  and  Elizabeth  (Wood)  Sulli- 
van. James  Sullivan  was  a  native  of  Ire- 
land, educated  in  Dublin,  and  was  a  soldier 
in  the  Revolutionary  war. 

John  W.  Sullivan,  Sr.,  came  to  Clay  Coun- 
ty in  1828,  in  company  with  his  brother 
Paul.  He  staid  about  two  years,  spending 
most  of  his  time  in  hunting;  then  followed 
the  river  till  1834,  when  he  once  more  came 
to  Clay  County,  locating  in  Maysville,  where 
he  was  married  in  1838  to  Margaret  Green, 
a  daughter  of  Dr.  Green.  About  1838,  he 
came  to  Louisville,  with  which  place  he  has 
been  identified  ever  since.  He  carried  the 
first  mail  that  left  the  Louisville  office  to  the 
O.  &  M.  Railroad,  delivering  it  near  the  new 
graveyard,  and,  with  the  exception  of  about 
ten  months,  has  carried  it  ever  since. 

John  Ochiltree  was  a  native  of  Kentucky, 
but  came  here  from  Wabash  County,  111.  In 
1836,  he  entered  land  in  Section  23,  and 
was  married  here  to  Martha  J.  McCawley. 
He  died  here.  It  is  said  that  while  living  at 
Maysville,  where  he  officiated  as  Postmaster, 
he  carried  the  United  States  mail  in  his 
largo  hat. 


Between  the  years  1850  and  1800,  a  num- 
ber of  people  came  from  Ohio  to  this  coun- 
try. Some  of  them  were  good  farmers,  and 
proved  a  valuable  acquisition  to  the  town- 
ship. Among  that  class  we  find  S.  B.  Moore, 
Sr.,  who  lived  in  Section  17,  where  he  en- 
tered land  in  1838.  His  expression  of  "  We 
Ohioans  "  is  well  remembered.  He  reared  a 
large  and  respectable  family,  whose  descend- 
ants are  yet  living  among  us.  He  was  the 
father  of  the  following  children,  viz.,  Perry. 
Daniel,  Sylvester,  John,  Samuel,  Uantha 
Hortenstine  and  Martha  Lampkin.  Of  the 
above,  Sylvester  has  gone  to  Texas,  and  Dan- 
iel was  killed  by  jumping  on  a  crowbar.  He 
,  died  October  31,  1S82.  The  people  that 
came  here  from  Ohio  were,  generally  speak- 
ing, of  a  very  industrious  class,  who  have 
added  materially  to  the  development  of  the 
county.  Among  them  were  a  few  who  seemed 
to  think  that  they  were  a  trifle  smarter  than 
the  "  Suckers,"  but  after  dealing  with  them 
some  years  concluded  to  give  it  up  and 
moved  back  to  Ohio. 

The  first  water' mill  built  in  Clay  County 
was  built  by  Weatherspoon  at  the  old  town  of 
Louisville.  It  finally  passed  into  the  hands 
of  George  Goble,  and  then  became  the  prop- 
erty of  Crawford  Lewis,  who  rebuilt  it  and 
then  sold  it  to  Dr.  Peter  Green,  who  sold  it 
to  Sewell,  who  let  it  go  back  to  Green,  and 
after  passing  through  several  hands  it  became 
the  property  of  P.  P.  Brown,  and  after  that 
William  Huddleson's.when  it  was  abandoned. 
In  185S,  John  Frowley  and  James  Monroe 
erected  a  steam  mill  in  Louisville;  it  was 
used  for  a  saw  and  flouring  mill,  and  is  yet 
in  operation,  owned  by  L.  R.  Bounds.  In 
1882.  the  Brissenden  Brothers  built  a  new 
flouring  mill  with  the  improved  roller  process. 
It  is  one  of  the  finest  in  Southern  Illinois, 
and  the  change  from  the  rude  water  mill 
to  the  present  fine  mills  in  Louisville  is  very 
great,  and  marks  the  progress  of  the  times 


IIISTOliY   OF   CLAY    COUNTY. 


877 


The  lantf  in  Louisville  T  was  not 

id  very  rapid 
of  grain  in   it   and   ad 

ome  waj 

at  1  tome, 
and   i  e    in  o  lier   settle- 

men  -  sh,  the 

ver    i  the 

river.    The 

■  e  banks  of 
the 

bnsi   i 
attentii 

som  The  plan  was 

camore  tree,  hew  it 
inn  ie about  18x24 inches.  This 

middle,  orsawed  with  a 
wlii1  '     i  2xlS  inches, 

and  rom  fifty  to  seventy  feet. 

•  gunwales,"  and  formed  the 
main  strength  of  the  structure.  The  hard 
side  was  placed  outward,  and  on  the  inner 
and  lower  c  'uer  was  cut  a  "  gain "  large 
enough  to  ie  ich  Mooring  to  rest 

in  it  an  come  to  the  level  of  the  bottom  of 
the  "gunwale."  The  width  of  the  boat  was 
from  sixteen  to  twenty  feet,  and  was  strength- 
cross  pieces  Eramed  in  the  "gun- 
wale.-" ;;i  moderate  distances  apart.  Length 
wise  the  boat  was  further  strengthened  by 
"  str  running  parallel  with  the  "  gun- 

wales "  about  four  feet  apart.  Upon  this 
frame  work,  securely  framed  and  fastened 
together,    a  i  i  f   two-inch    plank  was 

laid  double  pinned  with  wooden  pins,  and 
later  on  with  heavy  nails.  The  boat  thus  far 
constructed  was  bottom-side  up,  and  after 
being  well  caulked  the  difficulty  was  to  turn 
it  over  to  be  finished.  The  practice  was  to 
choose  a  location  on  the  bank  of  the  river 
convenient  for  launching,  and,  when  the  work 
reached    this  stage,   to  turn  it  on  the  land. 


h    the    more  skillful  turned  it    in  the 
r.     If   it   was   done   on   the   land,    the 
-    were    im        I     and   all  joined   in 
th     svo    len         athan  and  letting  it 
fall  on  bru  i  a  multitude  of  hoop- 

all 
l  con  ik  of 

'.'    way    w  red. 

Dg 

on  one  si  s  an 

i 
and  i   the 

■r   boats 

■    boat 

weighi  ed  with    earth    >  -    the 

nt  up  the  stream.  I  this 

position  the  en-  I  i  nken 

in  two,  pi i 

i  one 
side  considerable  and 

on  being  broken  down   the  cur    in  such 

hold  of  it,  as  to  turn  it  rightund  earn. 

Great  care  was  neei  ■  em- 

bankment  from    being  broken   prem        ely, 
and  for  those  who         la  .;-  to 

pe  a  serious    w  ig   into  a 

small  boat  ke]  7hen  turned, 

it  was  hau  cable  previously 

fastened  to  it,  and  then  completed.  The 
"  g     wales     ..  •  prow  to 

give  it  a  proper  "rake."     Sides  aboul     our 

high.  dling         iboardson 

studding  framed  in  the  sills  or  "gunwales," 
and  then  the  whole  was  roofed  over  with 
inch  boards  projecting  over  the  sides  to  shed 
water  perfectly,  and  rounded  from  one  side 
to  the  other,  the  center  being  about  six  feet 
high.  The  sides  of  the  boat  and  main  part 
were  made  out  of  the  very  best  white  oak. 
About  six  feet  of  the  stern  was  boarded  off 
for  a  cabin,  provided  with  bunks  on  either 
side,  and  a  stone  lire-place  with  "  cat  and 
clay  "  chimney.     Sometimes  three  feet  of  the 


378 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY    COl'NTY. 


front  end  was  left   inclosed  to  prevent  the 
greater  danger  of  snag9,  and  when  provided 
with  sweeps  on  each  side  and  a   steering  oar 
in  the  rear,  the  oraft  was  complete.     These 
boats  varied  in  size,  and  would  carry  from 
2,000  to  5,000  bushels  of    grain.     At   first 
each  man  was  his  own  pilot,  but  as  the  busi- 
ness increased  there  were  those   whose  fre- 
quent trips  down  the  river  gave  their  judg- 
ment a  money  value.     These  men,  especially 
on   the    larger    rivers,    provided    themselves 
with  charts  of  the  river,  and  set  up  as  pilots. 
They    were    subsequently  hired  to  navigate 
the  boats,  and  were  paid  from  $50  to  $75  a 
trip,  and  later,  according  to  the  length  of  the 
boat,   $1    per    linear    foot.      From    three    to 
eight  hands  were  employed  as  crew,  at  about 
$30    to    $35    per   trip,    all    employes    being 
boarded  on  the  trip,  and  all  paying  the  entire 
expenses  on  their  return.     The  whole  cost  of 
such  a  trip,  including  boat,  was  from  $300 
to  $400,  though  a  part  of  this  was  recovered 
by  the  sale  of  the  boat  in  New  Orleans,  their 
destination,  which  lessened  the  net  cost  by 
some    $25    to    $75,    or   more    provided   the 
material    was  of    carefully    selected    lumber 
and  the  market  favorable. 

The  average  trips  took  from  three  to  six 
weeks,  depending  upon  the  weather.  The 
start  was  generally  made  upon  the  spring 
flood,  and,  if  the  nights  were  clear  and  light, 
no  snags  encountered  and  no  delays  oc- 
casioned by  "tying  up"  to  the  bank  at 
night  as  a  matter  of  prudence,  quicker  time 
than  the  above  mentioned  could  be  attained. 
lint  many  favorable  combinations  of  circum- 
stances were  seldom  known.  These  trips, 
though  accomplished  by  men  unfamiliar 
with  the  science  of  navigation,  were  not  free 
from  serious  risks  of  personal  danger  or 
financial  embarrassment  After  steam- 
boats began  to  ply  the  Mississippi  and  Ohio, 
the  danger  of  being  run  down  by  them,  was 


very  great  in  dark  nights,  and  the  general 
practice  was  to  lie  by  on  such  occasions.  At 
first  the  only  signal  lights  were  torches,  and, 
later,  lanterns. 

An  experience  is  related:  When  one  of  these 
boats  had  entered  a  chute  near  one  of    the 
islands  in  the  Mississippi,  the  crew  heard  a 
steamer  coming  up  the  stream.      The  channel 
ran  close  to  the  island,  and  the  night  being 
dark  there  was  the  greatest  danger  of  a  col  - 
lision.  A  man  was  placed  on  the  bow  with  a 
lantern,  but  the  steamer  seemed  to  be  coming 
directly  on  the  boat.   The  lantern  was  waved 
and  everything  possible  was  done  to  indicate 
the  location  of  the  boat  to  the  steamer's  pilot, 
but  seemingly   of  no  avail;  but  just  at  the 
point  of    contact  the  steamboat  sheered  off, 
but  with  so  small  space  that  the  name  of   the 
boat  could  be  read  by  the  light  of  the  lantern. 
On  another  occasion,  a  snag  struck  the  rake 
of  the  boat  so  far  back  as  to  let  the  water 
into  the  cargo  and  as  it  could  not  be  reached 
the  boat  began  to  sink.      Fortunately  it  was 
loaded  with  corn  in  the  ear,  and  after  set- 
tling down  more  than    half  way,    the    boat 
floated  and  was  subsequently  saved.   Though 
such  incidents  were    common,  the  voyagers 
from    Louisville    never  suffered  any  serious 
losses  or  accidents.      In   those  days,  a  boat 
was  finished  near  the  mill,  then  towed  up  the 
river  two  miles   and  sunk  to  be  raised  again 
in  the  spring,  but  when  the  spring  came  the 
boat  was  found  filled  with  sand  and  conse- 
quently could  not  be  raised. 

The  crews  of  the  boats  would  return  home 
by  way  of  St.  Louis,  the  trip  being  made  on 
steamers  and  costing  $3.  The  trip  from  St. 
Louis  to  Louisville  was  made  by  stage  and 
cost  $1.50.  There-fore,  about  $25  could  be 
cleared  each  trip.  This  was  good  pay  in 
those  days,  and  as  these  trips  were  fraught 
with  danger,  they  just  suited  the  early  set- 
tlers who  rather  enjoyed  them.   It  was  there- 


HISTORY   OF   CLAY  COUNTY. 


379 


fore  always  easy  to  get  a  crew.  The  first  flat- 
boat  was  built  by  Dr.  Green,  Peter  Sur- 
rells,  George  Goble  and  others,  who  took  it 
down  the  river.  The  enterprise  was  watched 
with  much  interest,  and  on  their  safe  return, 
new  boats  were  built  each  year,  till  the  Ohio 
&  .Mississippi  Railroad  was  built  in  1854, 
when  W.  H.  Hudleson  built  and  took  down 
the  river  the  last  of  these  flat-boats,  the  first 
having  been  built  about  1842.  About  three 
boats  were  sent  down  the  river  each  year. 

Wherever  there  is  any  business  activity, 
the  development  of  a  village  is  certain.  Be- 
fore the  shipping  business  was  started,  a  vil- 
lage had  been  made.  A  town  was  platted  by 
Dr.  Peter  Green,  J.  L.  Wickersham  doing 
the  surveying.  The  main  part  was  situated  on 
the  south  half  of  the  southwest  quarter  of 
the  southeast  quarter  of  Section  23.  The 
streets  of  the  old  town,  and  also  the  new  one, 
fit  present  run  north  36°  west  and  south  54° 
west.  The  street  running  parallel  with  the 
river  was  called  Water  street,  and  the  second 
Sycamore  street.  Dr.  Peter  Green  was  a 
physician  of  more  than  ordinary  ability,  and 
an  active,  enterprising  man,  who  realized  the 
centra)  location  of  the  place,  and,  probably 
with  a  view  of  having  the  county  seat  relo- 
.cated  in  the  future,  he  began  early  to  buy  up 
land  around  the  town  and  promote  its  inter- 
est.". He  was  a  native  of  Kentucky,  and 
lived  many  years  near  Salem,  in  Indiana, 
where  he  ran  a  furniture  shop,  ox  mill  anil 
distillery,  on  account  of  which  latter  occupa- 
tion he  was  expelled  from  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  His  fondness  for  liquor, 
or  at  least  his  persistence  in  having  it  around 
him,  caused  him  much  family  trouble,  and 
has  cast  a  shadow  over  the  otherwise  com- 
mendable career  of  a  man  who  has  done 
much  for  Louisville,  in  fact  more  then  any 
other  man.  While  in  Indiana,  he  also  read 
medicine  and  practiced  it  with  Dr.  Harris  for 


two  years  before  he  came  to  Clay  County, 
which  was  in  1829,  locating  in  Maysville, 
then  the  county  seat.  The  Doctor  was  mar- 
ried twice.  His  first  wife,  Mary  Britton,  who 
died  in  Indiana,  was  the  mother  of  four 
children,  viz.,  George,  Margaret  Sullivan, 
Mary  Johnson  and  Rachel,  who  are  all  dead, 
but  their  descendants  are  yet  living  in  this 
county  and  in  Indiana.  His  second  wife, 
Ann  Jean,  was  a  native  of  Indiana,  but  died 
in  Louisville.  She  was  the  mother  of  five 
children,  viz.,  Martha  (wife  of  William 
Stoker,  a  prominent  lawyer  in  Centralia), 
Sarah  (deceased,  former  wife  of  Dr.  J.  Hal- 
lam,  of  Centralia),  Adeline  (deceased,  former 
wife  of  M.  Griffin,  once  a  prominent  lawyer 
of  Louisville),  Helen  (wife  of  Dr.  Allen 
Barnes,  now  a  resident  of  Bloomington, 
Illinois),  and  Thomas  (deceased).  While  Dr. 
Green  lived  in  MayBville,  he  followed  his 
profession  mainly.  In  1838,  he  ■  bought 
forty  acres  of  land  from  Crawford  Lewis, 
on  which  stood  the  old  Goble  Mill,  whose 
one-half  interest  he  sold  to  Morgan.  On 
this  land,  the  old  town  was  laid  out.  Two 
houses  were  already  standing;  one  was  used 
by  Morgan  as  a  residence  and  the  other  by 
George  Green  for  a  store;  this  was  the  first 
regular  store.  In  this  building  was  after- 
ward held  the  first  court  since  the  relocation 
of  the  county  seat. 

About  the  time  the  old  town  was  laid  out, 
Capt.  William  Linn  came  here  from  Vandalia, 
then  the  capital  of  the  State,  and  bought 
one-half  interest  in  the  town  and  mill  of  Dr. 
Green,  the  firm  being  known  as  Linn  & 
Green.  They  brought  on  a  heavy  stock  of 
goods,  astonishing  the  old  settlers  by  their 
enterprise  and  their  large  variety  of  goods, 
keeping  almost  everything.  They  built  an 
addition  to  the  old  store,  and  also  built  a 
pork  house  and  began  shipping  produce  down 
the    Little  Wabash    River    to    New  Orleans 


HISTORY   OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


on  flat-boats,  doing  a  prosperous  and  well- 
paying  business.  The  next  store  was  built 
by  Anthony  Hobbs,  who  also  kept  a  general 
store.  He  was  finally  bought  out  by  his 
father-in-law,  Isaac  Coleman,  who  eventual- 
ly moved  his  store  to  Blair  Township,  on  the 
Little  Wabash,  where  he  died.  A  mill  that 
was  erected  by  him  there  was  well  known  as 
Coleman's  Mill.  Near  it  one  of  those  bloody 
tragedies  occurred  which  were  too  common 
in  that  township, and  which  is  recorded  in  its 
annals. 

The  first  dry  goods  and  grocery  store  was 
put  up  by  Jacob  May,  from  Lawrence  County, 
but  now  Richland  County.  He  had  run  a 
store  a  long  time  in  Claremont,  on  the  old 
trail  between  Vincennes  and  St.  Louis.  He 
kept  a  fine  stock  of  goods.  The  next  store 
was  kept  by  Alexander  L.  and  Robert  Byers, 
who  kept  in  May's  old  store.  John  Mellrose 
kept  a  harness  shop;  AVilliam  Levitt  a  black- 
smith shop;  Star  Parvin  was  a  good  carpen- 
ter and  cabinet-maker,  and  Peter  J.  G.  Terry 
made  shoes  for  the  people.  This  was  the 
extent  of  the  business  men  of  the  old  town 
of  Louisville,  and  though  everything  was  in 
a  primitive  state,  it  was  yet  thought  good 
enough,  and  suited  the  style  and  tastes  of 
our  old-timers.  Dr.  Green  invested  in  land 
in  and  around  Louisville,  and  at  one  time 
owned  600  acres.  He  was  quite  a  leader  in 
an  early  day,  and  a  politician  of  some  note. 
He  was  elected  to  the  Legislature  from  this 
county,  and  while  there  presented  a  petition 
to  relocate  the  county  seat  from  Maysville  to 
Louisville,  and  through  his  influence  the 
Legislature  passed  a  bill  and  the  county  seat 
was  relocated.  The  first  court  was  held  in 
George  Green's  former  store  room,  and  the 
prisoners  were  kept  in  another  store  building 
till  the  old  jail  was  brought  from  Maysville. 
This  was  quite  an  affair,  and  more  secure 
than  almost  any  county  jail  of  the  present 


day.  It  was  made  out  of  hewn  oak  timber. 
It  had  three  thicknesses  on  the  sides.  It,  was 
in  the  form  of  a  blockhouse,  minus  doors  and 
windows,  only  one  little  hole  at  each  end  six 
inches  square.  Around  the  first  layers  of 
logs  was  put  a  second,  with  a  space  between, 
in  which  were  put  hewn  logs  upright,  so 
that  if  the  second,  wall  was  cut  through  the 
logs  would  slip  down  continually.  The  top 
and  bottom  only  had  one  layer  of  logs,  but 
at  the  bottom  was  a  thick  layer  of  rocks.  It 
was  two  stories  high,  but  the  top  had  doors 
and  windows,  and  the  prisoners  were  put  in 
the  lower  part  through  a  trap  door,  and  were 
let  down  with  a  ladder,  which  was  drawn  up 
afterward.  But  no  prisoners  could  live  long 
in  the  dark,  dismal  hole,  and  when  they  got 
sick  were  sometimes  placed  in  the  upper 
room,  which  was  not  as  secure,  and  from 
which  prisoners  would  sometimes  escape,  but 
never  from  the  lower  part.  It  was  used  till 
the  new  jail  was  built;  the  outer  part  of  the 
old  jail  is  now  used  as  a  stable  by  Dr.  Boyles. 
John  Trapp,  Sheriff  of  Effingham  County, 
Faris  Foreman,  an  attorney  from  Vandalia, 
and  Bowman,  Sheriff  of  Jefferson  County, 
were  appointed  by  the  Legislature  to  re- 
locate the  county  seat  as  near  the  center  of 
the  county  as  would  be  convenient.  They 
having  chosen  Louisville,  it  was  platted  by 
Blackburn,  from  Vandalia.  The  first  addi- 
tion to  the  old  town  was  surveyed  by  John 
Johnson.  The  streets  ran  in  the  same  direc- 
tion as  in  the  old  town,  north  36  degrees 
west  and  south  54  degrees  west.  The  large 
blocks  east  and  west  of  the  public  square  are 
S0x83J  feet,  and  the  blocks  north  and  south 
of  the  public  square  are  92  feet  square;  the 
others  are  in  lots  92x83J  feet.  There  is  a 
stone  planted  on  the  southeast  corner  of  the 
public  square,  also  another  on  the  northeast 
corner  of  Lot  S9,  and  another  on  the  south- 
west corner  of  Lot  1. 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


383 


The  house  of  Crawford  Lewis  was  already 
standing  when  the  new  town  was  surveyed. 
It  was  then  occupied  by  John  W.  Sullivan, 
Sr.  The  second  house  was  built  by  Samuel 
Slocumb,  who  kept  a  liquor  store.  He  and 
Jesse  Surrells  afterward  kept  a  grocery  store 
in  the  same  building.  This  house  was  after- 
ward bought  by  Dr.  Green,  who  built  to  it 
and  put  it  in  the  shape  it  is  to-day.  He  kept 
a  very  respectable  hotel,  and  also  used  part 
of  the  building  for  a  general  store,  including 
drugs.  This  was  one  of  the  best  stores  that 
was  ever  in  Louisville,  John  W.  Sullivan 
acted  as  clerk  for  many  years. 

The  building  was  afterward  sold  to  James 
David,  whose  widow  married  Judge  L.  S. 
Hopkins,  who  now  keeps  the  Hopkins  Hotel 
in  it.  The  third  building  was  put  up  by 
Peter  Surrells;  its  weather  boarding  was 
made  out  of  inch  walnut,  plowed  and 
dropped;  in  it  he  kept  a  grocery  store.  It 
is  yet  standing  on  the  southeast  corner  of 
the  public  square.  In  1851,  Hungate  & 
Neff  put  up  and  kept  a  store  in  the  north- 
east corner  of  the  square.  Teril  Erwin  was 
the  first  wagon  -maker;  his  brother,  Jarret 
Erwin,  was  the  first  blacksmith;  another 
brother,  named  John,  came  afterward  and 
was  a  carpenter  by  occupation.  Isaac  Ed- 
wards kept  the  first  regular  drug  store  where 
Muench  store  now  is.  He  was  succeeded  by 
Dr.  Winans.  The  first  hardware  store  was 
kept  by  Moroy  &  Phi  for,  succeeded  by 
John  Erwin,  who  is  yet  in  the  business. 
Dolph  Steinbrick  kept  the  first  harness  shop. 
Charles  Kiggs,  the  first  butcher  shop,  suc- 
ceeded by  Darling  Long.  Joseph  Holt  was 
the  first  resrular  brick  mason,  and  it  is  said 
built  the  second  brick  house  in  Louisville  for 
Allen  Davis;  it  is  now  the  residence  of  Rob- 
ert McCullom,  the  presout  Sheriff.  The 
cost  of  the  building  was  very  little,  as  Davie, 
who  kept  a  saloon,  got  most  of  the  work  done 


for  whisky.  The  first  brick  building  ever 
erected  in  Louisville  was  the  old  court  house. 
A  man  by  the  name  of  Samuel  Slocumb  had  the 
contract  to  build  it.  He  was  a  stylish,  fine-look- 
ing  man,  a  good  talker,  and  as  unscrupulous 
as  he  was  brilliant.  His  wife  was  a  fine- 
looking  woman,  and  pretended  to  keep  a 
boarding  house.  He  always  had  and  made 
lots  of  money;  betting  was  one  of  his  mild 
vices,  and  on  one  of  the  Presidential  cam- 
paigns won  between  §1,000  and  §2,000.  Of 
William  Lewis,  he  won  a  span  of  fine  black 
mares  with  silver  mounted  harness  and  a 
buggy,  and  also  §500  in  cash.  James  Mc- 
Cullum  held  the  stakes.  He  was  always 
well  dressed,  and  almost  constantly  wore  a 
plug  hat.  He  had  a  novel  and  cheap  way  of 
getting  the  court  house  built,  which  was  put 
up  on  the  south  part  of  the  square.  He  paid 
the  most  of  his  men  in  whisky,  and  gener- 
ally the  men  were  just  a  little  overdrawn. 
Sometimes  a  man  would  fall  out  with  Slo- 
cumb and  quit,  but  as  soon  as  he  would  get 
dry  he  would  resume  work  on  the  old  plan. 
Drinking  whisky  was  hardly  considered  a 
vice  in  those  days,  when  even  women  would 
so  to  horse-races  and  bet. 

Johnuy  McCoine  operated  a  distillery 
about  one  mile  southeast  of  town.  This  was 
about  1845-50,  but  ho  made  hardly  enough 
to  supply  the  thirsty  neighborhood.  He 
kept  it  up  only  a  few  years.  The  name  of 
"  moonshiners  "  was  unknown,  nor  did  the 
United  States  Marshals  have  occasion  to 
make  raids,  as  every  one  could  make  as  much 
whisky  as  he  chose.  It  was  made  out  of 
corn  costing  12^  cents  per  bushel,  and  would 
sell  for  17  or  18  cents  per  gallon.  The  few 
old  landmarks  of  those  good  old  times  who  are 
judges  of  this  beverage,  and  who  are  yet  liv- 
ing, claim  that  it  was  superior  to  anything 
made  now. 

John  McGahan,  from  Kentucky,  put  up  a 

22 


384 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


distillery  two  miles  east  of  Louisville,  where 
he  made  whisky  about  three  years.  After- 
ward Alfonso  Erwin  put  up  another  distillery 
in  town,  but  broke  up  after  running  it  a  few 
months.  These  distilleries  were  often  the 
resort  of  the  people,  the  majority  of  whom 
drank,  and  who  would  often  indulge  in  a  free 
fight  in  which  pistols  and  knives  were  un- 
known. 

McCoine  also  manufactured  crockery  on  a 
small  scale  and  of  poor  material.  It  looked 
very  yellow,  making  mainly  crocks,  jugs  and 
jars.  Some  of  our  good  old  dames  who  are  yet 
living  claim  that  that  kind  of  ware  was  su- 
perior to  our  present  ware,  but  it  is  only  one 
of  those  ideas  which  is  characteristic  to  the 
whole  human  race,  namely,  to  cling  fondly  to 
those  things  that  existed  while  we  were  chil- 
dren, and  think  of  them  as  being  superior. 
McCoine  died  here,  and  has  descendants  liv- 
ing in  the  county. 

Louisville  increased  in  population  slowly, 
and  the  free  and  easy  ways  people  had  of 
bnying  and  selling  liquor  continued  till 
1854,  when  the  "  Good  Templars  "  started  a 
society;  the  movement  waB  fought  with  bit- 
terness; but  they  increased,  and  the  next  year 
selling  whisky  was  prohibited,  and  W.  H. 
Hudleson  was  appointed  by  the  corporation 
of  Louisville  to  act  as  agent,  and  authorized 
him  to  sell  whisky  for  medicinal  purposes 
only.  He  kept  two  barrels  about  three  months. 
During  that  time  he  often  had  to  get  up  two 
and  three  times  in  the  night  to  fill  a  doctor's 
prescription  for  men  who  never  got  hurt,  and, 
as  he  often  strongly  suspected,  filled  the  same 
bottle  three  times  in  one  night,  got  disgusted 
and  quit. 

About  this  time,  a  "  blind  tiger  "  was  start- 
ed southeast  of  town,  so  called  on  account  of 
the  blinds  hung  up  in  front  of  the  door,  be- 
hind which  the  dandies,  business  men,  hunt- 
ers, farmers  and  loafers  drank  their  toddies. 


This  saloon  was  afterward  called  "  King 
Fish,"  it  being  situated  near  the  bank  of  the 
river.  The  name  afterward  changed  to 
"  Horned  Rooster,"  because  John  W.  Sulli- 
van, Si\,  had  bought  a  rooster  that  had  a 
horn  on  his  head,  and  put  it  in  the  house. 
The  price  of  admission  to  see  the  rooster 
was  10  cents,  and  a  glass  of  whisky  was 
thrown  in.  It  afforded  considerable  amuse- 
ment, and  was  a  financial  success.  Finally 
the  temperance  zeal  abated  and  a  saloon  was 
started  again  in  Louisville,  only  to  be  again 
driven  out  at  the  revival  of  the  temperance 
cause. 

Agricultural  Societies. — It  must  not  be 
supposed  that  the  men  of  Clay  County 
lacked  business  enterprise  or  were  be- 
hind in  promoting  the  interests  of  their 
county;  this  will  be  seen  by  the  efforts 
that  were  made  to  foster  agriculture  and  hor- 
ticulture, and  establish  societies  and  hold 
fairs.  As  early  as  1858,  a  society  was  formed 
at  Xenia,  on  the  O.  &  M.  Railroad,  and  a  fair 
was  held  for  several  years.  No  grand  dis- 
play attended  this  first  effort,  yet  it  was  the 
starting  point  of  a  good  enterprise.  A  space 
of  about  100  feet  was  inclosed  by  bolts  of 
brown  cotton  goods,  better  known  as  "  do- 
mestic," which  was  kindly  furnished  by  the 
merchants.  Encouraged  by  the  success  which 
attended  this  small  undertaking,  the  people 
of  Louisville  and  vicinity  organized  an 
agricultural  society  in  1860.  A  stock  com- 
pany was  formed,  who  issued  $1,000  worth  of 
stock  at  $5  per  share,  nearly  all  of  which 
sold  readily.  Messrs.  H.  R.  Neff,  J.  P. 
Hungate,  Dr.  Green  and  M.  H.  Davis,  who 
were  all  prominent  men  at  that  time,  were 
the  instigators  and  leaders  in  the  enter- 
prise. In  the  fall  of  the  above  year,  the  com- 
pany bought  four  acres  of  land  two  blocks 
east  of  town,  inclosed  and  improved  it,  and 
held  a  fair  the  same  year,  which  was  largely 


HISTORY  OF   CLAY  COUNTY. 


385 


attended,  it  being  a   novel  feature   to  quite 
a  number  of  farmers  who  had  never  been  at  a 
fair  before  in  their  lives;  everything  was  done 
to    interest  the  people,  and  to  promote   the 
interests    of    agriculture.      As    the    popula- 
tion of  the  county  increased  and  greater  in- 
terest was  manifested  by  the  farmers,  the  old 
grounds  were  deemed  too  small,  and  in  1S71 
the    society  was  re-organized  and   increased 
their  stock  to  $2,000,  and  added  a  horticult- 
ural department.     The  new  fair  ground  was 
situated  three- fourths  of  a  mile  southwest  of 
town,  where  the  society  had  bought  fourteen 
acres    of    land,  which  it    improved.      But  it 
seems  that  with  a  change  of  location  came  a 
change  of  fortune,  and  although  the  first  two 
fairs  were  a  financial  success,  the  next  three 
were  failures,  and  the  society  having  to  bor- 
row money  from  W.   H.  Hudleson,   amount- 
ing to  $600,  with   which  to  pay   the  prem- 
iums,   which    money    Mr.    Hudleson    subse- 
quently lost,   as    the  society,  becoming  dis- 
couraged, was  disorganized  and  its  property 
sold  to  pay  a  part  of  its  debts.     This  ended 
the  Clay  County  Agricultural  Society,  only 
to  be  revived  again  in   after  years  at  Flora, 
which  being  more  of  a  business  center,  in- 
sures greater  financial  success.      Another  un-  i 
successful  enterprise  was  started  in  1856   by  j 
G.  S.  Wooden,  who  came  from  Ohio.      He  in 
company    with   John   Colclasure  and    N.   L. 
Martin  built  a  steam  saw  and  grist  mill  two 
and  one-half   miles    north   of  Louisville,  on 
the  Little  Wabash  River,  which  they  operat- 
ed two  years;  but  it  did  not  prove  a  success, 
and  was  sold  and  moved  away.   G.  S.  Wooden 
afterward    disposed  of  his  property    during 
the  war,  and  in  order  to  avoid  the  draft  went 
to  California,  accompanied  by  his  brothers- 
John,  Elias  and  Joshua. 

Among  those  things  in  Louisville  Town- 
ship that  are  fast  passing  into  oblivion  we 
must  here   record    the  resting   place   of  our 


dead,  the  old  Louisville  Cemetery,  situated 
four  blocks  south  of  the  public  square. 
People  would  bring  their  dead  here  from  a 
distance  of  fifteen  miles.  About  300  are 
buried  here.  Grissom  Lee  was  the  last  one 
interred.  No  tombstones  of  any  kind  exist 
to  mark  the  places  of  those  that  have  passed 
away.  Four  Revolutionary  soldiers  -  are 
buried  here,  among  them  was  George  Goble, 
Sr.  At  one  time  a  man  plowed  up  a  good 
part  of  the  cemetery,  but  when  threatened 
with  arrest,  he  desisted.  A  fence  incloses  a 
part  of  the  ground  which  has  grown  up  in 
brambles  and  berry  bushes.  A  small  Indian 
burying  ground  also  exists  in  the  southwest 
part  of  the  township,  which  was  often  visited 
by  the  red  man  of  the  woods,  who,  though 
untutored,  yet  obeys  the  voice  of  nature,  and 
reveres  his  beloved  dead.  The  new  cemetery 
at  Louisville  is  just  outside  of  the  corpora- 
tion adjoining  the  southwest  corner  of  the 
town.  It  was  located  by  Dr.  Peter  Green, 
who  owned  several  hundred  acres  of  land  at 
that  time  around  Louisville.  A  daughter  of 
Dr.  Green  was  the  first  person  buried  in 
it;  and  J.  J.  Spriggs  dug  the  first  grave. 

Secret  Societies. — The  A.  F.  &  A.  M.    fra- 
ternity has  a  number   of    adherents  in   and 
about  Louisville.    They  had  a  charter  granted 
October  6,  1856.     The  following  were  char- 
ter members:     S.  C.  Sparks,   W.   J.   Steven- 
son, Wyatt  Cook,  Isaac  Martin,  J.  A.  Apper- 
son,  William  McCracken  and  John  Wooden. 
The  lodge  was  named  Louisville  Lodge,  No. 
196.     First  officers  were  S.  C.  Sparks,  Mas- 
ter; W.  J.  Stevenson. Senior  Warden;  Wyatt 
Cook,  Junior  Warden.      Present  officers:   W. 
R.  Whitman,   Master;    John  Erwin,  S.   \V. 
G.  A.  Henry,  J.  W.:  E.  H.  Hawkins,  Treas 
G.  W.  Mills,  Sec. ;  John  W.  Sullivan,  S.  D. 
G.  K.  Johnson,  J.  D. ;  B.  F.   Surrells,  Tiler. 
The    present    membership    is    about    forty 
Their  meetings  are  held  in  J.  C.  McCollum's 


386 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


Hall  on  Thursday  night  on  or  before  each 
full  moon.  It  is  the  oldest  lodge  in  the 
county.  Its  present  financial  condition  is 
good. 

The  I.  O.  O.  F.  fraternity  also  had  a  lodge 
here  a  short  time,  the  history  of  which  is  re- 
corded in  ths  annals  of  Bible  Grove  Town- 
ship. 

History  of  the  Louisville  Baptist  Church. 
— This  church  was  organized  in  the  year 
1841,  by  Rev.  Thomas  Vandinier,  formerly  of 
Washington  County,  Ind.  This  man  of  God 
had  considerable  ability  as  a  preacher,  whoso 
history  and  labors  belong  to  Indiana.  There 
is  but  little  known  of  this  church  from  this 
date  up  to  January  22,  1848.  From  that 
day  to  the  present,  the  church  has  kept  a  rec- 
ord of  all  her  proceedings.  On  the  above 
date,  the  brethren  met  at  the  house  of  Deacon 
John  Connely  for  the  purpose  of  organiz- 
ing a  Baptist  Church.  Rev.  George  Stacy 
was  chosen  Moderator,  and  Stephen  Blair, 
Clerk.  The  minutes  Bhow  the  names  of 
twelve  persons  who  were  recognized  as  mem- 
bers of  the  church.  This  church  was  called 
"  Hoosier  Prairie  Regular  Baptist  Church." 
From  this  day  the  good  Lord  seemed  to  bless 
our  brethren  abundantly.  Many  precious 
souls  were  converted  and  added  to  the 
church  as  the  fruit  of  the  faithful  labors  of 
Rev.  M.  Stacy.  He  was  the  companion  of 
Rev.  J.  M.  Peck,  formerly  of  New  York,  but 
sent  to  Illinois  as  a  missionary  by  the  Home 
Mission  Society.  He  preached  one  year,  and 
during  this  time  the  church  prospered  in 
faith  as  well  as  in  numbers.  About  this 
time  Rev.  Blair  was  moved  to  exhort  the  peo- 
ple to  flee  from  the  "  wrath  to  come. "  He 
had  uncommon  powers  as  a  speaker,  and  in 
1849  the  church  called  for  his  ordination. 
On  the  third  Sunday  of  July,  1850,  Brothers 
I.  H.  Elkin  and  Blair  commenced  a  pro- 
tracted meeting  in  Louisville,  which   contin- 


ued fifteen  days,  and  resulted  in  the  conver- 
sion of  thirty  persons,  twenty  of  whom  united 
with  the  church  and  were  baptized  during 
the  meeting.  This  interest  continued  about 
five  years.  July,  the  4th,  Saturday,  1850, 
was  the  last  meeting  of  this  church  in  Hoo- 
sier Prairie.  The  church  by  unanimous  vote 
moved  to  Louisville,  and  assumed  and  re- 
tained the  above  name,  holding  their  meet- 
ings in  the  court  house.  They  soon  found 
this  place  uusuited  for  their  meetings,  and 
built  a  frame  meeting  house  which  cost 
about  $2,000.  It  was  built  by  Isaac  Martin, 
Sr.  This  was  the  first  Baptist  meeting- 
house in  all  this  region  of  country.  This 
old  church  seems  to  have  been  the  center  of 
influence  for  Baptists  It  was  the  mother  of 
the  following  churches,  viz.,  Union,  Flora, 
Macedonia,  Xenia,  Oskaloosa,  Indian  Prai- 
rie and  others.  The  deed  to  the  ground  of 
this  old  church  was  made  March  25, 1851,  by  * 
Jephtha  and  Rebecca  Allen. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  pastors  since 
January  22,  1848,  viz. :  Elder  George  Stacy, 
I.  H.  Elkin  (who  served  the  church  till  No- 
vember, 1852),  Stephen  Blair,  Joseph  Odell, 
S.  Blair,  J.  Odell,  Jesse  Kennedy,  L.  B. 
Wharton,  J.  W.  Wharf,  J.  H.  Crow,  William 
B.  Livley,  J.  M.  Billingsley,  F.  Holland,  G. 
G.  Dougherty,  J.  M.  Stancil.  No  regular 
minister  at  present.  Most  of  the  above  min- 
isters have  served  more  than  one  term. 

The  old  meeting-house  was  in  such  bad 
shape  in  1876  that  it  was  torn  down  and  a 
good  brick  meeting-house,  30x50,  erected  on 
the  same  site  of  the  old  church,  costing 
about  $2,600.  Present  membership  is  fifty- 
six.  Present  officers  are  William  H.  Hudle- 
son,  Deacon;  S.  R.  Jones,  Deacon;  William 
E.  Murphy,  Deacou;  and  S.  R.  Jones,  Clerk. 
Trustees,  William  H.  Hudleson,  S.  R.  Jones 
and  J.  J.  Spriggs. 

A  Sunday  school  has  been  maintained  for 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


387 


the  past  twenty- five  years;  attendance  good; 
general  average  about  eighty;  generally  car- 
ried on  winter  and  summer.  Present  officers: 
Superintendent,  S.  R.  Jones;  Assistant  Super- 
intendent, J.  W.  Sullivan,  Jr.;  Secretary,  U. 
S.  Spriggs;  Treasurer,  M.  E.  Jones. 

About  forty  years  ago,  a  Christiau  Church 
organization  existed  in  this  township,  but 
they  had  no  regular  meeting  house.  Revs. 
Schooley.  William  Bryant  and  other  minis- 
ters officiated  in  an  early  day.  The  organi- 
zation finally  moved  to  Louisville  about  1857, 
and  had  John  A.  Williams  for  their  pastor. 
The  meetings  were  held  in  the  Baptist 
Church  till  the}'  built  a  brick  building  of 
their  own.  The  church  went  down  several 
times,  but  was  revived  each  time  by  ministers. 

In  1870,  Rev.  George  F.  Adams  a  dis- 
trict evangelist,  was  in  charge  of  the  Chris 
tian  Church  in  Louisville,  and  during  a  pro- 
tracted meeting,  which  lasted  nearly  sis 
weeks.  121)  members  joined  the  church  and 
wore  baptized.  Under  the  excellent  man- 
agement of  Rev.  Adams,  the  prosent  fine 
church  building  was  projected  and  completed, 
costing  about  S3, 000.  The  members  seemed 
to  feel  the  church  debt  for  many  years  after- 
ward, and  it  seems  they  never  fully  recovered 
from  the  straiu  put  upon  their  purses.  Rev. 
Adams,  who  was  a  native  of  Kentucky,  where 
he  was  also  educated,  preached  hero  ten 
months,  whou  he  left  for  other  fields  of  la- 
bor, after  having  witnessed  the  completion 
and  dedication  of  the  building.  He  was 
succeeded  by  R.  B.  Henry,  E.  J.  Heart 
La'hrop,  J.  B.  Lucas,  James  A.  Stewart  and 
Abraham  Herrald  UdouI  1  17ft,  the  interest 
in  the  church  began  to  decline,  and  at  times 
no  meetings  of  any  kind  were  held  for 
months,  almost  years.  But  at  present  a  bet- 
ter interest  is  takon,  and  a  brighter  future  is 
dawning  for  the  Christian  Church. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  dates  its 


organization  as  far  back  as  1845.  Before 
this,  however,  traveling  ministers  had  held 
services  in  the  homes  of  old  settlers.  After 
the  church  was  organized,  it  began  to  hold 
its  meetings  in  the  first  lojj  schoolhouse  ever 
built  in  Louisville.  The  following  were  the 
first  members:  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Daniel  Fields, 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  John  W.  Sullivan,  Mrs.  Dr. 
Peter  Green  and  her  daughter  Adeline  Green, 
Mary  Erwin,  Francis  Apperson,  wife  and 
daughter,  Joshua  Wooden,  Rachel  Moore, 
Sarah  Morris,  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  George 
Wooden.  The  present  membership  is  about 
seventy.  The  first  local  minister  was  Rev. 
John  M.  Griffith,  who  preached  a  number  of 
yeai's,  and  who  was  esteemed  by  the  whole 
congregation.  He  was  generally  required  to 
officiate  at  funerals  and  weddings,  and  was 
indispensable  at  their  revival  meetings,  even 
after  he  moved  out  of  the  neighborhood. 
Revs.  Joe  Helm,  Joseph  Blundel,  Cavil 
Lambert,  David  Standford  and  Lathrop  were 
some  of  the  first  ministers. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  ministers  who 
officiated  between  the  years  1860  and  1S83, 
viz. :  Stanford,  Lambert,  Walker  (supplied 
by  Wescott),  L.  A.  Harper,  Glaze  (supplied 
by  Barnes),  J.  S.  Barnes,  Thrapp,  A.  Myers, 
R.  H.  Massey,  C.  D.  Lingenfelter,  Flescher 
(supplied  by  Leach),  N.  ,E.  Harmon,  C.  \V. 
Sabine,  E.  Lathrop,  S.  J.  Harrington,  R.  M. 
Carter,  J.  G.  Reeder,  A.  Snell,  G.  A.  Seed 
and  J.  S.  Dee. 

The  meetings  were  held  in  the  old  school- 
house;  also  part  of  the  time  in  the  court 
house  and  the  Baptist  Church  till  ISO!),  when 
the  brick  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was 
built.  A  Sunday  school  has  been  maintained 
by  the  organization  almost  from  the  begin- 
ning. At  present,  N.  D.  Jamison  is  Super 
intondent;  Dr.  M.  Boyles,  Assistant  Super- 
intendent; Miss  Isa  Winans,  Secretary:  Mrs. 
Mary   Farris,  Treasurer;    M.  Tanner,    Libra- 


388 


HISTORY  OF  (LAY  COUNTY 


riau;  Mrs.  Nellie  Weeler,   Chorister.     Aver- 
age attendance,  sixty. 

Present  business  of  Louisville:  Groceries, 
N.  G.  Gibson,  Reynolds  &  Wheeler,  James 
Wilders  and  L.  A.  Shepherd,  who  also  sells 
dry  goods;  dry  goods,  H.  E.  Watson,  A.  H. 
Moore  &  Co.,  George  Roush  and  Lewis 
Shepherd;  hardware,  John  Erwin  and  W.  G. 

Gibson;  harness    and  saddlery,  ■  Smith; 

shoe-makers,  Reuben  Ginther  and  Philip  Bou- 
quet;   furniture  and   undertaker,   J.   C.  Mc- 
Collum;  drug  stores,  W.  A.  McNown  and  W. 
C.  Winans;  physicians,  W.  A.  &  H.  McNown, 
J.  M.  Boyles,  H.  S  Lauchner  and  G.  C.  Bur- 
ton; printer,  G.  A.  Henry,  editor  of  Ledger ; 
lawyers,  F.  G.  Cockrell,  D.   C.  Hagel,  H.  H. 
Chesloy,  G.  A.  Henry,  John  G.  Burns,  B.  D. 
Monroe  and  Benjamin  Hagel;  real  estate  and 
abstracters,  Burns  &  Hawkins;  broker,  Will- 
iam H.    Hudleson;    civil    engineer  and  sur- 
veyor, J.  M.  Bourne;  flouring  mills,  Brissen- 
den    Brothers   and   L.  R.  Bounds;  saw  mill, 
L.  R.  Bounds;  hotels,  Mary  P.  Griffin  and  L. 
S.  Hopkins;  meat  markets,  H.  E.  Watson  and 
John  Young;  bakery  and  restaurant,  F.  Con- 
ner; blacksmiths,  John  W.  Sullivan,  Jr.,  R. 
W.   Pierson   and  Dayton  W.  Bible;  carpen- 
ters,   Jones    &   Wood    and   Barbee  &  Case; 
wagon-makers,    Enos    Clark    and    S.    Hoke; 
brick  masons  and  plasterers,    B.    F.  Surrells 
and    James   H.    Manning;  tonsorial    artists, 
George  Olmsted  and  George  Miinch;  milli- 
ners, Mrs.  M.  E.  Burns  and  Miss  Susan  Holt; 
livery  stable,  E.  D.  Vickrey  and  Davis  Hagle. 

The  population  of  Louisville,  according  to 
the  census  taken  in  1880,  is  514. 

The  town,  although  the  county  seat,  has 
never  had  a  large  population,  owing  to  the 
fact  that  the  O.  &  M.  R.  R.  runs  through  the 
southern  part  of  the  county  and  the  many 
towns  located  on  it. 

At  the  first  town  meeting  held  in  the  court 
house  in   the  town  of  Louisville,  Clay  Co., 


111.,  on  the  1st  day  of  April,  the  following 
officers  were  elected:  H.  R.  Neff,  Super- 
visor; W.  W.  De  Witt,  Town  Clerk;  John  R. 
Graham,  Assessor;  C.  H.  Porter,  Collector; 
R.  C.  Woods,  Overseer  of  the  Poor;  James 
Wilders,  Commissioner  of  Highways;  H.  K. 
Farris  and  Elijah  De  Witt,  Justices  of  the 
Peace;  John  W.  Davis  and  M.  H.  Davis, 
Constables. 

Overseers  of  Highways — William  Helms, 
Overseer  of  District  of  No.  1;  Benjamin  F. 
Hayes,  Overseer  of  District  No.  2;  Nelson 
Martin,  Overseer  of  District  No.  3;  Samuel 
Rhinehart,  Overseer  of  District  No.  4;  Levi 
Hobbs,  Overseer  of  District  No.  5. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  township  officers 
since  the  first  were  elected: 

On  the  19th  day  of  April,  1862,  James 
Wilders,  H.  M.  Hobbs,  D.  Long,  were  ap- 
pointed Commissioners  of  Highways  for  the 
town  of  Louisville,  deciding  their  respective 
terms  of  office  by  ballot,  which  resulted  as 
follows:  Hobbs,  three  years;  Long,  two 
years;  Wilders,  one  year;  said  officers  then 
drew  lots  to  decide  which  of  them  should  be 
Treasurer.  It  was  decided  that  James  Wil- 
ders be  Treasurer;  after  he  moved  away,  J. 
J.  Spriggs  was  appointed  to  fill  the  vacancy, 
and  it  was  once  more  decided  by  lot  that  H. 
M.  Hobbs  serve  two  years,  and  act  as  Treas- 
urer; Spriggs,  three  years,  and  D.  Long,  one 
year.  The  following  is  a  list  of  officers  to 
present  writing: 

Township  officers  for  1863— H.  R.  Neff, 
Supervisor;  R.  A.  Holt,  Town  Clerk;  J.  R. 
Graham,  Assessor;  A.  H.  Porter,  Collector; 
Elijah  DeWitt,  Overseer  of  the  Poor;  John 
W.  Davis,  Commissioner  of  Highways;  H. 
K.  F arris  and  E.  De  Witt,  Justices;  John 
W.  and  M.  H.  Davis,  Constables. 

1864 — Wyatt  Cook,Supervisor;  James  Wil- 
ders, Township  Clerk;  J.  W.  Davis,  Assessor; 
Leander   Hopper,   Collector;  W.  H.   Hudle- 


HISTORY  OF   CLAY    COUNTY. 


::*!! 


son,  Overseer  of  Poor;  J.  J.    Spriggs,   Com- 
missioner. 

1865 — Wyatt  Cook,  Supervisor;  Francis 
Apperson,  Township  Clerk;  William  Hudle- 
son,  Assessor;  John  H.  Hungate,  Collector; 
Darling  Long,  Overseer  of  Poor;  J.  G.  Mc- 
Scooler,  Commissioner. 

1866 — Jackson  P.  Hungate,  Supervisor; 
William  Y.  Sneed,  Township  Clerk;  Charles 
W.  Apperson,  Assessor;  George  W.  Hungate, 
Collector;  Darling  Long,  Overseer  of  Poor; 
James  EL  Collins,  Commissioner;  A.  M.  Sar- 
gent, Justice  of  the  Peace;  S.  H.  Fawsett, 
Justice  of  the  Peace;  S.  R.  Jones  and  David 
Logan,  Constables. 

1867— B.  J.  Rotau,  Supervisor;  S.  R. 
Apperson,  Assessor;  H.  R.  Neff.  Collector; 
J.  Apperson,  Clerk;  P.  J.  Curry,  Commis- 
sioner; Darling  Long,  Overseer  of  Poor. 

1868 — B.  J.  Rotan,  Supervisor;  S.  R. 
Apperson,  Township  Clerk;  T.  J.  Farris, 
Assessor;  James  Wilders,  Collector;  Francis 
Apperson,  Justice  of  the  Peace;  William  H. 
Hudleson,  Justice  of  the  Peace;  Alexander 
Tuck  and  J.  W.  Jean,  Constables;  J.  J. 
Sprigsjs,  Commissioner;  P.  J.  Curry,  Commis- 
sioner. 

1869 — Lewis  Coggswell,  Supervisor;  Lean- 
der  Hopper,  Assessor;  James  Burns,  Col- 
lector; S.  R.  Apperson,  Township  Clerk;  T. 
J.  Farris,  Constable;  William  Kellums, 
Commissioner. 

1870 — B.  J.  Rotan,  Supervisor;  J.  W. 
Sullivan,  Sr.,  Assessor;  James  Wilders,  Col- 
lector; 11.  S.  Lauchnor,  Township  Clerk;  F. 
Apperson  and  W.  H.  Hudleson,  Justices;  T. 
J.    Farris  and  Alexander  Tuck,  Constables. 

1871 — William  Foreman,  Supervisor;  Ran- 
dolph Smith,  Township  Clerk;  A.  H.  Moore, 
Assessor;  E.  T.  Potts,  Commissioner. 

1872 — D.  C.  Hagle,  Supervisor;  L.  S. 
Hopkins,  Assessor;  S.  R.  Apperson,  Col- 
lector;   Randolph    Smith,    Township  Clerk; 


Thomas  T.  Austin,  Constable;  N.  L.  Martin, 
Commissioner. 

1873 — D.  C.  Hagle,  Supervisor;  Sylvester 
Johnson  and  J.  W.  Adams,  Justices;  T.  J.  Far- 
ris, Collector;  R.  D.  Griffin  and  John  McCul- 
lum,  Constables;  William  David,  Assessor; 
S.  R.  Apperson,  Township  Clerk;  Cyrus  Fox, 
Commissioner. 

1874 — Henry  R.  Neff,  Supervisor;  John  J. 
Hill,  Assessor;  H.  F.  Detweiler,  Collector; 
William  David,  Township  Clerk;  J.  C. 
Creamer,  Commissioner. 

1875— H.  R.  Neff,  Supervisor;  William 
David,  Town  Clerk;  B.  F.  Reynolds,  Assess- 
or; William  Foreman,  Collector;  J.  J. 
Spriggs,  Commissioner;  J.  H.  Odell,  Justice 
of  the  Peace. 

1876— H.  R.  Neff,  Supervisor;  William 
David,  Town  Clerk;  B.  F.  Reynolds,  Assess- 
or; J.  H.  Odell,  Collector;  J.  C.  Barnett, 
Commissioner. 

1877— G.  A.  Hoff,  Supervisor;  William 
David,  Town  Clerk;  C.  A.  Steinbruck,  Col- 
lector; T.  J.  Farris,  Assessor;  William  Kel- 
lums, Commissioner;  William  Cleveland  and 
T.  T.  Reeves,  Constables;  J.  W.  Sullivan, 
Sr. ,  and  J.  H.  Odell,  Justices. 

1878— J.  M.  Boyles,  Supervisor;  C.  A. 
Steinbruck,  Assessor;  Jacob  Burton,  Collect- 
or; William  David,  Town  Clerk;  John  Toli- 
ver,  Commissioner;  F.  M.  Critchlow,  Com- 
missioner; L.  S.  Hopkins,  Justice. 

1879— J.  M.  Boyles,  Supervisor;  William 
David,  Town  Clerk;  J.  W.  Sullivan,  Jr., 
Assessor;  Henry  R.  Neff,  Collector;  J.  L. 
Speaks,  Commissioner;  J.  T.  McCollum, 
Justice  of  the  Peace. 

1880 — John  R.  Tanner,  Supervisor;  Will- 
iam David,  Town  Clerk;  J.  W.  Sullivan,  Jr., 
Assessor;  Hugh  Hord,  Collector;  Gordon 
Toliver,  Constable;  John  T.  Kerr,  Commis- 
sioner. 

1881— J.  C.  McCollum,   Supervisor;  Will- 


390 


H1STOKY  OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


iani  David,  Town  Clerk;  C.  R.  Davis,  As- 
sessor; George  W.  Roush,  Collector;  Sylves- 
ter Johnson,  Justice  of  the  Peace;  John  W.Sul- 
livan, Sr.,  Justice  of  Peace;  Jonathan  Blair, 
Commissioner;  L.  M.  Wood  and  William 
Kerr,  Constables. 

1882— W.  A.  McNown,  Supervisor;  G.  A. 
We  he,  Township  Clerk;  C.  R.  Davis,  Assess- 
or; B.  F.  Hayes,  Collector;  S.  R.  Jones, 
Commissioner. 


1883— J.  C.  McCollum,  Supervisor;  Will- 
iam David,  Town  Clerk;  Hugh  Hord,  As- 
sessor; H.  R.  Neff,  Collector;  Peter  Thomp- 
son, Commissioner;  G.  W.  David,  Constable. 

In  1870,  the  people  of  Louisville  Township 
voted  a  $15,000  bond  to  the  Springfield,  Ill- 
inois &  Southwestern  Railroad  Company,  for 
building  the  road  through  the  township  and 
locating  a  depot  inside  of  the  corporation. 
Said  bonds  were  refunded  April  1,  1882. 


CHAPTER    XI." 


CLAY  CITY  TOWNSHIP— DESCRIPTION— TOPOGRAPHY— FLORA  AND  FAUNA— PIONEER   SETTLERS- 
JOHN  McCAWLEY  DRIVEN  OFF  BY  INDIANS— HIS  RETURN— CAPT.  ROBERT  TOLER—  FAR  IS— 
SHERIFF   RILEY— HOW   HE   HELD   A   PRISONER— THE  "HOSS"  ORDERED   TO   THE 
STABLE— BILL  COLWELL— FIRST  SCHOOL  AND  FIRST   TEACHER— SCHOOLS 
AND  OFFICERS— FIRST  CHILD— TOWNSHIP   OFFICERS— OLD    MAYS- 
VTLLE— ITS  HISTORY,  SETTLEMENT  AND  GROWTH— COUNTY 
SEAT— HOTELS— 1  OWN  OFFICERS— LIST  OF  PROMI- 
NENT   PEOPLE— CHURCHES    AND   CHURCH 
PEOPLE— LIST     OF     OFFICIALS  — 
ANECDOTES,  ETC.,    ETC. 


THAT  part  of  this  county  now  embraced 
in  Clay  City  Township  is  the  earliest 
settled  portion,  and  is  bounded  on  the  north 
by  Pixley  Township,  on  the  east  by  Richland 
County,  on  the  south  by  Wayne  County,  and 
on  the  west  by  Stanford  Township.  It  com- 
prises parts  of  Congressional  Townships  2 
and  3  north,  of  Range  8.  The  eastern  bound- 
ary of  the  township  is  formed  by  Big  Muddy 
Creek  from  the  north  line  to  its  junction  with 
the  Little  Wabash  River.  By  this  bound- 
ary the  township  loses  sixteen  sections  out 
of  the  two  Congressional  townships.  The 
name,  Clay  City,  was  given  to  this  township 
in  1802  from  the  town  by  the  same   name, 

*  By  F.  S.  Tyler. 


which  had  been  laid  off  in  1855.  Prior  to 
this,  the  precinct  had  been  known  as  Mays- 
ville,  from  the  town  of  Maysville,  laid  out 
by  Daniel  May  in  1820. 

The  surface  of  the  township  presents  a  flat 
appearance  in  the  main ;  however,  it  is  rolling 
to  some  extent  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of 
the  village,  and  from  that  extending  south 
along  the  western  edge  of  the  township,  it 
presents  a  rather  broken  appearance.  Orig- 
inally the  timber  covered  from  a  half  to  two- 
thirds  of  the  township.  The  forests  extended 
along  the  entire  eastern  edge,  and  over  the 
north  half  of  the  township,  on  the  south- 
western part  of  the  township,  is  part  of  the 
prairie  that  extends  up  from  the  eastern  por- 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


391 


tion  of  Wayne  County,  and  known  as  Long 
Prairie.  The  timber  of  the  township  con- 
sists mainly  of  hickory,  and  several  varieties 
of  oak,  among  which  are  white,  burr,  pin, 
water  and  red.  Besides  these  woods,  there 
are  sycamore,  sweet  and  black  gum,  ash,  red- 
bud  and  elm.  Although  there  has  been  an 
immense  amount  of  timber  cut  off,  there  still 
remains  a  comparatively  heavy  growth  of 
timber,  especially  in  the  bottom  lands. 
Through  the  southern  portion  of  the  town- 
ship, the  farmers  in  the  last  few  years  have 
devoted  considerable  attention  to  stock-rais- 
ing. There  are  now  some  very  large  stock- 
raisers  living  here,  and  an  extensive  amount 
of  the  prairie  land  is  used  for  grazing.  The 
main  stream  of  the  township  is  the  Little 
Wabash  River,  which  enters  the  township 
from  the  northwest.  Flowing  in  an  easterly 
course  through  Sections  7  and  8,  it  then  flows 
in  a  southeasterly  direction,  striking  the 
township  line  in  Section  3,  Town  2  north, 
Range  8  east,  and  from  thence  to  the  south- 
ern edge  of  the  county,  forming  the  eastern 
edge  of  the  township.  Extending  along  the 
eastern  edge  of  the  township  from  the 
northern  boundary  line,  to  where  the  Little 
"Wabash  strikes  the  county  line,  flows  Big 
Muddy  Creek,  which  has  its  rise  in  Bible 
Grove  Township.  Entering  the  township 
from  the  northwest  is  Little  Muddy  Creek. 
This  stream  flows  toward  the  southeast  and 
empties  into  Big  Muddy  Creek  in  the  south- 
east half  of  Section  14,  of  Town  3  north. 
Range  8  east.  Probably  as  early  as  1825, 
Mr.  John  McCawley  received  a  grant  from 
the  county  to  build  a  bridge  across  the  Little 
Wabash,  and  another  across  the  Big  Muddy, 
both  on  the  old  State  road.  The  bridges 
were  built,  and  on  each  of  them  Mr.  McCaw- 
ley collected  toll  until  about  1842.  The 
travel  in  those  day-,  was  very  large,  and  the 
amount  of  toll  collected  in  one  day  footed  up 


as  high  as  820.  These  two  bridges  were 
probably  the  first  ever  built  in  the  township, 
or  at  least  they  are  the  first  of  which  any 
record  has  ever  been  kept. 

Pioneer  Settlers. — The  first  white  man  that 
ever  settled  in  what  is  now  Clay  City  Town- 
ship, or  for  that  matter  in  Clay  County,  was 
John  McCawley, who  built  a  cabin  on  the  banks 
of  the  Little  Wabash  as  early  as  1810,  and  thus 
formed  the  first  settlement  in  this  part  of  the 
State.  We  do  not  think  that  a  brief  sketch 
of  this  man  is  at  all  out  of  place  in  this  con- 
nection, and  so  the  following  short  biography 
of  this  pioneer  is  inserted:  John  McCawley 
was  born  in  Jefferson  County,  Ky.,  December 
24,  1782,  and  was  a  son  of  James  and  Sarah 
(Gilmore)  McCawley.  The  father  was  born 
in  Scotland,  and  when  a  young  man  removed 
to  the  North  of  Ireland,  where  he  married. 
Soon  after  the  wedding  the  twain  emigrated 
to  this  country,  and  came  immediately  to 
Jefferson  County,  Ky.,  where  they  settled. 
John  McCawley  was  one  of  seven  children, 
all  of  whom  are  now  dead.  But  three  of 
them  ever  came  to  this  State.  Of  these, 
Daniel  died  in  Southern  Illinois,  opposite 
Smithland,  Ky. ;  the  other,  Mrs.  Anna  Bev- 
erly, died  in  this  township  some  years  ago, 
while  visiting  her  daughter.  Mrs.  Cassandra 
Evans.  Mr.  McCawley  remained  in  Ken- 
tucky until  1810,  and  then  came  West. 
Reaching  Vincennes,  he  started  West  on  the 
old  Indian  trace,  which  extended  from  Vin- 
cennes through  to  St.  Louis.  His  objective 
point  was  the  latter  place,  but  hardly  had  he 
crossed  the  Little  Wabash  when  one  of  his 
horses  died.  Camping  there,  he  sent  one  of 
his  companions  back  for  another,  and  waited 
until  the  man  returned.  Looking  around 
him,  he  decided  to  locate  where  he  was 
camping.  He  accordingly  built  a  cabin,  and 
lived  for  a  year  in  the  solitude.  His  time 
was  spent  in  hunting  and   trapping.     In  the 


392 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


early  part  of  the  year  1811,  he  returned  to 
Kentucky,  and  on  February  14,  he  was  united 
in  marriage  to  Miss  Martha  Lacy.  This  lady 
was  born  in  Jefferson  County,  Ky.,  on  Feb- 
ruary 4,  1791,  and  was  of  Danish  descent. 
After  a  short  time  spent  in  Kentucky,  Mr. 
McCawley  again  started  for  his  cabin  on  the 
Wabash,  and  lived  there  until  the  early  part 
of  1812.  War  having  been  declared  before 
by  the  English  against  the  colonies,  Tecuin- 
seh,  the  famous  Indian  chief,  espoused  the 
cause  of  the  English,  and  issued  a  mandate 
commanding  that  all  the  whites  in  that  part 
of  the  State  should  be  killed  on  a  certain  day. 
McCawley,  during  his  residence  here,  how- 
ever, had  made  good  friends  with  the  In- 
dians in  this  neighborhood,  and  accordingly 
some  of  them  came  to  him  and  informed  him 
of  the  approaching  slaughter,  but  told  him 
that  as  he  had  always  been  good  to  them  they 
would  be  friends  to  him.  They  advised  him 
to  start  immediately  to  Vincennes,  and  offered 
to  escort  him  to  the  fort.  The  next  morning, 
he  started  on  his  journey.  His  trip  was  un- 
eventful, and  he  saw  neither  friend  nor  foe, 
until  just  as  he  was  entering  the  fort  at 
Vincennes  he  heard  a  shout  behind  him. 
Turning  around,  he  saw  the  same  Indians  who 
the  night  before  had  warned  him  to  flee 
come  out  from  the  timber,  wave  their  hands 
at  him,  and  then  disappear.  From  there  he 
made  his  way  to  his  family  in  Kentucky,  un- 
molested. He  remained  in  that  State  until 
1816,  when,  peace  having  been  restored,  he 
again  started  for  his  home  in  this  county, 
bringing  with  him  his  wife  and  family,  which 
consisted  at  this  time  of  three  children.  He 
settled  in  his  former  cabin,  and  at  this  time 
entered  100  acres  of  land.  This  he  kept  on 
increasing,  until  at  one  time  he  owned  about 
1,500  acres.  He  also  put  up  a  store  on  his 
farm,  and  in  an  early  day  traded  with  the 
Indians,  but  later  on  with  his  white  friends 


also.  As  we  have  alreadv  remarked,  he  built 
the  first  bridges  in  the  county,  and  made 
quite  a  good  deal  in  collecting  toll.  In  1825, 
the  first  County  Court  was  held  at  the  resi- 
dence of  Mr.  McCawley,  and  he  afterward 
endeavored  to  have  tho  county  seat  located  on 
his  farm.  In  1826,  he  and  Mr.  May  had 
quite  a  spirited  quarrel  over  the  merits  of 
the  two  locations,  May  wanting  it  at  old 
Maysville.  When  it  was  finally  decided  in 
favor  of  old  Maysville,  McCawley  cheerfully 
acquiesced,  and  afterward  became  County 
Judge,  which  position  he  held  for  a  number 
of  years.  His  death  occurred  on  May  25, 
1854,  and  he  was  sincerely  mourned  by  all 
the  people  of  the  county.  At  present  but  two 
of  his  descendants  are  living,  Daniel  L.  and 
J.  L,  both  in  this  township. 

Among  the  other  early  pioneers  of  the 
township  was  Seth  Evans.  He  came  with 
McCawley  in  1810,  and  worked  on  tho  latter's 
farm  for  a  year  or  two.  He  finally  married 
an  Indiana  girl,  and  made  an  improvement 
about  a  mile  east  of  Clay  City,  where  he  died 
in  1816.  One  of  the  daughters  married 
Walter  Gill,  and  lived  for  a  number  of  years 
in  the  southern  part  of  the  township,  where 
she  finally  died.  Another  daughter  is  now 
living  in  Stanford  Township,  the  widow  of 
Jeremiah  Devore.  Philip  Devore  was  another 
ono  that  came  in  an  early  day.  He  settled 
in  the  southern  part  of  the  township,  where 
his  death  occurred  in  1845.  Jeremiah  De- 
vore was  one  of  his  children.  His  only 
descendant  now  living  is  a  daughter  now  in 
Iowa.  Robert  Toler  also  came  here  in  an 
early  day,  and  made  an  improvement  in  the 
eastern  part  of  the  township.  He  served  as 
Sheriff  of  the  county  for  a  number  of  years, 
and  was  a  very  prominent  citizen.  A  son  of 
his,  Robert  Toler,  Jr.,  was  a  resident  of  this 
township  until  the  ireaking-out  of  the  war. 
He  then  enlisted  in  the  Fifth  Illinois  Cav- 


HISTORY   OF   CLAY   COUNTY. 


393 


airy.  He  served  his  country  faithfully  all 
through  the  war,  and  came  home  bearing  the 
bars  of  a  First  Lieutenant.  Soon  after  his 
arrival  here,  he,  however,  started  West  to 
seek  his  fortune,  and  was  almost  immediately 
lost  sight  of.  It  was  supposed  that  he  was 
killed  by  the  Indians  when  he  was  crossing 
the  Western  plains.  George  Faris,  a  broth- 
er-in-law of  McCawley,  was  also  an  early  set- 
tler. He  located  about  a  mile  east  of  Clay 
City,  where  he  died  in  1855.  A  son  of  his, 
A.  J.  Faris,  is  now  living  near  Olney,  Rich- 
land County.  A  hunter  by  the  name  of  John 
McDaniel  was  another  pioneer  in  this  town- 
ship. He  finally  settled  in  the  western  part 
of  the  township  about  1S17,  where  he  reared 
a  large  family.  Only  one  child,  a  Mrs.  Creek, 
now  a  widow,  is  living  in  Stanford  Township. 
Isaac  Creek  was  another  early  settler,  who 
about  1818  settled  on  the  banks  of  Elm  Creek, 
on  land  that  was  then  included  in  old  Mays- 
ville  Precinct,  but  now  part  of  Stanford 
Township. 

Pioneer  Incidents. — Clustering  around  the 
rugged  pioneers  of  this  township  are  many 
incidents  that  form  an  interesting  background 
for  the  hard  struggles  and  many  privations 
of  those  early  settlers.  The  people  here  were 
early  led  to  give  their  attention  to  agriculture, 
and  to  assume  the  ways  of  their  more  thrifty 
neighbors  in  the  East.  In  many  of  the  early 
township  histories,  we  find  a  period  where 
the  wild  man  seems  to  pause  for  a  time  before 
he  develops  into  the  sturdy  yeomen.  In  this 
township,  the  settlers  did  not  pay  much  at- 
tention to  hunting,  trapping,  etc.;  but  almost 
immediately  preempted  land,  and  commenced 
tilling  the  soil.  So  that  the  many  stirring 
incidents  of  wild  mon  and  wild  beasts,  of 
hunters,  and  hunted  men,  that  form  interest- 
ing details  in  many  histories,  are  unrecorded 
here.  The  location  of  the  county  seat  in  this 
township,  however,  brought  many  an  advent- 


urous spirit  to  this  point.  It  was  the  custom 
for  the  people  to  gather  in  old  Maysville  every 
Saturday,  where  the  pugilistic  settlers  would 
have  many  a  fistic  encounter.  Stories  are 
told  of  the  prowess  of  the  old  pioneers.  Every 
man  was  a  guard  unto  himself,  and  the 
slightest  dispute  terminated  in  a  knock-down. 
The  most  interesting  stories  are  told,  however, 
of  the  early  courts.  The  hangers-on  at  those 
early  tribunals  were  of  the  uncouth  sort,  and 
many  mistakes  of  the  most  ridiculous  nature 
were  made.  Two  or  three  tales  concerning 
the  early  court  at  Maysville  have  been  told 
to  us,  and  we  insert  them  here.  Probably 
among  the  very  first  Judges  here,  if  not  the 
very  first,  was  old  Judge  Wilson,  who  held 
court  at  this  point  for  a  number  of  years. 
One  of  the  first  men  who  served  under  him 
as  Sheriff  was  a  man  by  the  name  of  Riley. 
He  was  a  true  backwoodsman  ;  tall  and  raw- 
boned,  but  very  strong.  He  was  considered 
a  good  fighter,  and  added  to  his  many  accom- 
plishments was  a  great  desire  for  his  "  daily- 
bitters.  "  Among  the  frequenters  of  the  court 
was  a  man  by  the  name  of  Bashford.  He 
was  about  the  same  size  as  Riley,  and  the 
two  were  well  matched  in  strength.  He  was 
a  greater  drinker,  however,  than  Riley,  and 
one  day  he  entered  the  court  in  a  very  intoxi- 
cated state.  He  made  a  great  deal  of  uoise, 
and,  being  decidedly  obstreperous,  the  Judge 
ordered  Riley  to  remove  him.  Nothing  loath, 
the  Sheriff  undertook  to  carry  out  the  com- 
mand, and  immediately  seized  Bashford,  and 
after  considerable  trouble  Riley  managed  to 
force  the  latter  from  the  room,  and  'Wilson 
went  on  with  the  court.  Riley  and  Bashford 
however,  were  not  willing  to  quit,  and  con 
tinuod  scuffling  until  Riley  tripped  (he  other 
and  the  two  fell  right  under  the  window, 
where  Wilson  was  sitting,  with  Riley  on  top 
The  Judge,  turning  around,  saw  the  two  in 
distinctly  on  the  grass,  and  then  remarked 


394 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


sotto  voce,  to  some  one  inside,  "  There  must 
be  a  jail  built  for  these  rowdies."  Riley, 
hearing  the  remark,    jumped  up  and  said, 

"  I'll  be  d d  if  I  am  going  to  hold  the 

prisoner  here  until  the  jail  is  built."  Bash- 
ford,   being  freed,  also  sprang  to  his  feet, 

and  remarked  that  "  I'll  be  d d  if  I  will 

lay  there  until  the  jail  is  built  either." 
Another  good  story  is  told  on  this  same  Riley. 
One  day  when  he  was  pretty  full,  Judge 
Wilson  ordered  him  to  summon  "  Jim  Tate" 
at  the  door,  and,  as  Riley  started  to  obey, 
Judge  Wilson  noticed  that  Bill  Tate  had 
also  been  summoned,  and  said,  "and  Bill, 
too."  Riley,  however,  commenced — "Jim 
Tate  and  Bill,  too,"  "Jim  Tate  and  Bill, 
too  " — as  if  the  whole  expression  was  one 
name.  Judge  Wrilson,  seeing  the  mistake, 
"Call  one  at  a  time,  Mr.  Sheriff."  Riley 
was,  however,  too  drunk  to  comprehend,  and 
began,  "  One  at  a  time!  "  "One  at  a  time!!  " 
"  One  at  a  time!!!"  It  is  needless  to  say 
that  neither  of  the  witnesses  called  responded. 
Still  another  good  story  is  told  of  early  justice 
in  this  county  under  the  administration  of 
the  same  Judge  Wilson.  The  incident  hap- 
pened some  little  time  after,  and  was  when 
the  jail  was  an  old  stable  near  the  court 
house.  A  man  by  the  name  of  Henry  Phil- 
lips was  serving  at  this  time  as  Sheriff.  A 
genus  homo  by  the  name  of  Bill  Colwell  was 
a  frequenter  of  the  bar  of  justice.  He  was  a 
fearful  object  to  look  at,  a  dog  having  bitten 
his  nose  off  close  to  his  face  when  he  was  a 
child.  He  was  a  hard  drinker,  and  often- 
times went  on  a  Bpree.  It  was  while  on  one 
of  these  tears  that  he  came  into  court,  and 
commenced  asserting  that  he  "was  a  hoss." 
After  he  had  disturbed  the  court  a  good  deal, 
Judge  Wilson  said,  ' '  Mr.  Sheriff,  please 
take  the  horse  out,  and  put  him  in  the  sta- 
ble," and  as  Phillips  was  leading  Colwell  out 
he  remarked,   "and  please  give  the  horse  its 


supper."  The  first  road  in  the  township  was 
the  old  State  road,  that  runs  at  present 
through  the  southern  part  of  Clay  City  in  an 
almost  due  east  and  west  direction.  As  ear- 
ly as  1810,  when  Mr.  McCawley  first  came 
to  the  county,  there  was  an  old  Indian  trace 
extending  through  the  county  from  Vincennes 
west  to  St.  Louis  and  Kaskaskia.  About 
1820,  the  State  ordered  it  surveyed,  and 
made  it  a  legally  established  road.  The 
next  road  was  one  from  old  Maysville  to  Al- 
bion, and  thence  to  Mount  Carmel.  It  was 
surveyed  under  the  supervision  of  the  State 
about  1825,  and  was  the  last  road  that  the 
State  ran  through  this  part  of  the  State. 
The  road  from  old  Maysville  to  Mount  Erie 
was  established  in  1840  by  the  county,  and 
the  road  from  Maysville  to  Fairfield  was  laid 
out  about  the  same  time.  The  road  from 
Maysville  to  Ingraham  was  surveyed  about 
1850. 

Schools. — Some  early  families  had  a  teach- 
er employed  probably  in  an  early  day,  but 
they  have  been  lost  sight  of.  The  first 
teacher  that  there  is  any  knowledge  of  was 
William  L.  Gash,  who  taught  in  old  Mays- 
ville about  1830.  He  was  a  resident  of 
Wayne  County,  and  was  finally  elected  Clerk 
of  that  county.  He  taught  in  private  houses 
in  the  old  town,  and  was  considered  one  of 
the  best  disciplinarians  of  the  day.  About 
1831,  a  man  by  the  name  of  Dogan  taught 
for  a  short  time  in  an  old  tenement  house 
about  a  mile  east  of  Maysville.  In  1835,  the 
first  schoolhouee  was  built  in  the  township. 
It  was  on  Government  land,  and  was  erected 
by  John  McCawley.  James  Rusk  taught  the 
first  school  here.  This  man  was  an  early 
settler,  and  was  well  thought  of  in  his  day. 
His  death  finally  occurred  in  Louisville. 
This  schoolhouse  was  not  used  very  long,  and 
gave  way  to  one  erected  about  a  mile  east  of 
Maysville,  on  land  owned  by  Mr.  McCawley. 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


395 


It  was  built  about  1838,  and  stood  until  about 
1841.  James  Rusk  was  also  a  teacher  there, 
and  a  man  by  the  name  of  Stores  also  taught 
there.  Some  subscription  schools  were  also 
taught  in  private  houses.  Among  the  teach- 
ers were  Mrs.  Ridgeway  and  Mrs.  Pitner. 

At  present  the  schools  of  the  township  out 
side  of  Clay  City  present  the  following  show- 
ing: Number  of  houses  (out  of  Clay  City), 
five;  number  of  pupils,  574;  number  en- 
rolled, 406. 

Teachers — District  2,  W.   B.    Martindale; 

District  3,  H.  A.  Gilkinson;  Districts, ; 

District  5,  A.  G.  Brown;  District  6,  John 
Leavitt. 

Trustees — H.  J.  Daggitt,  E.  Nagle,  John 
Creech. 

Directors — District  2,  J.  Brissenden,  P. 
Lormer,  J.  Travis;  District  3,  J.  H.  Nelson, 
John  Martin,  John  Pride;  District  4,  Thom- 
as T.  Taylor,  Allen  Williams,  John  Fitzger- 
rell;  District  5,  L.  Williams,  S.  I  rank,  L. 
Metcalf;  District  6,  J.  Hance,  F.  Glascow, 
L.  Cokeley. 

The  first  mill  in  the  township  was  erected 
about  1833.  It  was  a  horse  grist  mill,  and 
was  put  up  by  J.  L.  Rickersham.  It  stood 
about  one  mile  east  of  Maysville,  and  it  was 
an  old  landmark  for  many  a  day.  In  1838, 
a  firm  by  the  name  of  Ochiltree  &  Coates 
erected  a  steam  saw  mill  on  the  east  side  of 
the  Little  Wabash,  on  the  old  State  road.  It 
finally  fell  into  the  hands  of  John  McCawley, 
and  was  used  for  a  number  of  years  by  the 
people  of  this  region.  The  next  mill  was 
erected  in  1851  near  the  same  place  by  Rude 
&  Freeman.  It  was  run  until  about  1857, 
and  was  finally  pulled  down,  and  the  ma- 
chinery carried  to  another  place.  The  first 
mills  of  Maysville  and  Clay  City  receive 
attention  in  anothor  place. 

The  first  child  born  in  the  township  was 
probably  Mary  Ann  McCawley,  a  daughter  of 


John  McCawley,   the  child  being  born  Sep- 
tember 5,  1813,  and  the  first  person  that  died 
here  was  an    infant   son  of    the  same  man 
named  Daniel,  who  died  some  time  in  1820. 
Township  Organization  and  List  of   Offi- 
cers.— At  the 'spring  meeting  of  the  County 
Board  of  Supervisors  in  1S62,  it  was  decided 
to  adopt  the  township  organization,    and  set 
off    as  Clay  City  Township  all  of  Congres- 
sional Township  2  north,  and  half  of  Town- 
ship 3  north,  of  Range  8  east,    lying  west  of 
Big  Muddy  Creek  and  Little  Wabash  River. 
The  first  annual  town  meeting  in  the  town- 
ship accordingly    was    held    in    the    school- 
house  in  Clay  City  on  April  1,  1862.     The 
meeting  being  called  to  order,  Joseph  Dawes 
was  chosen  Moderator,   and  S.   B.  Munger, 
Clerk,    and  both  being   qualified,    the  polls 
were  opened  for  the  election  of  the  first  offi- 
cers   in    the  township,    with   the    following 
results:  T.   P.  Vaudever,    Supervisor;    R.  E. 
Dull',  Town  Clerk;  I.  M.   Farr,  Assessor;  F. 
R.  Pitner,  William  Brissenden,  Overseers  of 
Poor;  Joseph  Teatrick,  C.  C.  McCallister  and 
Charles    Peshall,    Commissioners    of    High- 
ways; Joseph  Teatrick  and  N.  H.  Duff,  Jus- 
tices of  the  Peace;  W.  B.    Shepherd  and  Eli 
Thomas,  Constables;  and  Morris  Brissenden, 
J.  D.  Perkey  and  S.  M.  Tilley,  Poundmasters. 
On  the  10th,  the  Commissioners  of  Highways 
met  and  drew  lots  as  the  law  then  directed 
to  see  wbich  would  serve  one  year,   which 
two,    and  which  throo,    with  the    following 
result:  Joseph  Teatrick,  three  years,   Charles 
Peshall,    two,  and  C.    C.   McCallister,    one. 
They    then   proceeded    to    appoint    Charles 
Peshall  Treasurer  of  the  board.     The  board 
Mil>M>ipiently  divided  the  township  into  two 
districts,    and    appointed    Dennis    Handley, 
Overseer  for  the    First   District,    and  R.  J. 
(ail  rr  for  the  Second  District.     It  was  also 
decided  by  the  board  that  a  tax  be  levied  for 
highways   on   each    male   inhabitant   in    the 


396 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


township.  Said  tax  to  consist  of  two  days' 
highway  labor.  The  following  statement 
shows  the  officers  elected  at  the  subsequent 
town  meetings: 

1863— Supervisor,  N.  H.  Duff;  Town  Clerk, 
R.  E.  Duff;  Assessor,  D.  L.  McCawley;  Col- 
lector, F.  R.  Pitner;  Commissioners  of  High- 
ways, J.  Dowles,  J.  D.  Perkey;  Overseers  of 
Highways,  D.  Curtis,  D.  Handley. 

1864 — Supervisor,  M.  Brissenden;  Town 
Clerk,  E.  W.  Boyles;  Assessor,  D.  L.  McCaw- 
ley; Collector,  F.  R.  Pitner;  Commissioner 
of  Highways,  J.  Manker;  Overseer  of  High- 
ways, J.  Myers. 

1865 — Supervisor,  M.  Brissenden;  Town 
Clerk,  E.  W.  Boyles;  Assesssor,  D.  L.  Mc- 
Cawley; Collector,  F.  R.  Pitner;  Commis- 
sioners of  Highways,  J.  Dawes, C.  McCallister; 
Overseer  of  Highways,  W.  B.  Shepherd. 

1866 — Supervisor,  R.  Marley;  Town  Clerk, 
S.  Holman;  Assessor,  J.  B.  Finnell;  Collec- 
tor, Thomas  Bouls;  Commissioners  of  High- 
ways, J.  B.  Figg;  Overseer  of  Highways,  J. 
C.  Johnson. 

1867 — Supervisor,  D.  L.  McCawley;  Town 
Clerk,  J.  E.  West;  Assessor,  O.  D.  School ey; 
Collector,  M.  Brissenden;  Commissioners  of 
Highways,  J.  Manker,  I.  Lytton;  Overseers 
of  Highways,  W.  Hopkins,  R.  Roberts. 

1868— Supervisor,  D.  L.  McCawley;  Town 
Clerk,  W.  H.  Morrow;  Assessor,  F.  Bisniski; 
Collector,  S.  M.  Tilley;  Commissioners  of 
Highways,  D.  Curtis,  I.  Lytton;  Overseers  of 
Highways,   L.  J.  Travis,  F.  R.  Pitner. 

1869— Supervisor,  D.  L.  McCawley;  Town 
Clerk,  P.  C.  Kuykendall;  Assessor,  W.  H. 
Hance;  Collector,  E.  W.  Boyles;  Commis- 
sioner of  Highways,  A.  Welty ;  Overseers  of 
Highways,  J.  T.  Wells,  John  Berry. 

1870— Supervisor,  D.  L.  McCawley;  Town 
Clerk,  J.  W.  Manker;  Assessor,  S.  M.  Tilley; 
Collector,  E.  W.  Boyles;  Commissioner  of 
Highways,  W.  W.  Apperson;  Overseers  of 
Highways,  A.  Elliott,  J.  Dunn. 


1871 — Supervisor,  C.  McCallister;  Town 
Clerk,  C.  Peshall  (resigned),  E.  McJilton; 
Assessor,  S.  M.  Tilley;  Collector,  W.  L. 
Sperry;  Commissioner  of  Highways,  William 
Holman;  Overseers  of  Highways,  W.  Kerr, 
G.  D.  Thomas. 

1872— Supervisor,  C.  McCallister;  Town 
Clerk,  C.  Buser;  Assessor,  S.  M.  Tilley;  Col- 
lector, P.  Kuykendall;  Commissioner  of 
Highways,  A.  Welty;  Overseers  of  High- 
ways, P.  Larimore,  J.  Holman. 

1873— Supervisor,  C.  McCallister;  Town 
Clerk,  S.  Holman;  Assessor,  S.  M.  Tilley; 
Collector,  I.  Mills;  Commissioner  of  High- 
ways, J.  Nogle. 

1874 — Supervisor,  C.  McCallister;  Town 
Clerk,  J.  Ansbrook;  Assessor,  M.  Brissenden; 
Collector,  J.  Manker;  Commissioner  of  High- 
ways, W.  Holman;  Overseers  of  Highways, 
W.  C.  Prather,  W.  Rubens,  A.  Elliott. 

1875 — Supervisor,  C.  McCallister;  Town 
Clerk,  J.  Ausbrook;  Assessor,  M.  Brissenden; 
Collector,  J.   Manker. 

1876— Supervisor,  R.  E.  Duff;  Town 
Clerk,  R.  O.  Harris;  Assessor,  J.  M.  Aus- 
brook; Collector,  Isaac  Creek;  Commissioner 
of  Highways,  J.  D.  Mosley;  Overseers  of 
Highways,  John  Creek,  William  Rubens, 
G.  Scrughan. 

1877 — Supervisor,  C.  McCallister;  Town 
Clerk,  R.  O.  Harris;  Assessor,  W.  W.  Apper- 
son; Collector,  Isaac  Creek;  Commissioner 
of  Highways,  W.  Holman;  Overseers  of 
Highways,  C.  Prather,  W.  Rubens,  L.  Wells, 

D.  Barnes. 

1878— Supervisor,   L.  Wells;  Town  Clerk, 

E.  McGilton;  Assessor,  D.  L.  McCawley; 
Collector,  J.  Quertermous;  Commissioner  of 
Highways,  A.  Hun  ley. 

1879— Supervisor,  I.  Mills;  Town  Clerk. 
R.  T.  Fry;  Assessor,  D.  L.  McCawley;  Col- 
lector, J.  Quertermous;  Commissioner  of 
Highways,  E.  Nagle. 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY  COUNTY- 


397 


1880— Supervisor,  C.  D  Duff;  Town  Clerk, 
R.  T.  Fry;  Assessor,  D.  L.  McCawley;  Col- 
lector, H.  C.  Bothwell;  Commissioner  of 
Highways,  J.  Holinan;  Overseers  of  High- 
ways, J.  Creech,  W.  Rubens. 

1881— Supervisor,  I.  Mills;  Town  Clerk, 
T.  Doherty;  Assessor,  P.  Lariinare;  Collector, 
O.  D.  Schooley;  Commissioner  of  Highway, 
A.  Hunley;  Overseers  of  Highways,  J. 
Creech,  J.  Travis,  J.  Sunday. 

1882 — Supervisor,  J.  L.  McQuown;  Town 
Clerk,  T.  Doherty;  Assessor,  H.  Larimare; 
Collector,  J.  Quertermous;  Commissioner  of 
Highways,  J.  E.McIlvain;  Overseers  of  High- 
way, J.  Creech,  William  Rubens,  O.    Sharp. 

1883— Supervisor,  R.  F.  Duff;  Town 
Clerk,  S.  S.  Doherty;  Assessor,  George  Ru- 
bens; Collector,  E.  W.  Boyles;  Commis- 
sioner of  Highways,  W.  H.  Loy;  Overseers 
of  Highways,  J.  S.  Gilliland,  J.  Travis,  M. 
Marshall. 

Maysville. — The  original  plat  of  the  town 
of  Maysville  was  laid  out  by  Daniel  May 
about  1818,  and  consisted  originally  of  forty 
acres,  and  contained  164  lots.  The  town  ex- 
tended along  the  old  State  road  originally, 
and  did  not  go  any  farther  north  than  Morris 
Brissenden's  house.  The  only  other  addition 
to  the  town  was  made  in  1850  by  R.  A.  Mead. 
It  consisted  of  only  about  ten  acres. 

As  early  as  1816,  some  one  or  two  families 
had  formed  a  little  settlement,  and  to  it  gave 
the  name  of  Hubbardsville.  In  1818,  Daniel 
May  came,  aud,  as  we  have  already  intimated, 
bought  land  and  finally  laid  out  the  town, 
which  he  named  after  himself.  He  kept  an 
inn,  and  carried  on  quite  a  business.  A  year 
or  two  after  ho  had  secured  the  location  of 
the  county  seat  at  this  point,  he  became  dis- 
heartened with  the  prospects,  and  finally  went 
West.  Another  early  settler  was  Dr.  Peter 
Green.  He  came  about  the  same  time  that 
May  did,  and   was   one  of  the   foremost  citi- 


zens in  the  place.  Besides  practicing  his 
profession,  he  also  ran  a  hotel,  and  finally 
opened  a  general  store.  When  the  county 
seat  was  moved  to  Louisville,  he  went  there, 
and  subsequently  represented  the  county  for 
a  number  of  years  in  the  Legislature.  He 
finally  died  in  that  town  in  1870.  T.  P. 
Henson  was  another  old  settler.  He  came 
here  about  the  time  the  county  seat  was  first 
located.  He  was  more  of  a  politician  than 
anything  else,  and  was  considered  a  very 
public-spirited  man.  Among  the  first  mer- 
chants in  the  town  was  David  Duff,  who  came 
about  1820.  For  a  number  of  years,  he  was 
one  of  the  leading  citizens  of  the  place.  He 
finally  died  in  Clay  City  about  1867.  An- 
other early  merchant  in  the  town  was  John 
L.  Ridgeway,  and  still  another  was  a  man  by 
the  name  of  Ellston. 

As  we  have  remarked  before,  the  location 
of  the  county  seat  at  this  point  was  secured 
in  1826,  through  the  instrumentality  of 
Daniel  May.  The  first  sessions  of  the  court 
were  held  in  the  old  hotel,  and  it  was  not 
until  1830  that  the  court  house  was  built. 
Soon  after  the  court  house  was  built,  May 
went  West,  and  the  tavern  was  run  by  T.  P. 
Henson.  Afterward,  Dr.  Green  built  a  hotel, 
and  finally  sold  to  a  man  by  the  name  of 
Treat.  Henson  also  sold  his  hotel  to  Caleb 
Ridgeway,  who  ran  it  for  a  long  time.  About 
the  time  the  court  house  was  built,  James  M. 
Hoag  opened  a  store  at  this  point.  Dr. 
Green,  who  had  been  running  a  hotel,  opened 
a  store  also,  and  G.  Harris  also  ran  a  store 
there.  In  18-42,  the  county  seat  was  moved 
to  Louisville,  but  the  town  still  managed  to 
hold  its  own.  At  this  time,  it  contained 
about  200  inhabitants,  and  although  a  num- 
ber of  the  citizens  followed  the  court  to 
Louisville,  others  came,  so  that  the  town  con- 
tinued to  have  about  as  many  people  in  its 
confines.      About   1842,  Thomas  J.  Bagwell 


398 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


came  to  this  place  and  bought  one  of  the 
hotels.  Here  he  kept  an  excellent  hostelry 
until  the  town  of  Clay  City  sprang  into  ex- 
istence. About  this  time,  John  Brissenden 
also  moved  to  this  point  and  opened  a  store, 
which  he  ran  for  a  number  of  years.  He 
finally  took  in  J.  K.  Bothwell  as  partner,  who 
in  time  assumed  entire  control  of  the  store, 
and  sold  goods  there  until  1862,  when  he 
finally  moved  to  Clay  City.  In  1845,  Bag- 
well put  up  a  horse  mill.  It  was  on  the 
Fairfield  road,  and  was  run  for  a  number  of 
years.  He  also  served  as  Postmaster  from 
1842  to  1851.  In  1853;  J.  I.  McCawley 
opened  a  saloon  in  the  village,  which  he 
finally  ran  into  a  general  store,  and  about  the 
same  time  D.  L.  McCawley  also  opened  a  store 
there.  No  charter  was  ever  granted  the  peo- 
ple of  Maysville,  and  the  town  was  always 
under  the  old  precinct  government.  The 
town's  death  knell  was  sounded  in  the  pro- 
jection of  the  Ohio  &  Mississippi  road.  It 
had  been  the  intention  of  the  contractors  at 
first  to  run  the  road  through  the  town.  But 
having  some  trouble  in  securing  the  right 
of  way,  the  town  finally  lost  the  road,  and  it 
was  at  last  surveyed  to  the  north  some  dis- 
tance, where  the  town  of  Clay  City  was  laid 
out.  And  the  running  of  the  first  train  of 
cars  on  this  road  closed  the  door  of  prosperity 
against  Maysville,  and  one  by  one  the  mer- 
chants in  that  town  came  to  the  new  place. 
The  last  store  was  finally  closed  in  1802,  and 
its  proprietor  came  to  the  more  fortunate 
burg  of  Clay  City. 

"At  a  meeting  of  the  School  Directors 
of  this  district  July  12,  1855,  T.  J.  Bag- 
well was  appointed  President,  and  John 
K.  Duff,  Secretary."  The  above  is  the  record 
of  the  first  meetiug,  under  the  free  school 
system,  ever  held  in  this  township,  of  which 
any  record  has  been  kept,  and  is  probably  the 
very  first  held.      The  newly  elected  board  of 


Directors  met  on  the  22d  day  of  September 
for  the  purpose  of  hiring  a  suitable  school 
teacher,  and  it  was  ordered  that  Joseph  C. 
Godd  be  hired  to  teach  in  said  district  for  a 
term  of  three  months,  at  the  rate  of  $20 
a  month  and  board.  This  term  of  school 
was  not  taught  in  any  schoolhouse,  for 
we  find  that  on  the  8th  day  of  October  the 
Directors  met  and  decided  to  build  a  school 
house  in  the  district.  In  order  to  defray 
expenses,  it  was  also  decided  that  a  tax  of  $1 
on  every  hundred  dollars  of  taxable  property 
be  levied.  On  the  22d  day  of  January,  1856, 
F.  B.  Pitner  was  elected  to  the  board,  in 
place  of  J.  K.  Duff,  deceased.  On  this  date, 
two  lots  (Nos.  94  and  95),  were  purchased 
from  Brissenden  and  Bothwell.  The  price 
paid  was  §25,  and  the  contract  for  building 
the  house  was  let  to  Dennis  Hanley,  for  the 
sum  of  $529.48.  The  building  was  a 
frame,  and  was  completed  on  May  22,  1856. 
The  following  statement  shows  the  Directors 
and  teachers  for  the  years  following: 

1856  —  Directors,  J.  Bagwell,  Joseph 
Crockle,  F.  K.  Pitner  (resigned),  N.  H.  Duff. 
Teachers,  Miss  Eliza  A.  Batherton,  Miss  A. 
A.  Farnsworth,  T.  J.  Gaskell 

1857 — Teacher,  Miss  Phcebe  Dunn. 

1859— Directors,  B.  Harris,  J.  K.  Both- 
well,  R.  E.  Duff.      Teacher,  J.  S.  Gray. 

1860— Director,  S.  B  Munger.  Teacher, 
Miss  Mary  Crundwell. 

1861 — Director,  J.  I.  McCawley.  Teacher, 
Mrs.  Mary  A.  Covert. 

On  April  the  2d,  1861,  an  election  was 
held  in  the  schoolhouse  in  old  Maysville,  for 
the  purpose  of  deciding  upon  the  removal  of 
the  building  to  the  new  town  of  Clay  City. 
There  were  forty-four  votes  cast,  and  of  these 
thirty  were  for  removal,  and  fourteen  against. 
In  October  of  that  year,  the  building  was 
accordingly  removed  to  Lots  2  and  3,  of 
Block    No.     11,    in    Wilson     &     Cochran's 


HISTORY   OF   CLAY    COUNTY. 


401 


Addition  to  Clay  City.  With  this  removal, 
the  history  of  the  schools  of  Maysvillo  closed 
and  that  of  Clay  City  began. 

Early  Churches  and  Preachers.  —The  first 
religious  services  of  any  kind  ever  held  in  the 
county  were  held  at  the  residence  of  John 
McCawley.  In  1820-21.  Lorenzo  Dow 
preached  there  twice  or  three  times,  in  his 
travels  through  this  and  other  States.  In  the 
early  days  of  Maysville,  a  circuit  preacher 
came  once  in  awhile  and  preached  in  a  grove 
that  used  to  stand  on  part  of  the  farm  now 
owned  by  Mr.  Brown.  The  grove  was  com- 
posed of  locust  trees,  and  was  the  property 
of  Caleb  Ridgeway.  Old  David  Stanford 
was  living  in  this  neighborhood  at  the  time; 
he  would  hold  services  in  the  grove  on  pleasant 
Sundays.  David  Duff  finally  built  a  ware- 
house, and  there  preaching  was  held 
for  some  time.  There  was  in  an  early  day  a 
man  by  the  name  of  Schooley  held  services 
there.  He  was  a  minister  of  the  Christian 
Church,  and  was  the  first  pastor  of  that  de- 
nomination who  ever  held  services  in  this 
county.  J.  K.  Bothwoll  built  a  packing 
house  about  1815.  and  that  was  used  for  a 
church  by  the  Methodists  for  some  time.  In 
I  85  1,  the  Methodist  Church  of  Maysville  was 
built  on  ground  formerly  owned  by  Mr.  Mi- 
senheimer  After  the  building  of  the  church  a 
society  was  organized.  Among  the  early 
members  were  D.  Stanford,  Dr.  Pitner  and 
wife.  Thomas  J.  Bagwell  and  wifo,  Thomp- 
son Bothwell  and  wife,  and  a  family  of 
Chanoys. 

Among  the  ministers  that  preached  there 
at  different  times  were  Revs.  Stanford,  Lam- 
bert, Thatcher,  Roberts  and  Westman.  The 
latter  gentleman  was  pastor  of  the  congrega- 
tion when  it  was  finally  decided  to  move  the 
church  to  Clay  City,  from  which  time  the 
history  of  this  church  is  found  in  that  of  the 
Methodist    Episcopal    Church   of  that  place. 


About  the  time  of  the  building  of  this  church, 
the  first  Sunday  school  in  the  county  was 
organized  under  the  supervision  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church,  and  it  was  continued 
in  operation  until  the  removal  of  the  church 
to  Clay  City.  Among  the  Superintendents 
were  Thomas  J.  Bagwell  and  Dr.  Pitner,  and, 
later  on,  Jenkins  Manker. 

The  old  town  of  Maysville  fared  better  than 
many  places,  in  that  it  had  a  daily  mail,  it 
being  on  the  State  road,  and  over  that 
thoroughfare  a  mail  was  run  every  day  be- 
tween St.  Louis  and  Cincinnati.  The  village 
also  boasted  of  two  good  hotels,  and  it  was 
the  only  place,  in  a  distance  of  fifty  miles, 
where  anything  could  be  found  that  was  eat- 
able, and  in  the  palmy  days  of  emigration 
to  the  far  West,  the  town  was  always  full  of 
strangers.  A  part  of  the  old  court  house  is 
still  standing,  and  is  now  part  of  the  resi 
dence  of  D.  Soules. 

Clay  City. — As  already  has  been  stated,  it 
was  the  original  intention  of  the  projectors  of 
theOhio&  Mississippi  Railroadtorun  the  rail- 
road through  the  old  town  of  Maysvillo.  If 
that  had  been  done,  it  is  probable  that  the 
town  of  Clay  City  would  have  never  existed 
even  on  paper.  But  the  proprietors  of  the 
land  through  which  the  company  wanted  the 
right  of  way  put  their  price  too  high,  and  as 
a  consequence  the  contractors  were  compelled 
to  seek  another  route,  and  in  the  end  the 
present  line  was  surveyed.  This  was  in 
L852,  and  on  July  4,  185"),  the  first  train  was 
run  over  the  road.  The  first  man  to  foresee 
the  present  town  of  Clay  City  was  Mr.  J. 
D.  Perkey,  who  at  that  time  was  a  resident  of 
Maysville.  In  the  latter  part  of  1855,  he 
purchased  part  of  the  farm  of  Francis  Ap- 
person,  lying  immediately  north  of  the  rail- 
road, and  laid  out  a  plat  of  thirty  acres  to 
which  he  gave  the  name  of  Clay  City,  name- 
ing  it  after  the  count  v.      A  short  account  of 

23 


402 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


the  founder  of  this  village  we  think  will 
prove  acceptable  at  this  point:  Mr.  J.  D. 
Perkey  was  born  in  New  Harmony,  Ind.,  and 
there  grew  to  manhood.  At  the  time  of  the 
discovery  of  gold,  he  went  to  California,  and 
in  the  fever  of  speculation  that  followed  he 
lost  and  made  two  or  three  fortunes.  Finally, 
in  1853,  having  amassed  some  means,  he 
came  East,  and  reaching  this  point  on  the 
old  Government  road,  he  decided  to  locate 
here.  He  purchased  the  old  Joe  Beard  farm, 
near  the  village  of  Maysville,  but  only  made 
one  crop,  and  then  came  into  the  town  and 
started  a  groceiy  store,  which  stood  where 
Morris  Brissenden^  house  stands  now.  He 
did  business  there  for  a  short  time,  but  being 
of  an  unsettled  nature,  finally  again  turned 
his  attention  to  farming,  and  purchased  land 
in  Hoosier  Prairie.  In  the  latter  part  of 
1855,  as  stated  above,  he  bought  land  and 
laid  out  a  town  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of 
Clay  City.  Wishing  to  insure  success  to  his 
new  venture,  he  immediately  erected  a  hotel. 
This  building  was  the  first  in  the  present 
village  and  is  still  standing  as  part  of  the 
Mound  House.  After  running  the  hotel  for 
a  short  time,  he  purchased  an  interest  in  the 
store  adjoining  the  hotel,  and  in  connection 
with  Robert  Duff  ran  a  grocery  store.  After 
doing  business  for  some  time,  Perkey  again 
becoming  dissatisfied,  sold  out  his  interests 
to  Duff,  and  again  went  to  farming.  The 
farm  he  purchased  first  was  north  of  town, 
but  selling  that  out  after  a  year  or  two,  he 
bought  another  southeast  of  Clay  City,  and 
ran  that  for  two  years.  Still  unsettled, he  next 
came  to  this  village  and  opened  a  harness 
shop.  He  carried  on  this  for  a  number  of 
years,  as  it  had  been  his  trade  in  an  earlier 
day.  But  fate  seemed  to  be  against  him, 
and  he  was  finally  burned  out.  Becoming 
disheartened  here,  he  next  moved  to  Robin- 
eon,  111.,  where  he  died  in   1877.       He  was 


twice  married,  but  only  one  child  is  now  liv- 
ing in  the  person  of  Homer  Perkey,  who  is 
now  living  on  a  farm  in  the  south  part  of  the 
township. 

The  first  addition  to  the  original  plat  was 
that  of  Wilson  &  Cochran's  Addition.  It 
was  a  tract  of  fifty  acres,  and  lay  imme- 
diately south  of  the  railroad.  Next,  D.  D. 
Duff  laid  out  an  addition  of  ten  acres  to  the 

!  west  of  the  original  plat  and  on  the  same  side 
of  the  railroad.  Next,  C.  H.  Sperry  laid  out 
a  ten-acre  addition  to  the  south  of  Wilson  & 
Cockran's  Addition,  and  J.  I.  McCawley  an 
addition  comprising  twenty  acres  to  the  east 
of  Sperry's  Addition.  The  last  of  the  addi- 
tions to  the  town  was  that  of  T.  P.  Vandever. 
It  was  small,  and  extended  east  and  north  of 
the  original  plat.  In  1869.  the  limits  of  the 
town  was  finally  extended  so  as  to  take  in  the 
old  town  of  Maysville. 

Perkey's  hotel  was  the  first  building 
erected  in  the  village.  The  next  building 
was  a  saloon,  put  up  on  the  south  side  of  the 
railroad,  by  Andrew  Moore  and  George  Gill. 
This  building  is  still  standing,  and  is  now 
used  as  a  meat  market.  Robert  E.  Duff 
moved  over  from  Maysville  and  erected  a 
small  building  where  the  Feldweg  brick  now 
stands.  This  he  used  as  a  residence,  and 
he  also  built  a  frame  next  the  hotel,   where 

i  he  opened  a  store,  which  he  ran  for  some 
time.  J.  I.  McCawley  having  been  appointed 
station  agent  at  this  point,  put  up  a  small 
frame,  where  Figg  &  Wills'  livery  stable 
now  stands,  and  also  in  partnership  with  R. 
E.  Duff,  next.  The  next  building  was  put  up 
by  Daniel  McCawley,  on  a  part  of  the  ground 
now  occupied  by  his  residence  property. 
He  brought  his  stock  from  Maysville  over 
with  him,  and  sold  goods  there  for  some 
time.  Harrison  Vandever,  now  a  resident  of 
Flora,  came  here  next   from  Wayne  County, 

I  and    putting    up    a  small  frame  to  the  east 


HISTORY   OF   CLAY  COUNTY. 


403 


of  McCawley's  store,  also  opened  a  general 
store.     He  sold  out  in   18(33  to   J.  K.  Both- 
well  (who  up   to  this  time  had  been  doing 
business  in  old  Maysville),  and  finally  went 
to  Flora.     The  latter  sold  goods  at  that  store 
for  a  short  time,  and  then  moved  the  build- 
ing to  the  south   side  of  the  railroad,  and  it 
now    forms    a    part    of    his   present   store. 
Thomas  J.  Bagwell,  who  had  been  running  a 
hotel   in  old   Maysville    for  so  many  years, 
came  to  the  place  next,  and  put  up  a  frame 
where  the  present  building  of  J.  T.  Evans  & 
Co.  now  stands.      He  associated  with  himself 
his  son-in-law,  Dr  J.  T.  Evans,  and  afterward 
Israel   Mills.      The    business  was   continued 
under  the  name  of    Bagwell,  Evans  &  Co. 
until   1877,  when  Mr.   Bagwell   died.     This 
gentleman,  from  his  arrival  in  this  county  in 
1842  to  his  death  in   1S77,  was  one  of  the 
controlling  factors  of  the  place.      In  an  early 
day,  his  hotel  was  known  far  and  wide,  and 
his  income  from  that  alone  was  considerable. 
In  endeavoring   to  have  a  mill  located  in  old 
Maysville.  he  spent  considerable  money,  and 
as  has   already  been  stated,  he  had  finally  to 
take  hold  of    it  himself.      The  educational 
interest   of  an    early  day  found    in  him  an 
earnest  and  most  zealous  supporter,  and  it 
was    through    his    endeavors    that    the    first 
church  of  the   township  was  built.     Coming 
to    Clay    City,  he    soon    became  one  of  the 
foremost  business  men  of  the  place,  and  had 
a  large  share  of  the  patronage  of  the  town- 
ship; and  in  bis  death  the  township  lost  one 
of  its  best  citizens.      His  wife  is  still  living, 
at  the   age   of  seventy-four,  in    this  city,  as 
well  as  his  four  daughters,  Mrs.  Brissendeu, 
Mrs.  Evans,  Mrs.  Mills  and  Mrs.  Mcllvain. 
About  the  next  person  to  come  to  this  town 
was  C.  H.  Sperry.     He  built  a  small  store  on 
the  ground  now  occupied  by  the   Odd   Fel- 
lows Hall.      He  only  sold  goods  there  a  short 
time,  and  afterward  taught  the  first  school  in 


Clay  City  in  connection  with  his  wife. 
From  this  time  the  town  commenced  to  im- 
prove quite  rapidly,  and  now  contains  about 
800  inhabitants.  Shannon  &  Williams 
were  the  first  to  embark  in  the  blacksmith 
business;  John  M-  Armstrong  ran  the  first 
carpenter  shop,  and  Dr.  Boyles  was  the  first 
practicing  physician  that  located  hero.  The 
first  mill  in  Clay  City  was  put  up  in  1864 
by  D.  L.  McCawley.  It  was  a  saw  mill,  and 
to  it  was  added  a  grist  mill.  The  mill  has 
been  in  constant  use  ever  sinoe,  and  was  in 
1882  sold  to  Messrs.  Holman  &  Markle.  by 
whom  it  is  run  at  present. 

Homer  Perkey,  a  son  of  R.  D.  Perkey, 
was  the  first  child  born  in  Clay  City,  and 
David  D.  Duff,  Jr.,  the  second. 

Ever  since  the  laying-out  of  the  village  it 
has  steadily  improved,  and  to-day  is  quite  a 
business  point.  The  following  persons  are 
doing  business  here: 

General  stores,  J.  K.  Bothwell  &  Son.  J. 
T.  Evans  &  Co.,  Holman  &  Coggan,  J.  N. 
Duff  &  Co.,  Allender  &  Duff,  L.  Blessing. 

Culter  &  Doherty,  drugs. 

D   L.  McCawley,  C.  L.  Feldweg,  hardware. 

G.  C.  Miller,  furniture. 

George  Reuben,  Martin  Armstrong,  meat 
market. 

Harness-makers,  William  Dransfield,  David 
A.  Soules. 

Jewelry  store,  A.  R.  Kiser. 

Millinery,  Kiser  &  Armstrong,  Mrs.  R.  A. 
Blessing. 

Shoe  maker,  Henry  Knowdell. 

Hotels,  Mound  House,  Central  House. 

Physicians,  E.  W.  Boyles,  T.  N.  Lowns- 
dale,  J.  Quertermous. 

E.  McGilton,  lawyer. 

Stock  dealers,  Israel  Mills,  M.  Brissenden, 
A.  L.  Oder. 

Commission  merchants,  J.  T.  Evans  &  Co., 
J.  N.  Duff  &  Co.,  and  J.  K.  Bothwell  &  Son. 


404 


HISTORY  OF   CLAY  COUNTY. 


Blacksmiths,  V.  M.  Ohaffey,  August  Hol- 
bough  and  Cyrus  Einmens. 

Livery  stable,  Figg  &  Mills. 

Its  main  business  rooms  are  located  on 
Main  street,  running  south  from  the  railroad, 
and  are  nearly  all  substantial  buildings. 
There  are  also  a  number  of  fine  residences, 
and  the  general  appearance  of  the  town  indi- 
cates prosperity.  The  village  contains  two 
brick  and  one  frame  church  and  two  school 
buildings,  t  which  receive  proper  notice  in 
another  place.  The  village  boasts  also  of  a 
Masonic  and  Odd  Fellows  Lodge.  Both  of 
these  organizations  have  halls  of  their  own, 
and  the  history  of  their  respective  organiza- 
tion is  given  in  another  place.  There  is  also 
a  post  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic 
at  this  point.  Although  the  town  of  Clay 
City  is  located  in  the  extreme  eastern  edge 
of  the  county,  still  to  it  is  brought  an  ex- 
tensive business.  Especially  has  it  developed 
in  the  last  few  years  into  a  stock  and  prod- 
uce point.  The  stock  shipments  from  here 
reached  this  last  season  147  carloads.  The 
commission  merchants  also  do  well  at  this 
point,  the  shipments  this  last  season  being 
about  150,000  bushels  of  grain.  There  was 
also  shipped  from  this  point  about  3,500  bar- 
rels of  apples.  The  trade  in  produce,  too, 
has  been  quite  extensive,  but  the  exact 
amount  shipped  is  not  obtainable.  One  of 
the  interesting  features  of  this  little  town  is 
its  library.  The  history  of  this  institution 
dates  back  to  1870,  when  the  Clay  City  Li- 
brary and  Literary  Association  was  formed. 
Prior  to  this  time,  a  society  composed  of 
young  folks  and  known  as  the  "Alpha  So- 
ciety "  was  in  existence,  and  already  pos- 
sessed some  books,  which  they  turned  over  to 
the  new  association.  Other  books  were  add- 
ed until  quite  a  library  was  formed.  The 
association  rented  Duff's  Hall,  and  there  the 
books  were  kept.     Here  also  the  society  held 


meetings  of  a  literary  nature,  once  a  week, 
from  October  to  April.  These  meetings  were 
kept  up  from  year  to  year  until  1883,  when 
the  Masonic  fraternity  taking  possession  of 
the  hall  the  meetings  had  to  be  discontinued. 
At  present,  the  library,  now  numbering  about 
800  volumes,  is  kept  in  Dr.  Boyles'  office. 
The  affairs  of  the  library  are  managed  by  a 
board  of  six  directors.  Its  present  members 
are  E.  W.  Boyles,  President;  R.  T.  Fry, 
Secretary;  and  Dr.  T.  N.  Lownsdale,  J.  T. 
Evans,  Israel  Mills  and  Henry  C.  Bothwell. 
Schools. — As  we  remarked  in  closing  the 
history  of  the  schools  of  Maysville,  by  a 
vote  of  the  district  the  schoolhouse  was 
moved  from  that  village  to  this  town  and  lo- 
cated on  Lots  2  and  3,  in  Block  No.  11,  of 
Wilson  &  Cochran's  Addition.  The  re- 
moval was  made  about  the  last  of  October, 
1861,  and  was  conducted  by  W.  H.  Hance, 
who,  the  record  shows,  was  paid  $125  for 
said  removal.  C.  H.  Sperry  commenced 
teaching  there  on  November  1,  and  taught 
five  months.  About  the  first  business  that 
we  find  that  the  new  board  transacted  was 
to  order  the  building  painted  and  a  fence 
built  around  the  lots.  This  frame  was  used 
as  a  school  until  1865,  when,  on  the  4th  day 
of  March,  there  was  an  election  held,  on 
which  it  was  decided  to  build  a  new  building 
and  sell  the  old,  and  the  record  shows  that 
there  were  thirty  votes  cast  on  each  question. 
There  were  two  sites  proposed  for  the  new 
building,  one  a  lot  in  Sperry's  Addition  on 
Illinois  street,  the  other  on  part  of  McCaw- 
ley's  pasture.  There  were  twenty-nine  votes 
cast  in  favor  of  the  first  site,  and  one  in  favor 

I  of  the  second.  At  the  first  meeting  of  the 
directors  after  the  election,  it  was  decided  to 
borrow  $2,060  from  the  Township  Trustees 
for  the  purpose  of  erecting  the  new  building, 

,  and   on  May  27   the  contract  was  let  to  F. 

,  M.  Potter,  for  the  sum  of  $3,930.     On  No- 


HISTORY   OF   CLAY  COlTNTY. 


405 


vember  27  of  the  same  year,  the  building 
was  received,  and  upon  settling  with  Potter 
it  was  found  that  it  had  cost  $330  more  than 
the  original  contract  price.  The  building 
when  completed  was  of  brick,  two  stories 
high,  and  contains  two  rooms.  It  is  the 
same  that  is  now  in  use.  The  frame  build 
ing  and  lot  was  suld  to  Thomas  J.  Bagwell, 
and  is  now  the  property  of  Henry  C.  Evans. 
It  is  used  by  him  as  a  residence.     In  March, 

1868,  the  directors  sold  the  old  school  lot  in 
Maysville.  The  number  of  scholars  in  the 
district   kept    on    increasing    until    in  Ma) . 

1869,  the  directors  decided  to  purchase  the 
old  M.  E.  Church  in  Maysville,  and  accom- 
panying lot.  But  owing  to  some  reason  or 
other  the  building  was  not  removed  to  the 
lot  in  this  city  and  used  for  a  school  until 
1872.  At.  present,  the  enrollment  and  at- 
tendance is  as  follows:  Average  number  of 
children  enrolled — males,  93;  females,  85; 
average  attendance,  149. 

The  following  statement  shows  the  differ- 
ent directors  and  teachers  in  this  district 
from  1861  to  the  present  time. 

1861— J.  1.  McCawley,  J.  K.  Bothwell,  R. 
E.  Duff,  Directors;  C.  H.  Sperry,  teacher. 

1862— .Miss  Mary  Crnndwell,  C.  H.  Sperry, 
teachers. 

1863— M.  Armstrong,  Director;  I.  N. 
Gwinn.  teacher. 

1864— E.  W.  Boyles,  Director;  Miss  Sarah 
Hulm,  teacher. 

1865— J.    K.   Bothwell,  Director;  William 

Rutget,  Assistant. 

1866 — O.  D.  Schooley,  Director. 

1867 — Jenkins  Manker,  Director;  J.  W. 
Sprigga,  .1.  M  [Boyles,  teacher. 

1 80S— J.  K.  Bothwell,  Director;  John 
Eagle,  teacher. 

1869 — J.  H.  Thompson,  teacher. 

1 S70— O.  D.  Schooley  (two  years),  E.  W. 


C 


s 


Boyles  (three  years).  Directors;  M.  L. 
Wooden,  J.  H.  Thompson,   teachers. 

1871 — J.  K.  Bothwell,  Director;  record 
does  not  show  teacher. 

1872 — O.  D.  Schooley,  Director;  record 
does  not  show  teacher. 

1873— E.  W.  Boyles,  Director;  record 
does  not  show  teacher. 

1874— J.  K.  Bothwell.  Director;  R.  L. 
Morrow,  Maggie  Page,  Alice  Livings,  teach- 
ers. 

1875— M.  L.  Armstrong,  Director;  T.  B. 
Burley,  J.  Massey,  Cornelia  C.  Boyles,  teach- 
ers. 

1876 — J.  Quertermous  (two  years),  J. 
W.  Culter  (three  years),  Directors;  T.  W. 
Austin,  Emma  Massey,  Jenny  Mills,  teach- 
ers. 

1877— George  C.  Miller,  Director;  G.  H. 
Page,  Emma  Brown.  Jenny   Mills,  teachers. 

1878— C.  M.  Pitner,  George  H.  'Page 
Amy  Boyles,  teachers. 

1879— H.  C.  Bothwell.  Director;  G.  H. 
Page,  R.  T.  Fry,  S.  G.    Alexander,  teachers. 

1880— J.  W.  Culter,  Director;  G.  H.  Page, 
Mrs.  H.  L.  Burbank,  teachers. 

1881— E.  W.  Boyles,  Director;  R.  T.  Fry, 
Tony  S.  Doherty,  Miss  Ella  R.  Kerr.  Miss 
Lou  M.  Peak,  teachers. 

1882 — James  Quertermous,  Director;  R. 
T.  Fry,  T.  S.  Doherty,  Miss  Lou  M.  Peak, 
Miss  Emma  Armstrong,  teachers. 

1883— E.  W.  Boyles,  Director;  R.  T.  Fry, 
J.  A.Barnes,  Miss  Lou  M.  Peak,  Miss  Emma 
Armstrong,  teachers. 

.1/.  /•-'.  Church. — As  we  have  already  stated, 
what  was  known  as  the  Maysville  appoint- 
ment of  the  Methodist  Church,  was  trans- 
ferred in  1866  to  Clay  City.  And  the  firs! 
services  ever  held  at  this  point,  were  held  at 
the  residence  of  Jenkins  Manker,  who,  .it 
that  time,  was   running  the  Mound   House. 


406 


HISTORY   OF   CLAY   COUNTY. 


Among  the  members  of  the  church  at  that 
time  were  Dr.  F.  R.  Pitner  and  family, 
Thomas  J.  Bagwell  and  family,  M.  L.  Arm- 
strong and  family,  and  Jenkins  Manker  and 
family.  Meetings  continued  to  be  held  at 
the  residence  of  Mr.  Manker  for  nearly  a 
year.  Soon  after  the  change  of  the  appoint- 
ment to  this  point,  steps  were  taken  to  build 
a  church.  And  about  the  last  of  December, 
1866,  the  present  brick  church  was  finished 
at  a  cost  of  about  $2, 500.  Services  were  held 
about  January  1,  1867,  the  pastor  in  charge 
being  Hugh  Carrington.  Among  the  other 
ministers  who  officiated  here  were  Revs. 
Baird,  Lathrop,  Oooksey,  Brown,  Barkley 
and  Hooker.  The  present  pastor  is  Rev. 
Frank  Loy,  who  preaches  here  every  Sunday. 
At  present  the  membership  is  about  100. 
With  the  removal  of  the  church  from  Mays- 
ville  to  this  point  came  the  Methodist  Sun- 
day  School.  The  Superintendent  at  that  time 
was  Jenkins  Manker,  who  continued  in 
charge  for  some  time.  At  present,  the  atten- 
dance is  about  eighty-five,  and  the  school  is 
presided  over  by  the  following  officers:  Super- 
intendent, M.  L.  Armstrong;  Secretary, 
Willie  Manker;  Organist,  Mrs.  Callie  Man- 
ker: Treasurer,  James  Osbrooks;  teachers, 
Jenkins  Manker,  Mrs.  Callie  Manker,  Emma 
Armstrong  and  Richard  Duff. 

Christian  Church.  — The  society  of  the 
Christian  Church  of  Clay  City  was  organized 
on  March  10,  1871,  with  ten  members,  viz.: 
William  Schooley  and  wife,  Greenberry 
Owen  and  wife,  J.  T.  Evans,  G.  W.  Bailey 
and  wife,  O.  D.  Schooley  and  Mrs.  Driscoll. 
The  first  services  of  this  denomination  were 
held  in  the  Southern  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  by  the  evangelist,  G.  P.  Slade.  In 
the  latter  part  of  the  same  year,  the  present 
brick  chapel  on  Third  street  was  erected,  at  a 
cost  of  about  $4,000,  and  G.  P.  Slade  assumed 
the  duties  of  the  first  pastor.     The  first  Elders 


of  the  church  were  Greenberry  Owen,  John 
Alcorn  and  J.  T.  Evans.  Since  its  first 
organization,  the  church  has  continued  to 
prosper  until  now  it  contains  about  100  mem- 
bers. Among  the  ministers  who  have  watched 
over  the  flock  have  been  John  A.  Williams, 
J.  W.  Spriggs,  E.  Lathrop,  E.  B.  Black,  W. 
F.  Black,  M.  W.  Reed  and  J.  T.  Baker. 
The  present  pastor  is  John  A.  Mavity,  who 
has  but  recently  entered  upon  his  duties. 
The  present  officers  are  .1.  T.  Evans  and  O. 
D.  Schooley,  Elders;  and  John  Hardy,  H.  J. 
Daggitt,  William  Davis,  J.  E.  Mcllvain,  S. 
S.  Doherty  and  J.  G.  Brown,  Deacons;  S.  H. 
Doherty,  Secretary,  and  J.  T.  Mcllvain, 
Treasurer.  The  Sunday  school  in  connection 
with  this  organization  was  organized  on 
February  25,  1S72,  with  a  membership  of 
about  one  hundred.  The  first  Superintendent 
was  J.  T.  Evans.  The  present  membership 
is  about  the  same  as  at  the  start.  The  pres 
ent  officers  are  Superintendent,  J.  T.  Evans; 
Assistant  Superintendent,  William  Davis; 
Treasurer,  J.  E.  Mcllvain;  Secretary,  A. 
Doherty;  Organist,  Mrs.  Mcllvain. 

Methodist  Church  South  or  as  it  is 
known  better,  as  the  Southern  Methodist 
Church  of  Clay  City,  was  organized  in  1869. 
It  was  a  split  off  from  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church  of  this  place.  The  originators  of 
the  organization  were  A.  Chaney  and  daugh- 
ters, Henry  Cbaney  and  wife,  J.  B.  Smith 
and  wife,  Smith  Tilley  and  wife,  Mrs.  Cas- 
sandra Evans  and  E.  McGilton.  The  first 
meetings  of  the  society  were  held  in  the  old 
Methodist  Church  at  Mays vi  lie,  and  this 
building  continued  to  be  used  as  a  place  of 
meeting  for  about  one  year.  Soon  after  the 
organization,  the  erection  of  their  church, 
which  now  stands  on  Fifth  street,  between 
Main  and  Illinois  streets,  was  commenced, 
but  it  was  not  completed  for  at  least  one  year. 
The  cost  of  the  structure  was  about  $2,400, 


HISTORY   OF   ri. AY  COUNTY. 


407 


ami  siuce  then  considerable  repairs  have  been 
added.  The  first  pastor  was  Rev.  Preston. 
Among  the  other  ministers  who  have  preached 
here  since,  have  been  Revs.  Beagle,  Mc- 
Inally,  Bvandsetter,  Sevier,  Buzley  and  Reed. 
The  present  minister  in  charge  is  Rev. 
Prickett,  who  holds  services  there  on  the  first 
and  third  Sundays  of  the  month.  The  Sunday 
school  in  connection  with  this  organization 
was  started  about  1870.  Its  first  Superinten- 
dent was  J.  L.  Pitner,  followed  by  A.  J.  Liv- 
ing. At  present  the  attendance  is  about 
fifty.  The  present  officers  are  J.  B.  Smith, 
Superintendent;  Secretary,  S.  M.  Tilley;  and 
Treasurer.  Charles  Chaney.  Among  the 
teachers  are  Silas  Alexander  and  Mrs.  Wough. 
The  Masonic  Fraternity. — Clay  City 
Lodge,  No.  488,  A.  F.  &  A.  M..  was  organ- 
ized on  April  16,  1868.  The  charter  mem- 
bers numbered  ten.  Among  them  were 
Thomas  J.  Bagwell.  W.  C.  Cassell,  J.  C. 
"Williams,  James  McKinley,  Hamilton  Bald- 
win, J.  T.  Evans,  Henry  Archibalds,  F.  J. 
Musser  and  C.  Cole.  The  first  officers  were: 
Thomas  J.  Bagwell.  Worshipful  Master: 
Charles  Turner.  Senior  "Warden;  C.  Cole,  Jun- 
ior Warden;  J. T.Evans, Secretary;  and  Robert 
Duff,  Treasurer.  The  first  meeting  of  the 
lodge  was  held  in  the  second  story  of  an  old 
store  room  that  stood  on  the  north  side  of 
the  railroad.  Afterward  the  lodge  fitted  up 
a  hall  in  Bagwell,  Evans  &  Co.'s  building, 
which  they  used  for  many  years.  In  Febru- 
ary. 1883,  the  fraternity  purchased  the  hall 
in  J.  I.  McCawley's  brick  building,  and  havo 
since  fitted  it  up  in  fine  style,  ai  a  cost  of 
about  $1,350,  and  at  present  it  is  one  of  the 
finest  halls  in  Southern  Illinois.  Its  mem- 
bership is  now  about  forty,  ;md  its  present 
corps  of  officers  is:  J.  T.  Evans,  W.  M. ;  C. 
L.  Feldweg,  S.  W. ;  J.  C.  Miller,  J.  W. ;  J. 
N.  Duff,  Treas.;  J.  E.  Mcllvain,  Sec;  H.  C. 


Bothwell,  S.  D. ;  D.  G.  Tilley,  J.  D. ;  and 
William  Dransfield,  Tiler. 

The  Odd  Fellows  Lodge. — Clay  City  Lodge, 
No.  384,  I,  O.  O.  F. ,  was  organized  on 
March  20,  1869.  The  first  charter  members 
were  Morris  Brissenden,  John  Taggart, C.Cole, 

C.  L.  Feldweg  and  Henry  Brissenden,  and  its 
first  officers  were:  Noble  Grand,  John  Tag- 
gart; Vice  Grand,  Morris  Brissenden;  Secre- 
tary, Albert  Rolsavas;  and  Treasurer,  G.  C. 
Miller.  The  first  meetings  were  held  in  C. 
L.  Feldweg's  Hall,  and  this  hall  continued 
to  be  used  until  December,  1S82,  when  the 
lodge  purchased  the  Hardesty  property  on 
Main  street,  at  a  cost  of  about  $600,  and  put 
about  as  much  money  in  improvements  on 
the  hall,  which  is  now  fitted  up  very  taste- 
fully. The  building  is  24x58  feet,  two 
stories  high,  and  there  is  a  large  store  room 
underneath  the  hall.  At  present  the  mem- 
bership of  the  lodge  is  about  thirty -three. 
The  present  officers  of  the  lodge  are:  Noble 
Grand,  E.  McGilton;  Vice  Grand,  Sylvester 
Foster:  C.  L.  Feldweg,  Secretary;  and  John 
Weiler,  Treasurer.  The  trustees  are  E.  Mc- 
Jilton,  H.  J.  Daggitt,  Morris  Brissenden, 
Henry  Brissenden  and  Henry  C.  Bothwell. 
The  lodge  meets  on  every  Saturday  night. 

On  the  10th  of  June,  1865,  the  town  was 
re-organized,  and  the  following  persons  were 
elected  Trustees:  E.  W.  Boyles,  Justus  Beach. 

D.  L.  McCawley,  Jacob  Myers  and  R.  E 
Duff.  D.  L.  McCawley  was  chosen  Presi 
dent,  and  R.  E.  Duff,  Clerk;  F.  A.  Black 
Constable;  R.  E.  Duff,  Treasurer;  D.  L 
McCawley,  Assessor;  and  F.  A.  Black ,  Col- 
lector, and    Superintendent  of  Streets. 

On  September  14,  the  board  ordered  the 
first  sidewalk  of  the  city,  to  be  laid  from  the 
post  office,  and  running  west  to  the  corner  of 
D.  L.  McCawley's  lot,  whore  a  crossing  was 
also  ordered;  and  thence  from  McCawley  & 
Duff's  store  to  the  railroad  platform. 


408 


HISTORY   OF   CLAY  COUNTY. 


From  that  time,  each  year  the  people  of 
the  village  elected  the  Trustees,  and  the 
board  in  turn  chose  the  other  officers.  The 
following  statement  shows  the  officers  of  the 
different  years: 

1866— D.  L.  McCawley,  R.  E.  Duff,  J.  G. 
McSch&olter,  Justus  Beach,  William  Bris- 
senden, members  of  the  board;  R.  E.  Duff, 
Clerk;  R.  E.  Duff,  Treasurer. 

1867— William  Brissenden,  D.  L.  McCaw- 
ley, R.  E.  Duff,  J.  I.  McCawley,  C.  L. 
Feldweg,  members  of  the  board;  R.  E.  Duff, 
Clerk;  R.  E:  Duff,  Treasurer. 

1868— D.  L.  McCawley,  C.  L.  Feldweg, 
R.  E.  Duff,  J.  I.  McCawley,  Charles  Peshall, 
members  of  the  boa-d;  R.  E.  Duff,  Clerk; 
R.  E.  Duff.  Treasurer. 

On  the  27th  day  of  March,  1869,  the  Leg- 
islature passed  an  act  incorporating  the  vil- 
lage of  Clay  City,  and  granted  a  special 
charter  for  its  government.  An  election  was 
held  under  this  charter  in  June,  1869,  when 
D.  L.  McCawley,  R.  E.  Duff  and  J.  I.  Mc- 
Cawley were  elected  Trustees.  Richard  E. 
Duff  was  chosen  Treasurer;  William  Black- 
lidge,  Superintendent  of  Streets;  and  Will- 
iam B.  Shepherd,  Constable. 

The  following  statement  shows  the  village 
officers  appointed  and  elected  subsequently: 
1870— D.  L.  McCawley,  J.  I.  McCawley, 
R.  E.  Duff,  Trustees;  R.  E.  Duff,  Clerk: 
Johnson  Martin,  Superintendent  of  Streets. 
1871— M.  Brissenden,  C.  L.  Feldweg,  I. 
Creek,  T.  A.  Martin,  Trustees;  Chris  Buser, 
Treasurer;  R.  S.  Riney,  A.  J.  Gordon,  Con- 
stables; David  Lewis,  Superintendent  of 
Streets. 

1872 — Thomas  Martin,  John  Ansbrook. 
Israel  Mills,  Trustees;  Chris  Buser  (resigned), 
S.  Holman,  Town  Clerk;  Chris  Buser  (re- 
signed), S.  Holman,  Treasurer:  J.  Ander- 
son, Constable;  David  Lewis,  Superintendent 
of  Streets. 


1873— T.  A.  Martin,  J.  M.  Ausbrook,  John 
Taylor,  C.  I.  Pennybacker,  Trustees ;  S.  Hol- 
man, Clerk;  S.  Holman,  Treasurer;  Johnson 
Martin,  Superintendent  of  Streets. 

The  town  was  re-organized  in  1871  under 
the  general  State  laws,  and  the  following  are 
the  list  of  officers: 

1874— Trustees,  J.  K.  Bothwell,  C.  Cole, 
F.  R.  Pitner,  I.  Creek,  H.  J.  Daggett,  Thom- 
as Mills;  Town  Clerk,  J.  G.  Hance;  Treas- 
urer, J.  K.  Bothwell;  Constable,  David  Bar- 
nett; Commissioner  Streets,  Joseph  Barnes. 

1875— Trustees,  D.  L.  McCawley,  Jabez 
Coggan,  J.  M.  Ausbrook,  Silas  Alexander, 
D.  N.  Soules,  A.  Hunley;  Town  Clerk,  J. 
Quertermous;  Treasurer,  R.  E.  Duff;  Consta- 
ble, D.  M.  Barnett;  Commissioner  Streets, 
W.  Blacklidge  (resigned),  A.  Hunley. 

1876— Trustees,  H.  C.  Bofhwell,  J.  W. 
Manker,  C.  L.  Feldweg,  J.  M.  Billings, 
Israel  Mills,  David  Railey;  Town  Clerk,  Silas 
Alexander;  Treasurer,  Samuel  Holman ;  Con- 
stable, D.  M.  Barnett;  Commissioner  Streets, 
Nathan  Martin. 

1877— Trustees,  C.  Feldweg,  M.  Brissen- 
den, David  Railey,  S.  M.  Tilley,  John  Tay- 
lor, V.  M.  Chaffey;  Town  Clerk,  W.  L.  Har- 
ris; Treasurer,  D.  L.  McCawley;  Constables, 
J.  Blacklidge  (resigned),  H.  Bare  (resigned), 
D.  M.  Barnett;  Commissioner  Streets,  Ira 
Cook. 

1878— Trustees,  M.  Brissenden,  David 
Tilley,  A.  J.  Simmons,  H.  C.  Bothwell.  W. 
Brissenden,  G.  C.  Miller;  Town  Clerk,  E. 
McGilton;  Treasurer,  D.  L.  McCawley;  Con- 
stable, J.  Brummett;  Commissioner  Streets, 
James   G    . ;  :  <  i . 

1879— Trustees.  M.  Brissenden,  J.  D.  Al- 
lender,  J.  T.  Evans,  D.  G.  Tilley,  O.  D. 
Schooley,  F.  M.  Schooley;  Town  Clerk,  E. 
McGilton;  Treasurer,  Charles  Duff;  Consta- 
ble, J.  Brummett;  Commissioner  Streets,  S. 
Alexander. 


EISTORY  OF  CLAY   COUNTY. 


409 


1880— Trustees,  D.  G.  Tilley,  W.  Brissen- 
den,  J.  Mcllvain,  J.  Quortermous,  O.  D. 
Schooley,  J.  D.  Allender;  Town  Clerk,  E. 
McGilton;  Treasurer,  Charles  Duff;  Consta- 
ble, J.  JBrumniett ;  Couitnissioner  Streets,  H. 
N.  Wilsej . 

188]  -Trustees,  M.  Brissenden,  H.J.  Dag- 
gitt.A.  C.  McFadden;  Town  Clerk,  E.  McGil- 
ton; Treasurer,  C.  D.  Duff;  Constable,  ft.  S. 
Riney;  Commissioner  Streets,  H.  N.  Wilsey. 


1882— Trustees,  O.  D.  Schooley,  D.  G. 
Tilley,  H.  Brissenden;  Town  Clerk,  E.  L. 
Dickson;  Treasurer,  C.  D.  Duff;  Constable, 
R.  S.  Riney;  Commissioner  Streets,  A.  G. 
Brown. 

1S83— Trustees,  H.  L.  Daggitt,  M.  L.  Arm- 
strong, A.  R.  Keyser;  Town  Clerk,  E.  McGil- 
ton; Treasurer,  C.  D.  Duff;  Constable,  R.  S. 
Riney;  Street  Commissioner,  John  Gregory, 
(resigned),  H.  N.  Wilsey. 


CHAPTER    X1J. 


STANFORD    TOWNSHIP— ITS    LOCAL    HISTORY— TOPOGRAPHY— ITS    NAME— STANFORD    FAMILY- 
JUDGE  N.   H.  DUFF— J.  K.  BOTHWELL— FIRST  SETTLERS  AND  THE  ORDER  OF  THEIR 
COMING— SCHOOLS     AND     CHURCHES— ANECDOTES— LYNCH    COURT- 
EARLY    PREACHING    AND    HUNTING— A    WOLF    STORY- 
TOWNSHIP  RECORD  AND  OFFICERS,  ETC.,  ETC. 


" he  who  i^oes 

In  the  full  strength  of  years,  matron  and  maid 
And  the  sweet  babe  and  the  gray-headed  man 
Shall  one  by  one,  be  gathered  to  thy  side, 
By  those  who  in  their  turn  shall  follow  them." 

— Bryant. 

RECURRENCES  of  the  past  with  the 
recollections  which  make  it  pass  in  life 
like  review  before  our  mental  vision  will  con- 
tinue to  be  as  of  yore,  a  source  of  satisfac- 
tion especially  when  they  connect  themselves 
with  incidents  reflected  back  from  our  own 
experience. 

Local  history  more  than  any  other  com- 
mands the  most  interested  attention,  for  the 
reason  that  it  is  a  record  of  events,  in  which 
we  have  a  peculiar  interest,  as  many  of  the 
participants  traveled  tho  rugged  and  thorny 
pathway  of  life  as  our  companions,  ac- 
quaintances and  relatives.  The  township  of 
Stanford,    which    forms  the  subject  of    the 

•Ry  F.  S  Tyler. 


following  pages,  is  a  somewhat  diversified 
and  broken  body  of  land,  lying  a  little  east 
of  the  central  part  of  the  county.  The 
following  townships  form  its  boundaries: 
Hoosier  on  the  north,  Clay  City  on  the  east, 
Wayne  County  on  the  south  and  Harter  on 
the  west,  and  comprising  under  the  Congres- 
sional survey  the  whole  of  Town  3  north  and 
one-half  of  Town  2  north,  Range  7  east. 
Originally  a  large  part  of  the  township 
formed  part  of  Maysvillo  Precinct,  but  in 
1802  the  present  township  was  given  the 
name  of  Stanford,  in  honor  of  one  of  the 
oldest  families  in  tho  township.  Tho  sur- 
face of  the  township  is  somewhat  varied. 
On  the  north  it  is  very  low,  and  swampy 
along  the  Little  Wabash.  In  the  central 
portion,  it  is  somewhat  high  and  rolling  and 
this  portion  of  the  township  consists  of  a 
long,  undulating  prairie  extending  from 
southeast   to   northwest,  forming    a    part   of 


410 


HISTORY   OF  CLAY   COUNTY. 


the  famous  ''Long  Prairie."  This  prairie 
contains  the  best  farming  and  grazing  land 
of  the  township.  It  is  from  three  to  four 
miles  in  width  and  extends  clear  across  the 
township.  In  the  southern  portion  of  the 
township  the  land  is  also  low  and  swampy 
along  the  banks  of  Elm  Creek.  A  portion 
of  this  part  of  the  township  is  somewhat 
rolling  however,  the  bottom  land  lying  in 
patches  of  small  extent.  Originally  from  a 
half  to  three- fourths  of  the  township's  area 
consisted  of  timber  land.  A  part  of  this  has 
of  late  years  been  cleared  and  brought  into 
cultivation.  A  large  amount  of  valuable 
timber  was  cut  down  and  wasted  in  an  early 
day.  Still  there  is  quite  an  amount  in  ex- 
istence, especially  in  the  northern  part  of 
the  township,  along  the  banks  of  the  Little 
Wabash  River.  Here  it  is  to  be  found  in 
abundance,  and  consists  mostly  of  the  fol- 
lowing varieties:  Walnut,  oak  (of  several 
different  kinds,  among  them  being  pin,  red 
and  water  oak),  sycamore,  hickory,  ash,  etc., 
with  a  thick  growth  of  underbrush,  chiefly 
hazel.  The  timber  in  the  southern  portion 
of  the  township  has  been  cleared  away  to  a 
considerable  extent,  and  the  land  thus 
cleared  forms  very  fair  farming  land.  The 
soil  of  the  prairie  land  is  mostly  of  light 
color,  and  in  some  places  of  a  white  clayey 
nature.  In  the  north  and  south,  the  soil  is  a 
black  loam,  interspersed  with  clay.  As  an 
agricultural  district,  this  division  of  the 
county  is  as  good  and  better  than  its  sister 
townships,  especially  in  the  prairie  land. 
Large  crops  of  corn,  wheat  and  other  cereals 
are  raised.  Of  late  years,  a  good  deal  of  at- 
tention has  been  paid  to  stock-raising.  Also 
in  the  last  few  years  many  of  the  better  class 
fo  farmers  are  devoting  considerable  atten- 
tion to  horticulture,  and  especially  to  the 
culture  of  the  apple. 

The    Ohio  &  Mississippi   Railroad  passes 


through  the  township,  and  although  there 
has  been  no  town  in  the  township,  yet  it  has 
been  the  means  of  developing  its  resources 
by  bringing  its  rich  farming  lands  into  easy 
communication  with  towns  both  on  the  east 
and  west.  The  chief  stream  of  the  township 
is  the  Little  Wabash,  which  enters  its  con- 
fines near  the  northwest  corner  in  Section  6, 
and  flows  in  an  easterly  course  about  two 
miles.  Then  making  considerable  of  a  turn, 
continues  its  course  in  a  southeasterly  direc- 
tion, until  it  reaches  the  farm  of  Mr.  Trim- 
ble in  Section  12,  where  it  makes  a  horse- 
shoe bend.  It  flows  from  there  in  a  north- 
easterly course,  and  crosses  the  eastern 
boundary  in  Section  12.  It  is  a  running 
stream  all  the  year,  and  during  certain  sea- 
sons it  becomes  a  raging  torrent,  frequently 
overflowing  its  banks  for  considerable  dis- 
tances, on  either  side,  and  sometimes  does  a 
great  deal  of  damage.  The  chief  tributary  of 
the  Little  Wabash  is  Buck  Creek.  It  is  the 
third  stream  in  size  in  the  township,  flowing 
in  a  general  easterly  direction,  and  empties 
into  the  Little  Wabash  in  Section  10.  Elm 
Creek,  the  second  stream  in  size  in  the  town- 
ship, traverses  the  territory  in  a  general  south- 
ern direction.  It  eaters  the  township  in  Sec- 
tion 19,  and  continues  southeasterly  until  it 
reaches  the  center  of  Section  30.  From  that 
point  it  continues  almost  due  south  until  it 
crosses  the  county.  Its  main  branch  is 
Seminary  Creek,  which  empties  into  it  from 
the  west.  Little  Muddy,  in  the  extreme 
northeast,  and  Raccoon  Creek,  in  the  extreme 
southwest,  are  the  other  streams  in  the  town- 
ship worthy  of  mention. 

The  early  roads  through  the  woods  and 
over  the  hills  and  prairies  of  this  township 
were  mere  paths  and  Indian  trails,  and  after- 
ward improved  by  the  people  and  made  into 
highways.  The  first  road  that  was  legally 
surveyed    and    established    in    the     county. 


HISTORY   OF   CLAY    COUNTY. 


Ill 


passed  tlirough  the  central  portion  of  the 
township  in  an  easterly  direction.  It  was 
known  as  the  old  State  road,  and  now  as  the 
Clay  City  &  Flora  road.  As  early  as  1810 
it  was  an  old  Indian  trace.  Surveyed  by  the 
State  about  ISIS,  it  has  been  in  use  ever 
since.  Although  the  original  route  has  been 
changed  some  since,  it  is  still  about  the  same 
road  that  over  which,  in  a  very  early  day,  the 
tide  of  emigration  poured  toward  the  West. 
The  first  white  man  who  broke  the  solitude 
of  nature  within  the  present  limits  of  Stan- 
ford was  Moses  Berry,  one  of  the  oldest 
pioneers  of  Clay  County.  He  settled  a  lit- 
tle north  of  the  central  part  of  the  township, 
near  the  Little  Wabash,  about  the  year  1820, 
and  made  a  small  improvement  in  Section 
14.  the  land  where  he  lived  now  forming  part 
of  the  Joe  Beard  farm.  He  came  from  Vir- 
ginia. After  living  a  short  time  by  himself, 
his  two  brothers.  Isaac  and  William,  arrived. 
They  only  lived  a  short  time  in  this  town- 
ship, and  then  William  went  to  Wayne 
County,  where  he  lived  until  his  death.  A 
sou  of  his,  C.  R.  Berry,  is  now  living  in  the 
southeast  part  of  the  township.  Isaac  emi- 
grated to  the  northwest  part  of  the  State. 
Muses  was  again  left  alone,  and  resided  by 
himself  until  about  1828,  when  William 
Duff,  N.  H.  Duff  and  Richard  Apperson 
came  to  this  county.  Dull'  bought  the  im- 
provement of  Berry's  and  settled  there.  The 
latter  went  West  and  was  soon  after  lost  track 
of.  The  life  and  character  of  this  pioneer 
(Duff)  deserves  more  than  a  passing  notice. 
He  was  born  in  Washington  County,  Ya.,  in 
about  1800,  and  his  youth  and  early  manhood 
was  spent  in  his  native  State.  Marrying  a 
Miss  McSpadden,  he  soon  after  came  to  this 
county,  accompanied  by  his  cousins,  David  D. 
and  N.  H.  Duff.  The  two  latter  settled  in 
old  Maysville,  where  they  turned  their  atten- 
tion to  mercantile  pursuits.      William,  how- 


ever, being  fitted  more  for  the  life  of  a  hunter 
and  trapper,  came  to  this  township.  A 
large  amount  of  his  time  was  spent  in  fish- 
ing in  the  Little  Wabash,  and  hunting  in 
the  surrounding  forests.  In  later  years, 
however,  he  turn  ed  his  attention  to  farming, 
and  finally  entered  eighty  acres  of  land  on 
which  he  resided  until  his  death  in  1851. 
He  was  a  man  of  sterling  integrity, 
although  not  a  professed  Christian,  and  was 
well  and  favorably  known  throughout  the 
county  during  the  earlier  days  of  its  history. 
'He  left  a  wife  and  some  seven  children,  who, 
a  short  time  after  his  death,  removed  to 
Northern  Alabama.  Two  of  the  sons  subse- 
quently perished  in  the  rebellion,  but  the 
remainder  of  the  family  are  still  living  there. 

N.  H.  Duff,  or  as  he  is  more  commonly 
known  Judge  Duff,  first  came  to  this  county 
in  1820  with  his  brother  David;  but  in 
1822  he  moved  into  Stanford  Township  and 
settled  on  the  farm  now  owned  by  J.  M. 
Chaffin.  As  this  man  afterward  made  a  very 
important  figure  in  the  history  of  this  county, 
we  deem  it  best  to  insert  a  brief  sketch  of 
his  life  at  this  point:  Judge  N.  H.  Duff 
was  born  in  Washington  County,  Va. ,  on 
March  25,  1808.  He  was  a  son  of  John  and 
Mary  (Dryden)  Duff.  The  father  was  a  son 
of  Samuel  Duff,  who  came  from  Ireland  to 
this  country  some  time  prior  to  the  Revolu- 
tion. He  brought  with  him  his  wife,  Bar- 
bara, who  was  also  a  native  of  Ireland,  and 
settled  first  in  Pennsylvania.  There  his 
sons  John  and  William  were  born,  and 
when  John  was  quite  young  the  father 
moved  to  Washington  County,  Va.  There 
the  grandmother  died  in  1812,  and  the  grand- 
father in  1818.  John  grew  to  manhood,  and 
there  married.  His  wife  was  a  native  of 
England.  To  them  were  born  nine  children, 
of  whom  Nathaniel  H.  was  the  seventh. 

Judge    Duff  remained    at    home    with  his 


410 


BTISTORY  OF   CLAY   ciU'NTV. 


father  until  twenty-one,  having  in  that  time 
received  but  a  limited  education.  He  then 
commenced  to  learn  the  trade  of  a  black- 
smith. He  thon  came  to  this  county  with 
his  brother  David,  on  whose  farm  he  worked 
for  some  time.  After  remaining  here  a  year, 
he  returned  again  to  Virginia,  and  worked  a 
year  on  his  father's  farm.  In  1830.  he,  with 
his  cousin  William,  came  to  this  county. 
William,  as  stated  above,  immediately  set- 
tled in  Stanford.  But  Judge  Duff  settled  in 
Maysville,  and  worked  at  his  trade.  His 
health  finally  failed  him  and  he  was  com- 
pelled to  quit  the  business.  He  next  farmed 
near  Maysville  for  two  years,  and  then  moved 
into  what  is  now  this  township.  He  first 
entered  eighty  acres  of  land.  This  he  after- 
ward increased  to  120  acres.  On  this  farm 
he  remained  until  1843,  and  then  sold  to 
John  L.  Apperson.  From  there  he  removed 
to  a  farm  about  two  miles  northwest,  now 
owned  by  R.  F.  Duff.  On  this  farm  he  re- 
mained until  1848,  and  then  came  to  Mays- 
ville. and  purchased  the  store  of  David  Duff, 
which  he  continued  for  seven  years.  He 
then  came  to  the  new  town  of  Clay  City  and 
went  into  partnership  with  Robert  E.  Duff. 
He  merchandized  here  for  some  little  time, 
and  then  turned  his  attention  to  stock-raising. 
For  some  vears  he  has  been  living:  a  retired 
life,  and  is  now  making  his  home  with  his 
daughter.  Mrs.  J.  B.  Figg. 

In  the  political  history  of  this  county,  I 
Judge  Duff  has  been  a  prominent  figure.  In 
1851.  he  was  elected  to  the  office  of  County 
Judge,  his  associates  being  Loofboro  and 
Davis.  He  served  in  this  capacity  uutil 
1862,  when  the  township  organization  came 
into  effect.  He  was  ni'xt  elected  the  first 
Justiee'of  the  Peace  of  Clay  City  Township, 
and  served  in  that  capacity  three  terms.  He 
was  also  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Super- 
visors   for   two  or  three   years.     A  more  ex-  ' 


tended  mention  of  the  Judge's  private  life 
will  be  found  in  the  sketch  of  his  son,  R.  F. 
Duff,  of  Clay  City  Township. 

Apperson  pre-empted  land  adjoining  the 
farm  of  Duff  in  Section  14.  The  land 
thus  entered  now  also  forms  part  of  the  Joe 
Beard  farm.  He  resided  there  until  his 
death  iu  1860.  One  of  his  daughters  was  the 
first  wife  of  Judge  N.  H.  Duff,  of  Clay  City. 
Another  married  Thomas  Ausbronk,  who  af- 
terward settled  on  an  adjoining  farm. 

The  first  settlement  to  be  made  on  the 
prairie  was  that  of  James  L.  Wickersham. 
He  came  from  Kentucky  about  1830,  and 
made  an  improvement  in  Section  23.  This 
man  was  an  odd  genius.  After  building  a 
rude  cabin,  he  turned  his  attention  to  hunt- 
ing, from  which  he  derived  most  of  his  sub- 
sistence, and  many  are  the  stories  told  of  his 
encounters  with  the  beasts  of  the  forest.  H^ 
professed  to  understand  the  curative  proper- 
ties of  the  different  herbs,  and  was  a  true 
specimen  of  what  Eggleston  calls  a  "  corn 
doctor."  He  was  also  somewhat  of  a  petti- 
fogger, and  later  on  in  the  history  of  the 
county  he  practiced  in  the  Justices'  courts. 
At  present,  there  are  none  of  his  descendants 
now  living  here.  He  finally  sold  out  his  im- 
provement to  Elisha  Weller,  who  came  from 
Kentucky  about  1835.  The  latter  lived  on 
that  place  for  some  time,  and  then  purchased 
the  farm  that  Duff  had  been  living  on. 
From  there  he  finally  moved  to  Winterset, 
Iowa,  and  from  there  to  California,  where  he 
is  still  living. 

About  1838,  John  Baylor  and  Jonas  Bis- 
sey,  two  Pennsylvania  Dutchmen,  came  to 
this  township  and  settled  in  the  southeast 
part.  Baylor  settled  in  Section  1  of  Town- 
ship 2  north,  and  finally  became  one  of  the 
foremost  farmers  of  the  township.  He  finally 
died  in  1879.  Two  of  his  sons,  J.  M.  and 
David,  are  still  living  in  the  township.     Bis- 


HISTORY   OF   CLAY    idl'NTY. 


113 


sey  settled  in  the  adjoining  section.  He 
was  a  carpenter  by  trade,  but  did  not  follow 
it  after  his  arrival  here.  Ho  built  a  cabin, 
but  died  a  year  or  two  after  his  arrival  here. 
A  son  of  his,  H.  J.  Bissey,  is  living  on  a 
farm  adjoining  the  one  on  which  his  father 
settled. 

Some  time  in  the  same  year,  Aaron  Finch 
came  from  Indiana  to  this  township  and  set- 
tled in  Section  35.  There  he  lived  until  his 
death  in  1860.  A  sou  of  his,  John  E. 
Finch,  lived  on  the  farm  until  about  1878, 
when  ho  also  died  The  son's  widow  is  now 
the  wife  of  John  Blacklidge  of  Clay  City. 

Probably  the  most  important  family  of 
pioneers  in  this  section  of  the  country  was 
that  of  the  Stanfords.  after  whom  the  town- 
ship is  now  named.  The  first  of  the  family 
came  here  in  1838,  and  the  name  continues 
to  hold  a  respectable  place  in  the  county. 

The  family  consisted  of  six  brothers—  Sam- 
uel. David,  William,  Mordecai,  Isaac  and 
Abraham — and  the  mother.  The  first  to  come 
here  was  Samuel,  in  1838,  followed  by  David 
and  Isaac;  then  in  1839  by  the  widow  with 
the  two  younger  children,  Mordecai  and  Will- 
iam, and  in  1841  by  Abraham.  The  father. 
John  Stanford,  and  the  mother,  Bessie  Austin, 
were  both  natives  of  Maryland.  The  grand- 
father Stanford  came  from  England  in  a  very 
early  day,  and  settled  in  that  State,  and  there 
the  father  and  mother  were  married.  From 
there  they  went  to  Armstrong  County,  Penn., 
and  there  the  three  older  brothers  were  born 
— Abraham,  in  1808;  Samuel,  in  1810;  and 
Isaac,  in  1812.  In  the  early  part  of  1817, 
the  family  came  to  Pike  County,  Ohio,  where 
they  settled,  and  there  David  was  born  in 
1817;  William,  in  I821j  and  Mordecai,  in 
1823.  In  1826,  the  father  died  in  Ohio,  and 
in  1830  the  mother  removed  with  her  family 
to  Tippecanoe  County,  Iud.,  there  making  a 
pioneer  settlement.      In  1838,  Samuel,  being 


the  most  adventurous   spirit,  started  out  in 
search  of  another  pioneer  country.     He  came 
j  to  this   county  and  made  a  settlement  in  this 
township  in  Section  22,  on  the  old  State  road. 
He  then  returned  to  Indiana,  and  told  to  the 
rest  of  the  family  the  news  of  the  new  land 
farther  West.      And  accordingly  all  the  fam- 
ily  except   Abraham   made  arrangements   to 
start.      Their  journey   to    the  new    territory 
was  typical  of  the  journeys  of  other  pioneers 
to  this  region.     They  came   in   wagons,  and 
their    trip  was    fraught  with   much    danger. 
Samuel,  as  mentioned  above,  settled  down  in 
Section  22,  and   soon   became  the  most  opu- 
lent of  the    family.     In    18G3,    he    went    to 
Flora    and    began    merchandising.      He    re- 
mained there  till  1875,  and  then  returned  to 
his  farm  in  this  township,  where  he  died  in 
January,  1879.      He   was  twice  married,  and 
his  second  wife,  Eachel  Stanford,  is  still  liv- 
ing  with    her    children — Hannah,    Newton, 
Samuel,  Orpha    and    Jane.      Three  children 
by  his  first  wife  are  also  living — Mrs.  Barshe- 
bahEwing,  in  Kansas,  and  Charles  and  Milton 
in  this  township.    David  settled  in  Section  27, 
and  was  tho  best  known   of  all  the  brothers. 
He  was  an  ordained  Elder  and  local  preacher 
in  the  Methodist  Church,  and  preached  from 
when  he  was  eighteen  until  he  was  tifty-seven. 
He  preached  in  different  places  in  this  county, 
and    was    one  of  the    first    preachers  of  the 
.Methodist  denomination  that  held  services  in 
this  county.     His  death  occurred  on  April  1, 
L870.     His  widow,  Mary  Stanford,  and  five 
younger  children   are  still   living  on  the  old 
home  place.     Of  the  older  children,  Austin 
is    now    in    Clay  City  Township;   Lloyd,  in 
Northern  Illinois;  and  Bosnian,  in  this  town- 
ship.     The  mother,  with   her  two  sons,  AVill- 
iara   and    Mordecai,   settled    in   Section    2,3, 
where   sho    died    in    1866.       William,    upon 
reaching    manhood,  settled    down    near    the 
home  farm,  and  is  still  living  there.     Mor- 


414 


HISTORY  OF  (LAY  COUNTY. 


decai  remained  at  home  with  his  mother  un- 
til about  twenty-three  years  of  age,  and  then 
settled  down  in  Section  25,  where  he  resided 
until  his  death  in  1872.  His  widow,  Mrs. 
Rebecca  Stanford,  and  two  children  are  still 
living  on  the  home  farm.  Of  the  older  chil- 
dren, Mrs.  Mary  Jane  Baylor  is  in  this  town- 
ship, Mrs.  Nancy  Lamp,  also  in  this  town- 
ship, and  Mrs.  Leonard  is  in  Champaign 
County.  Isaac  settled  down  in  Section  8,  of 
Town  2,  in  the  southwest  part  of  the  town- 
ship, and  is  still  residing  there.  Abraham, 
the  last  one  of  the  brothers  to  come,  arrived 
in  this  township  in  1841,  and  settled  down 
in  Section  22.  He  is  still  living  on  the  same 
place  that  he  entered  over  forty  years  ago,  at 
the  hale  old  age  of  seventy-five.  One  of  his 
children,  Mrs.  Eliza  Jane  Williams,  is  still 
living  on  the  home  farm,  and  another,  Lewis, 
is  in  Clay  City  Township. 

Among  other  pioneer  settlers  of  an  early 
day  might  be  mentioned  the  following  per- 
sons: Rosman  Long  came  here  in  1839  with 
the  Stanfords.  This  gentleman  was  born  in 
Western  Ohio  in  1804;  grew  to  manhood 
there,  and  then  came  to  Indiana,  where  he 
married  Miss  Hannah  Stanford,  a  sister  of 
the  brothers  just  mentioned.  Long  settled 
first  in  Section  16,  near  the  seminary  school- 
house,  and  afterward  moved  into  the  Baylor 
settlement,  where  he  died  in  1868,  and  his 
wife  in  1879.  Quite  a  large  family  of  chil- 
dren are  still  living — Rachel  Bissey  in  this 
township,  Benjamin  in  Xenia,  Daniel  in 
Hartev  Township,  and  Mrs.  Rachel  Furger- 
son  in  Mitchell,  Ind.  Two  other  pioneers 
accompanied  Abraham  Stanford  to  this  town- 
ship in  1841.  They  were  Noble  Conkling 
and  David  BateB.  Both  were  born  in  Carroll 
County.  Ind.  Conkling  settled  down  in  Sec- 
tion 16,  and  lived  there  for  a  number  of 
rears,  but  finally  moved  back  to  Indiana, 
where  he  died.      Bates  settled  in  Section  8, 


of  Town  2.  There  he  resided  until  1849, 
and  then  went  to  California,  where  he  finally 
died.  His  widow  finally  returned  to  this 
county,  and  is  now  living  with  her  son  Albert 
in  Clay  City  Township.  John  Riley  settled 
here  in  1838,  in  Section  8,  and  resided  there 
some  years,  but  finally  moved  to  Missouri, 
where  he  was  lost  sight  of. 

One  of  the  earliest  settlers  of  the  county 
now  living  in  the  township  is  J.  T.  Bothwell, 
who  came  to  this  county  in  1840.  This  gen- 
tleman was  born  in  Athens  County,  Ohio, 
September  16,  1816.  His  father  was  a  na- 
tive of  Scotland,  and  came  to  this  country 
when  eight  years  old  with  his  parents,  who 
settled  in  Greensburg,  Va.  Mr.  Bothwell 
received  an  education  in  the  subscription 
schools  of  Ohio,  and  afterward  learned  the 
trade  of  a  journeyman  tailor.  This  vocation 
he  followed  for  some  years  in  different  parts 
of  Ohio,  and  in  November,  1840,  he  came  to 
Maysville  and  followed  his  trade  there  for 
some  time.  He  then  opened  a  stock  of  mer- 
chandise, and  was  soon  after  appointed  sta- 
tion agent  for  the  stage  company  at  that 
point,  and  also  Postmaster.  He  remained 
in  Maysville  following  different  occupations 
until  April,  1851,  when  he  came  to  his  pres- 
ent farm.  He  first  purchased  120  acres,  and 
to-day  he  is  one  of  the  leading  farmers  of  the 
county.  One  of  his  sons,  J.  C. ,  is  an  enter- 
prising farmer  of  Wayne  County;  a  daugh- 
ter, Alice,  is  the  wife  of  Dr.  T.  N.  Lownsdale, 
of  Clay  City  Township,  but  the  remainder  of 
a  largo  family  of  children  are  living  in  the 
West. 

This  comprises  the  early  settlement  of 
Stanford,  as  far  as  we  have  been  able  to 
learn,  though  there  may  be  other  names 
equally  entitled  to  mention  in  these  pages. 
Their  early  struggles  and  hardships  and 
trials  incident  to  the  pioneer's  life  are  but  a 
repetition  of  those  experienced  by  all  settlers 


HISTORY   OF   ('LAV    COUNTY. 


415 


in  a  new  anil  uninhabited  region.  Many 
daring  deeds  by  these  unknown  heroes  have 
passed  into  oblivion,  and  many  of  the  fore 
going  list  who  labored  hard  to  introduce 
civilization  into  this  part  of  the  country  now 
lie  in  obscure  graves,  unmarked  by  the  sim- 
ple epitaph.  Those  of  the  number  who  still 
live  little  thought  as  they  first  gazed  upon 
the  broad  waste  of  prairie,  the  unmolested 
grove  tangled  with  brush  and  brier,  that  all 
this  wilderness  in  their  own  day  would  be 
made  to  blossom  as  a  garden.  Little  thought 
had  they  of  seeing  beautiful  homos,  waving 
fields  of  grain,  green  pastures  and  grazing 
herds,  where  the  bounding  deer  and  crouch- 
ing wolf  then  held  unmolested  sway. 

"All  honor  to  these  irray  old  men. 
For  they've  conquered  stubborn  soil." 

As  already  has  been  mentioned,  that  part  of 
Stanford  Township  lying  east  of  Elm  Creek 
was  originally  a  part  of  old  Maysville  Pre- 
cinct, and  the  early  pioneers  of  this  section 
of  the  county  assisted  the  people  of  the  coun- 
ty seat  in  the  administration  of  the  govern- 
ment. In  an  early  day,  especially  from 
1830  to  1810,  a  gang  of  horse-thieves  and 
desperadoes  committed  many  depredations 
here.  In  fact,  farmers  found  that  even  their 
lives  were  not  safe  at  times,  and  no  one  could 
keep  a  horse  unless  the  animal  was  blind  or 
lame.  It  was  thought  and  also  charged  that 
some  of  the  most  influential  people  of  the 
county  were  in  league  with  them.  When  any 
arrests  were  made,  the  prisoners  were  imme- 
diately let  loose  on  straw  bail  and  made  good 
their  escape;  or,  if  tried,  the  court  on  many 
occasions  found  them  innocent.  Finally,  hav- 
ing seen  justice  thwarted  in  so  many  cases,  a 
number  of  the  best  citizens  organized  a  vigi- 
lance committee  and  undertook  to  put  down 
the  gang.  It  was  their  custom  as  soon  as  a 
man  had  been  arrested  to  take  him  from  the 
jail,  strip  him  to  the  waist  and  whip  him 


with  hickory  withes.  One  Sunday,  a  man 
who  was  known  to  be  a  horse-thief,  was  seen 
in  the  town,  and  some  of  the  committee 
started  in  pursuit.  Ho  ran  out  to  the  west 
edge  of  Clay  City  Township,  and  finally 
disappeared  in  one  of  the  many  little  groves 
that  at  that  time  stood  southwest  of  the 
town.  The  crowd,  which  by  this  time  had 
been  considerable  augmented,  followed  him 
and  soon  surrounded  the  grove.  A  search  in 
the  woods,  howover,  did  not  reveal  the  cul- 
prit, and  the  crowd  were  about  to  return  to 
town  when  one  of  the  men  noticed  the  thief 
perched  securely  in  the  top  of  an  oak  tree. 
One  of  the  vigilantes  ordered  him  to  come 
down.  The  summons  being  refused,  a  man 
was  dispatched  to  a  neighboring  cabin  for  a 
couple  of  axes.  These  being  brought,  two  of 
the  most  prominent  of  the  committee  (one  of 
them  is  still  a  leading  citizen  of  this  town- 
ship), each  took  an  axe,  and  commenced  to 
chop  down  the  tree.  The  horse-stealer  stood 
it  for  some  time,  thinking  they  would  not 
persevere,  but  as  the  treo  began  to  waver,  the 
man  climbed  down  the  tree  and  gave  himself 
up  to  the  officers.  The  prisoner  was  taken  to 
jail  and  his  captors  refused  to  allow  him  to  be 
bailed.  They  formed  a  body  guard,  and 
watched  the  jail  for  nearly  three  months  for 
fear  that  some  one  would  rescue  him.  How- 
ever, his  trial  finally  came  off  and  he  was 
clearod,  the  court  bein<r  held  at  Louisville. 
This  disgusted  the  people  with  the  work  of  a 
vigilance  committee. 

Hunting  in  an  early  day  formed  one  of  the 
main  occupations  of  the  pioneers  of  the 
county.  Doer,  foxes,  wolves  and  many  other 
kind  of  wild  animals  were  found  in  abund- 
ance. And  the  farmers  were  ready  to  leave 
everything  else  if  any  hunting  was  known  to 
be  on  foot.  After  a  price  had  been  set  on 
a  wolf's  scalp,  the  hunting  of  this  animal 
was  participated  in  by  both  young  and  old, 


41G 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


and  whenever  a  wolf  was  found  a  perfect 
furor  was  created.  One  Sunday  in  an  early 
day,  when  Rev.  Rickersham  was  holding  serv- 
ices in  the  old  schoolhouse  that  used  to 
stand  in  Section  25,  an  old  gray  wolf  with  a 
trap  attached  to  its  foot  came  passing 'by. 
Some  one  in  the  church  saw  the  animal,  and 
immediately  the  services  were  over,  and 
every  one  went  in  pursuit  of  the  animal. 

The  first  improvement  that  a  pioneer  looks 
after,  having  procured  a  habitation  for  him- 
self and  family,  is  a  mill,  a  piece  of  machin- 
ery that  always  accompanies  civilization. 
Meal  was  first  obtained  by  crushing  the  corn 
when  dry  in  a  kind  of  rude  mortar  made  by 
chiseling  out  a  hollow  in  the  top  of  an  oak 
stump.  The  pestle  was  an  iron  block  made 
fast  to  a  sweep,  and  with  this  simple  con- 
trivance a  coarse  article  of  meal  could  be 
manufactured.  A  still  simpler  means  was  re- 
sorted to  before  the  corn  had  become  hard 
enough  to  shell,  namely,  the  common  grater. 
The  first  mill  that  was  probably  patronized 
by  the  early  residents  of  Stanford  was  an 
old  water  mill  that  stood  in  the  northwest 
portion  of  the  township  on  the  Little  Wa- 
bash. It  was  first  built  and  operated  by  Dr. 
Peter  Green  as  early  as  1840.  It  was  both 
a  grist  and  saw  mill,  and  was  very  generously 
patronized  by  the  people  of  this  region. 
Dr.  Green  ran  it  for  a  number  of  years,  and 
afterward  sold  it  to  other  parties,  who  con- 
tinued to  operate  it.  The  structure  was  finally 
destroyed  or  torn  down,  but  another  rebuilt, 
and  at  present  a  mill  still  stands  near  the 
same  place.  This  is  the  only  mill  in  the 
township  of  which  any  record  has  been  kept. 

The  subject  of  education  has  from  an  early 
day  received  a  good  deal  of  attention  in  this 
township.  Long  before  the  law  authorizing 
a  system  of  public  schools  was  in  force,  the 
pioneers  of  Stanford  Township  took  steps 
toward  the   education  of  their  youth  in   the 


primary  branches  of  learning.  Comparative- 
ly few  of  the  early  settlers  were  men  of  let- 
ters, most  of  them  having  been  but  children 
when  the  matter  of  book  learning  in  the 
States  where  they  were  brought  up  was  yet 
considered  a  matter  of  minor  importance. 
And  yet  the3e  people  seem  to  fully  realize 
the  losses  they  had  sustained  in  the  neglect 
of  their  own  schooling,  and  were  therefore 
anxious  to  do  the  next  best  thing  by  making 
amends  in  the  case  of  their  own  children. 
The  first  settlers  here,  especially  those  in  the 
eastern  part  of  the  township,  sent  their  chil- 
dren to  the  subscription  schools  in  old  Mays- 
ville,  that  were  taught  by  William  Gash  and 
others. 

The  first  school  that  was  taught  in  what  is 
now  Stanford  Township  was  in  an  old  log 
cabin  that  used  to  stand  in  Section  25,  on 
land  that  is  now  owned  by  Eli  Hawk.  It 
was  made  of  poles,  and  had  been  used  prior 
to  this  time  as  a  habitation  by  some  squatter 
who  had  stopped  there,  and  who  had  cleared 
a  small  patch  near  it.  Among  the  teachers 
that  taught  here  was  David  Stanford. 

This  building  was  used  as  a  school  until 
about  1852,  when  it  was  torn  down  and  a  log 
structure  erected  in  the  same  place.  Among 
the  teachers  that  taught  there  were  Joseph 
Godd,  Miss  Julia  Perkins,  Isaac  Meek  and 
Green  Keiser.  At  that  time  the  attendance 
in  the  district  was  about  twenty.  School 
was  taught  here  until  about  1869,  when  the 
district  was  divided,  and  the  districts  now 
known  as  Districts  1,  6  and  5  were  organ- 
ized. Schoolhouse  No.  1,  or  the  Eothwell 
School,  is  a  frame,  and  now  stands  in  Sec- 
tion 23.  Among  the  teachers  who  have 
taught  there  are  C.  M.  Pitner,  R.  T.  Fry, 
J.  S.  Peak  and  Will  E.  Pruett.  The  present 
enrollment  is  about  thirty,  enumeration 
about  thirty,  and  average  attendance  is  about 
eighteen.      The  Center  Schoolhouse  in  Dis- 


HISTORY  OF   CLAY  COUNTY. 


41!) 


trict  6  is  a  brick,  and  was  built  in  1869,  in 
Section  '22.  through  the  instrumentality  of 
Samuel  Stanford,  at  a  cost  about  $700. 
Among  the  teachers  who  have  taught  there 
are  Charles  Pitner,  James  Ewing,  Charles 
Stanford.  Caroline  Robenson,  William  Rob- 
enson,  and  the  present  teacher  is  J.  S.  Peak. 
The  present  enrollment  of  the  district  is 
thirty  three;  males  nineteen,  females  four- 
teen. Average  attendance,  twenty-eight. 
The  school  in  District  5  is  known  as  Fair- 
view  School.  This  building  is  also  brick, 
and  was  built  in  about  1864,  at  a  cost  of 
about  $800.  At  present  the  township  of 
Stanford  is  divided  into  eight  districts.  In 
each  district  a  commodious  building  has  been 
erected  for  school  purposes,  and  the  schools 
are  all  presided  over  by  competent  teachers. 
Taken  as  a  whole,  the  position  of  Stanford  as 
regards  education  is  one  of  the  foremost  in 
the  county,  and  one  of  which  her  people  may 
be  well  proud. 

Among  the  early  pioneers  of  Stanford 
were  many  pious  men  and  women,  and  its 
religious  history  dates  almost  from  the  period 
of  its  settlement.  The  first  preachers  were 
Methodists,  and  came  as  one  crying  in  the 
wilderness,  and  wherever  they  could  collect 
a  few  together  they  proclaimed  the  glad  tid- 
ings of  salvation,  "  without  money  and  with- 
out price."  The  first  religious  services  held 
within  the  present  limits  of  the  township 
were  conducted  at  the  residence  of  David 
Stanford,  who,  as  we  have  already  mentioned, 
was  a  local  preacher  in  this  church.  A  class 
was  organized  in  1842;  Samuel  Stanford  was 
appointed  class  leader  and  held  the  position 
for  over  thirty  years.  The  class  at  one  time 
comprised  in  its  membership  many  of  the 
leading  spirits  of  this  township  and  Clay 
City.  Among  them  were  Robert  Duff  and 
his  mother.  Polly  Duff.  Richard  Apperson, 
Samuel  and  David  Stanford,  and  many  others. 


David  Stanford's  house-  served  as  a  place  of 
meeting,  also  Richard  Apperson' s,  Thomas 
Ausbrook's,  and  David  Duffs  warehouse  in 
Clay  City.  Among  the  early  preachers  were 
Revs.  John  Thatcher,  David  Lambert,  Blun- 
ley  Knowles  and  many  others.  The  class 
was  finally  divided;  those  living  in  the  east- 
ern part  of  old  Maysville  Precinct  were  or- 
ganized into  a  class  at  old  Maysville,  from 
which  the  Maysville  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  originated,  and  from  that,  in  later 
years,  the  Clay  City  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  Those  living  in  what  is  now  this 
township  continued  to  meet  from  house  to 
house  until  the  Fairview  Schoolhouse  was 
built,  and  since  that  time  services  were  held 
there.  The  class  is  supplied  by  the  pastor 
resident  in  Clay  City.  The  present  pastor 
is  Rev.  Priekett,  and  the  present  number  of 
members  is  about  seventeen.  In  the  spring 
of  1S83,  a  class  was  organized  in  the  Center 
Schoolhouse  for  the  people  living  adjacent 
to  this  place.  The  class  now  consists  of 
about  twenty  members.  Among  them  are 
A.  Stanford  and  family,  Frank  Lamp  and 
wife,  Isaac  Stanford  and  wife  and  others. 
Rev.  Priekett  also  holds  services  in  the  after- 
noon of  the  first  and  third  Sundays  of  the 
month.  In  the  summer  months,  a  nourish- 
ing Sunday  school  meets  here  on  every  Sun- 
day. Last  season  the  attendence  numbered 
about  seventy. 

The  Harmony  Church,  of  the  United 
Brethren  denomination  was  organized 
about  1860  in  this  township.  Among  the 
first  members  of  the  organization  were 
Asbury  Lewis  and  family,  Ezra  Kearney  and 
family  and  Joe  Beard  and  family.  The  serv- 
ices  were  held  for  a  number  of  yejars  in 
Halterman  Schoolhouse.  In  1883,  the  pres- 
ent edifice  was  erected  in  Section  5,  of  Town 
2,  at  a  cost  of  about  $900.  The  present 
membership  is  about  sixty,  and  Rev.  Grav  is 

24 


420 


HISTORY  OF   CLAY   COUNTY. 


the  present  pastor.  Among  other  ministers 
who  have  preached  here  in  late  years  might 
be  mentioned  -|Revs.  James  Smith,  H.  W. 
Bradstone,  W.  D.  Hillis,  Pleasant  Brock, 
F.  R.  Bertner  and  William  Ross.  A  Sunday 
school  meets  every  Sunday  at  this  church  at 
2  o'clock.  The  present  average  attendance 
is  about  seventy-live.  The  officers  now  serv- 
ing are  A.  J.  Chaney, Superintendent;  R.  H. 
Pierce,  Assistant  Superintendent,  and  Miss 
Laura  Carmon,  Secretary. 

Pleasant  View  Class  of  the  South  Meth- 
odist Church  was  held  first  in  the  Zif  School- 
house  in  Wayne  County.  Among  the  first 
members  were  Rice  Barker,  Westley  Mills, 
Isaac  Wells,  Lemuel  Wells  and  Jackson 
Cline  and  family.  Services  continued  to  be 
held  at  this  place  until  1874,  when  the  place 
of  meeting  was  changed  to  the  Thomas' 
Schoolhouse  in  this  county.  In  the  spring 
of  1879,  the  present  edifice  was  erected  at  a 
cost  of  about  $1,200.  The  present  time  for 
holding  services  is  on  the  second  and 
fourth  Sundays  of  the  month,  at  3  o'clock. 
The  present  membership  is  about  seventy- 
five.  Among  the  ministers  who  have 
preached  here,  the  following  names  might 
be  mentioned:  Revs.  Preston,  Beagle. 
Mclnally,  Brandsether,  Sevier,  Buzley  and 
Reid.  The  present  pastor  is  Rev.  Prick- 
ett.  The  present  officers  of  the  church 
are  as  follows:  Trustees- John  W.  Satter- 
field,  William  Taylor,  F.  M.  Marshall,  John 
Holman,  John  Sunday,  Ernest  Nagle  and 
Robert  Moseley;  Stewards,  J.  W.  Satter- 
field  and  Hiram  Bunn;  Secretary,  J.  W. 
Satterfield;  Treasurer,  E.  Nagle;  Class  Lead- 
er, J.  W.  Satterfield.  On  each  Sunday  at 
10  A.  M. ,  a  Sunday  school  is  held  at  this 
church'.  The  school  was  first  organized  at 
the  Thomas'  Schoolhouse  in  1875.  The 
original  membership  was  about  fifty,  and 
Aaron    Bunn   was   the  first  Superintendent. 


The  present  membership  is  about  seventy, 
and  the  present  corps  of  officers  is  as  fol- 
lows: Superintendent,  Joseph  Sunday;  As- 
sistant, John  Holman;  Librarian,  William 
Taylor;  Secretary,  John  Scruggin;  Treasur- 
er, Hunter  Eaton. 

Olive  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  South 
was  first  organized  at  the  Baylor  Schoolhouse 
in  about  1868.  Among  the  first  members 
were  Aaron  Bunn,  Caleb  Berry,  Mrs.  Jane 
Stanford,  Mordecai  and  William  Stanford. 
Services  continued  to  be  held  at  this  school- 
house  until  1879,  when  the  present  church 
was  erected  on  land  donated  by  John  M. 
Baylor  at  a  cost  of  about  $1,000.  At  present, 
services  are  held  at  the  church  on  the  second 
and  fourth  Sundays  in  each  month.  The  church 
now  contains  about  eighty -five  members. 
Among  the  pastors  who  have  been  stationed 
at  this  point  in  past  years  have  been  Revs. 
Beagle,  Brandsether,  Mclnally,  Johnsey, 
Pierson.  Lathrop,  Reid.  Rev.  Prickett  is 
the  present  pastor.  The  present  officers  are: 
Trustees,  H.  L.  Vail,  C.  R.  Berry,  John 
Baylor,  Jackson  Bissey,  Austin  Stanford, 
Win.  Hussleton  and  B.  F.  Humphrey; 
Class  Leader,  John  Hussleton;  Stewards, 
Aaron  Bunn  and  Austin  Stanford;  Church 
Clerk,  Austin  Stanford. 

A  Sunday  school  was  organized  in  connec- 
tion with  this  church  in  1869  at  the  Baylor 
Schoolhouse.  Aaron  Bunn  was  the  first  Su- 
perintendent, and  the  attendance  was  about 
forty.  At  present  the  average  attendance  is 
about  sixty.  The  present  officers  are :  Mrs.  H. 
L.  Vail,  Superintendent;  Assistant  Superin- 
tendent, Miss  Abbery  Bissey;  Secretary,  Miss 
Anna  Blair;  Treasurer,  Miss  Mary  Bunn; 
Chorister,  Thomas  Hickman. 

As  has  been  elsewhere  stated,  a  major  part 
of  the  town  of  Stanford  was  embodied  in  the 
old  precinct  of  Maysville,  but  in  1862  the 
Commissioners  of  the  county  having  adopted 


HISTORY   OF  CLAY   COUNTY. 


431 


the  township  organization,  the  town  of  Stan- 
ford was  established  and  its  present  bound- 
aries fixed.  On  the  1st  day  of  April,  the 
first  animal  town  meeting  was  held  in  the 
Haltennan  Schoolhouse.  Abel  Ohaney  was 
appointed  Moderator,  and  E.  J.  Babcoek  Sec 
rotary.  The  township  was  divided  into  four 
road  districts.  At  that  meeting  the  record 
also  shows  that  the  name  of  Grant  was  pro- 
posed and  adopted  as  the  future  name  of  the 
township,  but  as  we  find  it  used  no  further  in 
the  records  of  the  different  meetings,  we  infer 
that  the  use  of  the  name  was  finally  done 
away  with  and  Stanford  substituted.  At  the 
election  held  at  this  time  the  following  offi- 
cers were  elected : 

Daniel  D.  Elliott,  Supervisor;  Stephen 
Booton.  Town  Clerk;  William  H.  Chaney, 
Assessor;  E.  J.  Babcoek,  Collector;  David 
Stanford,  Overseer  of  the  Poor;  James  Kinly, 
John  Baylor  and  William  Price,  Highway 
Commissioners;  Abol  Chaney  and  John 
Mr(  iaimon,  Justices  of  the  Peace;  and  Will- 
iam Rodgers  and  William  Raly,  Constables. 

The  Haltennan  Schoolhouse  was  appointed 
the  place  at  which  all  subsequent  town  meet- 
ings should  be  held.  The  following  statement 
shows  the  results  of  the  subsequent  elections: 

1863— A.  W. Bothwell,  Supervisor;  William 
Nicholson,  Town  Clerk;  \V.  H.  Chaney,  As- 
Bessor;  J.  R.  Finch.  Collector;  Isaac  Stan- 
ford, Commissioner  Highways,  and  G.  P.  Ru- 
ble, Overseer  Poor. 

L864  A.  W.  Bothwell,  Supervisor;  J.  R. 
Finch.  Justice  of  the  Peace;  J.  W.  Cultor, 
Assessor;  J.  X.  Meek,  Assessor;  G.  P. 
Ruble,  Overseer  Poor;  C.  J.  Babcoek,  Com- 
missioner Highways:  David  Stanford,  Town 
Clerk. 

1865 — A.  W.  Bothwell,  Supervisor;  Joseph 
Peak.  Town  ( Slerk;  John  W.  Culter,  Assessor; 
J.  N.  Meek.  Collector:  Anderson  Kneff,  It. 
R.H.  Kinnaman.  Commissioners  of  Highways. 


1866— Supervisor,  A.  W.  Bothwell;  J.  H. 
Leonai-d,  Town  Clerk;  Assessor,  J.  Baud; 
Collector,  E.  A.  Travis;  Commissioner  High 
ways,  A.  Kneff;  F.  C.  Petit,  Overseer  Poor; 
Justices  of  the  Peace,  J.  R.  Finch  and  J.  R. 
Brainard;  Constables,  W.  Raly  and  R.  T. 
Apperson. 

1867 — A.  W.  Bothwell,  Supervisor;  Lewis 
Stanford,  Town  Clerk;  Richard  Crockles. 
Assessor;  J.  W.  Culter,  Collector;  William 
Davis,  Overseer  Poor;  James  Lee,  Commis- 
sioner of  Highways. 

1868 — A.  W.  Bothwell,  Supervisor;  Owen 
Stanford,  Town  Clerk;  Lewis  Stanford,  As- 
sessor; E.  A.  Lewis,  Collector;  R.  H.  Kin- 
naman, Commissioner  of  Highways. 

1869 — James  Kenley,  Supervisor;  Oliver 
Clawson,  Town  Clerk;  Nelson  Murphy,  As- 
sessor; William  Davis,  Collector;  Anderson 
Clark,  Commissioner  of  Highways. 

1S70 — W.  R.  Lindsey,  Supervisor;  Oliver 
Clawson,  Town  Clerk;  W.  H  Chaney,  Assess- 
or; John  W.  Culter,  Collector;  James  Lee, 
Commissioner  of  Highways;  Justice  of  the 
Peace,  John  R.  Finch;  Constables,  William 
Raly  and  G.  W.  Payne. 

1872  — \V.  R.  Lindsey,  Supervisor;  R.  L. 
Apperson,  Town  Clerk;  Elias  Lewis,  Collec- 
tor; J.  R.  Finch,  Assessor;  E.  F.  Riley, 
Commissioner  of  Highways. 

1874—  J.  S.  Peak,  Supervisor;  Town  Clork. 
Samuel  Enyart;  Collector,  David  Stanford; 
Assessor,  William  H.  Chaney;  Commissioner 
of  Highways,  James  H.  Morefiold. 

1875 — Joseph  S.  Peak,  Supervisor;  George 
Williams,  Town  Clerk;  William  H.  Chaney, 
Assessor;  Edmond  R.  Lewis,  Collector;  E.  F. 
Etiley,  Commissioner  of  Highways. 

L876  A.  W.  Bothwell,  Supervisor;  G.  W. 
Williams,  Town  Clerk;  E.  A.  Lewis,  Assess- 
or; Elias  Lewis,  Collector;  Ezra  Kearney, 
Commissioner  of  Highways. 

1^77 — Henry  M.   Todd,    Supervisor;  Silas 


422 


HISTORY  OF   CLAY   COUNTY. 


Shriner,  Collector;  Oliver  Clawaon,  Assessor; 
N.  B.  Gbalfant,  Town  Clerk;  Thomas  Bower, 
Commissioner  of  Highways;  J.  R.  Finch  and 
D.  W.  McCawley,  Justices  of  the  Peace; 
Caleb  McDaniel  and  J.  H.O'Neil,  Constables. 

1878 — A.  S.  Chaney,  Supervisor;  R.  L. 
Stanford,  Town  Clerk;  E.  A.  Lewis,  Assess- 
or; Silas  Shriner,  Collector;  Scott  Dreppard, 
Commissioner  of  Highwajs. 

1879— A.  W.  Bothwell,  Supervisor;  W,  F. 
Finch,  Town  Clerk;  Elias  Lewis,  Assessor; 
William  Davis,  Town  Collector;  Silas  Shri- 
ner, Commissioner  of  Highways;  E.  J.  Bab- 
cock,  Justice  of  the  Peace;  Isaac  McGam- 
niou,  Constable. 

1880— A.  W.  Bothwell,  Supervisor;  E.  A. 
Lewis,  Assessor;    William  Davis.  Collector; 


I  W.  F.  Finch,  Town  Clerk;  J.  M.  Chaffin, 
Commissioner  of  Highways;  C.  R.  Berry, 
Constable. 

1881 — Joseph  C.  Petit,  Supervisor;  Joseph 
S.  Peak,  Town  Clerk;  James  E.  Lee,  Assess- 
or; B.  F.  Atherton,  Collector;  A.  J.  Will- 
iams, Commissioner  of  Highways;  E.  J.Bab- 
cock  and  E.  F.  Higginson,  Justices  of  the 
Peace;  C.  R.  Berry  and  L.  D.  Bess,  Consta- 
bles. 

1882— J.  C.  Petit,  Supervisor;  P.  H.  Gar- 

1  ber,  Town  Clerk;  Z.  T.  Hardy,  Assessor;  B. 
F.  Atherton,  Collector;  Lewis  Brissendeu. 

1883 — Silas  Shriner,  Supervisor;  P.  H. 
Garber,  Town  Clerk;  Z.  F.  Hardy,  Assessor; 
B.  F.  Atherton,  Collector;  Thomas  Bonner, 
Highway  Commissioner. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


OSKALOOSA    TOWNSHIP-  TOPOGRAPHY  —  EARLY    SETTLEMENT - 
OSKALOOSA— SCHOOLS— RELIGION— POLITICS - 
INCIDENTS.    ETC.,    ETC. 


-  DEVELOPMENT  —VILLAGE 
-OFFICIALS— 


OF 


"  Thus  doth  the  ever  changing  course  of  things, 
Run  a  perpetual  circle,  ever  turning." 

— Daniels. 

THE  division  of  Clay  County  known  as 
Oskaloosa  Township  is  a  regular  Con- 
gressional town,  described  by  the  Government 
Survey  as  Town  4  north,  Range  5  east,  and 
lies  between  Louisville  Township  on  the  east 
and  Marion  County  on  the  west.  Its  north 
boundary  in  Larkinsburg  Township  and  the 
south  boundary  is  formed  by  Songer  Town- 
ship. It  is  principally  prairie,  but  origin- 
ally contained  some  very  good  timber  in  the 
southwest,  and  also  in  the  northeast  part. 
The  timber  has  mostly  disappeared,  at  least 
that  portion  of  it  suitable  for  lumber,  as  it 


early  attracted  the  attention  of  lumbermen 
who  erected  mills,  manufactured  the  most 
valuable  timber  into  lumber,  much  of  which 
was  sold  in  distant  markets. 

The  prairie  in  most  parts  is  low  and  level, 
with  but  slight  natural  drainage,  which  fact 
presents  no  small  barrier  to  drainage  of  an 
artificial  character. 

The  only  streams  of  consequence  are  Skil- 
let Creek  and  Cooked  Creek.  The  former  has 
its  source  in  the  west  part  of  the  township, 
and  flows  southeast,  thus  traversing  the 
southwest  portion  of  the  township.  Crooked 
Creek  with  its  tributaries  furnish  the  north- 
east part  of  the  township  with  sufficient 
drainage,   the   surface  in  that  region  being 


HISTORY   OF   (LAV    COUNTY. 


432 


generally  broken,  and.  in  places,  precipi- 
tous. 

The  various  agricultural  pursuits  are  rep- 
resented, and  in  the  northern  half  of  the 
township  a  number  of  good  farm  residences 
are  to  be  seen,  indicative  of  prosperity,  while 
the  south  half  seems  less  favored;  fewer  good 
buildings  are  found,  and  other  improvements 
are  correspondingly  inferior. 

A  very  large  portion  of  the  farming  land 
is  owned  by  non-residents  who  have  left  their 
farms  and  gone  to  try  "  city  life  "  in  the  vil- 
lages of  the  three  railroads— the  Illinois 
Central  and  the  two  lines  of  the  Ohio  &  Mis- 
sissippi— which,  by  their  intersection,  form  a 
triangle  around  the  township. 

The  grant  of  every  alternate  section  of 
land  to  the  I.  C.  Railway  Company  has  done 
much,  we  think,  to  retard  the  growth  of  the 
township;  the  liberal  terms  of  sale  offered  by 
the  company  inducing  many  to  risk  the  pur- 
chase of  land,  who,  after  paying  two  or  three 
payments,  were  compelled  to  cover  their 
farms  with  a  mortgage,  from  which  in  many 
cases  they  have  never  been  redeemed. 

In  the  search  for  the  first  actual  settlers  of 
Oskaloosa  Township,  the  best  authority  within 
our  reach  points  to  three  men  named  Smith, 
Romines  and  Eaton.  They  were  here  and 
had  made  a  small  improvement  in  Section 
28  when  John  Sutton  came  in  1829.  M'hen 
they  came  and  from  where  we  are  not  in- 
formed, only  knowing  their  names,  and  that 
they  sold  their  claims  to  John  Sutton  in 
1829.  Mr.  Sutton  was  a  Kentuckian  origin- 
ally, though,  like  most  of  the  early  settlers  of 
this  part  of  the  county,  he  came  here  from 
Indiana.  Hi'  was  a  man  of  more  than  ordi- 
nary energy,  and  just  such  a  man  as  was 
most  needed  to  lead  the  van  in  a  new  and  un- 
developed country.  He  proceeded  to  enlarge 
his  improvement,  and  to  surround  his  home 
with  what  comforts  were  in  his  reach.    After 


other  settlers  had  reached  the  vicinity,  he 
erected  a  horse  mill  on  his  place,  which  early 
took  the  name  of  Sutton's  Point.  John  Sut- 
ton has  long  since  died,  and  his  son,  Elijah 
Sutton,  living  in  Section  20,  is  now  the  "old- 
est settler  "  in  Oskaloosa  Township.  The  nest 
to  make  settlement  in  this  township  was  Levi 
Rollins,  who  came  in  1830.  and  located  in  Sec- 
tion 18,  where  J.  S.  Phillips  now  lives.  He  was 
a  brother-in-law  to  John  Sutton,  and  came 
from  Kentucky;  he  was  a  good  farmer,  a 
pious  man,  who  did  much  toward  establishing 
infant  Methodism  in  this  part  of  the  country. 
In  later  years,  he  moved  into  Marion  County, 
where  he  died.  John  Griffith,  mentioned  in 
the  chapter  on  Xenia  Township,  and  who 
was  also  a  brotber-in-law  to  John  Sutton, 
came  to  the  township  soon  after  Levi  Rollins, 
and  in  the  same  year.  He  remained  but  a 
short  time,  however,  removing  thence  to  Xenia 
Township. 

Two  very  valuable  additions  were  made  to 
the  settlement  in  1831,  in  the  families  of 
Levi  Daniels  and  John  Craig.  Daniels 
settled  in  Section  14,  on  land  now  owned  by 
W.  Jeffers.  Craig  located  in  Section  10, 
near  the  present  residence  of  his  son,  John 
W.  Craig,  and  died  about  1S56.  The  Bishop 
settlement  was  an  early  fi-ature  in  the  history 
of  the  township.  This  settlement  comprised 
several  families  of  that  came,  and  was  first 
represented  by  "  Old  Bennie  Bishop  "  as  he 
was  familiarly  known.  Wash  Jones  and 
Joseph  Bishop — the  latter  now  of  Iola — were 
early  in  the  township.  Robert  Smith  came 
from  Henry  County,  Ky.,to  Oskaloosa  Town- 
ship in  1838.  R.  N.  Smith,  an  old  settler 
living  in  Section  9,  is  his  son.  Samuel  Dill- 
man,  in  1834,  settled  where  he  now  lives  in 
Section  10.  He,  too,  came  from  Henry  Coun- 
ty. K'y.,  and  is  regarded  by  all  as  an  honor- 
able man  and  good  farmer.  About  1843.  the 
families  of  Samuel  Turner  and  —  Jones  came 


424 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


to  the  township,  settling  near  Sutton's  Point, 
in  Section  28.  Jeremiah  Fleming  came  soon 
after,  making  a  residence  of  some  years  in 
the  township,  but  afterward  removed  to 
Texas,  where  it  is  supposed  he  died. 

James  O'Neal  was  an  early  man,  and  settled 
in  Section  32.  where  James  Rutter  now  lives. 

Jacob  Stipp  came  from  Indiana  to  the 
township,  settling  in  the  southern  part,  in 
183S.  He  was  a  man  of  more  than  ordinary 
scholastic  ability,  and  an  experienced  school 
teacher.  His  coming  was  therefore  hailed 
with  more  than  usual  delight.  His  connection 
with  the  children  of  the  early  settlers  makes 
him  especially  remembered  by  many  who 
enjoyed  the  benefits  of  his  instruction  in 
their  childhood.  These  recollections  are, 
in  the  main,  of  the  most  pleasant  character, 
though  mingled  occasionally  with  a  stinging 
sensation,  the  natural  result  of  his  adminis- 
trations of  justice,  which  were  always  tempered 
with  mercy.  Henry  Oweno  and  Joshua  Nixon 
were  very  early  in  the  township,  as  was  also 
Enoch  Sceife,  who  located  in  Section  4,  near 
where  his  son  Alfred  now  lives,  and  where 
he  died  about  1870.  Jephtha  Allen  settled  in 
Section  5,  and  has  been  dead  many  years, 
leaving  no  descendants  in  the  township. 
Michael  Hockman  settled  in  an  early  day  in 
Section  33.  He  came  from  Indiana,  and 
died  about  the  close  of  the  late  war.  Ed- 
mund and  William  Hockman  are  his  sons, 
and  are  residents  of  the  township.  Henry 
Cox.  who  now  lives  in  Section  20,  on  the  old 
Vandalia  road,  is  among  the  oldest  settlers 
ol  the  county  now  living. 

Samuel  Delong  settled  in  the  same  section 
about  1848.  He  served  as  a  soldier  in  the 
war  of  1812,  participating  in  much  of  that 
decisive  conflict  Mr.  Delong,  it  is  said, 
never  grew  old,  but.  until  the  time  of  his 
death,  which  occurred  in  St.  Clair  County 
in    1875,    maintained   much    of    his    boyish 


love  for  the  popular  amusements.  While  a 
resident  of  Clay  County,  he  followed  farm- 
ing, with  which  he  combined  merchandising 
and  general  trading.  He  was  an  expert  fifer 
and  drummer,  took  especial  delight  in  fast 
horses  and  cards,  but  withal  was  a  man  of 
unquestioned  honor,  and  regarded  as  a  good 
neighbor. 

Joseph  Higginbotham,  a  colored  man  and 
an  ex-slave,  settled  in  the  west  side  of  the 
township  near  Skillet  Creek  very  early,  per- 
haps about  1835.  He  was  a  thrifty,  hard- 
working negro,  and  possessed  a  degree  of  in- 
telligence far  in  advance  of  the  average  of 
his  race  for  his  time.  He  soon  made  for 
himself  a  comfortable  home,  and  in  time  be- 
came the  owner  of  a  large  amount  of  land — 
it  is  said  about  eight  hundred  acres.  Not- 
withstanding this  fact,  he  remained  a  modest, 
unassuming  man,  and  a  marked  contrast  with 
his  immediate  descendants,  who,  for  a  time, 
flourished  upon  their  father's  accumulations. 
They  drove  their  gay  teams  to  still  gayer  ve- 
hicles, themselves  the  gayest  of  all  the  gay, 
dressed  in  their  purple  and  fine  linen.  A 
few  years,  however,  sufficed  to  reduce  them 
to  a  level  with  their  less  favored  white  neigh- 
bors. At  the  present  time,  there  are  no  traces 
left  of  the  thrift  that  was  so  noticeable  in  the 
life  of  "  Uncle  Joe."  His  presence  in  the 
township  soon  attracted  other  colored  fami- 
lies, who  located  in  the  same  settlement, 
which  has  ever  since  been  known  as  the 
"  Nigger  settlement."  With  but  slight  ex- 
ception, they  are  considered  honest  citizens. 
They  have  a  "  colored  school,"  which  is  sup- 
ported by  the  public  tax.  "  Uncle  Joe  Hig- 
ginbotham "  came  from  Kentucky,  and  died 
in  Oskaloosa  Township  in  1800. 

A  half  century  has  produced  vast  changes 
in  the  appearance  of  the  township  in  many 
respects,  but  in  no  instance  is  that  change 
more  noticeable  than  in  the  education  of  the 


HISTORY   OF   CLAY   COUNTY. 


425 


mind.  Then  the  entire  county  afforded  but 
few  men  who  could,  with  any  degree  of 
credit,  fill  the  office  of  Justice  of  the  Peaco, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  more  important  offices 
of  the  county.  The  result  was  that  those 
who  were  elected  were  but  poorly  qualified 
for  the  duties  of  office.  A  case  in  hand  will 
fairly  illustrate  this  point.  The  following 
extract  is  an  exact  copy  of  an  entry  taken 
from  the  records  of  the  county,  and  is  a  fail- 
sample  of  hundreds  that  may  be  found  by  ref- 
erence to  the  old  books  of  the  county: 

Trken  up  by  Jessee  Bishop  in  the  north  west 
part  of  Clay  County  sixteen  miles  from  Maysville. 
one  yoak  of  cattle  drove  up  out  of  the  settlement 
one  is  Black  with  white  back  and  belly  with  a  lump 
on  its  gaw  the  other  is  a  read  and  white  pied  marked 
with  a  crop  hole  and  split  in  the  left  ear  a  crop  hole 
and  split  in  the  others  ear  judged  to  b  8  or  9  years 
old  no  brands  percewable  large  and  likely  appraisd 
to  30  dollars  before  8.  L.  Hetlin  J.  P,  the  11th  day 
of  decern  1835. 

If  any  one  should  be  pining  for  amuse- 
meut,  it  may  be  obtained  by  supplyincr  the 
above  notice  with  punctuation,  this  essential 
being  overlooked  by  the  original  writer,  so 
that  you  are  left  to  study  your  own  taste. 

In  1853,  Henry  Smith  bought  the  land  of 
John  Sutton,  known  as  Sutton's  Point,  and 
conceived  the  idea  of  a  town.  As  a  result, 
he  laid  off  and  platted  seventy- four  lots  and 
proceeded  to  sell  them,  at  both  public  and 
private  sale.  To  the  new  town  Mr.  Smith 
gave  the  name  of  Oskaloosa  in  honor  of  a 
beautiful  town  in  Iowa  of  that  name,  near 
which  he  had  formerly  lived.  As  has  been 
previously  stated,  Sutton  had  already  a  horse 
mill  here,  and  soon  four  or  five  buildings 
were  erected.  John  Todd  acid  William  Gam- 
mon erected  the  first  of  these,  which  was 
used  by  them  for  a  general  store. 

The  horse  mill  was  then  superseded  by  a 
steam  grist  and  saw  mill,  which  was  erected 
by    Henry  Smith.     It  was   a  very   important 


annex  to  the  town,  as  was  proved  by  the  large 
business  which  it  did,  until  other  mills  at 
competing  points  were  built. 

Hardin  Cox,  Elijah  Sutton  and  Elijah 
Dillman  erected  the  first  residences,  and 
for  a  time  hopes  were  entertained  of  a 
great  city.  Several  conditions  have  com- 
bined to  defeat  these  expectations,  the  most 
fruitful  of  which  was  the  surrounding  towns 
that  sprang  into  existence  as  a  cousequence 
of  the  coming  of  the  railroads. 

Whisky  and  its  advocates  have  not  been 
without  their  influence  to  operate  against  the 
development  of  a  town.  Until  late  years,  it 
was  always  cursed  by  saloons,  often  four  or 
five  of  them,  and  many  and  varied  were  the 
fisticuffs  and  cutting  affrays  which  were  en- 
gaged in,  much  to  the  satisfaction  of  the 
hoodlums  as  well  as  to  the  utter  disgust  of 
a  few  order-loving  citizens. 

This  latter  class,  to  operate  against  evil 
influences,  early  conceived  the  idea  of  the 
erection  of  a  church  house.  There  were  in 
the  neighborhood  a  respectable  number  of 
Baptist  people  and  a  corresponding  number 
of  Methodists,  and  in  1857  a  "union  church  " 
was  begun  with  brilliant  prospects  of  success; 
but  our  fondest  hopes  are  often  doomed  to 
blight,  and  the  truth  of  this  was  painfully 
felt  in  this  case.  No  sooner  had  the  good 
work  attained  a  fair  beginning  than  some 
one  with  more  contrariness  than  contrition, 
sowed  the  seeds  of  discord  which  soon  ger- 
minated and  rapidly  grew  into  an  irreparable 
rupture.  A  complete  separation  was  the  re- 
sult, and  the  Baptists  began  the  erection  of  a 
house  wholly  under  their  own  control,  the 
Methodists  meantime  falling  heir  to  the  first. 

Though  their  number  was  flattering,  their 
financial  strength  was  very  limited.  They 
thus  soon  found  themselves  unable  to  com- 
plete their  buildings,  which  were  never  fin- 
ished,   and  their    dilapidated    remains   still 


426 


1 1 1  STORY  OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


stand  as  a  fit  monument  to  the  memory  of 
their  departed  glory  as  well  as  to  the  su- 
preme stubbornness  of  their  projectors. 

The  politics  of  Oskaloosa  Township  has 
always  been  strongly  Democratic,  and  now 
polls  about  '240  votes,  of  which  about  one- 
fifth  are  Republican.  During  the  late  war, 
excitement  of  a  political  nature  ran  very 
high,  there  being  those  of  each  party  who, 
as  is  too  often  the  case,  allowed  their  party 
zeal  to  greatly  exceed  their  judgment.  As  a 
legitimate  result,  many  tonguey  altercations 
ensued,  ill  feelings  were  engendered,  and 
friends  were  then  alienated,  never  to  be 
re-united;  at  least  this  is  true  to  the  extent 
that  an  unbiased  observer  can  note  in  their 
musings  the  burnings  of  the  old  fire. 

The  village  of  Oskaloosa  has  had  one 
homicide,  which,  by  some,  is  said  to  have 
grown  out  of  this  political  strife,  while 
others  claim  it  to  have  been  the  result  of  a 
family  grudge  of  long  standing.  Henry 
Richardson  had  married  a  daughter  of  John 
W.  Nichols.  Both  were  residents  of  Marion 
County,  both  were  political  agitators,  and, 
unfortunately,  arrayed  on  opposite  sides 
with  reference  to  the  issues  of  the  war.  In 
the  course  of  time,  Nichols  removed  to  Oska- 
loosa, meantime  inducing  Richardson's  wife 
to  desert  him,  and  she  again  took  up  her  res- 
idence with  her  parents.  Richardson  after- 
ward presented  himself  at  the  house  of  his 
father-in-law,  armed  with  a  warrant  and  ac- 
companied by  an  officer  of  the  law,  for  the 
purpose,  as  he  claimed,  of  searching  for 
goods  which  the  wife  had  unjustly  taken. 
While  the  official  was  searching  the  house, 
Richardson  remained  seated  on  the  wood- 
pile,  and  while  thus  seated  was  shot  in  the 
back  by  some  unseen  foe,  and  from  which  he 
almost  instantly  expired.  Nichols  is  sup- 
posed to  have  been  his  murderer,  but  no  pos- 
itive proof  of  his  guilt  was    ever    sustained. 


Besides  the  absence  of  such  proof,  he  had 
the  warm  sympathy  of  a  majority  of  citizens, 
who  were  ready  to  justify  the  deed. 

Such  procedure,  however,  only  tends  to 
demoralize  a  village,  and  this  proved  no  ex- 
ception. Rowdyism  and  riot  ran  high,  and 
for  a  time  the  name  of  Sutton's  Point  might 
with  propriety  have  been  changed  to  Satan's 
Point.  The  drafting  of  several  men  for  the 
United  States  service  had  no  mitigating  in- 
fluences on  the  already  agitated  public  senti- 
ment. Of  those  who  were  drafted  are  re- 
membered the  names  of  Edmund  Hockman, 
Elijah  Dillman,  James  Dillman,  Robert  Mc- 
Cully  and  Stephen  Robinson.  The  last 
named,  not  desiring  to  place  himself  iu  the 
range  of  rebel  bullets,  nor  to  place  a  substi- 
tute in  a  position  so  unenviable,  decided  to 
"  visit"  his  wife's  relation  in  "Ingeany,"  and 
with  all  possible  dispatch  departed  for  the 
Hoosier  State.  He  was  there  apprehended 
by  an  officer,  but  his  adaptability  enabled 
him  to  turn  his  greatest  calamity  to  such  ac- 
count as  to  prove  the  one  great  blessing  of 
his  life. 

His  wife  was  a  victim  of  epileptic  fits,  and 
so  familiar  had  he  become  with  their  effects, 
that  he  could  perfectly  imitate  the  actions  of 
a  person  affected  with  them;  even  to  the 
minutest  details  was  this  true,  and  when  the 
officer  saw  him  fall  in  all  the  agonies  of  a 
fit,  subjected  to  the  most  frightful  contor- 
tions, he  hastened  to  the  nearest  house  to  se- 
cure assistance  for  the  unfortunate  (?)  man, 
but  on  returning,  what  must  ha\e  been  his 
surprise  and  chagrin  to  find  that  his  bird  had 
flown. 

Robinson  never  again  allowed  himself  to 
be  surprised,  but  placed  himself  on  the  com- 
fortable side  of  danger,  where  none  dared 
molest  or  make  him  have  fits. 

The  following-named  men  have  served  the 
township  officially: 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


427 


Justices  of  the  Peace — J.  B.  Turner,  War- 
ren King,  Hiram  Green,  James  Hacked, 
Enoch  Sceife,  James  Riley,  S.  C.  Dayton,  D. 
M.  Laswell,  Harris  Gammon,  Wm.  H.Hackett 
and  R.  N.  Smith,tho  present  incumbent. 

Supervisors — A.  H.  Bryan,  G.  W.  Harrail, 
William  Krutsinger,  J.  L.  Hortenstine,  R.  N. 
Smith,  Samuel  Dillman,  Jesse  Montgomery. 
William  Colclasure,  with  Lewis  Dillman, 
present  incumbent. 

The  first  physician  to  locate  in  Oskaloosa 
Township  was  Dr.  Hines.  He  came  in  an 
early  day  from  Wabash  County,  111.,  and 
located  in  Section  20.  He  was  much  fonder 
of  whisky  than  of  women,  and  consequently 
spent  a  life  of  bachelorhood,  and  died  in 
Xenia,   of  delirium  tremens,  about  1857. 

Amos  P.  Finch  was  the  next  resident 
physician,  followed  by  Dr.  Ramsey  in  1855, 
who  with  "Dr.  Picthall  are  the  only  physicians 
in  the  township. 

The  only  organized  religious  societies  are 
the  Methodist  and  Old  Baptist.  Of  the 
former  we  have  previously  spoken,  and  to 
say  that  Methodism  has  flourished  in  this 
township  would  be  a  statement  unwarranted 
by  the  truth.  They  however  maintain 
regular  preaching,  which  is  held  in  the  vil- 
lage schoolhouse.  The  Missionary  Baptist 
society  was  organized  about  1855,  by  Rev. 
Canady,  and  was  composed  of  James  Las- 
well  and  wife,  Zadock  Lovelace  and  wife,  A. 
H.  Barker  and  wife  and  William  Finamore 
and  wife.  Their  efforts  in  building  a  church 
house  have  already  been  alluded  to.  "  Icha- 
bod "  has  been  indelibly  written  upon  their 
efforts  as  a  society,  and  as  such  they  have 
ceased  to  have  an  existence  since  1875. 

Among  their  ministers  have  been  I.  H. 
Elkin,  now  a  resident  of  the  township,  Rev. 
Pearson,  of  Marion  County,  Rev.  Wharton 
and  Rev.  McKay. 

The  first  religious  society  formed  in  the 
township  was  that  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 


Church.  Their  first  meetings  were  held  at 
the  house  of  Levi  Rollins,  in  the  west  part 
of  the  township,  where  they  met  regularly 
for  several  years,  and  near  where  they  set 
apart  a  portion  of  ground  for  a  burying 
ground.  Rev.  Joseph  Helmns  was  their 
preacher  for  some  years,  assisted  occasionally 
by  John  Griffith.  The  original  society  was 
composed  of  Levi  Rollins  and  wife,  John 
Sutton  and  wife,  Scott  Smith  and  wife,  John 
Craig  and  wife,  and  others  whose  names  are 
forgotten. 

The  Old  Baptists,  among  whom  were  Enoch 
Sceife  and  wife,  Jephtha  Allen  and  wife,  Levi 
Daniels  and  others  were  early  organized 
by  Rev.  Whiteley.  They  built  their  first 
church  house  near  the  center  of  the  town- 
ship on  Crooked  Creek.  This  house  was 
burned,  and  they  erected  another  near  the 
north  line  of  the  township,  which  is  still 
standing,  and  where  they  continue  to  hold 
occasional  service. 

The  first  school  ever  conducted  in  Oska- 
loosa Township  was  taught  in  the  house  of 
Levi  Rollins,  by  his  sister,  Mrs.  Elizabeth 
Meeks,  in  the  year  1833.  Of  the  few  who 
attended  this  school  are  remembered  the 
names  of  Elijah  Sutton,  Elizabeth  Sutton, 
John  Dunham,  Sarah  and  Elizabeth  Rollins, 
the  last  named  being  now  the  widow  of  — 
Webster,  and  lives  near  Flora.  A  Mr.  Chyle 
taught  the  next  school  in  the  township,  which 
was  kept  in  the  kitchen  of  Scott  Smith,  liv- 
ing in  Section  20,  on  the  Yandalia  road. 
Chyle  was  also  a  Methodist  preacher,  but 
was  not  a  permanent  resident  of  the  town- 
ship. Benjamin  Nixon  was  also  among  the 
first  teachers  in  the  township,  and  we  believe 
is  still  living  in  the  county. 

The  first  house  built  for  school  purposes  was 
erected  in  the  south  part  of  the  township, 
near  where  the  village  stands,  but  has  long 
since  ceased  to  exist  The  township  now 
supports  eight  public  schools. 


428 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


CHAPTER    XIV. 


XEXIA  TOWNSHIP— DESCRIPTION— FIRST  SETTLERS— EARLY  SCHOOLS  AND  CHURCHES 
—VILLAGES— SECRET  SOCIETIES,  ETC.,  ETC.,  ETC 


XENIA  TOWNSHIP  formerly  embraced 
all  that  portion  of  the  county  now  known 
as  Xenia  and  Songer  Townships,  and  was 
separated  from  the  latter  by  the  adoption  of 
township  organization  in  1861.  In  1867, 
they  were  again  united  by  act  of  the  Legis- 
lature, and  so  remained  until  1869,  when 
they  were  again  separated. 

Xenia  Township,  so  named  from  the  old 
town  of  Xenia,  which  was  within  its  limits, 
is  a  half  Congressional  township,  with  its 
longest  dimensions  east  and  west,  and  con- 
sequently contains  eighteen  sections.  Its 
northern  boundary  is  formed  by  Songer 
Township,  the  eastern  boundary  being  Har- 
ter  Township;  the  south  is  bounded  by 
Wayne  County,  and  the  west  by  Marion 
County;  the  township,  therefore,  lies  in 
Township  2  north,  Range  5  east.  It  is  largely 
a  timbered  region,  much  of  which  has  yielded 
to  the  ax  of  the  industrious  settlers,  thus 
briuging  a  large  proportion  of  the  township 
under  cultivation.  The  soil  is  fairly  adapted 
to  agriculture,  and  especially  adapted  to 
fruit-growing. 

The  township  is  crossed  from  east  to  west 
by  the  main  line  of  the  Ohio  &  Mississippi 
Railway,  running  nearly  parallel  with  which 
is  the  "  Old  St.  Louis  Trail,"  one  of  the  old- 
est roads  in  the  State  of  Illinois. 

Brush  Creek  and  Nicholas  Creek  afford  the 
principal  natural  drainage.  The  former 
stream  rises  a  short  distance  north  of  the 
township,  enters  it  at  the  northwest  corner  of 
Section  3,  Hows  southwest  and  leaves  it  from 


the  southwest  corner  of  Section  13.  Nicho- 
las Creek  rises  in  the  vicinity  of  the  village 
of  Xenia  in  Section  3,  flows  southwest,  and 
leaves  the  township  through  Section  17. 

Among  the  early  permanent  settlements  in 
Clay  County  was  the  one  formed  in  Xenia 
Township.  It  is  impossible,  at  this  late  day 
to  obtain  absolute  dates  of  the  coming  of  the 
first  settlers,  or  to  determine  fully  who  the 
first  comer  was;  but  from  the  best  authenti- 
cated account,  the  first  white  man  to  settle  in 
the  township  was  a  Mr.  Kiffcart,  who  came 
previous  to  the  year  1818.  He  located  on 
the  land  now  occupied  by  D.  W.  Strain,  but 
only  remained  for  a  few  years,  and  was  fol- 
lowed to  the  same  place  by  one  Retherford, 
who  came  from  St.  Clair  County,  111.  After 
a  residence  of  a  few  years,  Retherford  left 
the  county  for  the  county's  good,  as  well  as 
to  avoid  the  associations  of  an  uncongenial 
wife. 

The  next  actual  settlement  was  made  by 
William  Lewis,  who  settled  in  1S18  on  what 
has  long  been  known  as  the  old  Davenport 
farm.  Mr.  Lewis  was  a  native  of  North 
Carolina,  but  came  to  Clay  County  from 
Indiana.  He  was  a  man  of  more  than  ordi- 
nary ability  for  the  time  in  which  he  lived. 
Like  most  pioneers,  he  depended  largely 
upon  his  gun  for  the  necessary  meat  to  supply 
his  table,  and  especially  excelled  in  the  deer 
chase  and  in  the  search  for  wild  honey;  later 
in  life,  he  became  one  of  the  leading  farmers 
and  stock  raisers  of  the  county,  and  served 
the  township  for  some  years  as  Justice  of  the 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY  COCNTY. 


429 


Peace.  The  county  records  show  two  mar- 
riage returns  over  his  name,  bearing  the 
dates  of  June  and  August,  1820. 

About  1830,  Mr.  Lewis  left  the  township. 
owing,  as  we  are  informed,  to  the  pressure  of 
public  opinion,  those  who  knew  him  best 
being  satisfied  that  his  desire  for  gain  had 
rendered  him  somewhat  covetous.  In  1830, 
he  entered  land  near  Georgetown,  in  Bible 
Grove  Township,  where  he  died  many  years 
ago.  A  Mr.  Fitch  settled  a  few  years  sub- 
sequent to  the  coming  of  Lewis  a  short 
distance  south  of  the  residence  of  Mr.  Lewis, 
and  on  the  original  route  through  the  town- 
ship of  the  ' '  old  trail "  which  had  been 
changed  so  that  two  roads  crossed  the  town- 
ship, uniting  with  each  other  at  the  extremi- 
ties of  the  township  east  and  west.  Both 
Mr.  Lewis  and  Mr.  Fitch  kept  a  public  house 
or  inn,  and,  consequently,  a  strife  arose  be- 
tween them,  each  trying  to  induce  the  gen- 
eral travel  past  his  own  house.  As  a  means 
to  this  end,  they  resorted  to  advertising, 
which  was  done  by  placing  a  placard  on  the 
sign -post  which  stood  at  the  point  of  diver- 
gence of  the  two  roads,  each  claiming  his 
road  to  be  the  shortest  and  best.  It  is  said 
that  Lewis  was  at  last  successful,  owing  to 
his  extreme  height,  which  enabled  him  to  nail 
his  placard  high  above  that  of  his  rival,  and 
thus  the  longest  pole,  as  is  usual,  knocked  the 
persimmons. 

In  1822,  Isaac  Elliott  came  from  Wash- 
ington County,  Ind.,  to  Clay  County,  111., 
and.  in  1824,  entered  a  tract  of  land  in  Sec- 
tion 1  of  Xenia  Township.  He  is  still  a 
resident  of  the  same  place,  and  wo  deem  him 
worthy  of  more  than  a  passing  notice,  as  ho 
now  enjoys  the  honor  of  being  the  oldest 
settler  in  the  count}'.  He  was  born  in  North 
Carolina  on  the  8th  of  January,  1S00,  and 
is.  therefore,  eighty- four  years  old,  and  has 
been  a  resident  of  the  county  sixty-two  years, 


and  of  Xenia  Township  for  the  past  sixty 
years.  His  father.  John  Elliott,  died  in 
North  Carolina  in  1807,  and  his  mother, 
whose  maiden  name  was  Susanna  Cleaver, 
soon  after  removed  to  the  Indiana  Territory, 
where  Isaac  grew  to  manhood.  He  was  mar- 
ried in  Floyd  County,  Ind.,  in  1824,  to  Deli- 
lah Walker,  and  again  in  Clay  County,  111., 
in  1800,  to  his  present  wife,  Mary,  widow  of 
James  N.  McLin.  His  first  wife  died  in 
Clay  County  in  1805,  leaving  two  children — 
John  Wesley  Elliott  and  Catherine,  wife  of 
Thomas  Monical.  Mr.  Elliott  was  a  member 
of  the  first  grand  jury  ever  assembled  in 
Clay  County,  and  let  it  be  recorded  to  his 
lasting  credit  that  no  man  in  the  count}'  has 
ever  evinced  greater  zeal  for  the  Christian 
religion  than  has  been  manifested  in  the  life  of 
this  old  pioneer,  having  been  a  faithful  and 
honored  member  of  the  M.  E.  Church  for 
fifty-three  years. 

About  1830,  the  families  of  John  Griffith 
and  Dr.  John  Davenport  settled  in  the  town- 
ship. John  Griffith  came  from  Kentucky 
and  located  in  the  southern  part  of  the  towu- 
Bhip,  and  for  many  years  exerted  a  potent 
influence  for  good.  He  was  a  pioneer 
Methodist  preacher  of  more  than  ordinary 
ability,  and  served  a  term  in  the  State  Leg- 
islature, during  which  he  won  honors  for 
himself,  giving  his  constituency  the  benefits 
of  his  faithful  service  and  ripe  judgment. 
He  died  in  Xenia  Township  in  1858.  Of  his 
descendants,  several  are  now  living  in  the 
county  and  numbered  among  its  most  worthy 
citizens.  Dr.  John  Davenport  bought  the 
farm  of  William  Lewis,  now  known  as  the 
Davenport  farm.  He  came  from  Virginia, 
was  a  practicing  physician,  with  which  he 
combined  general  farming.  He  was  very 
successful  in  the  treatment  of  the  prevalent 
diseases  of  the  new  country,  and  the  first 
physician  in  the  township;  also  kept  the  first 


430 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


post  office  known  as  the  Cato  Post  Office. 
This  position  he  accepted  against  his  will, 
and  at  the  earnest  solicitation  of  his  neigh- 
bors. As  a  result,  his  other  cares  so  occupied 
his  time  that,  when  called  upon  by  Uncle 
Sam  for  a  report,  his  report  was  not  ready, 
and  he  told  the  aforesaid  Uncle  Sam  to  take 
the  office  and  go  to  h — 1  with  it,  and  thus 
ended  his  service  as  a  Government  official. 
His  successor  in  the  office  was  John  Jordon, 
who  came  to  the  township  about  1S35,  set- 
tling in  Section  3  on  the  State  road,  where 
he  kept  a  store.  Two  sons,  Frank  and  Fred- 
erick Jordon  still  reside  in  the  county. 

Maj.  John  Onstott,  in  1828,  settled  in 
Section  4,  and  came  from  Indiana.  He  kept 
a  stage  stand  on  the  old  road,  and  was  a 
prominent  farmer  and  a  man  of  great  energy 
and  perseverance.  He  recruited  a  company 
for  the  Black  Hawk  war,  and  was  its  Captain. 
He  died  in  May,  1876.  Of  his  family,  two 
sons,  Levi  and  John  Onstott,  are  now  resi- 
dents of  the  county  ;  a  daughter,  Sophia 
Edwards,  is  a  resident  of  Carlyle,  111. 

Abram,  Jacob,  Frederick,  John,  Samuel, 
James  and  Giles  Songer,  with  their  widowed 
mother,  came  to  the  county  from  Virginia  in 
1828.  Perhaps  no  family  has  reflected  more 
honor  upon  the  township  than  has  this  fam- 
ily of  sterling  men.  Abram  served  with 
Maj.  Onstott  in  the  Black  Hawk  war,  and  is 
still  in  the  township.  Frederick  afterward  re- 
moved to  Songer  Township,  and  died  in  the 
town  of  Kinmundy,  111.  John  was  noted  for 
his  business  integrity,  and  was  one  of  the 
proprietors  of  the  village  of  Xenia,  and  died 
in  I860. 

The  Rev.  Joseph  Helmn  and  his  father-in- 
law,  John  Maxey,  settled  on  Ramsey's  Prai- 
rie, in  the  northeast  part  of  the  township, 
about  1832.  Joseph  Helmn  was  a  farmer, 
and  also  a  Methodist  preacher  of  the  shout- 
ing order.     He  traveled  over  a  radius  of  for- 


ty miles,  holding  revival  meetings.  He  was 
an  uneducated  man,  but  nature  had  done 
much  for  him.  and  for  mental  penetration 
and  oratorical  ability  he  surpassed  most  men 
of  his  day  and  surroundings.  He  died  in 
the  township,  and  is  buried  in  the  old  camp 
ground  cemetery. 

Maxey  was  an  unpolished  man  of  noble 
parts,  and  was  a  local  preacher  in  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Conference.  There  are  no 
descendants  of  either  of  these  pioneers  in 
Clay  County. 

In  1831.  George  and  Rebecca  Baity  came 
from  North  Carolina  and  settled  in  the 
southern  part  of  the  township.  They  were 
members  of  the  Old-School  Baptist  Church, 
and  their  descendants  are  a  prominent  fac- 
tor in  the  community  at  the  present  time. 
George  Baity  was  elected  to  the  office  of 
Justice  of  the  Peace  early  in  the  political 
history  of  the  township,  and  held  the  office 
without  an  intermission  until  his  death, 
which  occurred  in  the  township  in  December, 
1847.  The  responsibilities  of  the  office  were 
then  placed  in  the  hands  of  his  son,  Isaac 
Baity,  who  still  holds  the  position. 

His  wife  died  but  recently  at  a  very  ad- 
vanced age.  Of  the  sons,  Isaac,  James,  Giles 
and  Alex  are  still  living. 

Otho  Davenport,  brother  of  Dr.  John  Dav- 
enport, came  to  the  township  and  located  in 
Section  2  in  the  year  1833.  He  taught  an 
early  school  in  the  township,  where  he  soon 
became  prominent.  In  184-6,  he  removed  to 
St  Clair  County,  where  he  died  in  1S53. 

In  1835,  Samuel  Whiteley  built  a  cabin  in 
Section  6,  and  the  year  following  Leonard 
Melton  settled  in  the  same  section. 

John  Peirce  settled  on  the  same  section  in 
1837.  He  came  originally  from  New  Hamp- 
shire, married  a  daughter  of  Otho  Daven- 
port, and  is  still  living  and  a  resident  of  the 
village  of  Xenia. 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


431 


Robert  Montgomery  came  in  1S37,  as  did 
his  sons, -Isaac  and  William.  The  widow  of 
the  latter  still  lives  on  the  old  homestead, 
and  is  the  wife  of  Jesse  Clemens. 

Two  brothers,  William  and  John  Lawson, 
settled  in  1838,  the  former  in  Section  7  and 
the  latter  in  Section  6.  William  was  a  Bap- 
tist minister,  and  John  kept  a  country  store. 
Both  in  the  meantime  engaged  in  farming. 

Holman,  Anderson,  Jarvis,  Cook  and  Hen- 
derson came  about  1838. 

From  this  time  to  1850,  a  large  number  of 
families  settled  in  this  township,  among 
whom  were  N.  B.  Nelms,  Gilbert  Pritchet,  a 
son-in-law  of  Dr.  Davenport,  and  Aaron 
Finch.  Dr.  James  A.  Finch,  son  of  Aaron, 
was  the  second  resident  physician  of  the 
township.  He  was  a  graduate  of  the  Chi- 
cago Rush  Medical  College,  and  married  a 
daughter  of  John  Griffith.  Dr.  Finch  died 
in  September,  1851,  and  his  widow  after- 
ward married  a  lawyer  named  Griffin,  and 
resides  in  Louisville,  Clay  County. 

Following  are  a  few  of  the  earliest  land 
entries  in  the  township:  1830,  John  Onstott, 
in  Section  1;  1836,  Samuel  Whiteley,  Section 
6;  Isaac  Elliott,  Section  1;  William  Childress, 
Section  2;  John  Davenport,  John  Jordon  and 
John  Songer,  in  Section  3;  Jacob  Songer, 
Section  10;  William  Holman,  Rebecca  Bos- 
ley  and  George  Bailey,  in  Section  11;  John 
Speaks,  Section  12,  and  Gideon  Bosley,  in 
Section  15.  In  1S37,  John  and  Edward 
Peirce,  in  Section  5;  Otho  Davenport  and 
Leonard  Melton,  in  Section  6;  Mary  and 
Abram  Songer,  Section  15. 

The  first  doath  that  occurred  was  that  of 
a  child  of  John  Speaks,  in  Section  12.  This 
was  the  first  burial  in  what  is  now  the 
Camp  Ground  Graveyard. 

The  marriage  of  William  George  and 
Elizabeth  Songer  was  doubtless  the  first 
wedding,  but    who  the  first  child  born   may 


have  been  is  a  question  too  nice  for  even  the 
oldest  inhabitant. 

In  1S30,  the  first  schoolhouse  was  built. 
It  was  made  of  round  logs,  having  a  puncheon 
floor,  and  old-fashioned  "stick  in  the  mud" 
chimney,  and,  to  afford  a  little  light,  a  por- 
tion of  a  log  was  cut  away  and  the  opening 
covered  with  a  greased  paper.  This  house 
stood  in  the  timber  in  Section  21.  Rev. 
Whiteley  was  the  first  teacher,  and  taught 
one  term.  He  was  well  qualified  for  the  re- 
sponsibilities of  a  pioneer  teacher,  and  con- 
ducted school  with  marked  ability.  This 
school  was  supported  by  the  families  through- 
out a  radius  of  four  miles,  some  attending 
even  farther  remote  than  that,  among  whom 
were  the  children  of  Thomas  Elliott,  who 
then  lived  in  the  house  now  occupied  by 
John  A.  Gerhart,  near  Flora.  Isaac  Elliott 
and  Levi  Onstott  attended  the  same  school. 
In  1834,  another  schoolhouse  was  erected, 
located  in  Section  3,  on  land  now  occupied 
by  the  village  of  Xenia.  George  Baity 
taught  the  first  school  in  this  house,  and 
proved  a  very  good  teacher,  but  was  succeeded 
by  some  of  questionable  ability.  The  town- 
ship now  supports  four  public  schools,  em- 
ploying seven  teachers. 

Religious  worship  has  been  held  within  the 
township  since  a  very  early  date.  Among 
the  early  settlers,  as  has  already  been  noticed, 
were  some  zealous  ministers,  who  lost  no  op- 
portunities to  appeal  to  the  consciences  and 
hearts  of  the  people.  A  suitable  place  for 
meeting,  however,  presented  no  small  barrier 
to  their  prosperity,  and  yet  they  would  meet 
in  their  rude  cabin  homes,  and  there  listen 
to  the  rough  eloquence  of  their  pioneer 
teachers.  The  first  religious  gathering,  of 
which  we  have  any  account,  was  held  at  the 
house  of  John  Onstott  about  is:in,  and  was 
conducted  by  a  Rev.  Whiteley,  of  Baptist 
faith,  and  a  resident  of  what  is  now  Songer 


433 


HISTORY   OF   CLAY   COUNTY. 


Township,  and  the  man  who  taught  the  first 
school  in  Xenia  Township.  Of  those  pres- 
ent at  this  meeting,  we  know  of  none  now 
living  except  Uncle  Isaac  Elliott. 

The  Baptists  afterward  formed  a  society 
and  erected  a  log  church  near  the  residence 
of  John  Onstott.  This  house  has  long  since 
been  torn  away,  and  replaced  by  a  frame 
building  near  the  same  site. 

The  first  Methodist  society  was  organized 
about  1832  by  Rev.  Simeon  Walker,  consist- 
ing of  about  twelve  members,  among  whom 
were  Isaac  Elliott  and  wife,  Jacob  Songer 
and  wife,  and  Abram  Songer  and  wife.  For 
some  years  they  worshiped  in  the  private 
houses,  later  in  the  schoolhouse  in  old  Xenia, 
where  they  finally  built  a  brick  church. 
Simeon  Walker,  referred  to  above,  was  a  man 
of  wonderful  endurance,  earnest  and  very 
forcible  in  his  appeals  to  the  hearts  of  his 
people,  and  now  has  two  sons  who  are  noted 
ministers  in  the  Methodist  Conference. 

The  first  village  of  the  township  was  that 
of  Xenia,  now  called  Upper  Town,  to  distin- 
guish it  from  Xenia  proper.  It  was  laid  out 
in  1834  by  Dr.  John  Davenport,  John  O. 
Pierce  and  John  A.  Gowdy,  the  two  last 
named  being  non-residents,  and  is  located  in 
the  northwest  quarter  of  SectioD  3,  on  the 
old  State  road.  The  first  business  enterprises 
of  this  new  village  was  a  horse  mill,  a  small 
carding  mill  owned  by  John  Onstott,  and  a 
general  store  kept  by  a  man  named  Colman. 
Colman  believing  it  better  to  face  the  ills 
we  have  than  fly  to  those  we  know  not  of, 
sold  strictly  for  cash,  and  spared  no  paint  to 
notify  the  people  that  no  indigent  cus- 
tomer need  apply  without  the  necessary 
lucre;  and  while  he  was  not  required  to  cry 
after  his  goods,  he  mourned  over  them  until 
they  were  shelf -worn  and  stale. 

After  a  time,  more  :  pretentious  business 
houses    were    erected,  a    few   more    families 


moved  to  town,  a  hotel  was  erected,  and  as  has 
already  been  said,  a  schoolhouse  and  church 
were  built,  and  the  aspirations  as  well  as  the 
admiration  of  its  people  seemed  to  have 
reached  their  zenith,  when  the  coming  of  the 
Ohio  &  Mississippi  Railroad  forever  sealed 
the  doom  of  the  once  happy  village,  many  of 
its  best  buildings  having  been  removed  to  the 
new  town. 

The  present  village  of  Xenia,  as  has  just 
been  intimated,  was  a  sequence  of  the  coming 
of  the  railroad.  It  was  laid  out  and  platted  in 
185-1  by  Songer,  Camp  &  Co.,  who  were 
working  in  the  interest  of  the  road,  the  laud 
being  furnished  by  John  Pierce  and  John 
Songer,  and  is  situated  in  the  southwest 
quarter  of  Section  3  and^the  northwest  quar- 
ter of  Section  10.  The  village  has  sustained 
considerable  growth  and  has  a  population  of 
about  1,000.  It  has  always  been  considered 
a  good  business  point,  and  has  been  favored 
with  many  very  substantial  men,  a  number 
of  whom  are  still  there.  Among  the  more 
important  business  men  may  be  mentioned 
the  names  of  J.  W.  Westcott,  David  Strain 
and  George  Lappin,  dry  goods  merchants; 
Thornes  Pinty,  general  merchandise,  and  one 
of  the  wealthist  men  in  the  county;  D.  M. 
Maxey  also  deals  in  general  merchandise  and 
drugs;  J.  R.  Gauger,  druggist;  T.  O. 
Peirce,  Joseph  Tully  (who  is  also  the  Post- 
master), M.  Symonds  and  Robert  Flemin 
are  also  leading  merchants,  besides  several 
others  of  minor  importance,  as  well  as  two 
boot  and  shoe  stores,  which  are  among  the 
solid  enterprises  of  the  town.  Besides  the 
business  already  ref erred  to,  the  village  sup- 
ports a  machine  shop,  a  wagon  and  carriage 
manufactory,  steam  cider  mill  and  first-class 
marble  works.  The  Moody  House  is  kept  by 
Charles  Moody  and  is  the  principal  hotel  of 
the  town.  J.  P.  Hill  and  J.  G.  Hill  each 
are  engaged  In  the  hotel  business  on  a  smaller 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


433 


scale.  There  are  two  flouring  mills,  both 
frame  buildings,  and  each  containing  three 
sets  of  buhrs  or  stones,  and  having  a  capacity 
of  fifty  barrels  of  flour  per  day.  One  is 
known  as  the  Eclipse  Mills  and  is  owned  by 
Wescott,  Bryan  &  Co.,  but  operated  by  M. 
Spaulding  &  Co.,  to  whom  it  is  rented.  The 
other  is  known  as  the  Excelsior  Mills,  and 
was  originally  built  for  a  lint  mill  and  con- 
verted into  a  flouring  mill  in  1873  by  Dayton 
&  Davis.  It  is  now  under  the  management 
of  D.  W.  Riley  &  Son.  A  woolen  mill  is 
also  a  prominent  feature  of  the  town.  The 
churcheB  of  the  village  are  three  in  number, 
viz.,  Methodist,  Baptist  and  Christian. 

The  Xenia  Lodge,  No.  485,  A.  F.  &  A.  M.. 
was  organized  about  1865  in  Oskaloosa,  and 
was  then  known  as  the  Oskaloosa  Lodge,  No. 
485,  and  was  removed  to  Xenia  in  1879. 
Among  the  charter  members  were:  Dr.  James 
B.Harrison,  Master;  William  Gammon,  Sen- 
ior Warden;  William  Krutsinger,  Junior  War- 
den; Silas  Gammon,  Secretary;  Harris  Gam- 
mon, Alfonzo  Bryant  and  A.  H.Porter.  They 
tiow  have  membership  of  twenty-five,  with 
their  present  officers  as  follows:  J.  "W.  West- 
coft.  Master;  C.  C.  Ramsey,  Senior  Warden;  T. 
W.  Kepley,  Junior  Warden;  T.  M.  Cox,  Treas- 
urer; C.  P.  Evans,  Secretary;  Harry  Evans, 
Senior  Deacon;  George  S.  Lappin,  Junior 
Deacon;  and  S.  E.  Payne,  Tiler.  Regular 
meetings  held  in  T.  O.  Peirce's  Hall. 

The  old  Xenia  Lodge  was  the  first  in  the 
township,  and  was  organized  in  1856  or  1857. 
They  at  one  time  were  in  a  flourishing  con- 
dition, having  more  than  sixty  members,  but 
owing  to  the  removal  of  many  of  its  most  in- 
fluential members  the  organization  was  dis- 
banded in  1871.  Among  the  chartor  mem- 
bers of  this  lodge  appear  the  names  of  R.  J. 
Holtsclaw,  N.  J.  Martin,  J.  W.  Westcott  and 
N.  B.  Nelms. 

Rounceville  Lodge,  No.  213,  I.   O.  O.   F., 


now  called  Orphan's  Hope  Lodge,  No.  213. 
was  organized  in  October,  1856,  by  J.  S.  Irwin, 
of  Samaritan  Lodge,  No.  111.  From  1860 
until  1868,  the  society  did  not  flourish,  and 
no  meetings  were  held  during  that  interval 
for  want  of  a  quorum.  The  lodge  however 
was  restored  by  dispensation  of  the  Grand 
Master  of  Illinois,  and  William  Elston  was 
elected  Noble  Grand;  John  Peirce,  Vice 
Grand;  Henry  R.  Gregory,  Secretary ;  andS. 
D.  Jaynes,  Treasurer. 

The  sooiety  is  now  flourishing,  and  meets 
regularly  in  Peirce's  Hall.  The  lodge  controls 
a  cemetery  in  Section  9  of  the  township. 

The  Knights  of  Honor  also  have  a  healthy 
Society  in  Xenia.  and  were  organized  April 
11,  1879,  with  twenty  charter  members,  viz.: 
F.  A.  Davis,  J.  F.  Davis,  Henry  Davis,  M. 
Spaulding, W.  O.  Brissenden,  L.  A.  Baity,  F. 
M.  Baity,  E.  K.  Rose,  E.  M.  Rose,  James 
Clark,  James  Kendall,  T.  Smith,  J.  A. 
Songer,  John  R.  Bryan,  R.  Gaw,  A.  R. 
Jones,  S.  E.  Paine  and  R.  Flemin.  Their 
first  election  resulted  in  selection  of  J. 
A.  Songer.  Dictator;  F.  M.  Baity,  Vice  Dic- 
tator; A.  R.  Jones,  Reporter;  S.  E.  Paine, 
Treasurer;  F.  A.  Davis,  Chaplain. 

The  present  officers  are:  M.  Spalding,  Dic- 
tator; E.  M.  Rose,  Vice  Dictator;  E.  K.  Rose, 
Assistant  Dictator;  W.  O.  Brissenden,  Re- 
porter; L.  A.  Baity,  Treasurer;  A.  R.  Jones, 
P.  D.;  and  R.  Flemin,  Financial  Reporter. 
Meet  every  alternate  Friday  night  in  Flem- 
in's  Hall. 

The  first  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
was  built  in  Upper  Town  about  1S45.  It 
was  a  brick  structure,  and  was  built  with  the 
aid  of  but  little  ready  cash,  and  was  paid  for 
with  cattle,  colts,  sheep,  hogs,  or  whatever 
the  patron  might  bo  able  to  contribute.  The 
only  church  of  the  society  now  in  the  town- 
ship is  the  Xenia  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  a  brick  building  that  was  erected  in 


434 


HISTORY  OF   CLAY  COUNTY. 


1865,  at  a  cost  of  about  $4,000.  This 
society  consists  of  about  seventy-five  mem- 
bers, and  is  the  principal  society  of  the 
Xenia  Circuit,  which  comprises  four  ap- 
pointments. Since  the  building  of  the  new 
church,  the  following-named  pastors  have 
served  the  society:  Revs.  Myers,  J.  S.  Barns, 
Ray,  C.  D.  Lingenfelter,  C.  W.  Branine, 
Abram  Campbell,  R.  M.  Carter,  S.  J.  Har- 
rington, T.  J.  Massey,  W.  B.  Brunei-,  S.  P. 
Chapiu,  and  H.  Manifold,  the  present 
preacher  in  charge. 

A  society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  South  was  formed  in  1864,  consist- 
ing of  about  two  dozen  members,  most  of 
whom  withdrew  from  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church  proper.  They  were  organized  by 
J.  W.  Westcott,  of  Xenia,  and  among  the 
original  members  were  Abraui  and  Jacob 
Songer  with  their  wives,  Caleb  Lovelace  and 
wife,  William  Smothers  and  wife,  Louisa, 
Priscilla  and  Sarah  Lovelace,  Mary  J.  Songer 
and  others. 

Their  church,  which  is  a  humble  log  struct- 
ure, was  built  in  1865,  and  is  located  on  the 
farm  of  Caleb  Lovelace,  on  Section  15,  and 
known  as  the  Pleasant  Grove  Church.  It 
was  dedicated  by  Rev.  M.  R.  Jones.  Their 
pastor  of  first  year  was  J.  W.  Westcott,  suc- 
ceeded by  Rev.  J.  A.  Beagle  ;  the  succession 
of  ministers  to  the  present  time  being  Rev. 
Pierson,  J.  W.  Westcott,  T.  M.  Prickett, 
Rollins,  T.  M.  Ragsdale,  and  H.  K.  Jones,  the 
present  pastor. 

The  organization  of  the  Christian  Church 
dates  back  to  1S57,  and  was  effected  by  the 
Rev.  Philo  P.  Dibble,  with  thirty-seven  origi- 
nal members,  among  whom  were  Hiram  Gib- 
son and  wife,  Michael  Davis  and  wife, 
William  La  Rue  and  wife,  Abram  Gibson, 
John  Bradley,  James  Fisher,  Mrs.  Symonds, 
Dr.  H.  Winans,  Phcebe  Dunn,  James  Fisher 
and  others.      The  society  first  worshiped  in 


an  old  wooden  building  in  Upper  Town, 
which  they  rented  for  the  purpose  ;  and  in 
1871  their  present  frame  church  was  erected, 
costing  about  $2,600.  Revs.  Bradley,  John 
A.  Williams  and  R.  B.  Henry  have  been  the 
principal  pastors.  Their  present  official 
board  consists  of  Hiram  Gibson,  Deacon  ; 
Wesley  McGrew,  Elder ;  and  Asa  Porter, 
Clerk. 

Besides  their  church  in  the  village  of  Xenia, 
the  Baptists  have  a  neat  little  frame  church 
on  the  old  Onstott  farm,  near  where  was 
built  the  first  church  of  the  township. 

The  following  is  the  list  of  officers  of  the 
township  for  the  past  ten  years  : 

1874 — Supervisor,  B.  B.  Thomas  ;  Assessor, 
Charles  Smith  ;  Collector,  James  Oglesby  ; 
Clerk,  James  S.  Roy  ;  Commissioners  of  High- 
ways, Alexander  Vickery,  H.  Baity,  J.  J. 
Anderson. 

1875 — Supervisor,  B.  B.  Thomas  ;  Assessor, 
R.  S.  Evans  ;  Colloctur,  Alexander  Baity  ; 
Clerk,  J.  S.  Roy  ;  Commissioner  of  High- 
ways, John  Lawson. 

1876— Supervisor,  B.  B.  Thomas  ;  Assessor, 
G.  M.  Filson ;  Collector,  James  Songer ; 
Clerk,  J.  R.  Gauger  ;  Commissioner  of  High- 
ways, J.  J.  Anderson. 

1877 — Supervisor,  John  R.  Gauger  ;  As- 
sessor, A.  H.  Porter ;  Collector,  Gilbert 
Pritchett ;  Clerk,  Allen  Evans  ;  Commission- 
ers of  Highways,  William  Davis,  Isaac  Baity, 
John  S.  Symonds  and  L.  C.  McNeal  ;  Jus- 
tices of  the  Peace,  Alexander  Baity,  L.  A. 
Smith  and  B.  F.  Modlin,  Constables. 

1878 — Supervisor,  B.  B.  Thomas  ;  Assessor, 
Charles  Friend  ;  Collector,  James  Songer  ; 
Clerk,  J.  R.  Gauger;  Commissioner  of  High- 
ways, F.  A.  Davis. 

1879 — Supervisor,  E.  S.  Shirley;  Assessor, 
J.  R.  Gauger;  Collector,  J.  P.  Hill;  Clerk, 
John  T.  Renick;  Commissioner  of  Highways, 
Frank  Buffinjrton. 


HISTonV    OF   CI.AV    COUNTY. 


437 


18S0 — Supervisor,  A.  H.  Kenick;  Assessor, 
O.  S.  Jarvis;  Collector,  H.  H.  Bryan;  Clerk, 
A.  R.  Jones;  Commissioner  of  Highways, 
"William  Davis. 

1881 — Supervisor,  L.  A.  Gauger;  Assess- 
or, L.  A.  Baity;  Collector,  A.  R.  Jones; 
Clerk,  J.  P.  Hill.  Isaac  Baity,  Justice  of 
Peace,  and  Hiram  Songer  and  J.  W.  Cable, 
Constables. 

1882 — Supervisor,     L.     A.     Gauger;    As- 


sessor, C.  O.  Ramsey;  Collector,  R.  M.  Maxey; 
Clerk,  G.  \Y.  Cox;  Commisssoner  of  High- 
ways, Alex   Baity;  Constable,  B.  F.  Modlin 

1883 — Supervisor,  U.  F.  Strain;  As- 
sessor, T.  W.  Kepley;  Collector,  W.  O.  Bris- 
senden;  Clerk,  G.  M.  Allen;  Commissioner 
of  Highways,  Charles  Songer;  Constables, 
Giles  Baity,  J.  M.  Dean  and  S.  K.  Oglesby. 

The  township  on  general  elections  has 
always  been  Democratic. 


CHAPTER    XV. 


SONGER    TOWNSHIP— DESCRIPTION— AGRICULTURE— VEGETATION— EARLY  SETTLEMENT 
AND  SETTLERS— SCHOOLS,  CHURCHES,  ETC.,  ETC 


THIS  township  bears  the  name  of  one  of 
the  early  and  numerous  families  of 
Clay  County,  in  honor  of  whom  it  was  so 
called.  It  was  originally  embraced  in  Xenia 
Township,  with  which  it  forms  a  voting  pre- 
cinct, and  from  which  it  was  taken  in  1861, 
by  the  adoption  of  township  organization. 
Fmm  1867  to  1869,  it  was  again  united  with 
Xenia  by  act  of  the  State  Legislature,  but 
has  been  independent  of  Xenia  since  the 
latter  date.  It  is  a  regular  township,  con- 
taining thirty-six  sections,  and  is  located  as 
Town  3  north.  Range  5  east.  The  northern 
boundary  is  formed  by  Oskaloosa,  the  east- 
ern by  Harter,  and  the  southern  by  Xenia 
Township,  the  west  boundary  being  Marion 
County.  The  surface  of  the  township  is 
chiefly  high  and  rolling,  and  as  an  agricult- 
ural district  the  township  is  perhaps  the  best 
one  of  Clay  County.  While  the  soil  is  nut 
so  fertile  as  is  found  in  many  parts  of  the 
State,  it  nevertheless  produces  good  crops  of 
corn,  abundant  returns  in  hay,  with  frequent 
large    yields    of  wheat,    and    is    developing 


vast  probabilities  in  the  way  of  fruit-growing, 
to  which  many  of  its  farmers  are  turning 
with  a  commendable  zeal. 

About  75  or  80  per  cent  of  the  township  is 
prairie,  the  remainder  being  the  timber  that 
fringed  the  streams.  Originally  along  these 
streams  was  to  be  found  some  very  valuable 
timber,  the  principal  useful  varieties  being 
the  white  and  black  oak,  walnut,  hickory 
and  ash.  The  greater  part  of  this  timber  has 
been  long  since  utilized  in  the  development 
of  tho  country,  which  now  presents  a  picture 
of  prosperity  and  healthy  improvement. 

With  the  clearing  off  and  domestication  of 
tho  general  face  of  the  country,  most  of  the 
wild  conditions  have  disappeared,  some  of 
them  wholly.  Among  the  most  noticeable 
changes  that  have  taken  place  may  be  men- 
tioned the  almost  entire  absence  now  of  some 
of  the  vegetation,  which  in  an  early  day  was 
found  in  great  abundance.  Among  the  annual 
plants  which  have  entirely  disappeared  may 
be  mentioned  the  ginsong  and  several  varie- 


ties of  the  snake  root. 


Tho  well-known  May 

25 


438 


HISTORY  OF   CLAY  COUNTY. 


apple,  too,  has  almost  disappeared,  now  to  be 
found  only  in  small  and  br  .ken  patches, 
where  it  formerly  grew  broadcast,  covering 
the  surface  of  the  country.  The  wild  onion, 
that  once  grew  in  rank  and  rich  luxuriance  in 
the  bottom  lands  is  no  more  to  be  seen.  The 
wild  plum,  which  now  is  scarce,  of  stunted 
growth  and  very  sour,  was  formerly  to  be 
found  in  large  orchards  along  the  bottom 
lands  and  fringing  the  prairies;  the  fruit  was 
luscious,  and  ripened  in  the  latter  part  of 
August  or  the  early  days  of  September.  We 
think  it  safe  to  assert  that  the  oak  trees  do 
not  yield  such  bountiful  crops  of  acorns  as 
they  did  in  the  early  age  of  the  country. 
The  hazel  bush  was  a  feature  of  the  early 
history  of  the  country,  which  is  now  almost 
remembered  as  a  thing  which  was  but  is  no 
more.  They  abounded  most  along  the  border 
of  the  prairies  and  through  the  groves  of  oak 
timber.  They  grew  tall  and  luxuriantly,  and 
produced  every  year  immense  quantities  of 
nuts.  They  seem  no  longer  to  grow  with 
much  vigor,  those  that  are  seen  being  scrub- 
by, and  produce  a  scanty  fruit  correspond- 
ing. What  is  true  of  the  plum  and  hazel  is 
also  true  of  the  black  haw. 

For  these  disappearances  no  reason  can  be 
assigned,  and  we  are  left  to  the  vague  con- 
clusion that  the  inherent  nature  of  these 
vegetable  productions  was  essentially  too 
wild  to  flourish  with  civilization. 

The  animal  as  well  as  vegetable  kingdom 
suffered  loss  by  the  coming  of  the  early  set- 
tlers. Of  the  animals  which  were  abundant 
sixty  years  ago  are  remembered  the  deer,  fox 
and  wolf,  with  an  occasional  catamount  or 
wild  cat.  Then  there  was  of  the  reptiles  the 
two  species  of  rattlesnake,  the  viper  and  the 
copperhead.  To  those  who  have  gone  forth 
with  ax  in  hand  to  clear  the  forest  for  the 
plow,  as  well  as  to  those  who,  with  sickle  in 
hand,  proceeded  to  reap  the  ripened  grain, 


no  description  of  these  serpents  is  needed. 
They  were  here  and  in  distressing  plentiful- 
ness,  and  that  goose-like  hiss  or  harsh  rattle, 
which  needs  only  to  be  heard  to  be  remem- 
bered, was  a  constant  reminder  to  the  intrud- 
ing settler  that  they  would  only  yield  their 
prestige  under  protest.  An  occasional  one 
may  still  be  found,  but  they  are  fast  taking 
their  places  among  the  things  which  were. 

A  half    century   ago,    the   actual    settlers 
might  have  been  numbered  upon  the  lingers, 
while  there  is  now  no  township  in  the  county 
that  can  claim  superiority  over  Songer  in  its 
number  of  substantial  farm  residences   and 
happy  homes.      We  often  wonder,  when  look- 
upon  the  smiling  faces    and  listening  to  the 
merry  voices  of    the   children    who    inhabit 
these   homes     if  they  can,  by  any    possible 
reach   of    the    imagination,    understand    the 
value  of  their    surroundings  or  comprehend 
the  price  that  bought  them.     With  the  aged 
pioneer,  however,  it  is  vastly  different.     Ask 
them  of  facts  pertaining  to  the  years   long 
gone  by,  and  you  waken  the  most  intense  in- 
terest   and  their  deepest   emotions    as   they 
recall  to  mind  a  vivid  picture  of  times  and 
scenes,  dear  to  the  heart  of   every  pioneer. 
Their  thoughts  are  carried  back  to  the  miles 
of    weary  travel  and  the  days   and  nights  of 
exposure    experienced  in  reaching   this  then 
new  country;   of  the  struggles  and  hardships 
of  the  early  years  tu   secure   for  themselves 
and  their  dependent  little  ones   a  protection 
against  hunger   and  cold;  of  the  long  jour- 
neys over  dreary  roads,  often  through  swollen 
streams  to  reach  the  nearest  mill,  or  to  con- 
vey to  the  nearest  market  the  produce   to  be 
exchanged  for  their  scanty  supply  of   "  store 
clothes."     Then  will  come  thoughts  of  the 
loving  companion  who  shared   their  earliest 
sorrows,  and  who.  by  the  burdens  of  pioneer 
life,  had  been  borne  through  the   portals  of 
death,  and  laid  in  the  little  wavside   grave- 


HISTORY   OF   CLAY   <(>(   N  IV. 


139 


yard.  If  the  young  and  gay  of  the  present 
generation  should  condescend  to  read  these 
pages,  may  they  do  so  with  an  increased  ven- 
eration for  the  memories  of  the  generation 
past. 

Songer  Township  was  not  settled  as  early 
as  the  townships  adjoining  it.  Its  settlers  of 
the  tirst  three  decades  were  principally  from 
Indiana,  Washington  County  of  that  State 
furnishing  tho  greater  part.  This  faot  in- 
sured the  settlement  against  "  clannishness," 
so  often  observed  in  a  settlement  composed 
of  a  representation  from  sections  of  the  coun- 
try remote  from  each  other.  They  were 
hardy,  industrious  people,  and  given  to  hos- 
pitality and  deeds  of  kindness,  the  genuine- 
ness of  which  was  proven  by  the  fact  that 
these  deeds  of  kindness  were  extended  not 
only  to  neighbors  but  to  the  stranger  as  well. 

Of  the  tirst  settlers,  Alexander  Cookrell 
came  about  1825  from  Washington  County, 
Ind.,  and  settled  in  Section  19  of  Songer 
Township.  In  1828,  two  brothers,  Jacob 
and  John  Colclasure,  from  the  same  State, 
came  and  settled  in  Sett  ion  26,  where  some 
of  their  descendants  still  live.  Their  father, 
Abram  Colclasure,  came  a  few  years  later, 
and  settled  in  the  same  neighborhood,  to 
which  he  proved  a  valuable  annex,  he  being 
one  of  the  most  industrious  and  enterprising 
of  the  then  sparsely  settled  country.  He 
died  about  1858,  and  left  a  large  number  of 
relatives  who  are  still  residents  of  the  town- 
ship. 

Edmund  Golden  settled  in  the  east  part  of 
the  township,  about  the  same  date  as  did  the 
Colclasures.  He  was  also  from  Indiana  and 
died  several  yoars  ago,  leaving  as  a  legacy  to 
the  county,  two  sons  of  sterling  worth — 
W  csley  and  Thomas  Golden — who  now  live 
in  the  west  part  of  Harter  Township.  Sam- 
uel Songer  came  as  early  as  1828,  and  settled 
in  Section  33,  in  the  southern    part.      Giles 


Songer  settled  in  the  western  part  in  Con- 
ner's Prairie  in  1830.  Of  these  men  we 
have  spoken  elsewhere;  but  one  opinion  is 
rendered  of  these  families.  Micajah  Brooks 
came  from  Indiana  in  1830,  and  made  set- 
tlement at  the  head  of  Raccoon  Creek,  to 
which  place  he  was  accompanied  by  his  three 
sons— Silas,  William  and  Elijah  Brooks— and 
also  his  son-in-law.  William  Hill.  Micajah 
Brooks  was  characterized  by  a  desire  to  ac- 
complish something  in  life,  and  especially 
desired  to  have  a  well-tilled  coffer  to  console 
him  in  the  hour  of  his  death;  to  this  end  he 
adopted  the  motto  "  get  all  you  can  (honor- 
ably of  course),  and  keep  all  you  get,"  and  it 
is  said  of  him  that  he  actually  boasted  of 
having  been  for  twenty-five  yoars  a  member 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  the  sup- 
port of  which  had  cost  him  but  two  bit*. 
Those  acquainted  with  the  financial  policy  of 
that  particular  church  will  need  no  further 
guaranty  of  this  brother's  saving  grace.  A 
Mr.  Hampton  was  one  of  the  earliest  men  in 
the  township,  and  located  in  the  northwest- 
ern part,  at  what  was  known  for  many  vears 
as  Hampton's  Point. 

Hampton  was  tho  first  man  in  that  portion 
of  the  country  to  undertake  the  cultivation  of 
the  prairie  land.  He  broke  and  planted  a 
Held  of  corn  as  an  experiment,  and  was 
for  a  time  regarded  by  his  neigbors  with  a 
mixture  of  pity  and  surprise;  this,  however, 
was  soon  changed  to  admiration,  as  thev  saw 
him  gather  a  bountiful  crop,  which  was  pro- 
duced with  a  small  amount  of  labor,  and 
without  any  fence,  the  deer  which  were 
plentiful,  being  the  only  source  of  loss  to 
the  crop.  Where  or  when  Hampton  died  is 
unknown  to  us.  A  son,  Turner  Hampton,  was 
for  several   years  a  resident  of  tho  township. 

William  George,  who  was  mentioned  in 
another  chapter  in  connection  with  the  firs) 
marriage,    settled    in    the    township    about 


440 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


1833.  He  located  on  the  place  now  occupied 
by  William  Anderson.  He  was  followed  to 
the  same  place  by  Benjamin  Hodges,  the 
first  blacksmith  of  the  township. 

Isaiah  Bradley  and  family,  including  his 
son  James  Bradley,  settled  in  the  township, 
Section  20,  some  time  previous  to  the  year 
1840. 

The  development  of  Songer  Township  has 
kept  pace  with  other  portions  of  the  county, 
though  it  contains  no  railway  nor  village. 
Neither  can  it  claim  any  attraction  not  pos- 
sessed by  other  and  adjoining  townships, 
unless  it  be  the  mineral  springs,  in  Section 
26,  and  owned  by  R.  R.  Colclasure.  These 
springs  are  several  in  number,  and  each  dif- 
fers from  the  rest  in  the  character  of  its  min- 
eral ingredients,  the  sulphur,  iron  and  mag- 
nesia being  the  chief  attractions.  Some 
attention  has  been  given  to  the  preservation  of 


these  springs  by  Mr.  Colclasure,  and  many 
who  have  used  of  their  waters  are  ready  to 
pronounce  them  of  great  value.  "Where  the 
first  schoolhouse  in  the  township  was  located, 
and  who  the  first  teacher  was  cannot  now 
be  definitely  determined,  but  the  best  infor- 
mation points  to  the  Colclasure  settlement  as 
the  location  of  the  first  school;  and  to  Hen- 
ry Stipp  or  Rev.  Whiteley,  a  pioneer  Bap- 
tist minister.  The  township  is  now  well 
supplied  with  sehoolhouses,  where  are  kept 
schools  which  favorably  compare  with  any  in 
Clay  County. 

The  first  religious  services  in  Songer  Town- 
ship were  held  by  the  Baptists,  Rev.  Whiteley 
or  Benjamin  Coats  conducting  them.  At  the 
present  time  the  township  contains  but  two 
churches,  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  and 
the  United  Presbyterian  Church,  both  in  the 
western  part. 


CHAPTER    XVI. 


BLAIR  TOWNSHIP— FULL  ACCOUNT  OF  ALL  THE  PIONEERS  AND  PEOPLE  DOWN  TO  DATE- 
INCIDENTS— CHARACTERS— CHURCHES— SCHOOLS— TOWN  OFFICERS,  ETC. 


THE  division  of  Clay  County  known  as 
Blair  Township  is  bounded  on  the 
north  by  Effingham  County,  on  the  east  by 
Bible  Grove  Township,  on  the  sonth  by 
Louisville  Township,  and  on  the  west  by 
Larkinsburg  Township.  In  the  spring  of 
1862,  it  commenced  to  do  business  under 
township  organization.  The  eastern  portion 
of  the  township  is  drained  by  Panther 
Creek,  and  the  western  part  by  the  Little 
Wabash  River,  and  Lucas  Creek,  one  of  its 
tributaries,  and  in  the  extreme  southwest 
corner  by  Dismal  Creek.  Panther  Creek 
rises    in  Section    12,    and   flows   first    south 


and  then  southeast,  leaving  the  town- 
ship in  Section  35.  Its  bottoms  are  well 
timbered  with  soft  and  hard  wood.  It  de- 
rived its  name  from  the  fact  that  panthers 
made  it  their  haunts  in  an  early  day,  and  the 
skins  were  an  article  of  commerce  with  the 
new  comers.  Some  very  fine  farming  land  lies 
on  each  side  of  this  creek,  which  fact  seems 
to  have  been  well  known  to  the  early  pioneer. 
Lucas  Creek  rises  in  Effingham  County;  it 
enters  this  township  in  Section  3,  and  flows 
southwest  till  it  enters  the  Little  Wabash 
in  Section  20.  The  Little  Wabash  enters 
the  township  in  the  northwest  corner  in  Sec- 


HISTORY  OF   CLAY    COUNTY. 


141 


tion  6,  and  flows  south;  it  makes  many  grace- 
ful curves,  and  leaves  the  township  in  Sec- 
tion 33.  It  furnished  water- power  to  the 
pioneer  mills  which  were  erected  on  its 
banks.  Among  the  first  mills  was  Isaac  Cole- 
man's grist  and  saw  mill,  put  up  about  184*2, 
and  continued  about  fifteen  years,  when  it 
burned  down.  It  was  located  in  the  north- 
west corner  of  Section  29.  Another  saw 
mill  was  put  up  by  Tom  Pettijohn,  probably 
in  Section  32. 

On  Ihe  banks  of  the  Little  Wabash  a 
tragedy  was  enacted  near  what  is  known  as 
the  Coleman  Mill.  John  Osborne,  who  was 
running  the  mill,  was  killed  by  an  unknown 
man  while  Osborne  stood  in  his  own  door 
talking  to  his  wife.  Suspicion  pointed  to 
Pettijohn,  the  owner  of  the  other  mill,  who 
ran  off  and  has  not  been  heard  from  since. 
The  Little  Wabash  in  Blair  Township  has 
witnessed  many  tragedies  and  mysteries.  In 
the  northern  part  of  the  township  they  seem 
shrouded  in  mystery.  Many  bard  cases  set- 
tled near  the  stream  in  an  early  day,  and 
many  dark  deeds  were  committed.  But  few  of 
the  perpetrators  could  be  brought  to  justice. 
Among  the  principal  vices  that  could  be 
found  among  the  early  settlers  of  the  Little 
Wabash  bottoms  were  those  of  counterfeiting. 
and  horse  and  hog  stealing,  which  latter  vo- 
cation was  conducted  with  great  skill  and 
success,  but  to  which  the  better  class  of  citi- 
zens put  a  stop  to  during  the  war  by  organ- 
izing regulators. 

About  the  year  1835,  a  man  by  the  name 
of  Snelling  shot  another  man  by  the  name 
of  Robison  in  a  quarrel.  Robison  was  at- 
tended by  Dr.  P.  S.  Green,  but  died  shortly 
afterward  from  his  wounds.  In  the  same 
vicinity,  about  1845,  a  man  by  the  name  of 
James  Pugh  was  killed  by  Dave  Landreth, 
who  hit  Pugh  on  the  head  with  a  slab  board 
while  he  was  re-entering  his  own  house,  out 


of  which  he  had  been  called  by  Landreth. 
The  latter  was  arrested  and  held  to  bail,  but 
ran  off  to  parts  unknown,  much  to  the  satis- 
faction of  the  people.  The  killing  created  a 
big  excitement  all  over  the  county. 

Blair  Township  was  named  by  Henry  R. 
Neff,  who  was  formerly  a  resident  of  this 
township,  but  now  a  resident  of  Louisville. 
He  named  it  in  honor  of  Josiah,  Jesse  and 
James  Blair,  who  were  the  heads  of  families 
which  settled  here  in  1837  and  183'J.  Al- 
though a  number  of  families  settled  in  the 
limits  of  this  township  previous  to  this  date, 
yet  little  or  nothing  could  be  learned  as  re- 
gards their  present  existence  or  departure 
from  the  township.  They  were  mainly  hunt- 
ers anil  trappers,  and  most  of  them  settled 
near  the  Little  Wabash,  and  as  the  other  set- 
tlers poured  into  the  country  and  began  to 
work  and  improve,  the  deer  and  other  game 
moved  westward,  and  it  may  be  said  that  the 
early  and  shiftless  settlers  of  Blair  Township 
moved  West  with  the  game,  and  their  places 
were  invariably  filled  by  better  citizens.  We 
do  not  pretend  to  say  that  all  the  old  settlers 
who  hunted  and  moved  away  were  disrepu- 
table, for  some  of  them  were  earnest,  honest, 
big-hearted  men,  who  were  suited  to  the 
times,  and  although  they  may  never  have  done 
much  good  to  the  country  were  at  least  harm- 
less. Moving  from  place  to  plaoe  was  as  nec- 
essary to  them  to  keep  them  in  the  society 
they  wore  brought  up  in  as  quiet  is  to  the 
student,  or  permanency  to  the  steady  farmer 
of  the  present  day.  They  neither  sought 
nor  obtained  glory,  and  if  the  present  was 
provided  for  were  as  free  from  care  as  if  they 
had  been  surrounded  by  plenty  and  luxuries. 
But  they  acted  their  part  in  the  different 
stages  every  new  country  must  pass  through, 
and  consequently  we  will  not  criticise  nor 
censure  them. 

The    following  is  a   copy  from   the  entry 


442 


HISTORY   OF   CLAY   COUNTY. 


book,  showing  the  names  of  people  who 
entered  land  down  to  1840:  1818,  Ransom 
Freeman,  Section  15;  1830.  William  Lewis, 
Section  31;  1837,  Jesse  Blair,  Section  14; 
Josiah  Blair,  Section  14;  Harman  Ernest, 
Section  19;  Theodore  Pridemore,  Section  25; 
James  McKnight,  Section  25;  Martin  Dukes, 
Section  29;  Jesse  Dobbs.  Section  32;  1838, 
Theodore  McKnelly,  Section  9;  William 
Brooks,  Section  13;  Charles  Shirley,  Section 
14;  David  Bohall,  Section  18;  John  Connel- 
ly, Section  27;  T.  and  T.  McKnelly.  Section 
3t>;  1839,  James  Tompkins,  Section  6;  San- 
ford  Webster,  Section  14:  Jennings  Shirley, 
Section  14;  Alexander  Shirley,  Section  14; 
James  Blair,  Section  15;  George  Hord,  Sec- 
tion 15;  Roderick  Jenkins,  Section  19;  and 
a  number  of  others.  Some  of  the  above  have 
lived  but  a  short  time  in  the  township,  and 
it  is  impossible  to  get  a  full  history  of  them. 
Among  some  of  the  early  settlers  we  note 
Theodore  Pridemore,  Sr. ,  a  native  of  Vir- 
ginia. He  came  from  Indiana  and  entered 
land  in  this  township  in  Section  25  in  the 
year  1837.  He  brought  his  wife  and  seven 
children,  viz. :  Elihu,  Jackson,  Thomas,  Jerry, 
Theodore,  Polly  A.  Bailey  and  Sarah  J.  Bond, 
of  whom  the  lirst  four  children  served  in  the 
Union  army  in  our  late  war,  and  of  these 
Thomas,  who  is  yet  a  resident  of  Louisville 
Township,  also  served  in  the  Mexican  war. 
Only  one  descendant  of  Jackson  Pridemore 
is  now  living  in  Blair  Township.  The  other 
children  and  their  descendants  are  living  in 
different  States.  Theodore  Pridemore,  Sr. , 
was  a  large,  powerful  man,  a  good  farmer 
and  neighbor.  After  the  death  of  his  first 
wife,  he  married  Elizabeth  Lewis,  who  was 
the  mother  of  John  H.  Pridemore,  now  a 
resident  of  Neoga,  111.  Mr.  Pridemore,  Sr. . 
died  in  this  county.  Robert  and  James  Ben- 
nefield  came  here  about  1837.  The  latter 
moved  to  Effingham  County,  but  Robert  and 


his  wife,  Elizabeth  Bennefield,  reared  a  large 
family  here,  viz. :  William.  Josiah,  Harrison, 
Clarinda  Smith,  Mary  A.  Asbel,  Barnett, 
Robert,  Jr.,  Ala  Hord  and  Catharine  Bryant. 
Mrs.  Elizabeth  Bennefield  died  in  this  county. 
Her  husband,  Robert  Bennefield,  Sr.,  moved 
to  Texas,  where  he  was  bitten  by  a  rattlesnake 
while  out  on  a  hunt  in  company  with  his  son, 
from  the  effects  of  which  he  died  in  the  wilds 
of  that  country. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  old  settlers  who 
once  lived  here,  but  of  whom  but  little 
could  be  ascertained:  Woodford.  Cora  and 
John  Lee,  who  died  here;  Lewis  Ford,  who 
was  drowned  while  attempting  to  cross  Pan- 
ther Creek  at  its  mouth;  Joe  Hatfield  was  a 
great  hunter  who  lived  on  the  east  side  of 
the  Little  Wabash;  he  finally  moved  away. 
Bowhall,  who  lived  on  the  west  side  of  the 
Little  Wabash,  was  another  old  hunter. 
But  the  greatest  hunter  in  this  county  was 
undoubtedly  Washington  Curbow,  who  lived 
near  the  Little  Wabash.  Many  stories  are 
afloat  of  the  old  hunter,  and  one  of  his  say- 
ings has  become  proverbial.  At  one  time, 
when  asked  what  he  thought  of  a  certain 
stranger,  he  said,  with  his  usual  profanity, 
"  Well,  he's  a  d n  sorry  man."  Consid- 
ering that  Curbow  was  one  of  the  hardest  of 
men,  the  saying  was  taken  up  by  the  old 
settlers  as  a  huge  joke,  and  often  when  asked 
wha  they  thought  of  a  new-comer,  would 
laugh  and  say,  ' '  He  is  one  of  old  Cur- 
bow's  men."  Curbow  finally,  after  getting 
in  debt  to  William  Sunderman  for  provis- 
ions, left  for  parts  unknown,  probably  going 
West,  following  the  track  of  the  game. 
Charles  Shirley  came  here  from  Indiana  in 
1838.  He  entered  land  in  Section  14,  on 
which  he  settled.  He  brought  his  wife 
Sarah  (Ingledove)  Shirley,  and  eight  chil- 
dren— Indiana,  Alexander,  Katharine,  Jen- 
nette.  Huram.   Samuel,    Amanda    and    Mary 


IIIvroiIY    OF   CLAY   COUNTY. 


4-13 


E.  Another  son.  Jennings  Shirley,  came  to 
Blair  Township  in  1837.  Of  the  above  chil- 
dren, only  Indiana,  Jennette  and  Mary  E. 
are  now  living  in  this  county.  Charles  Shir- 
ley was  known  as  an  industrious  man  and  a 
quiet  citizen.  L.  A.  Tolliver  came  from 
Lawrence  County,  Ind.,  to  this  township  iu 
183S.  and  the  next  year  entered  eighty  acres 
of  laud  in  Section  34.  where  he  now  resides. 
He  is  a  native  of  Huntsville,  Ala.,  but  was 
principally  reared  in  Indiana,  whore  he  was 
also  married  to  Frances  Burton,  daughter  of 
David  Burton.  She  was  the  mother  of 
twelve  children,  of  whom  eight  are  now  liv- 
ing—Wesley G.,  George  W.,  John,  William 
II.  Martin.  Kobert,  Sarah  Bains  and  Mary 
J.  Steel,  all  of  whom,  with  the  exception  of 
'N  i>ley  G.,  now  a  resident  of  Christian 
County,  .mi  1  Martin,  a  resident  of  Arkansas, 
are  living  in  Clay  County.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Tolliver  are  members  of  the  Baptist  Church. 
Ke  has  served  many  years  as  a  detective,  and 
his  life  abounds  with  many  interesting 
events  fraught  with  danger.  His  father, 
John  Tolliver,  was  a  native  of  North  Caro- 
lina, where  he  married  Salona  C.  Miller,  by 
whom  he  had  twelve  children;  of  these,  elev- 
en reached  maturity.  He  came  to  Blair 
Township  in  the  fall  of  1839,  and  died  here. 
Numerous  descendants  are  yet  living  in  this 
county.  Theodore  and  Thomas  McKnelly 
were  early  settlers;  they  came  here  in  the 
fall  of  1838,  and  the  same  year  entered  land 
in  Section  36.  Thomas  McKnelly  died  in 
this  township,  in  which  his  widow  is  yet  a 
resident.  Theodore  McKnelly  is  a  native  of 
Lee  County,  Ya. ;  from  that  State  he  was 
brought  by  his  parents  to  Indiana,  where  he 
grew  to  manhood  and  then  came  to  Blair 
Township,  Clay  County.  Here  he  engaged 
in  farming,  and  now  owns  600  acres  of  land. 
He  has  been  Township  Supervisor.  His  first 
wife,  Elizabeth  N.  Blair,  daughter  of  James 


and  Margaret  (Brewner)  Blair,  died  here, 
leaving  six  children — Margaret  Richardson, 
Rebecca  Conley,  Stephen.  Fountain,  Adeline 
Nash  and  Nancy  Hodge.  His  present  wife 
is  Mrs.  Nancy  T.  Waterbury.  who  is  the 
mother  of  several  children.  The  parents  of 
Theodore  and  Thomas  McKnelly  were  John 
and  Rebecca  (Pridemore)  McKnelly,  who 
came  to  this  township  later  in  the  same  year 
that  their  sons  did.  John  McKnelly  aDd 
wife  died  in  this  county  He  was  a  native 
of  Ireland,  and  she  of  Scott  County,  Va. 
She  reared  nine  children — James,  Daniel, 
Polly  Rhoda,  Catharine  Hoskins,  Thomas, 
Theodore,  John,  Peggy,  Martin  and  Susannah 
Shields.  Of  these,  only  Theodore  is  now 
living.  Jesse  McGee,  the  father  of  the  Mc- 
Gee  families  in  this  township,  came  here  in 
1839.  His  father  was  Henry  McGee,  a  na- 
tive of  County  Tyrone,  Ireland,  from  which 
he  was  brought  to  this  county  by  his  father, 
John  McGee.  This  was  before  the  Revolu- 
tionary war.  ■  Jesse  McGee  brought  his 
wife,  Elizabeth  (Kellum)  McGee,  and  five 
children  to  Blair  Township  -Henry,  Eliza- 
beth Brocket,  Jane  Blai'r,  Miranda  Blair  and 
William;  three  other  children  were  born 
here — Ann  Brocket,  James  (deceased)  and 
John;  these  children  are  all  living  in  this 
county  except  Ann  Brocket,  who  lives  in 
Effingham  County.  Henry  McGee,  the  old- 
est and  most  wide-awake  of  these  children, 
is  married  to  Louisa  J.  Evans,  daughter  of 
Ransom  and  Anna  (Morris)  Evans,  and.  is 
the  mother  of  five  children — William  T., 
Anna  E.,  Emma  J.,  Louella  and  Martha  M. 
Crawford  Lewis  was  another  old  6ottler;  he 
lived  in  Louisville,  which  was  named  in  his 
honor,  but  sold  out  to  Dr.  Green  and  came 
to  Blair  Township,  settling  in  Section  3;  he 
died  in  Clay  County,  111.  He  was  a  native 
of  Floyd  County,  Ind.,  and  was  married  to 
Elizabeth  (Neal)  Lewis,  a  native  of  Indiana. 


444 


HISTORY    OF   CLAY   COUNTY. 


She  was  the  mother  of  seven  children — Lydia 
A.  Colburn,  Priscilla  Hord,  William,  Adeline 
Blair,  Levina  E.  Bland,  Caroline  Evans  and 
Elizabeth  Compton.  Crawford  Lewis  is 
mentioned  in  another  part  of  this  work  in 
connection  with  the  history  of  Louisville. 
He  was  a  great  hunter  and  one  of  the  better 
class  of  the  Lewis  family. 

The  Blairs,  after  whom  the  township  was 
named,  were  among  the  first  to  settle  here. 
Several  sketches  of  descendants  of  the  old 
families  appear  in  the  biographical  depart 
ment  of  this  work.  They  all  have  descend- 
ants living  in  this  township.  James  Blair,  a 
brother  to  Jesse  and  Josiah  Blair.  Srs., 
came  here  in  the  fall  of  1839,  two  years  later 
than  the  main  body  of  Blairs;  he  also  came 
from  Indiana,  and  settled  on  Section  15.  He 
brought  his  wife  and  nine  children;  his 
wife's  maiden  name  was  Margaret  Hughes. 
The  children  are  Elizabeth  A.,  Irena,  Solo- 
mon, Stephen,  David,  Nancy,  William,  Susan- 
nah and  Samuel.  Emily,  another  child,  was 
born  here.  James  Blair  was  a  farmer  by  oc- 
cupation, and  died  here.  The  coming  of  the 
Blair  family  added  materially  to  the  pros- 
perity of  the  township,  and  was  an  aid  to  all 
moral  and  religious  undertakings,  as  schools 
and  churches  were  fostered  by  them. 

Levi  Ooton  came  here  from  Indiana  about 
1840.  He  settled  in  Section  21,  and  died 
here.  His  wife,  Alpha  E.  Ooton,  was  the 
mother  of  eleven  children,  of  whom  five  are 
now  living  in  this  township,  viz.:  Jeremiah, 
Silas,  Elizabeth  Beal,  Nancy  Johnson  and 
John.  Levi  Ooton  had  many  odd  ways,  but 
was  a  good  man  withal.  John  A.  McCau- 
ley,  a  native  of  North  Carolina,  came  to  this 
township  from  Indiana  in  1841,  and  settled 
in  Section  34;  he  afterward  moved  to  Section 

21,  and  finally  bought  eighty  acres  in  Section 

22,  where  he  died  in  1851.  His  wife,  Indi- 
ana (Shirley)   McCauley,    a   native   of  Ken- 


tucky, is  yet  living.  She  is  the  mother  of 
six  children,  viz. :  Sarah  J.  Brewer,  de- 
ceased; William,  at  present  Supervisor  of  the 
township;  Harriet  Beal;  Mary  A. ;  Amanda, 
deceased,  and  Margaret  C.  Burnsides.  Will- 
iam McCauley  is  married  to  Mary  E.  Willis, 
a  native  of  Indiana,  a  daughter  of  William 
and  Nancy  C.  (Eytchison)  Willis,  and  is  the 
mother  of  sis  children.  John  Freeman  also 
came  from  Indiana,  and  died  here.  He  came 
here  about  1841,  and  was  then  an  old  man. 
His  children — Samuel,  William,  John,  Ruth 
Hord,  Minus,  Mark,  Lemons,  whose  daughter 
is  yet  living  in  this  township;  Anderson  and 
Rebecca  Johnson  are  either  dead  or  living  in 
other  countries.  George  Hord  settled  in 
Blair  Township  about  1841;  he  died  here. 
He  came  from  Indiana,  and  is  a  native  of 
East  Tennessee.  The  following  children  are 
now  living  in  this  township:  John,  Caroline 
Davis,  Thomas  B.  and  Cynthia  A.  Roberts. 
Of  the  following  old  settlers  but  little  is 
known,  except  that  they  at  one  time  lived  in 
this  township:  Louis  Ford,  Zack  Spurling 
(lived  here  in  1839),  William  Edwards,  John 
Conley,  Vinsen  Krouse  and  Dowthard. 

As  early  as  1840,  the  people  of  Blair 
Township  became  interested  in  educational 
matters,  and  tried  to  secure  its  advantages 
to  their  children.  In  the  above  named  year, 
William  Williams  built  a  dwelling  house  on 
Section  34,  and  taught  three  months'  school, 
on  the  old  subscription  plan,  the  tuition 
averaging  about  §2  per  pupil.  The  next 
year,  in  1841,  a  man  by  the  name  of  Laws 
taught  another  three  months'  school  in  a  log 
house,  with  a  stick  and  clay  chimney  on  Sec- 
tion 23,  the  schoolhouse  being  built  by  vol- 
untary support.  Joel  Yancy  Rhodes  taught  the 
next  school  in  the  same  building,  afterwhich 
it  burned  down.  After  that,  several  like  the 
above-named  schoolhouses  were  erected  in 
different  parts  of   the  township,   the  tuition 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY   COUNTY. 


445 


being  $2  per  pupil,  and  they  bad  to  carry 
tbeir  own  wood  and  water.  A  schoolbouse 
was  put  up  in  Section  34.  in  which  Joel  Y. 
Rbodes  taught,  wbo  was  succeeded  by  Martin 
Krouse,  who  was  succeeded  by  Asa  Sullivan, 
after  which  the  house  burned  down.  About 
this  time  the  free  school  system  was  intro- 
duced, and  the  old  log  schoolhouses  became 
a  thing  of  the  past.  There  are  now  five  frame 
schoolhouses  in  the  township,  costing  $2, 500. 
School  statistics  of  last  year:  Number  of 
pupils  of  school  age,  328;  males,  10(5;  females, 
162;  enrollment,  262,  males,  139;  females, 
123;  number  of  teachers,  7 ;  males  (i;  females, 
1;  salary,  malrs.  s:{0. 13;  females,  §20  per 
month.     Total  expenditures,  $1,757.62. 

Joel  Y.  Rhodes,  one  of  the  early  teachers, 
was  a  famous  scholar,  a  descendant  of  one  of 
the  best  Old  Virginia  families,  but  he  was  a 
confirmed  drunkard  and  a  dangerous  man; 
he  made  himself  infamous  by  beating  his 
scholars  in  a  brutal  manner,  and  for  brutality 
exercised  in  his  own  family,  for  which  latter 
offense  he  was  sent  to  the  penitentiary  for 
ten  years.  He  had  been  two  years  in  the 
penitentiary  of  Indiana  for  killing  a  man. 
He  afterward  returned  to  this  country,  but 
wandered  off,  no  one  knew  whither  and  no 
one  cand 

Churches. — The  light  of  the  Gospel  is 
shed  over  a  portion  of  Blair  Township  fro 
the  Second  Little  Prairie  Baptist  Church  and 
Union  Chapel,  also  called  Now  Light  Church. 
Meetings  were  held  in  an  early  day  in  the 
homes  of  settlers,  at  which  traveling  min- 
isters officiated.  As  early  as  June  23,  1855, 
a  Christian  Church  was  organized  in  the 
north  part  of  Blair  Township,  by  Elder 
Stephen  J.  Williams,  who  continued  to  be 
their  minister  as  long  as  the  organization 
lasted.  The  first  members  were  Stephen  J. 
Williams  and  wife.  Augustus  F.  Bougher 
and   wife,  George  Kirkpatrick.  William    N. 


Blair  and  wife,  Nancy  M.  Adams,  Henry 
Vandyke  and  wife.  Alpha  Ooton,  Francis 
Jordan,  James  Ooton,  Sarah  E.  Dunbar  and 
Harmon  Spriggs.  Very  little  of  the  workings 
of  this  church  is  known,  yet  considerable 
good  was  done.  The  Lucas  Creek  Church 
was  organized  September  5,  1861,  by  Elder 
S.  J.  Williams  and  Elder  Nathan  Wood;  the 
latter  being  chosen  pastor.  A  number  of 
the  old  members  were  present,  and  the  meet- 
ings were  held  in  H.  Vandyke's  Grove  in 
good  weather,  and  in  his  house  in  bad 
weather.  Nathan  Wood  continued  to  be 
their  pastor  till  1867,  when  Union  Chapel 
was  built  on  Section  14  The  building  is  a 
frame  and  cost  $1,342.36.  Sinco  the  com- 
pletion of  the  building,  Rev.  M.  G.  Collins 
has  been  the  main  minister,  at  times  assisted 
by  Rev.  Nathan  Wood.  Two  other  denomina- 
t  ions,  the  Campbellites  and  Baptists  assisted  in 
the  building  of  Union  Chapel,  hence  its 
name.  At  present  the  New  Lights  or  Chris- 
tians,Campbellites  and  Baptists  hold  meetings 
in  this  church.  A  Sunday  school  is  held  at 
this  church,  of  which  Mr.  William  McCauley 
is  Superintendent;  William  Beal,  Assistant 
Superintendent;  A.  Beal,  Secretary;  and  P. 
R.  Brewer,  Treasurer. 

The  Second  Little  Prairie  Baptist  Church 
was  organized  May  28,  1870,  by  Rev.  G.  W. 
Borcus.  who  acted  as  Moderator,  and  by  the 
following  members:  Lewis  A.  Tolliver, Fran- 
cis Tolliver,  W.  G.  Tolliver,  C.  A.  Tolliver, 
('..  W.  Tolliver,  M.  E.  Tolliver,  Lewis  Ed- 
wards, R.  E.  Ranes,  C.  A.  Monroe,  Susan 
Monroe,  R.  Blair,  Martha  Blair,.  John  Ooton, 
Jane  Ooton,  Jesse  F.  Eytchison,  Jerry  M. 
Tucker.  Elizabeth  Tucker,  William  Tucker, 
Mary  J.  Tucker,  Elizabeth  Banks,  Nancy 
Kellums,  Sarah  E.  Cogswell,  Eliza  J.  Burton, 
James  H.  Ranes,  Sarah  J.  Ranes,  Mary  J. 
Tolliver,  Sarah  F.  Cogswell,  Lona  Monroe, 
Elizabeth   Carter.    Ruth   E.    Richards,   Allen 


440 


HISTORY    OF    (LAY    COUNTY. 


Monroe,  George  Blair,  Maranda  Blair,  Emily 
Stallcup,  Harden  Burton,  Elizabeth  Monda 
Burton  and  Eliza  J.  Hartsey.  The  first  min- 
ister called  was  Elder  W.  C.  Mitchell.  The 
next,  Elder  W.  B.  Lively,  Elder  E.  Patton, 
Elder  J.  H.  Elkin.  The  church  building  is 
a  frame,  and  is  situated  in  Section  84. 

Counterfeiters. — About  the  years  1S63  and 
1864,  a  number  of  men  on  the  west  side  of 
Little  AY  abash  made  counterfeit  money. 
They  had  long  been  suspected  by  the  better 
citizens  of  Blair  and  adjoining  counties,  and 
a  surprise  party  was  arranged  for  their  spe- 
cial benefit.  George  W.  Sturdivant,  from 
Bible  Grove  Township,  M.  H.  Davis,  from 
Louisville  Township,  and  L.  A.  Tolliver,  from 
this  township,  were  among  the  leaders.  The 
last  two,  especially,  were  conspicuous  in 
those  days  of  unrest  to  bring  criminals  to 
justice,  Mr.  Tolliver  being  a  member  of  the 
Decatur  Detective  force,  and  at  present  holds 
a  commission  of  the  American  &  European 
Secret  Service  Company  as  detective.  About 
a  dozen  men  collected  one  night  in  the  win- 
ter of  1863,  at  the  residence  of  Mr.  Davis, 
and,  headed  by  the  above-named  gentleman, 
made  their  way  cautiously  to  the  house  of 
Daniel  Pugh,  and,  after  watching  him  quite 
awhile  through  the  cracks  of  the  log  house, 
made  a  rush  into  the  house,  and  caught  him 
while  in  the  act  of  making  silver  money  of  a 
poor  quality.  He  made  half  dollars  and 
quarters.  The  molds,  which  he  attempted 
to  hide,  but  which  were  found,  were  com- 
posed of  plaster  of  Paris.  One  of  the  cap- 
tors, who  was  an  old  Californian,  exclaimed, 
when  he  saw  Pugh's  money  scattered  around 
in  every  direction,  because  in  the  darkness 
he  had  emptied  his  pockets,  "  That  he  had 
been  in  many  a  digging,  but  that  Pugh's 
digging  was  the  richest  and  best  he  had  ever 
been  in,  because  the  precious  metal  was  al- 
ready  coined."     Three  men,    Daniel    Pugh, 


Andy  and  Matthew  Roberts  were  sent  to  the 
penitentiary  for  five  years.  A  number  of  others 
were  suspected,  but  before  they  could  be  ar- 
rested left  the  country,  to  the  infinite  relief 
of  the  settlers. 

In  the  winter  of  1866,  Zimaria  Lewis 
passed  counterfeit  paper  money,  and  was 
sent  to  the  penitentiary  for  a  number  of 
years.  He  was  a  hard  citizen,  fond  of  stray 
pork  and  other  things.  Getting  his  thigh 
broken  while  in  the  penitentiary,  he  was  per- 
mitted to  come  home  to  his  family,  which 
lived  on  the  west  side  of  the  Little  Wabash,  but 
while  at  home  he  drew  a  weapon  on  his  bet- 
ter half  and  otherwise  abused  the  family,  and 
therefore  was  sent  back  to  the  penitentiary. 
The  old  fellow  returned  to  Blair  Township 
after  serving  his  term,  and  was  drowned 
while  attempting  to  cross  the  Little  Wabash 
River,  across  which  the  people  claim  he  had 
guided  many  an  unsuspecting  porker. 

Many  relics  of  a  mining  camp  were  found 
in  Sections  6,  7  and  IS  by  the  early  settlers, 
and  some  are  yet  in  existence.  A  more  ex- 
tended historyof  them  will  be  given  in  the 
general  history  of  Clay  County. 

Among  the  many  curiosities  are  an  abun- 
dance of  mounds,  rude  ovens  used  probably 
for  smelting,  and  large  trees  grafted  together. 
Also  abundance  of  petrified  bones  are  found. 

Six  sections  in  the  northwest  corner  of  the 
township  are  a  mere  wilderness,  the  land  yet 
belonging  mainly  to  the  Illinois  Central 
Railroad  Company.  The  land  is  heavily  tim- 
bered, and  old  settlers  often  lose  their  way  in 
the  dense  woods.  It  is  here  that  the  sup- 
posed silver  mine  in  Clay  County  is  located. 
The  earliest  settlers  remember  of  people  com- 
ing from  Tennessee  with  way  bills  in  their 
pockets,  which  were  probably  sold  to  them 
by  designing  scoundrels.  And  now  our 
township  can  show  up  men  who  were  attract- 
ed here  by  the  silver  excitement.      At  times, 


HISTORY   OF   CI, AY   COUNTY. 


447 


raJ  hundred  people  would  roam  through 
tho  woods,  expecting  to  find  something  that 
would  make  them  rich  in  a  short  time.  Even 
people  from  St.  Lonis  came  here,  but  after 
the  ore  had  been  thoroughly  examined  by  as 
savers,  the  excitement  subsided,  much  to  the 
regret  of  the  superstitious  and  greedy  people, 
some  of  whom  yet  believe  that  silver  can  be 
found  in  great  abundance. 

Copper  is  found  in  different  places,  and  it 
is  supposed  that  Dr.  Wallace,  who  was  also 
a  blacksmith,  made  money  out  of  it,  and  then 
whitened  it  with  arsenic.  The  Doctor  lived 
■with  his  family  in  Section  6,  and  died  about 
1853.  At  one  time,  about  200  men  went  to 
his  house  to  rout  him  out.  thinking  that  he 
made  counterfeit  money,  and  that  the  silver 
mine  was  located  under  his  house.  But  the 
Doctor  kept  the  men  at  bay  with  his  ferocious 
gun.  defending  perhaps  more  his  dies  than 
his  supposed  silver  mine.  Levi  and  Wilburn 
Jones  were  very  intimate  with  Wallace,  and 
were  suspicioned  as  his  accessories. 

One  man,  generally  known  as  old  Bill 
Herald,  undoubtedly  went  crazy  over  the  sup- 
posed silver  mine.  He  was  a  well-to-do 
farmer  in  Wayne  County,  this  State,  and  was 
attracted  hero  by  the  excitement.  He  built 
a  house  near  the  river,  and  for  two  years 
wi >rked  with  little  intermission.  He  some- 
times had  as  many  as  ten  men  working  for 
him.  One  night,  ho  worked  all  night  with  a 
lantern  near  the  bank  of  the  stream.  He 
finally  took  sick,  and  was  takon  back  to 
Wayne  County  to  die. 

Blair  Township  has  a  post  office  known  as 


Hord  Post  Office,  named  in  honor  of  the  Hord 
family.  It  is  located  in  the  northeast  corner 
of  Section  15.  Tho  first  Postmaster  was 
John  Beal,  and  then  tho  office  was  called 
Jordon,  after  William  Jordon,  who  owned  the 
land  on  which  several  stores  were  put  up. 
Tho  first  general  store  was  put  up  by  Dr.  A. 
Bougher,  who  came  here  about  1853.  Blair 
&  Krouse  put  up  the  next  store,  and  Bailey  & 
Brooks  kept  the  first  blacksmith  shop.  Con- 
siderable business  was  done  at  one  time  in 
Jordon  as  it  was  then  called.  The  present 
Postmaster  is  John  Willis;  James  H.  Blair 
keeps  a  drug  store;  John  D.  Beal,  a  general 
store;  and  John  Bass  a  blacksmith  shop. 

Township  Officers.  —  The  records  of  Blair 
Township  like  tho  records  of  most  townships 
were  poorly  kept,  and  we  have  been  unable 
to  go  into  details  as  regards  the  transactions 
of  the  township  or  even  a  complete  list  of  of- 
ficers. The  first  officers  were:  J.  C.  Eytchi- 
son,  Townshij)  Supervisor;  John  Beal  and 
William  Willis.  Justices;  Dr.  J.  Anderson, 
Township  Clerk;  A.  T.  Conley,  George 
Kiikpatrick  and  —  Smith,  Township  Com- 
missioners; J.  F.  Eytchison,  Assessor;  Henry 
Vandyke,  Collector;  John  Jones,  Overseer  of 
the  Poor;  James  Hord,  Constable. 

Present  township  officers:  William  Mc- 
Cauley.  Supervisor;  Jesse  Blair  and  L.  H. 
Tolliver.  Justices;  John  C.  Willis,  Township 
Clerk;  Henry  Vandyke,  James  Connerly 
T.  G.  Williams,  Townshij)  Commissioners; 
S.  Blair,  Township  Assessor;  George  A. 
\  andyke,  Township  Collector;  John  W 
Blair  and  John  McGee  are  Constables. 


448 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


CHAPTER     XVII. 


HOOSIER  TOWNSHIP— ITS   TOPOGRAPHY  AND  PHYSICAL  FEATURES— FIRST  ENTRIES  AND 
EARLY  SETTLERS— CHURCHES,  SCHOOLS,  ETC.,  ETC. 


HOOSIER  TOWNSHIP,  or  Town  4 
north,  Range  7  east,  is  bounded  on  the 
north  by  Bible  Grove,  on  the  east  by  Pixley, 
on  the  south  by  Stanford,  and  on  the  west 
by  Louisville  Townships.  The  early  settlers 
of  this  locality  were  mostly  from  Indiana,  and 
as  they  settled  in  the  prairie  west  of  the 
Little  Muddy  Creek,  it  was  called  Hoosier 
Prairie  in  honor  of  their  native  State.  This 
prairie  occupies  the  greater  portion  of  the 
township,  and  when  the  present  system  of 
township  organization  went  into  effect  in 
1862,  Town  4  north,  Range  7  east  took  the 
name  of  Hoosier  Township.  Its  surface  is 
diversified,  about  two-thirds  of  its  area  be- 
ing rolling  prairie  land,  and  the  remainder, 
principally  along  the  streams,  originally  had 
a  good  growth  of  timber,  which  included  the 
various  kinds  of  oak,  hickory,  walnut,  etc., 
etc.  Besides  Hoosier  Prairie,  which  lies  on 
the  west  of  Little  Muddy  Creek,  there  iB 
another  prairie  of  considerable  extent — Lev- 
itt's Prairie,  lying  on  the  east  of  the  Little 
Muddy.  The  soil  in  each  is  very  similar, 
though  not  quite  as  productive  in  Levitt's  as 
in  Hoosier  Prairie.  The  soil  of  the  prairies 
is  of  a  light  or  ashy  color,  and  is  especially 
adapted  to  the  growing  of  wheat  and  grass, 
while  the  soil  near  the  creeks  in  the  timber 
is  more  of  a  black  loam,  and  adapted  to  the 
production  of  corn.  Fruit  does  well  in  each, 
as  the  many  good  orchards  throughout  the 
township  indicato.  Although  Hoosier  is 
found  near  the  head  of  the  list  of  townships 
in  point  of  agriculture,  yet  it  is  only  eighth 


in  population,  containing  according  to  the 
census  of  1880,  but  1,136  inhabitants.  The 
drainage  of  the  land  is  so  complete  that 
theie  is  scarcely  an  acre  but  what  can  be  put 
into  cultivation.  The  Little  Wabash  River 
enters  the  township  in  three  places,  and  as 
often  flows  out  after  traversing  but  a  short 
distance  in  as  many  sections.  Section  31 
first  receives  its  waters,  but  after  several 
bends,  Sections  32  and  33  are  also  watered 
by  the  Little  Wabash.  In  the  opposite  cor- 
ner of  the  township,  the  Big  Muddy  Creek 
flows  through  a  small  portion  of  Section  1. 
The  main  stream  which  flows  for  any  consid- 
erable distance  through  the  township  is  the 
Little  Muddy  Creek,  which  enters  from  the 
north  at  Section  4,  and  after  a  tortuous 
course  leaves  the  township  from  the  south- 
east corner  of  Section  36.  Besides  these, 
there  are  many  other  smaller  streams  which 
make  a  complete  system  of  drainage. 

Although  this  township  was  not  settled  as 
early  as  many  other  portions  of  Clay  County, 
it  had  a  number  of  settlers  previous  to  1830, 
but  the  first  entries  of  land  were  made  in 
1833,  and  were  as  follows:  By  Jarrett  L. 
Erwin,  southwest  quarter  of  the  northeast 
quarter  of  Section  15,  and  southwest  quarter 
of  the  southeast  quarter  of  Section  10;  by 
William  Erwin,  east  quarter  of  the  northwest 
quarter  of  Section  15,  and  east  quarter  of  the 
southwest  quarter  of  Section  15;  by  John 
Ditter,  the  northeast  quarter  of  the  northeast 
quarter  of  Section  25;  by  Thomas  Rogers, 
the  northeast  quarter  of  the  southwest  quar- 


IIISTOKY   OF   CLAY    COUNTY. 


449 


ter  of  Section  36.  In  1836  and  1837,  the 
following  also  entered  .and  in  this  township: 
John  Maxwell,  Constantino  Connelly,  Eli 
Erwin,  John  Connelly,  Caleb  Stansbury,  Jes- 
se Dodds,  Isaac  Berry,  John  Kenley,  Jesbe 
"Williams,  Henry  Kenley,  Moses  Johnson, 
William  D.  Maxwell,  Benjamin  A.  Venator, 
Alfred  J.  Moore,  Joseph  Maxwell,  Benjamin 
Douthit,  Robert  Fields,  Hiram  Coffey,  John 
Callihan,  Jesse  Copper,  John  Davis,  Solomon 
B.  Curbow  and  William  A.  McKnight.  Some 
of  the  above-named  enterers  of  the  land 
never  became  residents  of  the  township,  and 
still  another  class  are  more  properly  consid- 
ered in  other  parts  of  the  history.  This  sec- 
tion of  the  county  was  not  an  exception  to 
the  general  rule;  it  had  to  be  prepared  for 
the  permanent  settler,  and  even  many  of 
those  who  became  permanently  located  here 
had  to  first  make  the  money  before  they 
could  enter  their  homesteads;  consequently 
long  before  1S33  we  find  the  hunter  and 
hardy  pioneer  at  work  opening  the  way  for 
future  developments.  Among  those  who 
came  and  went  were  John  and  Dave  Simpco, 
of  Tennessee.  They  settled  on  Little  Mud- 
dy, and  were  principally  engaged  in  hunting; 
one  of  them,  however,  was  a  soldier  in  the 
Black  Hawk  war.  Hock  Sams  was  another 
settler  from  the  South,  probably  from  Ten- 
nessee. He  first  built  his  cabin  on  the  pres- 
ent site  of  Sailor  Springs.  Sams  had  a  wife 
but  no  children.  From  some  cause  he  be- 
came insane,  and  was  confined  in  the  old 
jail  at  Maysville,  but  after  some  time  he  was 
released,  and  loft  the  country.  Joseph  Rog- 
ers and  his  sons,  Thomas,  Isaac  and  Israel, 
moved  here  from  Edwards  County  at  an  early 
date,  and  settled  on  Little  Muddy.  Joseph 
lived  for  some  years  and  died;  Isaac  and 
Israel  died  without  families,  but  Thomas 
lived  to  a  good  old  age,  and  died  on  his  farm 
in  the  south  part   of  the  township,  and  left 


descendants  in  the  county  who  are  among  its 
worthiest  citizens.  William  Blakeman  set- 
tled on  Section  10,  where  he  resided  for  some 
time,  and  then  sold  his  claim,  and  but  little 
is  known  of  him  aftor  this.  John  Ditter,  a 
native  of  Tennessee,  was  the  first  to  have  a 
deed  to  what  is  now  known  as  Sailor  Springs. 
Ditter  is  now  a  resident  of  Pixley  Township, 
where  his  settlement  will  be  treated  more 
fully.  Caleb  Stansbury,  an  early  settler,  al- 
so owned  the  springs  at  oue  time,  and  died 
there.  Henry  Kenley,  who  entered  land  in 
1837,  is  still  living,  and  a  resident  of  the 
township.  Judge  William  Erwin  and  his 
sons,  Jarrett  L.,  David  and  Crawford,  came 
from  Indiana,  and  settled  on  Section  15. 
William  Erwin,  Jr.,  the  oldest  son  of  the 
Judge,  never  came  to  the  county.  The  Er- 
wins  were  influential  citizens,  and  did  much 
toward  building  up  schools  and  churches,  and 
developing  the  county.  William  Erwin  was 
a  member  of  the  County  Board  in  1834.  Da- 
vid built  and  ran  a  saw  and  grist  mill  on  Lit- 
tle Muddy, on  Section  15,  but  no  traces  of  the 
mill  can  now  be  seen.  Crawford  is  the  only 
one  of  the  older  members  of  the  family  now 
living,  and  is  a  successful  farmer  on  Section 
4,  near  the  old  homestead  of  his  father.  Jo- 
seph and  John  Maxwell,  and  their  cousins, 
William  D.  and  Eli  Maxwell,  came  from  In- 
diana with  the  early  settlers  of  the  prairie, 
but  only  their  descendants  now  remain  to 
tell  of  the  hardships  their  parents  endured. 
James  Williams  and  Jesse  Williams,  rela- 
tives, were  also  Hoosiers,  who  came  to  the 
county  in  about  1836  or  1837.  James  was 
the  father  of  a  large  family,  but  only  two  of 
his  sons,  Benjamin  and  Lancaster  Williams, 
are  living.  Jesse  Williams  married  a  daugh- 
ter of  John  Connelly,  and  died  childless. 
John  Connelly  and  family  were  also  from 
Indiana  at  an  early  date.  U  illiam  A.  Mc- 
Knight, a  native  of  North  Carolina,  came  to 


450 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


Clay  County  in  1835,  and  settled  in  Hoosier 
Prairie.  An  account  of  his  life  will  be 
found  more  fully  in  the  history  of  Bible 
Grove  Township.  Alfred  J.  Moore  was  one 
of  the  early  settlers  in  the  county,  but  now 
lives  in  Oskaloosa  Township.  The  sons  of 
Robert  Fields  now  reside  on  the  farm  which 
he  settled  and  where  he  died.  Hiram  Cooper 
resides  near  Sailor  Springs,  where  his  father, 
Jesse  Cooper,  lived  and  died.  Cooper  came 
to  the  county  in  about  1828.  In  all  ages 
and  in  all  countries,  we  find  that  man  wants 
something  without  giving  adequate  return. 
Such  being  the  case,  many  of  the  early  set- 
tlers in  a  country  lose  years  of  hard  labor, 
which  have  been  applied  on  their  olaims  mak- 
ing them  at  all  inhabitable,  by  some  specu- 
lator entering  the  land  and  driving  the  real 
owner  from  his  own.  John  Lewis  had  for 
some  time  been  improving  a  claim  which  he 
intended  to  enter  as  soon  as  he  could,  but 
before  that  time  came  Benjamin  A.  Venator, 
and  entered  the  land  and  also  that  of  James 
McCollum.  He  did  not  dare  to  come  here 
for  some  years,  as  Lewis  was  ready  to  protect 
his  property  with  powder  and  ball.  Venator 
afterward  sold  out  to  another  party,  and 
Lewis  moved  onto  land  adjoining.  Venator 
now  lives  on  the  Illinois  River.  James  Mc- 
Collum came  to  this  township  from  Ken- 
tucky in  1833,  and  brought  a  wife  and  one 
son,  Robert.  James  McCollum  died  in  Octo- 
ber, 1857,  in  the  township,  leaving  a  large 
family,  of  which  four  sons  and  three  daugh- 
ters are  now  living,  and  the  oldest  son,  Rob- 
ert, is  present  Sheriff  of  Clay  County.  The 
history  of  many  of  the  early  settlers  will  be 
found  more  complete  in  the  biographical 
department  of  this  history,  and  others  in  the 
general  history,  but  space  in  any  one  work  is 
too  limited  to  devote  to  each  the  attention 
that  he  deserves. 

Hoosier  Township  is  striotly  given  to  agri- 


cultural industries,  and  has  not  a  laid-out 
village  in  its  limits;  however,  its  citizens 
have  good  mail  facilities.  In  about  1872, 
Mr.  John  Erwin  circulated  a  petition,  and 
secured  an  office  on  Section  15,  which  is 
known  as  Hoosier  Prairie  Post  Office,  and 
has  a  daily  mail.  Dr.  D.  H.  Chase  was  first 
Postmaster,  and  was  succeeded  by  the  present 
incumbent,  Dr.  E.  P.  Gibson.  Sailor  Springs 
Post  Office  was  established  in  1881,  and  has 
a  daily  mail.  Mr.  Frank  Smith  is  present 
Postmaster. 

Many  of  the  early  settlers  in  this  township 
were  earnest,  active  Christians,  and  their 
influence  has  been  felt  throughout  all  the 
surrounding  country.  At  first  their  only 
place  of  worship  was  in  the  cabins  of  the 
settlers,  and  their  ministers  were  those 
earnest,  self-denying  missionaries  who  en- 
dured the  hardships  of  the  frontier  for  the 
sake  of  carrying  the  comforting  words  of 
their  Master  to  the  struggling  pioneer.  As- 
the  settlements  became  more  thickly  peopled, 
churches  were  organized.  The  first  organi- 
zation was  that  of  the  Hoosier  Prairie  Regu- 
lar Baptist  Church  in  18-48,  but  as  this 
organization  was  changed  to  Louisville  in 
1850,  its  history  more  properly  comes  in  the 
history  of  Louisville.  In  about  1858,  a 
frame  church  structure  was  erected  on  Sec- 
tion 15  on  land  originally  settled  by  William 
Erwin,  but  deeded  to  the  Trustees  of  the 
church  by  John  Dodd,  of  Indiana,  a  descend- 
ant of  William  Erwin.  This  building  was 
occupied  at  first  by  both  the  Baptists  and 
Methodists,  but  is  now  used  by  the  Baptists 
alone,  and  is  known  as  the  Hoosier  Prairie 
Baptist  Church.  In-  1860,  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  denomination  erected  a  building 
on  land  adjacent  to  that  of  the  above  Baptist 
Church.  This  land  was  bought  of  the  heirs 
of  William  A.  McKnight  by  Henry  Conley, 
and  deeded  by  him  to  the  Trustees  of  the 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY   COPNTY. 


451 


Church  which  is  called  Conley's  Chapel.  On 
Section  23  is  located  another  church,  which 
was  erected  chiefly  through  the  efforts  of 
John  Ditter  and  James  McKinney.  This 
church  is  used  by  the  Uuiversalists,  and  has 
but  few  members,  though  earnest  workers. 
The  Vernal  Baptist  Church  is  situated  on 
Section  35,  and  was  built  in  about  1835. 
This  organization  is  not  large,  but  i9  in  a 
live  condition. 

Sailor  Springs.  — Although  these  springs 
are  treated  of  more  fully  in  the  chapter  on 
geology  in  the  general  history  of  Clay  Coun- 
ty, yet  this  chapter  would  be  incomplete 
without  making  mention  'of  this  the  most 
noted  spot  in  Clay  County.  This  was  a  place 
frequented  by  the  Indian  hunter  in  search 
of  deer,  also  by  tho  "medicine  man,"  who 
would  boil  down  the  water  and  use  the  resid- 
uum to  heal  the  sick.  The  early  white  set- 
tler, however,  would  not  accept  these  waters 
as  a  blessing,  but  did  all  he  could  to  shut 
out  all  animal  life  from  those  poisonous  (?) 
waters.  Gradually,  however,  superstition 
gave  way,  and  those  in  the  immediate  vicin- 
ity found  that  the  waters  were  health-giving, 
instead  of  breeders  of  pestilence;  but  it  was 
not  until  about  1878  that  the  grounds  were 
opened  up  to  the  public  and  all  were  invited 
to  come.  As  tho  Springs  became  more  widely 
known,  invalids  and  pleasure  seekors  came 
from  a  distance.  To  supply  all  those  who 
came,  hotels  and  cottages  have  been  erected, 
till  now  about  200  guests  can  be  accommo- 
dated in  comfort,  and  each  year  the  number 
of  visitors  is  rapidly  increasing. 

Schools. — While  the  citizens  of  this  town- 
ship have  been  industrious  in  making  for 
themselves  good  homes  and- farms,  they  have 
not  neglected  the  intellectual  development  of 


their  respective  neighborhoods,  as  the  follow- 
ing statistics,  taken  from  the  report  of  the 
Township  Treasurer  of  Schools  for  the  year 
ending  June  30,  1883,  will  show,  as  follows: 

Number  of  school  districts 8 

Number  frame  scboolhouses 7 

Number  log  scboolhouses 1 

Estimated  value  of  school  property $4,350 

Numher  of  months  schools  were  in  session 41 

Number  of  male  teachers 6 

Number  of  female  teachers 2 

Number  of  males  under  twenty-one 257 

Number  of  females  under  twenty-one 281 

Total  number  children  under  twenty-one 538 

Number  males  of  school  age 168 

Number  females  of  school  age 180 

Total  number  children  of  school  age 348 

Number  male  pupils  enrolled 160 

Number  female  pupils  enrolled 177 

Total  number  pupils  enrolled 337 

Amount  of  township  fund $2,638.60 

District  tax  levied 850.00 

Total  expenditures  for  school  purposes. . .  .  2,363.97 

The  educational  facilities  seem  almost  com- 
plele  in  the  township,  but  to  reach  this  stand- 
ard it  has  taken  time  and  much  care  and  ex- 
pense, but  from  the  very  first  there  was  the 
desire  on  the  part  of  the  settlers  for  good 
schools.  Probably  the  first  school  taught  in 
the  Hoosier  Prairie  was  by  Judge  Erwin,  at 
his  own  home,  and  attendod  by  all  in  reach. 
This  school  was  evidently  successful,  as  young 
men  would  come  from  other  neighborhoods 
and  board  in  the  vicinity  in  order  to  attend 
the  school. 

"When  tho  county  went  into  township  or- 
ganization, Adam  McCollum  was  elected  the 
first  Supervisor  of  this  township.  Present 
officers  are  Benjamin  Fields,  Supervisor;  J. 
T.  McCollum,  Clerk;  Lyman  T.  Bonney, 
Assessor;  E.  Maxwell,  Collector;  Benjamin 
Eytchison,  W.  R.  Tolliver  and  John  Ward, 
Commissioners;  T.  D.  Ogden  and  J.  R.  Bon- 
nev,  Justices  of  the  Peace. 


452 


HISTORY   OF  CLAY  COUNTY 


CHAPTER     XVIII. 


LARKINSBURG  TOWNSHIP— POPOGRAPHY  AND  PHYSICAL  FEATURES— SOIL  AND  TIMBER— PIONEER 
SETTLEMENT— EARLY  MILLS— ITS   GROWTH  AND  DEVELOPMENT— SECRET  SOCIETIES- 
SCHOOLS  AND  CHURCHES— PRESENT  BUSINESS— TOWNSHIP  RECORDS,  ETC. 


THE  northwestern  part  of  Clay  County, 
known  by  the  Government  survey  as 
Town  5  north,  Range  5  east,  called  Larkins- 
burg  Township,  is  bounded  on  the  north  by 
Effingham  County,  on  the  east  by  Blair 
Township,  on  the  south  by  Oskaloosa  Town- 
ship, and  on  the  west  by  Fayette  County.  It 
is  well  timbered  by  both  hard  and  soft  wood, 
which  is  converted  into  lumber  used  for 
building  material  chiefly,  by  portable  steam 
saw  mills,  of  which  there  are  several  in  oper- 
ation each  year  within  the  limits  of  the 
township.  The  principal  drainage  is  afforded 
by  Dismal  Creek,  Crooked  Creek  and  the 
tributaries  of  the  Little  AY  abash,  the  latter 
draining  the  northeastern  part  of  the  town- 
ship. Dismal  Creek  rises  in  Fayette  County, 
enters  the  township  in  Section  7,  flows  in  a 
southeasterly  direction,  and  leaves  it  in  Sec- 
tion 36.  It  receives  numerous  small  tribu- 
taries which  afford  a  natural  drainage  to  the 
prairie  north  of  Iola,  which  is  one  of  the  best 
in  the  county.  Crooked  Creek  is  in  the  south- 
west part  of  the  township,  and  flows  through 
Sections  30,  31,  32  and  33;  on  it  was  the 
first  permanent  settlement  made  of  which  we 
have  any  knowledge,  also  the  first  mill  ever 
operated  in  the  township,  and  the  first  store. 
Although  it  was  at  one  time,  half  a  century 
ago,  the  place  of  some  traffic  and  life,  yet  at 
the  present  writing  not  a  vestige  of  it  re- 
mains, the  cleared  places  being  barely  kept 
in  cultivation.  The  Illinois  Central  Rail- 
road runs  through  the  northwest  part  of  the 


township,  and  some  of  the  timber  land  is  yet 
owned  by  the  company.  The  Springfield 
branch  of  the  Ohio  &  Mississippi  Railroad 
also  runs  through  it,  entering  it  in  Section 
34  and  leaving  it  in  Section  5.  The  people 
in  Larkinsburg  Township  voted  against  the 
railroad  bonds,  and  are  consequently  not 
suffering  from  that  affection.. 

The  soil,  although  not  the  best  in  the  coun- 
ty, yields  an  abundauce  of  corn  and  small 
grain,  especially  when  the  seasons  are  not 
too  wet,  as  the  land  is  flat  in  some  places; 
but  by  the  use  of  tiling,  which  has  been 
tried  by  a  few  citizens  with  good  success, 
this  township  can  be  made  one  of  the  very 
best,  as  it  has  the  benefit  of  two  railroads,  and 
better  bargains  for  shipping  can  be  obtained. 
Clover  and  other  grasses  will  yield  an  abun- 
dant crop,  and  pay  the  tiller  of  the  soil  better 
than  grain.  Fruit-growing,  which  has  made 
a  great  deal  of  business  and  a  new  field  of 
enterprise  in  this  part  of  Illinois,  has  also 
received  due  attention  the  last  few  years.  In 
the  southern  part  of  the  township,  quite  a 
number  of  acres  of  strawberries  and  other 
small   fruit  have  been  set  out  and  prospered. 

In  the  summer  time,  Larkinsburg  Town- 
ship presents  a  pretty  appearance  with  its 
prairies  and  many  groves;  but,  according  to 
the  saying  of  the  old  settlers,  the  country 
forty  or  fifty  years  ago  looked  most  beautiful, 
as  the  timber  was  to  a  great  extent  devoid  of 
underbrush,  and  abounded  with  all  kinds  of 
game,  which   often  became   very  destructive 


iiistih;y  of  ci. ay  county. 


455 


to  the  small,  unfenced  crops  of  the  pioneer. 
Wolves  and  panthers  prowled  about  the 
homes  of  the  early  settlers,  who  would  often 
shoot  deer  from  the  door  of  the  log  cabin. 
No  attention  was  paid  to  the  smaller  game, 
such  as  prairie  chickens,  quails,  squirrels 
and  rabbits,  of  which  there  is  a  wonderful 
abundance  in  this  and  adjoining  counties, 
and  which  our  Nirnrods  of  to-day  go  forth 
to  conquer. 

Among  the  early  settlers  of  this  township, 
and  probably  the  first,  was  Benjamin  Bishop, 
better  known  as  "  Old  Benny  Bishop."     He 
came  to  Clay  County  in  an  early  day,  and 
was  the  first  grand  juryman  chosen  in   this 
county,  in  the  spring  of  1825.     He  was  one  of 
the  prominent  men  in  his  day.      In   1830,  he 
filtered  land  in    what    is    now   Larkinsbure 
Township,  in  Section  21.      Here  he  worked, 
and  reared  a  respectable  family,  descendants 
of  which  are  yet  living  in  this  county.    Jesse 
Bishop  was  a  step-son  of  Benjamin  Bishop, 
who  reared  him;  he  also  entered  land  in  Sec- 
tion    35.      .Joseph    Bishop    came    to    Saline 
County,  111.,  in  1817,  and   in   1820  came  to 
Clay  County,  settling  in  Oskaloosa  Township 
when  quite  young.     In  1832.  he  was  married 
to  Sallie  Davis,  a  native   of   Middle  Tennes- 
see, and  settled  in  Section  32  in  Larkinsburg 
Township.      In  1835,  he  built  a  grist  mill  on 
Crooked  Creek;  this  was  the  first  mill  in  the 
county.      He  subsequently   sold    it    to   Henry 
Long,  who  ran  it  several  years  and  then  tore 
it   down  and   used    the    frame    for   a    barn. 
Joseph  Bishop  raised  eleven  children,  viz. : 
Patsey,  Polly,  Enoch,   Henry,   Maria,   John, 
Jones,  Harvey,  Nathan,  Thomas,  and  Peggy, 
who  died  in  infancy.     Of  the  above,  Enoch 
built  the  first   bouse   in  Iola,    where   he  yet 
resides. 

Alfred  J.  Moore,  a  native  of  South  Caro- 
lina, came  here  from  Tennessee  in  1829.  He 
-■i:  led  in  the  southeast  corner  of  the   town 


ship,  whore  he  resided  a  number  of  years; 
but  finally  went  to  Hoosier  Township, 
where  he  lived  till  1870,  when  he  moved  to 
Oskaloosa  Township,  where  he  yet  resides. 

William  Alldridge  came  to  this  township  in 
October,  1828,  from  Randolph  County,  N. 
C,  the  place  of  his  nativity.  He  was  quite 
young  when  he  came  here,  and  for  awhile 
worked  with  Walker  in  a  tannery.  He  also 
cleared  some  land  in  Section  32,  which  he 
entered  in  1839,  and  was  married  here  to 
Dicy  Davis,  a  native  of  Tennessee,  and  a 
daughter  of  Enoch  and  Patsey  Davis.  She 
was  the  mother  of  eight  children,  who  reached 
maturity — James  P.,  Mary  Gullett,  Julia  A. 
Cain,  John  M.,  Sarah  Cain,  Basil  D.,  Amelia 
M.  French  and  William  A.  William  Alcl- 
ridge  owned  360  acres  at  his  death,  which 
occurred  December  6,  1876,  aged  eighty-one 
years,  He  served  as  Justice  of  the  Peace 
about  twenty -four  years,  and  was  greatly  in- 
terested in  township  affairs.  Only  two  of  his 
children — John  M.  and  James  P. — are  living 
in  the  township.  William  Price  and  his 
father  were  also  among  the  early  settlers;  they 
settled  in  Section  4. 

S.  B.  Walker  lived  in  Section  33.  He 
kepi  a  tannerj  on  his  place  and  was  afterward 
Sheriff  of  Clay  County. 

The  following  persons  entered  land  in  the 
year  1837:  Jesse  Bishop  and  Francis  Har- 
man  who  came  here  from  Middle  Tennessee; 
he  died  here  leaving  two  children — John, 
deceased, and  Pollie  Sanders — whose  descend- 
ants are  yet  living  in  the  township.  He 
also  brought  Thomas  Rodgers  to  this  county 
when  hi'  was  just  able  to  ride  horseback. 
This  was  before  the  land  was  surveyed.  He 
was  left  an  orphan  at  an  early  ago  and  reared 
by  I  Carman's  first  wife,  whose  maiden  name 
was  Penrice.  After  living  seven  years  on 
the  Okaw  River,  he  came  to  this  township, 
where  he  hunted  a  good  deal;  he  was  con- 

20 


45G 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


sidered  one  of  the  most  successful  and  noted 
bee-hunters  of  which  we  heave  ever  heard.  He 
was  married  three  times,  and  is  the  father  of 
eleven  children.  William  N.  and  Andrew  J. 
Rodgers  are  yet  living  in  this  township.  John 
Human  entered  land  in  1838,  in  Section  25. 
1839.  Henry  Hobbs,  Section  36,  came  from 
Tennessee.  He  was  married  here  to  Sarah 
Bishop,  who  bore  him  two  children.  After 
her  death  he  married  the  widow  of  S.  B. 
Walker,  who  was  the  mother  of  George 
Hobbs.  Joseph  Hoffman,  Section  33,  Philip 
Curtis,  Section  32,  and  David  Bohall  came 
from  Indiana.  Larkin  Thrash,  Section 
26,  Andrew  J.  Cochran,  Section  28,  and 
Martin  Stipp.  Section  31.  1840,  Lewis 
Zabrisky,  Section  32.  1841,  John  Black,  Sec- 
tion 36,  came  from  Indiana;  Charles  Brewer, 
Section  31.  1842,  Joseph  Henry,  Section  10. 
1846,  Thomas  Long,  Section  31.  1S47,  Bris- 
coe D.  Landers,  Section  35;  James  David, 
SectioQ  35;  Looker  Nixon.  Section  33;  Hay- 
man  Nixon,  Section  33;  J.  W.  Murray,  Sec- 
tion 27;  Andrew  Fender,  Section  11;  James 
H.  Cochran,  Section  22 ;  John  Elrod,  Section 
20.  1848,  Daniel  Keen  on  Section  23,  on 
Dismal  Creek,  where  he  built  a  water  mill; 
he  moved  to  Missouri  in  1867;  James  David, 
Section  22,  a  native  of  Indiana;  he  died  here 
and  has  descendants;  John  Alldridge,  John 
Pettyjohn,  Section  28,  and  James  Morris, 
Section  21.  Some  that  entered  land  in  the 
limits  of  the  above  time  have  been  mentioned 
and  are  therefore  not  named  here.  Morde- 
cai  Price,  who  settled  in  Section  4,  and  Old 
Johnny  Landreth  in  Section  1,  are  old 
settlers,  but  little  is  known  of  them  now. 
Enoch  Scief,  a  native  of  Tennessee,  was  also 
an  early  settler,  and  has  descendants  living 
in  the  county;  he  died  in  Oskaloosa  Town- 
ship. The  early  settlers  of  Larkinsburg 
Township  experienced  the  same  trouble  that 
others  of  the  early  settlers  of  Illinois  did  in 


regard  to  milling.  The  first  mill,  as  has  al- 
ready been  stated,  was  built  by  Joseph 
Bishop  on  Crooked  Creek.  When  it  gavo 
out  a  treadmill  was  built  on  Section  27,  by 
Washington  Bishop;  it  was  run  by  horse- 
power and  stood  in  the  southeast  corner  of  the 
section.  It  was  succeeded  by  another  tread- 
mill run  by  ox-power,  which  only  stood  a  few 
years.  After  this,  Uncle  Joseph  Bishop  built 
a  small  horse  mill  in  Section  33;  this  was 
about  1859.  About  1860,  a  man  by  the  name 
of  Jones  built  a  small  steam  mill,  about  the 
same  place  where  the  old  water  mill  used  to 
stand,  tt  was  bought  by  Washington  Bishop 
and  his  son  Benjamin  H. ,  and  moved  to 
where  the  railroad  tank  now  stands,  and  was 
used  for  sawing  and  grinding.  But  notgiv- 
ing  the  expected  satisfaction  it  was  soon  sold. 
At  present  the  Larkinsburg  Steam  Saw  and 
Flouring  Mill,  built  by  C.  R  Ellis  &  Co. ,  in 
Iola,  does  a  large  and  paying  business.  The 
first  store  was  kept  by  William  Alldridge,  be- 
tween th9  years  1S35  to  1840,  situated  in  the 
southwest  part  of  the  township;  the  next  was 
kept  by  Henry  Long  in  Section  30:  Murray 
&  Thrash  kept  the  next  in  Section  28,  suc- 
ceeded by  L.  P.  Loof borough;  Levi  B.  An- 
derson kept  a  store  a  little  south  of  that.  In 
1864,  William  J.  Moore  opened  a  store  in 
Section  34,  but  the  next  year  moved  it  to  the 
present  site  of  old  Larkinsburg,  named  in 
honor  of  Larkin  Thrash,  one  of  the  oldest 
settlers  in  the  township.  Here  M.  H  Pres- 
ley went  into  partnership  with  Moore.  The 
next  house  built  in  the  old  town  was  by  A. 
P.  Finch,  M.  D.  The  next  store  was  put  up 
by  Henry  Long. 

The  first  post  office  was  kept  by  Larkin 
Thrash.  Levi  B.  Anderson  kept  it  next  in 
Section  28;  then  in  Section  34.  by  Joe  Bish- 
op; next  in  Section  34,  by  William  J.  Moore, 
who  also  kept  it  in  Larkinsburg.  and  who 
was  also  the  first  Postmaster  in  Iola.      Will- 


HISTORY   OF   (LAY    COUNTY. 


157 


iani  B.  Vickrey  was  tho  second  Postmaster, 
and  J.  M.  Sloan,  tho  present.  Tho  village 
of  Iola  owes  its  existence  to  the  railroad.  The 
land  on  which  it  is  built  was  owned  by  Wat- 
son &  Presley,  and  is  situated  in  the  ecu 
ter  of  Section  34.  It  was  surveyed  in  1 870, 
by  E.  Nixon.  The  lirst  store  was  that  of 
William  J.  Moore,  which  was  moved  down 
from  Larkinsburg;  it  was  followed  by  one  or 
two  other  buildings.  W.  V.  Vickrey  &  Co. 
opened  the  next  store  in  the  fall  of  l^Tn. 
The  next  year  Moore  and  Vickrey  formed  a 
partnership.  The  first  blacksmith  shop  was 
kept  by  J.  \V.  Settles,  and  the  lirst  drug 
store  by  Fender  &  Laswell.  Bapp  iV  Broad- 
well  also  kept  a  general  store. 

The  present  business  directory  of  Iola  con- 
sists of:  Groceries.  J.  M.  AJldridge  and  W. 
H.  Cain;  general  stores.  Vickrey  Bros.,  J. 
M.  Sloan  and  P.  G.  Dedrick;  drug  store,  I. 
A.  Patrick:  blacksmiths.  J.  \V.  Settles  and 
Jerome  Percell:  carpenters,  E.  H.  Bishop, 
\Y.  C.  Compton  and  I.  H.  Elkin;  dealer  in 
agricultural  implements.  Levi  Jackson; 
physicians,  A.  P.  Finch  and  T.  O.  Hatton; 
mills.  Iola  Mills.  Watson.  Moss.  Williamson 
&  Son,  proprietors:  harness,  Vickrey  Bros.; 
cooper,  John  Bennett;  wagon -maker,  Jona- 
than Downey,  shoe-maker,  Samuel  Marshall; 
dress-maker,  Mrs.  Rusher;  millinery,  Misses 
Dora  J.  Conlej  and  Mary  E.  Elkin;  operator 
and  agent,  J.  T.  Moore;  Postmaster.  J.  M. 
Sloan. 

In  1880,  Iola  had  137  inhabitants:  it  has 
now  about  200,  and  is  a  thriving  little  town. 
Iola  Lodge,  A..  I'.  &  A.  M..  No.  691,  was 
organized  March  is.  1872,  and  received  its 
charter  October  1.  1872.  I.  H.  Elkin  in- 
stalled the  following  charter  members:  Will- 
iam J.  Mooro.  James  C.  Craig,  J.  D.  Patton, 
W.  D.  Wats,.n,  L.  B.  Bounds,  J.  R.  Scief. 
T.  A.  Hutson.  W.  H.  Morgan,  M.  H.  Thomp- 


son. 1\  M.  Barman,  A.  W.  A.  Pruitt,  A  P. 
Finch,  H.  A.  Cochran.  Samuel  Pruitt.  M.  H. 
Presley,  H.  S.  Watson,  Looker  Nixon  and 
Edward  Patton.  The  present  membership 
amounts  to  seventeen.  The  first  officers 
were  William  J.  Moore.  Master;  J.  C.  Craig, 
S.  \\\;  J.  D.  Patton.  .1.  \V.  Present  oil 
are:  D.  H.  Moore.  Master:  P.  G.  Dedrick.  S. 
W. ;  F.  M.  Harman.  J.  W. :  J.  T.  M 
Secretary;  J.  C.  Craig.  Treasurer;  A.  W. 
Moss,  Tiler:  J.  Dockins,  S.  D. ;  William  H. 
Morgan,  J.  D.  The  meetings  of  the  lodge 
are  held  in  their  hall,  over  P.  G.  Dedrick'* 
store  on  Wednesday  night  before  each  full 
moon. 

Two  religious  denominations  at  present  ex- 
ist in  Larkinsburg  Township,  viz..  tho  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  and  Baptist  Churches.  The 
former  dates  its  first  organization  as  far  back 
as  1847.  Before  that,  traveling  ministers 
occasionally  enlightened  the  people,  and 
warned  them  to  "  flee  from  the  wrath  to 
come."  The  church  held  its  first  meetings 
at  the  Linn  Branch  Schoolhouse,  Rev.  J. 
Lambert  officiating,  who  was  succeeded  by- 
John  Patcher.  David  Reed,  R.  J.  Wall,  etc. 
In  1857.  the  church  was  re-organized  in  the 
western  part  of  the  township,  at  the  Cochran 
Schoolhouse,  by  Rev.  Ityman.  The  meet- 
ings were  held  at  private  residences  and  dif- 
ferent schoolhouses  till  1873,  when  a  church 
edifice  was  built  in  Iola,  with  Rev.  N"  E.  Har- 
man in  charge  of  the  church.  The  member- 
ship then  was  about  fifty;  it  is  forty  now. 
The  cost  of  the  building  was  11,500.  The 
following  is  a  list  of  ministers  since  the 
church  was  built:  Rev.  N.  E.  Harman,  C. 
\\  .  Sabine,  E.  Lathrop.  J.  D.  Reeder,  Asa 
Snell,  G.  A.  Seed  and  J.  G.  Dee. 

Iola  Baptist  Church  was    organized    An 
-ust  -2.  L879,  by  Bev.  I.  H.  Elkin  and  Rev. 
E^  Patton.      Members'  desired   to   be   a^ain 


458 


HISTORY   OF   CLAY  COUNTY. 


under  the  dispensation  and  blessed  influence 
of  a  church.  The  first  members  were  Ed- 
ward and  Lizzie  M.  Patton,  I.  H.  and  Anna 
Elkin  and  their  daughter  Maty,  Andrew 
Fender.  Arminta  Hudson,  Elizabeth  Patrick 
and  Emma  Patton.  The  number  of  present 
membership  is  thirty.  Rev.  Elkin  was  the 
first  minister,  and  Rev.  Ed  Patton  is  the 
present  minister.  The  meetings  are  held  in 
the  Methodist  Episbopal  Church  of  Iola.  A 
branch  or  mission  church  is  established  at 
the  Little  Prairie  Schoolhouse,  three  miles 
east  of  Iola. 

The  Presbyterian  Church  of  Larkinsburg, 
now  defunct,  was  organized  in  August,  1868, 
by  Rev.  It.  C.  Galbraith.  The  first  mem- 
bers were  Mrs.  Eunice  Graves,  Spencer 
Graves,  Mrs.  Hattie  Graves,  Charles  Graves. 
Cyrus  Graves,  David  Byers,  Mrs.  Francis  P. 
Byers,  Mrs.  Juliann  Wood.  At  the  time  of 
organization,  David  Byers  was  ordained 
Elder.  The  first  meetings  were  held  at  the 
residence  of  Joel  S.  Graves,  and  afterward  in 
the  schoolhouse  near  Iola,  till  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  was  built  in  the  latter 
place  by  the  Methodists,  assisted  by  the  Pres- 
byterians.  after  which  the  meetings  were 
held  in  that  churoh  till  the  abandonment  of 
the  organization,  which  occurred  about  1877, 
on  account  of  the  moving  away  and  death  of 
members.  The  average  membership  was 
about  twenty-five.  The  following  is  a  list  of 
officiating  ministers:  Rev.  Joel  S.  Graves, 
Rev.  R.  C.  Galbraith,  Rev.  Doctor  Joseph 
Warren,  Rev.  William  B.  Minton  and  Rev. 
William  Reed. 

Schools. — As  the  light  of  civilization  be-  i 
gan  to  dawn  in  the  East  and  shed  its  rays  of 
light  and  freedom  over  this  country,  the 
ignorance  and  mysteries  began  to  recede, 
and  finally,  like  the  torches  and  camp  fires  of 
the  Indians. disappeared  in  the  distant  West, 
till   its  last  faint  glimmer  was  lost  to   sight. 


Thus  has  it  ever  been,  thus  will  it  ever  be,  and 
therefore  schools,  the  dispensers  of  intelligence 
are  always  hailed  with  delight.  The  settlers 
of  this  township,  early  devoted  their  attention 
to  the  erection  of  schoolhouses,  rude  though 
they  may  have  been,  and  employed  such  tal- 
ent as  could  be  had.  The  pedagogue  of 
thirty  or  forty  years  ago  was  suited  to  the 
times.  He  would  be  required  to  be  master 
of  the  three  R's,  but  it  was  more  necessary 
for  him  to  be  physically  well  developed,  as  a 
good  share  of  his  work  consisted  in  "maul- 
ing "  the  scholars,  especially  the  bigger  boys 
once  a  week.  What  he  lacked  in  intelli- 
gence, he  made  up  in  an  earnest  endeavor  to 
beat  something  into  the  children.  He  flour 
ished  in  the  backwoods,  and  when  the  click 
of  the  telegraph  and  the  whistle  of  the  loco- 
motive, sure  signs  of  the  onward  march  of 
civilization,  fell  upon  his  ears,  he  shrank 
into  oblivion  and  disappeared  in  the  distant 
West. 

William  Robinson  taught  the  first  school 
in  this  township  in  an  old  log  cabin  situated 
in  Section  29.  It  was  taught  on  the  subscrip- 
tion plan,  the  tuition  fee  being  about  $2.50 
per  scholar  for  one  quarter.  The  next  school 
was  taught  by  Sam  Van  Camp  in  the  same 
section,  but  in  another  cabin.  He  taught 
several  terms;  very  strict  yet  a  good  teacher 
withal.  The  following  is  a  list  of  teachers 
who  have  wielded  the  rod  here:  Boltonhouse, 
Billy  Robinson,  Ben  Bishop,  Ben  Nixon, 
Jacob  Hortenstein.  John  P.  Davis.  When, 
finally  the  free  schools  were  introduced, 
about  1857,  a  new  start  in  education  was 
made,  which  can  be  greatly  augmented.  At 
present,  there  are  eight  schoolhouses  in  as 
many  school  districts,  all  frame  buildings. 
Number  of  pupils  of  school  age,  338;  males, 
101;  females,  177;  enrollment,  260;  males, 
125;  females,  141;  number  of  teachers,  10 — 
6  males    and    4    females;     average    monthly 


HISTORY   OF   CLAY   COUNTY. 


459 


wages  paid  male  teachers,  131.49;  females. 
$24.50;  estimated  value  of  school  property, 
$2,400;  total  expenditures  for  the  las!  year, 
$2,060. 

The  only  industry  ever  started  in  this 
country  was  a  carding  mill,  built  by  Larkiu 
Thrash  and  Levi  B.  Anderson,  who  ran  it 
by  ox-power.  It  existed  three  years,  and  was 
quite  a  benefit  to  the  country,  in  which  then 
a  lot  of  sheep  were  raised.  The  mill  was 
afterward  sold  and  removed  to  Flora. 

The  only  incident  of  a  serious  character, 
which  was  accompanied  with  loss  of  life  and 
property,  occurred  on  Sunday  night  October 
21,  1866.  On  that  night  a  tornado  swept 
over  this  part  of  Clay  County,  coming  from 
the  southwest  and  going  northeast.  It  almost 
annihilated  the  little  village  of  Larkinsburg, 
tearing  down  every  house  except  two.  Many 
persons  were  seriously  injured,  and  a  daugh- 
ter of  ML  Rusher  was  killed,  and  also  some 
stock. 

Larkinsburg  Township  has  been  singularly 
exempt  from  accident  or  bloodshed. 

After  the  township  was  organized,  Henry 
Long  was  elected  Supervisor  ;  H.  S.  Watson, 
Clerk  ;  A.  J.  Long,  Collector  ;  J.  D.  Cochran, 
Assessor;  William  Alldridge  and  R.  M.  Will- 
iamson, Justices  of  the  Peace. 

Owing  to  the  fact  that  the  records  of  the 
township  have  been  destroyed  or  lost,  we  are 
only  able  to  give  a  list  of  officers  for  the  last 
ten  vears — from  1S73  to  1SS3  : 

1873  —  H.  M.  Campbell.  Supervisor; 
George  Griffith.  Clerk  ;  Rufus  Robinson  and 
J.  A.  Flemming,  Justices. 

1874 — H.  M.  Campbell,  Supervisor;  W. 
D.  Watson,  Clerk  :  Kufus  Robinson  and  J. 
A.  Flemming.  Justices. 


1 S75 — H.  M.  Campbell,  Supervisor;  1\ 
M.  Herman,  Clerk  ;  J.  A.  Flemming  and 
Rufus  Hobinson,  Justices. 

1876 — H.    M.    Campbell,    Supervisor  ;    W 
T.  Britton,  Clerk  ;  James  A.    Flemming  and 
Rufus  Robinson,  Justices. 

1877  -H.  M.  Campbell,  Supervisor ;  F. 
M.  Horman,  Clerk  ;  James  Craig  and  Rufus 
Robinson,  Justices. 

1878— W.  V.  Vickrey,  Supervisor  ;  F.  M. 
Herman,  Clerk  ;  H.  M.  Campbell,  Assessor  ; 
I.  D.  Fender,  Collector  ;  C.  R.  Brown,  High- 
way Commissioner  ;  L.  R.  Bounder,  School 
Trustee. 

1871)— W.  J.  Moore,  Supervisor  ;  F.  M. 
Herman,  Clerk  ;  J.  Robinson,  Assessor  ;  J. 
P.  Baker,  Collector  ;  J.  D.  Cochran,  Com- 
missioner of  Highways  ;  S.  H.  Pring,  School 
Trustee. 

1880— W.  V.  Vickrey,  Supervisor  ;  J.  P. 
Baker,  Clerk  ;  J.  Robinson,  Assessor  ;  I.  D. 
Fender,  Collector  ;  A.  Koss,  Commissioner  of 
Highways  ;  H.  C.  Stephens,  School  Trustee. 

1881  ~\Y.  V.  Vickrey,  Supervisor;  J.  P. 
Baker,  Clerk  ;  J.  Robinson,  Assessor  ;  W.  H. 
Morgan,  Collector  ;  M.  Rush,  Commissioner 
of  Highways;  F.  M.  Herman,  School  Trustee; 
J.  C.  Craig  and  J.  Craig,  Justices  of  the  Peace. 

1882- W.  V.  Vickrey,  Supervisor;  Edgar 
Hayes,  Clerk  ;  Isaac  Edwards,  Assessor  :  A. 
C.  Vantine,  Collector  ;  Jonathan  Robinson, 
Commissioner  of  Highways  ;  A.  J.  Rodgers 
and  B.  F.  Bishop,  Constables. 

ISM'.  H.  S.  Watson,  Supervisor;  Edgar 
Hayes,  Clerk  ;  G.  AY.  Starkey,  Assessor  ;  S. 
M.  Gen  trey,  Collector;  A.  C.  Vantine,  Com- 
missioner of  Highways  ;  S.  H  Pring,  School 

Tl'USlee. 


460 


HISTORY    OF   CLAY   COUNTY. 


CHAPTER    XIX. 


BIBLE  GROVE  TOWNSHIP— LOCATION—  TOPOGRAPHY— SOIL  AND  TIMBER— HOW  ITS  NAME  GAME- 
FIRST  SETTLER,  WITH  LONG  LIST  OF  THE  PEOPLE  AND  THE  ORDER  IN  WHICH  THEY 
CAME— INCIDENTS— ROBBERY  OF  M.KNIGHT— VIOLENT  DEATHS,  ETC..  ETC. 


THIS  township  is  situated  in  the  north- 
east corner  of  Clay  County.  Its  name 
might  indicate  that  the  people  are  religiously 
inclined,  and  as  five  church  buildings  are  to 
be  found  here,  this  conclusion  may  not  be 
quite  amiss;  however,  its  name  is  derived 
from  the  fact  that  a  Bible  was  found  by  hunt- 
ers in  a  grove  near  where  Georgetown  now 
stands.  This  was  many  years  before  this 
township  could  boast  of  permanent  settlers, 
and  although  the  original  grove  has  long 
since  passed  away  under  the  sturdy  stroke  of 
the  early  pioneer,  yet  the  name  clings  to  it 
and  is  prized  highly  by  the  citizens  of  the 
township,  as  are  many  things  which  are 
handed  down  to  us  by  tradition. 

By  the  Government  survey,  this  division  of 
the  county  is  described  as  Town  5  north, 
Range  7  east,  and  lies  between  Effingham 
Cottnty  on  the  north,  and  Hoosier  Township 
on  the  south ;  the  east  boundary  is  formed  by 
Pixley  Township  and  Jasper  County,  and  the 
west  boundary  by  Blair  Township.  The  gen- 
eral features  are  those  of  a  prairie  country 
with  plenty  of  timber  abounding  on  its 
many  creeks,  which  invariably  run  from  the 
north  to  the  south,  indicating  a  slope  to  the 
south. 

In  the  northeast  corner,  running  through 
Sections  1  and  12,  is  Limestone  Branch,  on 
the  banks  of  which  John  Pulliam  settled  in 
an  early  day. 

Cottonwood  Creek  rises  in  Section  12, 
flows  south,  and  leaves  the  township  in  Sec- 


tion 36.  It  is  fed  by  many  tributaries  aris- 
ing in  Little  Prairie  which  lies  west  of  it. 
Little  Muddy,  the  principal  creek,  rises  in 
Effingham  County.  It  enters  this  township 
in  Section  2,  aud  flows  nearly  through  the 
center  of  the  township,  leaving  it  in  Section 
33.  It  receives  many  tributaries,  among 
others  that  of  Little  Muddy  from  the  west 
and  Wolf  Branch  from  the  east.  The  for- 
mer received  its  name  from  its  muddy  banks 
and  bottoms,  and  the  latter  from  an  old  set- 
tler catching  wolves  on  its  banks.  Little 
Muddy  Creek  rises  in  Section  4,  and  drains 
the  largest  western  part  of  the  township;  it 
flows  south  into  Big  Muddy  in  Section  28. 
The  country  between  Big  Muddy  Creek  and 
Cottonwood  Creek  is  called  Lit+le  Prairie, 
also  Levitt  Prairie,  and  on  it  the  first  settle- 
ments were  made. 

To  the  present  generation,  the  timber  along 
our  creeks  seem  to  be  a  vast  thicket,  with  no 
grass  plot  nor  pleasant  retreats.  To  the  first 
settlers  the  timber  presented  a  beautiful 
sight,  where  now  a  chaos  of  thick  under- 
brush obstructs  the  view  and  the  progress  of 
the  traveler.  Here  were  large  grass  plots, 
called  glades:  trees  grew  in  groups,  and 
among  the  trees  would  be  found  the  blue 
stem  grass  in  luxurious  abundance,  so  that 
deer  and  cattle  grew  fat  on  it.  In  the  fall  of 
every  year,  after  the  grass  had  grown  about 
two  feet,  a  stem  would  shoot  from  each  bunch 
and  grow  to  a  length  of  from  three  to  six 
feet.     No  trace  of    the  grass  now  remains, 


EUSTORT    OF   CI. AY    COUNTY. 


401 


and,  like  many  other  things  of  the  past,  is 
only  remembered  by  the  old  settler  who  de- 
lights to  tell  stories  of  by-gone  days  to  the 
■willing  ear  of  the  stranger  or  historian. 

The  following  species  of  timber  grow  in 
Bible  Grove  Township:  Among  the  oak  are 
the  white,  black,  red.  water,  pin  and  burr 
oak;  hickory,  cottonwood,  walnut,  elm,  ash. 
maple  and  sycamore  also  abound,  the  latter 
being  used   for  furniture  and  building  pur- 


In  our  search  for  the  oldest  settlers,  we 
came  across  a  number  of  names  but  nothing 
definite  is  known  of  them.  The  first  actual 
settlement,  so  far  as  we  can  learn  in  this 
township,  was  made  iu  1835,  on  Section  31, 
by  Cyrus  Mason,  whom  the  old  settlers  rep- 
resent as  a  splendid  man.  After  a  few  years' 
residence  in  this  county,  he  removed  to 
McLeansboro,   111. 

The  next  was  William  Lewis,  who  entered 
land  in  Section  15  in  the  year  1836.  The 
farm  is  now  known  as  the  old  Henry  place 
His  last  wife's  name  was  Susan  Colclasure. 
Shi-  died  .March  5,  1854.  and  was  the  mother 
of  seven  boys  and  one  girl.  A  few  descend- 
ants are  yet  living  in  this  county.  The 
Lewis  family  is  one  of  the  best  known  in 
this  count}',  though  some  say  that  some  of 
the  Lewises  were  more  notorious  than 
noted,  yet  we  can  say  of  old  William  Lewis, 
while  living  in  this  township,  he  was  a  re- 
spectable man,  smart,  though  without  an  ed- 
ucation. He  lived  a  number  of  years  near 
Xenia,  on  what  is  now  called  the  old  Daven- 
port farm.  More  is  said  of  him  in  the  his 
tory  of  Xenia  Township.  It  is  supposed 
that  William  Lewis  came  to  the  township  iu 
1832.  He  died  here.  November  21,  IS  I  I, 
and  it  buried  on  the  farm  he  entered.  He 
was  a  great  hunter,  as  most  members  of  the 
family  were.  On  one  of  his  hunting  trips  in 
this  county,  he  killed   a   bear,  and  sold  the 


hams  in  St.  Louis  for  SI,  including  his  din- 
ner, of  which  bargain  he  often  boasted. 

Another  old  settler  is  Washington  LewiB, 
who  is  yet  living  in  this  township.  He  was 
a  native  of  Floyd  County,  Ind.  His  father, 
Robert  G  Lewis,  was  a  native  of  North 
Carolina,  but  moved  to  Indiana,  where  he 
died.  Washington  Lewis  is  the  only  one  now 
living  of  a  family  of  eight  children.  He 
came  to  Bible  Grove  Township  in  1836,  and 
here,  in  Sections  28  and  2'.),  he  entered  200 
acres  of  land.  He  now  owns  100  acres  of 
land.  Washington  Lewis  was  married  twice; 
his  first  wife,  Jerusha  Erwin,  daughter  of 
David  Erwin,  was  the  mother  of  nine  chil- 
dren, viz.:  Sylvania  McGee,  William  P., 
Ann  Cook,  Priscilla  Brooks.  'Adeline  Cook, 
Robert  (deceased),  John,  Charlotte  Murvin 
and  Levina  KLepp.  His  present  wife,  Mrs. 
Nancy  (Perry)  Lewis'  is  a  native  of  New 
York,  and  the  mother  of  two  children  now 
living  from  her  first  husband,  viz.,  David  F. 
and  Allen  H.  Wattles. 

The  following  is-  a  list  of  persons  who 
entered  land  in  Bible  Grove: 

1835 — Cyrus  Mason,  Section  31. 

1836 — William  Lewis,  Section  15;  John 
Harding,  Section  20;  Henry  Brooks,  Section 
23;  Nelson  Vickrey,  Section  23;  William 
Brooks,  Section  26;  Washington  Lewis, 
Sections  28  and  29;  Eli  Erwin,  Section  34. 

L837  Jess.'  Ham]iton,  Section  24;  David 
Erwin,  Section  28:  Thomas  H.  Johnson,  Sec- 
tion 33. 

1838 — Alfred  Logan,  Section  1 ;  Nathaniel 
Cherry,  Section  21;  Thomas  Cherry,  Section 
21;  Watson  Reeves,  Section  10;  Alcy  Mason, 
Section  27;  Robert  Colburn,  Section  27; 
John  Cherry.  Section  28;  Andrew  Fulk,  Sec- 
tion 31;  George  Henshaw,  Section  31. 

L839 — R.  B.  Lewis,  Section  1. 

I  M0 — J.  J.  Spriggs,  Section  12;  Leonard 
Brooks, Section  12;  Zaehariah West, Section  33. 


462 


HISTORY    OF    (LAY   COUNTY. 


1841 — Hausenian  and  Sunderrnann,  Section 
33;  William  A.  McKnight,  Section  35. 

Some  of  the  above  named  men  probably 
never  lived  in  this  township,  and  of  others 
nothing  or  but  very  little  can  be  obtained. 
A  complete  history  of  some  of  the  above 
families  can  be  obtained  by  referring  to  the 
biographical  department  of  this  work. 

The  Brooks  family,  William  Brooks,  Sr., 
came  to  this  township  in  1838,  accompanied 
by  his  wife  and  a  number  of  children,  of 
whom  some  were  married.  His  wife,  Susan- 
nah (Wyman)  Brooks,  was  the  mother  of  ten 
children  who  reached  maturity,  viz.:  Henry, 
Catherine  Hampton.  Elizabeth  Vickrey,  Will- 
iam, Leonard,  Margaret  Vickrey,  Susan 
Woods,  Dillon,  Jonathan  and  Lucy  Fields. 
Many  of  their  descendants  are  now  living  in 
this  township.  The  family  came  from 
Indiana  to  this  county;  the  father  and 
mother  were  natives  of  North  Carolina.  They 
both  died  here,  the  latter  aged  eighty-three 
years.  The  best  known  of  all  the  Brooks 
family  undoubtedly  is  Henry  Brooks,  who  is 
yet  a  resident  of  Georgetown.  He  was  born 
August  7,  1810,  in  Orange  County,  Ind. 
He  was  reared  in  Indiana,  where  he  was  also 
married  to  Susan  McCoy,  who  is  the  mother 
of  seven  children,  viz.:  America  Hord  (de- 
ceased), William,  Lydia,  George  (deceased), 
Katie,  Henry,  Jr. ,  and  Susie.  Henry  Brooks 
first  came  to  this  county  in  1836  with  his 
father,  and  entered  land  in  Section  23;  but 
fearing  a  new  country  would  not  suit  his 
young  wife,  he  did  not  come  here  for  several 
years  afterward,  and  after  farming  many 
years  on  his  farm  near  Georgetown,  he  moved 
to  the  town  in  1804,  and  has  kept  hotel  ever 
since.  His  honesty  and  sincerity  are  pro- 
verbial, and  though  life's  twilight  is  gather- 
ing around  him,  and  he  is  past  the  allotted 
three  score  and  ten,  he  is  yet  a  halo  old  man, 
and  enjoys  the  reBpect  of  all    with  whom  he 


comes  in  contact.     He  and  his  esteemed  wife 
are  working  members  of  the  Christian  Church. 

Robert  Colburn  and  family  came  here  in 
an  early  day.  See  biographical  department 
also. 

Joseph  Holt,  a  mason  and  plasterer  by  oc- 
cupation, was  a  native  of  Indiana.  He  came 
here  about  1840,  and  died  in  Louisville. 

Thomas  H.  Johnson,  another  early  settler, 
entered  land  in  1837,  on  Section  33.  He 
probably  came  here  long  before  that;  some 
say  in  1832.  He  was  a  valuable  man,  per- 
haps a  little  too  fond  of  his  cups,  but  other- 
wise a  quiet  man,  a  blacksmith  by  occupa- 
tion. He  is  well  romembered  by  our  older 
citizens,  and  the  farm  he  entered  is  yet  known 
as  the  Johnson  farm.  He  died  here,  and  has 
descendants  living  in  the  township. 

Jacob  Wolf  settled  in  an  early  day  in  Sec- 
tion 33.  He  bought  his  land  from  Andrew 
McCaukel,  who  had  purchased  it  from  Rich- 
ard Lewis,  who  was  one  of  the  very  first  set- 
tlers in  the  south  part  of  Bible  Grove  Town- 
ship. 

Adam  Booth  came  from  Indiana.  He  lived 
in  this  township  several  years,  never  owned 
land.  His  two  sons,  Elias  and  Wash  Booth, 
are  yet  residents  here. 

About  1840,  Andrew  Fulk,  a  native  of 
North  Carolina,  came  to  Bible  Grove  Town- 
ship, settling  in  Section  32,  where  he  died. 
He  was  of  German  descent.  His  two  chil- 
dren, Mrs.  Betsey  Booth  and  Mrs.  Sarah 
Webster,  are  yet  living  in  this  township. 

James  Mathews  lived  in  the  timber  about 
1840.  He  was  a  hunter,  and  his  wife  a  good 
seamstress,  and  thus  with  needle  and  gun 
they  managed  to  live  comfortably. 

Stephen  and  Abraham  Hardin  came  here 
from  Indiana  in  1842,  and  settled  in  Sections 
20  and  21.  They  were  bought  out  by  their 
brother,  Aaron  T.,  whose  sketch  appears  in 
this  work. 


HISTORY  OF   CLAY    COUNTY. 


463 


George  Monical  came  here  about  1843,and 
settled  in  Section  17.  where  his  son  Moses 
Monical  now  resides.  George  Monical  died 
here.  He  laid  out  Georgetown,  which  he  in- 
sisted on  calling  Edinburg.  He  is  also  men- 
tioned in  another"  part  of  this  work. 

John  Pulliaru  came  from  Indiana.  He 
came  here  in  an  early  day.  and  married  Jane 
A.  Lewis,  daughter  of  William  Lewis.  John 
Pulliam  acquired  considerable  property.  His 
widow.  Mrs.  Jane  A  Monical,  is  yet  living 
in  the  northeastern  part  of  this  township,  as 
are  also  several  of  her  children. 

Anderson  Wolf  came  in  the  fall  of  1840, 
settling  in  Section  23.  He  is  yet  living,  a 
native  of  Kentucky.  He  came  here  from 
Orange  County,  Ind.,  and  has  been  a  farmer 
by  occupation.  He  has  been  married  twice. 
His  first  wife,  Polly  Ford,  a  native  of  Indi- 
ana, was  the  mother  of  five  children,  viz. : 
William,  Hannah  Pugh,  John  F.,  Nancy 
Wood  and  Leonard.  His  present  wife  was 
formerly  a  Mrs.  E.  Vickrey. 

F.  C.  Falley,  a  very  useful  man  in  George- 
town, is  a  native  of  Licking  County,  Ohio. 
He  is  a  son  of  Samuel  and  Ruth  (Root)  Fal- 
ley, natives  of  Massachusetts.  He  came  to 
Illinois  in  1839,  and  to  Clay  County  in  1852, 
just  about  the  time  Georgetown  was  laid  out. 
He  has  been  identified  with  many  of  the 
township  offices,  and  seems  to  be  the  right 
hand  man  to  the  majority  of  citizens.  He 
has  filled  the  office  of  Township  Assessor  for 
fifteen  years,  and  Township  Treasnrer  twenty- 
five  years,  to  the  satisfaction  of  everybody. 

Bible  Grove  Township  has  no  railroad 
facilities,  yet  her  wide-awake  business  men 
are  fully  able  to  compete  with  merchants  sit- 
uated in  the  neighboring  towns,  and  even 
Louisville,  the  county  seat. 

The  thriving  little  village  of  Georgetown 
was  laid  out  in  1852  by  George  Monical,  E. 
Nixon    doing   the  surveying.       It  is  situated 


on  the  west  bank  of  Little  Muddy,  in  Section 
17.  a  little  west  of  the  center.  The  first 
house  built  was  a  little  log  cabin,  where  A. 
Smith's  brick  store  now  stands  (this  was  be- 
fore the  town  was  laid  out).  The  second 
house  was  a  frame  (which  is  yet  standing), 
1.6x18,  built  and  used  for  a  store  room  by 
Finnomore  &  Apperson.  in  which  they  kept 
a  general  store  one  year  and  then  sold  out  to 
Walker  Apperson  and  F.  C.  Falley,  who  sold 
goods  a  year  and  a  half,  and  then  sold  to 
Stephen  Hardin.  It  changed  hands  several 
times  after  that,  and  is  at  present  used  as  a 
store  room  by  Cogswell  &  Nash. 

Several  cabins  were  put  up  during  the 
year  1851.  In  1852,  A.  Apperson  put  up  a 
frame  dwelling  house,  which  yet  stands,  and 
two  log  houses  were  put  up  in  the  fall  of  the 
same  year. 

In  1860,  Messrs.  G.  W.  Monical  and  Dr. 
Boyles  erected  a  brick  store,  now  known  as 
Smith  &  Co.'s  store,  in  which  they  kept  a 
general  store. 

During  the  war,  about  1862,  Henry  Brooks 
put  up  his  hotel,  which  he  has  kept  ever 
since.  Several  other  houses  were  put  up  the 
same  year. 

Things  moved  along  smoothly  and  quietly 
till  1878,  when  the  town  took  a  fresh  start, 
and  several  substantial  buildings  were  put 
up,  among  others  that  of  T.  Gould's  store 
and  dwelling  house,  a  fine  brick  building 
used  for  a  drug  store,  post  office  and  Odd 
Follows  Hall. 

The  first  general  store  was  kept  by  Finne- 
more  &  Apperson:  first  blacksmith  shop  by 
Alexander  Apperson  and  J.  Smith;  first  drug 
store  by  Thomas  W.  Kepley;  first  saw  mill 
was  put  up  by  George  Monical  &  Son;  first 
shoe  shop  was  kept  by  a  Mr.  Jackson,  now  a 
resident  of  Xenia,  111.;  a  tan  yard  was  oper- 
ated by  F.  G.  Barnes,  yet  a  resident  of  this 
township.       A   steam  mill   and  carding  ma- 


464 


HISTORY   OF  CLAY   COUNTY. 


chine  was  built  and  operated  by  W.  W.  Wolf. 
It  changed  proprietors  several  times,  and  was 
finally  removed  to  Iola. 

Present  business  of  Georgetown:  General 
stores,  A.  Smith  &  Co.,  Theoren  Gould; 
drags  and  groceries,  John  Murvin;  grocer- 
ies,  Cogswell  &  Nash,  John  R  Lewis;  shoe 
shop,  John  Peters;  blacksmiths,  Charles 
Bleeker,  George  Slictimyre;  mills,  A.  Smith 
&  Co.'s  Bible  Grove  Star  Flouring  Mills; 
hotel,  Henry  Brooks;  physicians,  W.  W. 
Bunean,  E.  L.  Shumaker;  millinery  and 
dress-making,  Mrs.  William  Hardin  ;  car- 
penters, D.  Rose,  Andrew  Ballard  and  J. 
Byrnes.  D.  Rose  also  works  at  cabinet- 
making  and  Andrew  Ballard  at  wagon-mak- 
ing. Masons  and  carpenters,  J.  Byrnes  and 
Newhouse. 

At  present,  business  is  good.  The  town 
has  about  20U  inhabitants.  It  is  not  incor- 
porated, and  is  not  cursed  with  saloons  at  this 
writing.  Yast  quantities  of  game,  poultry, 
butter  and  eggs  are  shipped  yearly  from  this 
town.  A  stranger  can  have  no  conception  as 
to  the  amount  of  business  done  in  this  little 
village.  Everything  seems  alive  and  in  a 
healthy,  prosperous  condition. 

When  the  village  was  yet  in  its  infancy, 
thi'  people  realized  the  need  of  educational 
advantages,  and  a  private  school  was  organ- 
ized,  with  James  Cos  as  its  teacher,  who 
taught  the  school  in  a  private  house,  with 
good  success.  The  first  school  in  George- 
town was  a  frame,  22x28,  cost  about  $500, 
in  which  Samuel  Fox  taught  the  first  school. 
The  present  commodious  schoolhouse  cost 
11,700.  It  is  a  two-story  frame.  The  pres- 
ent teachers  are  Josiah  Harman  and  A.  M. 
Rose;  present  enrollment,  about  180  pupils. 
The  school  is  considered  a  success. 

William  McCracken  was  the  first  Post- 
master, and  John  Murvin  is  the  present  Post- 
master.      Georgetown    was    formerly    called 


Edinburg  by  its  founder,  George  Monical, 
and  it  is  also  recorded,  but  the  name  was 
afterward  changed  to  Georgetown  by  the 
people.  The  town  has  two  church  societies, 
viz.,  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  and 
Christian  Church.  The  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  was  organized  irr  the  year  1S43  by 
Rev.  Stafford.  The  causes  which  led  to  the 
organization  were  as  follows:  Three  fami- 
lies who  had  been  members  of  the  Method- 
ist Episcopal  Church  in  Washington  Coun- 
ty, Ind.,  emigrated  to  Bible  Grove  Township, 
Clay  County,  111.,  and  when  here  felt  the 
need  of  church  facilities.  The  names  of  the 
families  were  Stephen  and  Mary  Hardin.  Abra- 
ham and  Elizabeth  Hardin,  and  George  and 
Hannah  Monical.  Rev.  Stafford  accepted  a 
call  from  Abraham  Hardin,  who  threw  open 
his  log  cabin  and  invited  the  neighbors  to 
attend. 

The  first  members  were  Stephen  and  Mary 
Hardin,  Abraham  and  Elizabeth  Hardin, 
George  and  Hannah  Monical,  and  Mary  Er- 
win.  The  church  grew  rapidly,  and  at  pres- 
ent counts  ninety  members.  The  following 
is  a  list  of  ministers  who  have  at  different 
times  officiated:  Revs.  Stafford,  Rodgers, 
Gillam,  R.  J.  Wall,  Ephraim  Joy,  Abraham 
Campbell  (in  1850  and  again  in  1870;  he 
intended  to  preach  again  in  1870,  but  death 
called  the  worker  to  his  rest),  Rev.  Cox,  L. 
C.  English  and  A.  B.  Morrison,  A.  B.  Mor- 
rison (again),  Henry  Manifold,  John  Shep- 
ard,  Gary  Lambert,  James  Trapp,  Rev.  Bab- 
bett,  William  St.  Clair,  Jesse  Green,  Thomas 
Stephenson,  J.  L.  Waller,  William  Henues- 
see,  John  Yunyling.  Joseph  Rutherford,  Rev. 
Laughlin,  John  D.  Reeder,  Powell  A.  Bart- 
lov.  A.  Snell.  John  Flesher,  George  A. 
Seed,  J.  G.  Dee,  John  F.  Harman. 

The  first  church  was  brick,  and  cost  $800. 
The  present  church,  which  is  a  fine  edifice, 
cost  $1,200.      The  first  church  trustees  were 


ll|sT(ii;V  OF  CLAY    (  (»(  N  I  r. 


4C:> 


George  Monical,  Jacob  Gibson;  James  D. 
Plotner.  William  McCracken,  Stephen  Hardin 
arnl  Aaron  T.  Hardin.  The  present  trustees 
are  Arch  Burk,  Aaron  T.  Hardin.  Ashbury 
Me  Knight,  Richard  McWilliams,  Francis  C. 
Falley,  U.  Rose  and  Moses  H.  Monical. 
A  Sunday  school  was  organized  in  1846. 
Abrain  Hardin  was  the  first  Superintendent. 
Considerable  interest  was  manifested.  The 
present  officers  of  the  Sunday  school  are  Al- 
bert M.  Hose.  Superintendent;  John  Marvin, 
Assistant  Superintendent;  William  A.  Har- 
din, Secretary;  Mary  D.  Cox.  Assistant 
'etary;  R.  McWilliams,  Treasurer;  Ed- 
ward O.  Folks,  Chorister;  Anna  Duncan, 
Librarian;  and  Thomas  W.  Carrick,  Assistant 
Librarian.  The  condition  of  the  school  dur- 
ing the  spring,  summer  and  fall  months  is 
good,  the  average  attendance  being  about 
eighty. 

The  Christian  Church  was  organized  about 
the  year  1875  or  1876.  Owing  to  the  fact 
that  the  records  of  this  church  have  been 
purloined  by  one  of  the  former  members,  we 
are  sorry  to  say  a  leader  of  the  organization, 
we  cannot  give  a  very  full  history  of  it.  The 
church  edifice  in  which  they  hold  their 
iiie^tings  is  a  frame.  The  first  minister  was 
Elder  W.  H.  Krutzinger,  who  was  succeeded 
by  Elder  Clifton.  There  is  no  regular  min- 
ister at  present.  The  church  was  organized 
with  thirty-seven  members.  The  member- 
ship at  present  does  not  exceed  twenty  eight. 

Church  Elders  -Henry  Brooks, Sr.,  Will- 
iam Brooks,  Alexander  Yickrey,  T.  W.  Kep- 
le\  Church  Deacons — C.  T.  Kepley  and 
L.  P.  Weaber.  Church  Deaconesses — Mary 
C.  Kepley  and  Lydia  E,  Lewis.  It  must  be 
said  that  Henry  Brooks. Sr..  and  his  esteemed 
wife  are  worthy  pillars  in  the  Christian 
Church. 

The  G.  A.  R.  ha--  a  post  at  Georgetown, 
and    the  I.  O.  O.  F.  have  also  a  lodge.     The 


G.  A.  R.  Post  is  known  as  the  Bible  Grove 
Post,  No.  3(30.  It  wasorganized  by  William 
Mattoon  November  14,  1883,  in  Georgetown. 
It  received  its  charter  October  30,  1883.  The 
following  are  charter  members:  Theoren 
Gould,  John  B.  Cogswell, Elias Booze,  James 
Conner! ey,  Richard  McWilliams,  Leonard 
Wolf,  William  B.  Corder,  John  Cottrell,  S. 
G.  Curtright,  Henry  Nash,  M.  N.  Lewis,  E. 
T.  Ryan,  William  P.  Lewis,  Robert  Carrick, 
Jesse  B.  Yickrey.  Jacob  Rinehart,  Joseph 
Killifer,  Joseph  Harper  and  Joseph  Cook. 

The    following   are    new    members:    John 
Pugh,  Jesse  Roberts   and  Joseph  S.    Lowe. 

First  officers:  Theoren  Gould,  Commander; 
John  B.  Cogswell,  Senior  Vice  Commander; 
1  Leiiry  Nash,  Junior  Vice  Commander;  Leonard 
Wolf,  Adjutant;  Moses  M.  Lewis,  Quarter- 
master; John  Cottrell,  Surgeon;  Richard 
McWilliams,  Chaplain;  Joseph  Killifer.  Olli 
cer  of  the  Day;  William  B.  Corder,  Officer 
of  the  Guard;  W.  P.  Lewis,  Sergeant  Mayor; 
Joseph  Harper,  Quartermaster  Sergeant. 

Present  officers  are:  Theoren  Gould.  Com 
mander;S.G.  Curtright,  Senior  Vice  Comman- 
der; Henry  Nash,  Junior  Vice  Commander; 
Leonard  Wolf,  Adjutant;  John  Pugh,  Quar- 
termaster; Joseph  S.  Lowe,  Surgeon; 
Richard  McWilliams,  Chaplin;  Joseph  Killi- 
fer, Officer  of  the  Day:  William  B.  Corder. 
Officer  of  the  Guard;  William  1'.  Lewi-,, 
Sergeant  Major;  Jacob  Rinehart.  Quarter- 
master Sergeant.  Everything  is  reported  in 
good  running,  order,  the  meetings  are  held 
in  the  Georgetown  Schoolhouso  onceamonth, 
on  or  before  full  moon. 

The  I.  O.  O.  F.  society  is  called  Bible 
Grove  Lodge,  No.  273.  It  was  first  organ 
ized  in  Flora,  on  the  '24th  day  of  May,  L859, 
and  called  Flora  Lodge;  its  charter  was 
granted  on  the  12th  day  of  October,  of  the 
same  year.  Its  charter  members  were  John 
Lowry,  William    B     Wilcox,    1     C.    Oadde, 


466 


HISTORY    OF  (LAY   CiH'XTY. 


N.  A.  Oddy,  E.  P.  Turner  and  William  C. 
Goodsell.  It  was  located  in  Flora  a  number 
of  years  and  then  removed  to  Louisville,  the 
county  seat  of  Clay  County,  where  it  stayed 
only  a  short  time  and  then  moved  to  George- 
town, where  it  retained  its  old  name  for  many 
years;  it  was  only  changed  within  the  last 
few  years. 

The  first  officers  of  the  lodge,  while  yet  at' 
Flora,  were:  E.  P.  Turner,  N.  G. ;  John 
Lowry,  V.  G. ;  N.  A.  Eddy,  E.  S.  and  Sec- 
retary; W.  Goodsell,  Treasurer.  Present 
officers  are :  J.  E.  Cooper,  N.  G. ;  E.  L.  Shu- 
maker,  V.  G. ;  John  Murvin.  Secretary;  Theo- 
ren  Gould,  Treasurer;  J.  H.  Kellums,  Warden; 
John  Cogswell,  R.  S.  of  N.  G. ;  D.  F. 
Wattles,  L.  S.  of  N.  G.;  F.  Underwood,  E.  S. 
of  V.  G. ;  L.  Cook,  L.  S.  of  V.  G. ;  Charles 
Martz,  Inside  Guardian. 

The  Lodge  owns  its  own  hall,  which  is 
situated  over  the  post  office.  They  hold 
their  meetings  every  Saturday  night.  Thirty 
members  are  now  enrolled  and  the  Lodge  is 
in  a  prosperous  condition. 

Five  churches  afford  ample  facilities  for 
religious  worship  to  the  citizens  of  Bible 
Grove  Township.  Two  of  them  have  al- 
ready been  mentioned  in  connection  with  the 
history  of  Georgetown.  Of  the  other  three, 
but  little  can  be  said.  The  Mount  Olive 
Church  is  located  in  Section  27.  The  ground 
on  which  it  was  built  was  given  by  Alexander 
Yickrey.  The  church  itself  was  built  by 
different  denominations,  perhaps  mainly  the 
Protestants  who  were  assisted  by  the  Method- 
ist Episcopal  and  Christians.  Any  denom 
ination  may  preach  in  the  church  if  is  not 
occupied  by  the  Protestants.  The  German 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  known  as  Im- 
manuel  Church,  was  built  in  1874,  in  the 
southwest  corner  of  Section  5.  The  land 
was  given  by  Charley  Nuetzmann.  It  is  a 
frame   and  cost  $800.     The  following  names 


were  the  first  members  who,  having  been 
members  of  the  same  church  in  the  East, 
felt  the  want  of  a  German  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  and  organized  the  church:  A. 
Smith  and  wife,  J.  Sehnert  and  wife,  John 
Schmidt,  M.  Schmidt,  G.  P.  Seitz,  Peter 
Sehnert  and  wife,  Catharine  Sehnert,  Charles 
Nuet7mann  and  wife.  The  present  member- 
ship numbers  about  forty. 

Before  the  church  was  built,  the  above 
named  received  their  pastoral  help  from 
Altamont;  the  meetings  were  held  in  the 
homes  of  some  of  the  members,  and  Revs. 
Brinkmeyer  and  Buchholtz  were  the  officiat- 
ing ministers. 

The  German  Evangelical  Church  is  situ- 
ated on  the  county  line  in  the  northwest  cor- 
ner of  Section  4;  its  members  are  from  thi3 
and  Effingham  Counties. 

The  first  school  taught  in  the  township  was 
about  1839.  Young  Van  Cleave  was  the 
teacher.  The  school  was  conducted  on  the 
old  subscription  plan,  and  was  held  in  the 
proverbial  log  pioneer  house  with  puncheon 
floor  and  mud  and  clay  chimney,  built  by 
Nelson  Vickrey  and  the  Brooks  family,  on 
the  old  farm  of  Henry  Brooks  in  the  south- 
east part  of  the  township.  J.  Y.  Rhodes 
taught  another  school  afterward,  one  mile 
south  of  the  first  one,  after  which  several 
subscription  schools  were  taught,  till  finally 
the  free  school  system  ushered  in  the  dawn 
of  intelligence  and  prosperity.  At  present, 
Bible  Grove  Township  is  divided  into  five 
school  districts,  and  has  five  frame  school- 
houses.  The  estimated  value  of  school  prop- 
erty is  $2,950;  number  of  months  taught, 
twenty-nine.  Eight  teachers  are  employed, 
five  males  and  three  females.  The  average 
salary  for  male  teachers  is  §30.24,  and  for 
female  teachers  $20.06.  The  number  of  pu- 
pils of  school  age  is  381,  and  of  these  201 
are   males    and  180   females;   of   these  177 


HISTORY  OF  CLAY   COUNTY 


467 


males  and   147  females   are  enrolled.      Total 
expenditure  for  the  year  1S82,  $2,762.56. 

Among  the  early  mills  in  this  township  we 
must  note  one  owned  by  Henry  Brooks,  which 
is  well  remembered  by  our  early  settlers.  It 
was  properly  called  an  ox  mill.  Another 
old  mill  was  built  about  1838,  in  the  south- 
west corner  of  the  township,  by  a  man  named 
Dowthard.  It  was  run  by  horses,  which 
walked  around  a  stump  on  which  two  stones 
ground  the  corn.  The  saying  is  that  the 
horses  would  go  around  twice,  while  the 
stones  went  round  once;  yet  it  was  better 
than  none. 

We  must  here  record  the  enterprise,  of  one 
of  our  former  citizens,  Levi  Colburn,  who 
built  a  fine  steam  grist  mill  in  Section  24 
about  1868.  It  was  considered  one  of  the 
finest  in  this  or  adjoining  counties.  Mr. 
Colburn  operated  the  mill  till  about  1873, 
when  it  burned  down,  supposed  to  have 
been  the  work  of  incendiaries.  Several 
portable  saw  mills  are  now  at  work  every 
winter  along  the  banks  of  the  thickly  tim- 
bered creeks,  and  convert  the  timber  into 
building  purposes.  Jackson  Hungate  and 
William  Sundermann  were  undoubtedly  the 
first  who  sold  goods  in  this  township.  The 
latter  peddled  goods  in  a  two-wheeled  cart 
which  was  a  well-known  and  welcome  sight 
to  our  early  settlers.  The  primitive  and 
meager  stock  of  goods  owned  by  these  early 
merchants  can  be  imagined  when  it  is  re- 
membered that  they  hauled  their  goods  from 
St.  Louis.  At  one  time,  Henry  Brooks,  wish- 
ing to  lay  in  a  stock  of  groceries  before  win- 
ter, wanted  to  buy  twenty  pounds  of  coffee 
from  William  Sundermann,  but  was  greeted 
with  the  words  "  Mein  Gott,  man,  do  you 
want  to  buy  out  mine  whole  store  ?  " 

Between  the  years  1835  and  1844,  a  number, 
of  people  settled  in  Bible  Grove  Township,  but 
stayed  only  a  few  years  and  moved  away,  no 


one  knows  whither;  they  belonged  to  that 
restless  roving  set  of  people  that  sometimes 
start  from  the  coast  of  the  Atlantic;  go  across 
the  continent  to  the  shores  of  the  Pacific, 
and  sigh  because  they  cannot  go  further 
west.  Very  few  crimes  have  been  committed 
in  this  township.  In  an  early  day,  while 
Walker  was  Sheriff,  a  man  by  the  name  of 
Webb  was  killed  on  the  old  William 
Lewis  place,  at  a  shooting  match,  by  John 
Easton,  who  stuck  a  knife  in  him;  the 
usual  causes,  such  as  card-playing,  drinking 
and  quarreling,  brought  on  the  calamity. 
The  accidental  shooting  of  Frank  Colburn 
by  his  little  brother  will  also  be  remembered 
by  our  citizens.  The  most  noted  incident 
which  occurred  and  which  elicited  the  sym- 
pathy of  the  whole  community  in  this  town- 
ship, was  undoubtedly  the  robbing  and  as 
sault  with  intent  to  kill  of  William  Mc- 
Knight,  the  father  of  Cameron  McKnight, 
whose  sketch  appears  in  this  work.  Williaru 
McKnight  was  spending  the  night  of  Octo- 
ber 4,  1864,  at  the  residence  of  his  son-in- 
law,  Daniel  Dillman,  who  was  absent  at  the 
time,  and  was  attacked  and  brutally  beaten 
by  five  men,  who  then  proceeded  to  rob  him, 
and  secured  $3,320.  They  left  William  Mc- 
Knight nearly  dead,  he  dying  from  the  effects 
of  his  wounds  the  following  year.  The 
family  spent  considerable  time  and  money  to 
bring  the  perpetrators  to  justice,  but  failed, 
though  several  men  were  arrested.  Mc- 
Knight had  sold  600  acres  of  land,  and  as 
every  man  was  his  own  banker  in  those  days, 
it  was  naturally  supposed  by  the  villains  that 
he  had  considerable  money  with  him. 

The  words  rail-making,  corn  husking  and 
house-raising,  together  with  dances  and 
whisky  stews,  bring  back  pleasant  memories 
to  the  old  timers.  People  would  come  ten 
miles  to  a  house-raising.  In  an  early  day, 
William  Sundermann  invited  his  neighbors  to 


468 


HISTORY  OF  (LAY   COUNTY. 


a  rail-making,  who  responded  with  a  will, 
especially  when  it  was  understood  that  Billy, 
as  Sundermann  was  generally  called,  had 
gone  to  Vincennes  to  get  flour  (a  rare  article 
in  those  days),  rice,  sugar  plums,  and  rive 
gallons  of  the  best  whisky.  A  dance  closed 
the  day,  and  those  who  had  worked  through 
the  day  took  the  floor,  while  the  others  were 
made  to  stand  back  by  Billy,  who  seemed  to 
believe  in  the  saying,  no  work,  no  play.  At 
another  time,  William  Sundermann  received  a 
number  of  New  Year's  calls,  and,  so  as  not 
to  be  behind  the  times,  had  made  a  most  ex- 
cellent whisky  stew,  when  one  of  the  visitors 
hit  the  glass  which  was  presented  to  him 
by  Sundermann  with  his  list,  and  spilt  the 
contents  over  Billy's  head,  who  promptly  re- 
sponded by  knocking  his  visitor  down  with 
the  large  hot  can  which  contained  the  stew. 
No  hard  words  or  feelings  existed  afterward. 
This  is  but  one  of  the   many   praise  worthy 


characteristics  of  the  pioneers  which  have 
nearly  all  passed  away  with  them. 

Game  and  wild  beasts  abounded  in  this 
part  of  the  country.  Deer  and  turkey  were 
the  only  game  on  which  the  hunter  would 
waste  his  powder.  As  an  evidence  of  the 
abundance  of  deer,  it  is  said  that  William 
Brooks,  Sr. ,  killed  twenty-two  the  first  fall 
after  he  came  to  the  township. 

Owing  to  the  fact  that  the  early  records  of 
Bible  Grove  Township  have  been  lost,  the 
list  of  township  officers  cannot  be  ascertained. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  the  present 
township  officers:  A.  H.  Harmon,  Super- 
visor; John  R.  Lewis,  Township  Clerk;  D. 
Rose  and  George  W.  Colburn,  Justices  of 
the  Peace;  Elijah  Kepley,  Noah  Webster 
and  John  McKnelly,  Township  Commission- 
ers; Leonard  Wolf  and  Moses  Lewis,  Con- 
stables; A.  R.  McKnight,  Township  Collect- 
or,  and  C.  C.  Hall,  Township  Assessor. 


CHAPTER    XX. 


PIXLEY  TOWNSHIP— GEOGRAPHICAL  POSITION— SETTLEMENT  BY  THE  WHITES— IMPROVEMKNTS- 
MILLS  AND  ROADS— SCHOOLS,  SCHOOLHOUSES,  CHURCHES,  ETC.— VILLAGE  OF  INGRAHAM. 


"The  ax  rani;  sharply  'mid  those  forest  shades, 
Which,  from  creation,  toward  the  sky 
Had  towered  in  unshorn  beauty." 

— Mrs.  Sigourney. 

A  LITTLE  more  than  half  a  century  ago, 
this  section  was  a  wilderness,  undis- 
turbed by  the  enterprise  of  the  white  man. 
Its  history  begins  with  the  year  1820,  when 
the  first  settlers  made  their  appearance,  but 
the  main  influx  of  population  commenced  be- 
tween the  years  1830  and  1835.  The  induce- 
ments which  invited  immigration  to  this  part 
of    the  country  were   all    that  nature  in   her 


most  pleasant  moods  could  offer.  Forests  of 
the  finest  timber,  streams  of  flowing  water, 
and  broad  stretches  of  rolling  prairie  lands 
were  a  consideration  not  to  be  overlooked  by 
the  pioneers  in  selecting  homes  for  themselves 
and  their  posterity. 

In  writing  the  history  of  even  so  small  a 
part  of  the  earth's  surface  as  is  contained  in 
a  single  township,  it  is  evident  that  nothing 
like  absolute  justice  and  impartiality  can  be 
obtained.  No  history  absolutely  correct  in 
all  its  details  was  overwritten.  To  give  just 
the  right  amount  of  importance  and  space  to 


HISTORY   OF  CLAY   COUNTY. 


4G9 


each  individual  and  interest  would  manifest- 
ly be  impossible.  It  might  be  a  curiosity  to 
see  a  book  wherein  each  person  was  allowed 
to  dictate  or  write  up  his  own  consequence 
and  that  of  his  family,  such  a  production 
would  give  a  very  incorrect  idea  of  individ- 
uals and  their  affairs.  Some  would  be 
swelled  out  of  all  proportions  as  to  their  real 
merit  or  standing  in  the  community,  while 
others,  through  modesty,  would  only  occupy 
a  few  lines,  if  they  allowed  themselves  to  ap- 
pear at  all.  It  will  be  readily  seen,  there- 
fore, that  the  historian's  task  is  one  besot 
with  many  difficulties,  but  it  is  hoped  that 
the  following  pages  may  contain  a  brief 
synopsis  of  history  free  from  any  serious 
error. 

The  township  of  Pixley  to  which  the  fol- 
lowing pages  are  devoted,  is  comprised  of 
forty-eight  sections;  it  is  bounded  on  the 
north  by  Jasper  County,  on  the  east  by  Rich- 
land County,  on  the  south  by  Richland  Coun- 
ty and  Clay  City  Township,  and  on  the  west 
by  Hoosier  Township.  Its  twelve  northern 
sections  are  situated  in  what,  in  the  Congres- 
sional survey,  is  known  as  Town  5  north, 
Range  8  east;  and  the  other  thirty-six  sec- 
tions are  in  Town  4  north,  Range  8  east.  The 
sections  on  the  west  sido  of  the  township  are 
not  full  sections,  owing  to  the  correction 
made  in  surveying. 

The  surface  is  composed  of  prairie  and 
woodland  of  almost  equal  proportion,  the 
latter  being  confined  principally  to  tho  west- 
ern and  central  parts,  where  in  many  places 
the  land  is  irregular  and  somewhat  broken. 
The  forest  growth  of  the  township  comprises 
the  varieties  of  timber  common  to  Southern 
Illinois,  and  was  at  one  time  the  source  of 
considerable  revenue  to  the  lumber  men, 
several  of  whom  operated  saw  mills  at  differ- 
ent points  along  Big  Muddy  Creek.  The 
walaut    and    other    valuable    wood    once    so 


numerous  is  fast  disappearing,  and  the  most 
valuable  timber  now  standing  is  oak,  of 
which  several  varieties  are  found  growing  in 
abundance.  The  prairies  in  their  natural 
state,  were  covered  with  a  dense  growth  of 
grass,  so  tall,  that  a  person  riding  through 
it  would  be  entirely  hidden  from  view,  and 
so  thick  that  the  sun's  rays  were  entirely 
excluded  from  the  soil  beneath.  As  a  con- 
sequence the  ground  was  always  damp  and 
slushy,  and  served  as  the  breeding  place  of 
myriads  of  greenhead  flics,  tin'  common 
enemy  of  man  and  beast.  These  pests,  to- 
gether with  the  miasma  that  lurked  in  the 
dank,  decaying  vegetation,  caused  the  pio- 
neers often  to  shun  the  prairies,  on  which  at 
present,  some  of  thejbest  farms  are,  aud  lo- 
cated on  tho  higher  grounds  and  on  tho 
streams.  The  soil  in  the  township  rests  upon 
a  clay  sub-soil  in  somo  places,  and  in  others 
on  the  dreaded  hard  pan,  and  is  covered  with 
an  alluvial  mold,  varying  in  depth  from  ton 
to  twenty  inches,  and  is  well  adapted  to  any 
kind  of  grain  and  fruit.  The  soil  in  the 
wooded  districts  is  lighter  and  more  clay 
mixed,  and  not  so  well  calculated  for  general 
farming  as  the  prairies.  It  produces  i^ood 
wheat,  to  which  it  seems  peculiarly  adapted, 
and  by  proper  tillage,  good  crops  of  the  other 
cereals  can  be  raisod  also.  There  are  some 
fine  grazing  sections  in  different  parts  of  the 
township,  and  more  attention  should  be  given 
to  stock-raising,  an  industry  too  much  neg- 
lected in  this  part  of  tho  State.  The  princi- 
pal streams  by  which  this  region  is  watered 
and  drained  are  Big  Muddy  Creek  and  its 
tributaries  flowing  into  it  from  the  east — 
Laws  Creek,  Wet  Weather  and  Hurricane 
Creek.  Tho  first  named  enters  the  township 
from  the  north  in  Section  30;  it  leaves  it  on 
the  west  side,  and  for  nearly  two  miles  trav- 
erses Bible  Grove  and  Hoosier  Townships; 
its  main  course  is  in  a  southeasterly  direction, 


470 


BIBTOIIY  OF  CLAY  COUNTY. 


it  leaves  the  township  in  Section  3a.  Laws 
Creek  enters  the  township  in  Section  27,  flows 
southwest  and  unites  with  Big  Muddy  in  the 
north  part  of  Section  17;  Wet  Weather  enters 
the  township  in  Section  25,  flows  south  and 
west,  uniting  with  Big  Muddy  in  Section  22. 
Hurricane  Creek  enters  the  township  in  Sec- 
tion 12,  flows  southwest  and  unites  with  Big 
Muddy  in  Section  26.  Along  the  banks  of 
the  water-courses  is  an  abundance  of  timber, 
the  creeks  also  affording  a  splendid  system  of 
natural  drainage,  so  that  no  tiling  is  needed, 
except  in  the  southwest  part  of  the  township, 
which  is  called  Levitt  Prairie,  deriving  its 
name  from  the  first  settler  on  its  virgin  soil. 
The  township  itself  was  named  after  Osman 
Pixley,  one  of  the  wealthiest  and  most 
enterprising  men  in  Clay  County,  who  came 
here  many  years  ago  and  opened  a  store  in 
the  Ingraham  neighborhood,  and  there,  by 
economy  and  frugality,  laid  the  foundation  of 
his  fortune. 

The  first  white  settler  in  Pixley  Township 
was  James  Levitt,  who  came  here  from  Posey 
County,  Ind.,  about  1826,  and  settled  on 
Section  21,  on  the  old  Louisville  &  Vin- 
cennes  Road,  near  where  Buckville,  afterward 
called  Pleasant  Hill,  now  stands.  He  was  a 
good  farmer,  and  at  one  time  a  well-to-do 
man ;  he  died  here,  and  his  descendants  are 
yet  living  in  the  township.  A  brother  of 
James  Levitt,  named  Noah  Levitt,  came  here 
shortly  afterward.  He  was  a  restless  man, 
and  moved  from  place  to  place;  finally  died 
in  this  township.  Another  old  pioneer  was 
David  Simco;  he,  like  many  other  people  in 
those  days,  was  possessed  with  a  restless,  rov- 
ing disposition,  but  a  good  man.  He  was  a 
great  hunter,  often  killing  as  many  as  seven 
and  eight  deer  a  day.  He  finally  moved  to 
Texas.  He  had  several  brothers  who  did  not 
enjoy  the  very  best  of  reputation;  one  of 
them,    named    Bob,    stabbed    his    uncle    iD 


Wabash  County,  from  where  they  all  came. 
He  skulked  about  for  many  years,  and  finally 
ran  off  with  his  brother's  wife.  Bill  Blake- 
man  lived  in  this  township  about  1830;  he 
afterward  moved  to  Effingham  County,  where 
he  died.  John  Ditter  came  here  in  1829;  he 
was  born  in  Tennessee  in  1807,  and  is  yet 
living  in  the  township;  he  first  settled  on 
the  land  where  Sailor  Springs  now  stands, 
where  he  owned  forty  acres  of  land,  which 
he  sold,  and  moved  to  Section  18,  where  he 
yet  resides.  His  descendants  are  yet  living 
in  the  township.  Joseph  Rodgers  came  here 
about  1826,  sold  his  improvements  to  James 
McKinney,  and  moved  to  Section  17,  where 
he  and  his  family  died.  James  McKinney 
came  here  in  1830  from  Tennessee,  while 
quite  a  young  man,  in  company  with  his 
brother-in-law,  John  Ditter,  who  had  been 
here  a  number  of  years,  but  had  returned  to 
his  old  home  in  Tennessee  on  a  visit.  He 
entered  some  land,  on  which  he  moved  event- 
ually, and  became  one  of  our  most  esteemed 
citizens;  a  better  history  of  him  and  some  of 
the  foregoing  people  and  other  old  settlers 
appears  in  the  biographical  department  of 
this  work. 

The  following  is  a  copy  from  the  entry 
book,  showing  the  names  of  men  who  entered 
land  between  the  years   1S33  and  1S43: 

In  1833,  James  Levitt,  Section  21. 

1836,  William  Lewis,  Section  21. 

1837,  Joseph  Rodgers,  Section  17;  also 
John  Ditter,  Section  18,  and  Caleb  Mans- 
burg,  Section  30. 

1838,  James  McKinney,  Section  30. 

1830,  Philo  Ingraham,  Section  29;  Will- 
iam Ingraham,  Section  28;  A  W.  Park,  same 
section;  Noah  Levitt,  Section  22;  Hamilton 
Baldwin,  Section  32;  Joseph  Maswell,  Sec- 
tion 33;  Henry  Kenley,  Section  33;  David 
Hansley,  Section  34;  John  Rodgers,  Section 
27;  Hezekiah  Pope,  Section  27  (he  afterward 


HISTORY    OF   CLAY  COUNTY. 


473 


went  to  California);  John  Ingraham,  Section 
33;  Eli  Read,  Section  2;  George  Gibson, 
Section  3;  William  Read,  Section  3;  Milley 
Ditter,  Section  7;  S.  L.  Heflin,  Section  8; 
M.  C.  Mennis,  Section  18;  John  Modrell, 
Section  21;  B.  F.  Williams. 

1840,  Hiram  Winkler.  Section  34. 

1841,  Jacob  Toliver, "Section  10;  J.  W. 
Maxwell,  Section  11. 

1843.  Benjamin  Ulna,  Section  12. 

The  latter  came  here  from  Wabash  County. 
Another,  and  one  of  the  very  first  settlers,  is 
Wright  Phillips,  who  was  born  about  1822 
in  Palestine,  Crawford  County.  He  came 
while  quite  young,  and  until  recently  lived 
in  Pixley  Township;  he  is  now  a  resident  of 
Hoosier  Township. 

The  present  generation  of  Pixley  has  no 
conception  of  the  hard  times  the  pioneer  ex- 
perienced, and  when  the  tale  of  their  priva- 
tion and  suffering  is  told,  it  often  falls  upon 
incredulous  ears.  We  doubt  if  a  young  man 
of  the  present  time  would  or  could  go  through 
the  hardships  they  endured.  Had  they  them- 
selves known  the  extent  of  the  privations  and 
sore  trials  they  would  have  to  endure,  we 
have  no  doubt  that  a  good  many  of  them 
would  never  have  left  the  old  home  in  the 
East  or  South.  But,  luckily  they  did  not, 
and  it  was  best  for  them.  Among  other  diffi- 
culties which  they  experienced,  was  that  of 
traveling,  which  was  slow  in  those  days, 
partly  owing  to  the  absence  of  roads. 

The  first  legally  established  highway  was 
surveyed  through  the  southern  part  of  the 
township,  and  was  known  as  the  Louisville 
&  Vincennes  road,  and  passed  through  the 
township  from  east  to  west,  and  is  still  ex- 
tensively traveled.  But  long  before  this 
road  was  built,  the  settlers  cut  roads  in  all 
directions  to  facilitate  travel,  and  in  the 
course  of  fifteen  years  the  township  was  well 
supplied  with   highways.     The  roads  of  the 


township  at  the  present  time,  while  not  so 
good  as  in  some  other  parts  of  the  county, 
are  well  improved,  and  kept  in  fair  traveling 
condition  during  the  greater  part  of  the  year. 

As  the  population  of  the  township  in- 
creased, the  want  of  milling  facilities  was 
felt,  and  a  saw  and  flouring  mill  was  erected 
by  Wesley  Woods  on  Laws  Creek,  a  branch 
of  Big  Muddy  Creek.  Afterward,  a  steam 
saw  and  flouring  mill  was  erected  at  Buck- 
ville  (now  called  Pleasant  Hill),  and  after 
its  removal  another  was  built  by  Gale  wood  & 
Co.  on  the  same  ground.  These  mills  for 
many  years  did  good  service  to  the  people  in 
Pixley  and  adjoining  townships.  At  one 
time  a  carding  mill  was  connected  with  Gale- 
wood  &  Co.'s  steam  mill,  but  it  flourished 
only  a  few  years.  At  present,  a  good  steam 
grist  and  sawmill  does  a  floivrishing  business 
in  the  little  village  of  Ingraham. 

The  early  educational  history  of  Pixley  is 
involved  in  considerable  obscurity,  and  it  is 
not  definitely  known  when  or  by  whom  the 
first  school  was  taught.  It  is  believed  by 
many  that  Bill  Bishop,  who  was  one  of  the 
old-fashioned  pedagogues  which  are  so  mi- 
nutely and  vividly  described  in  other  parts  of 
this  work,  and  who.  though  lacking  in  college 
"  laming,"  made  up  for  it  by  an  admirable 
perseverance  to  instill  in  the  young  minds  the 
mysteries  ot  the  three  "  R's,"  viz.:  "  Read- 
in',"  "  Biting  "  and  "Rithmetic,"  and  ever 
evinced  their  readiness  to  use  force  as  a  gen- 
tle reminder  that  time  and  tide  wait  for  no 
man.  It  must  not  be  supposed  that  these 
schools  did  no  good,  for  some  of  our  best 
and  most  substantial  men  of  to-day  received 
their  instruction  in  some  of  these  schools. 
Bishop  taught  in  Section  32,  on  the  old  sub- 
scription plan,  in  a  log  house  given  to  the 
people  by  James  McKinney. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  pedagogues 
who  wielded  the  rod   in   an   early  day:    Bill 


474 


HISTORY  OF   CLAY  COUNTY. 


Bishop,  Maria  Ingrakain  (who  is  a  daughter 
of  Daniel  Ingraham  and  is  yet  living),  James 
Russell,  Wm.  Lloyd,  Jack  Shores  and  others. 

The  progress  in  educational  matters  was 
slow,  till  the  free  school  system,  like  a  bright 
meteor,  flashed  upon  the  horizon  of  Pixley 
and  shed  its  blessed  rays  of  light,  and  made 
its  influence  felt  far  and  wide,  was  introduced 
in  the  year  1857.  Since  then,  there  has  been 
a  gradual  increase  in  educational  matters. 
At  present,  there  are  nine  frame  school- 
houses  and  one  log  in  the  township.  Esti- 
mated value  of  school  property,  $4,500;  num- 
ber of  persons  of  school  age,  620 — males 
318;  females,  302;  number  enrolled,  532 — 
males,  281;  females,  251;  number  of  teach 
ers,  14 — males,  7;  females,  7;  total  expendi- 
tures, $2,951.95. 

The  religious  history  of  Pixley  Township 
dates  back  almost  to  its  first  settlement. 
Many  of  the  pioneers  had  been  active  mem- 
bers of  different  churches  in  the  States  from 
whence  they  came,  and  did  not  neglect  their 
religious  duties  upon  the  arrival  in  the  new 
country.  Meetings  were  at  first  held  at  pri- 
vate houses  and  groves,  and  were  generally 
conducted  by  traveling  preachers  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church. 

The  first  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was 


looated  in  Section  33.  At  present,  there  are 
nine  church  buildings  in  the  township,  of 
which  one,  a  Baptist  Church,  is  located  in 
Ingraham;  another,  of  the  same  denomina- 
tion, is  situated  in  Section  3;  near  it  is  a 
Christian  Church.  Another  Christian  Church 
is  in  Section  22,  also  called  Pleasant  Hill. 
A  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  is  in  Section 
13.  Two  Catholic  Churches  are  in  the  north 
part  of  the  township,  which  is  mostly  settled 
by  thriving,  honest,  hard-working  Germans, 
who  have  done  much  for  the  development  of 
the  country.  One  of  the  churches  is  located 
in  Section  36,  and  the  other  in  Section  1. 
Another  church  is  in  Section  32,  and  still 
another  in  Section  19,  opposite  the  Sailor 
Springs.  Near  the  latter  church,  directly 
opposite  the  Springs,  is  a  small  village,  called 
into  life  by  the  attractions  the  Springs  have, 
and  in  it  are  several  storeB. 

The  little  hamlet  of  Ingraham,  the  only 
village  in  the  township,  is  situated  on  the 
corners  of  Sections  28,  29,  32  and  33.  It 
was  named  in  honor  of  the  Ingrahams,  who 
were  old  settlers,  and  very  prominent  and 
respectable  people.  At  present,  it  contains 
one  very  fine  general  store,  which  does  an 
immense  business,  one  drug  store,  two  black- 
smith shops  and  one  cabinet  shop. 


lAlNfl 


PART   III. 


IOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES. 


WAYNE    COUNTY. 


PART    III. 


WAYNE    COUNTY. 


BIOGRAPHICAL. 


CITY  OF  FAIRFIELD 


ROBLEY  D.  ADAMS,  lawyer.  Fairfield, 
is  the  third  of  a  family  of  sis  children  of  Dr. 
David  Adams  and  Cynthia  (Dodds)  Adams. 
His  father.  Dr.  David  Adams,  well  known  in 
Richland  and  Wayne  Counties,  was  born  in 
the  city  of  New  York  in  1802.  He  graduat 
ed  from  Yale  College  while  a  young' man. 
and  in  I82S,  came  to  Paoli,  Ind.,  and  there 
embarked  in  the  retail  drug  business.  He  was 
there  married  to  a  lady  named  ( lhapman,  who 
died  in  Illinois  soon  after  their  removal  to 
this  State.  In  the  pioneer  days  of  Olney, 
Richland  Co.,  111.,  Dr.  Adams  located  there 
for  the  practice  of  medicine,  and  continued 
there  in  the  active  practice  until  the  day  of 
his  death.  His  second  wife,  Cynthia  Dodds, 
was  born  near  Charleston,  S.  C.  and  died  in 
Richland  County,  111.  Dr.  Adams,  after  sev- 
eral years'  residence  in  Kichland  County,  re- 
moved to  Fairfield,  Wayne  County,  about 
1852.  but  after  a  few  years  returned  to  Rich- 
land, locating  at  I'rairieton.  His  death,  which 
occurred  April  8,  1868,  was  the  sudden  re- 
sult of  heart  affection,  dying  in  his  carriage 
while  on  the  road.  He  was  an  honored  mem- 
ber of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 


E.  D.  ADAMS  was  born  May  22,  1846, 
and  in  boyhood  days  had  the  advantages  of  a 
common  school,  and  when  but  fifteen  years 
old  ran  away  from  home  to  become  a  member 
of  the  First  Missouri  Cavalry,  which  he  did 
in  the  summer  of  1801,  serving  about  three 
years,  and  was  mustered  out  at  St.  Louis  in 
August,  1804.  He  took  part  in  the  famous 
charge  at  Springfield,  Mo. ,  led  by  Maj.  Zago- 
nia,  at  the  head  of  3J.0  men  against  5,000,  in 
which  one-half  the  number  were  lost,,  he  hav- 
ing a  horse  shot  under  him.  He  participated 
in  the  battle  of  I'ea  Ridge,  and  was  in  Hie  ail 
vanced  guard  at  the  capture  of  Little  Rock, 
Ark.,  taking  part  in  seventeen  distinct  battles. 
After  returning  from  the  war.  he  began  the 
study  of  law  under  Hon.  R.  P.  Hanna,  his 
present  partner.  From  1866  to  1869,  he  was  a 
student  in  the  McKendret-  College,  of  Leba- 
non,111.,  and  was  admitted  to  practice  in  1 S. I *, '. t . 
since  which  time  lie  has  been  associated  with 
Mr.  Hanna,  taking  charge  of  the  chancer] 
and  abstract  business  of  the  firm.  He  is  the 
owner  of  several  hundred  acres  of  land  in 
Wayne  County,  besides  a  quantity  of  very 
valuable  city   property  in  Fairfield      lie  is  a 


P.KXiUAPHIOAL  : 


member  of  the  order  of  Masons  and  of  the 
A.  O.  U.  W.  Mr.  Adams  was  married,  Feb- 
ruary 18,  1869,  to  Caroline  R.  Barkley.  She 
was  born  in  Fairfield,  September  25,  1845. 
They  have  had  four  children — Joseph  D., 
born  January  1,  1870;  Harry  L.  Adams,  born 
September  10,  1871,  died  October  22,  1881; 
Willie  Adams,  born  in  May,  1874,  died  in  in- 
fancy, and  Kate  P.  Adams,  born  October  16, 
1875. 

DR.  JOHN  E.  ADAMS,  elder  brother  of 
R.  D.  Adams,  was  born  February  14,  1843, 
is  a  graduate  of  the  St.  Louis  Medical  Col- 
lege, first  began  practice  at  Cherry  vale,  Kan. , 
afterward  at  Enfield,  111. ,  and  since  1878  at 
Poplar  Bluff,  Mo.,  where,  besides  an  extensive 
general  practice,  he  holds  the  appointment  of 
Surgeon  of  the  Iron  Mountain  Railroad  Com- 
pany. He  was  married  in  Richland  County, 
111.,  in  1865,  to  Miss  Martha  Snyder. 

ELIAS  S.  AYLES,  machinist,  Fairfield. 
Rev.  Elias  S.  Ayles,  the  son  of  Pay- 
ton  and  Susan  (Carmichael)  Ayles,  was 
born  in  Washington  County,  Ohio,  October  7, 
1831,  and  removed  with  his  parents  to  Lees- 
burg,  Ind.,  in  1838,  where  his  father  died  in 
1839.  Subject,  at  the  age  of  fifteen  years, 
engaged  on  the  river  as  a  steamboat  engi- 
neer, in  which  occupation  he  remained  five 
years.  On  October  16,  1849,  he  was  married 
to  Miss  Parlia  A. ,  daughter  of  George  and 
Amy  (Truax)  Brock,  of  Stafford,  Ohio,  and  to 
them  were  born  Anna  E.  (Jackson),  Mary  J. 
(Harper),  George  M. ,  Payton  (deceased), 
Emma  S.  (Reese,  deceased),  Amanda  E.  (de- 
ceased), Mabel  M.,  Carrie  B.  and  Laura  U. 
In  1853.  subject  came  to  Fairfield,  111.,  and 
engaged  in  business  as  a  tinner,  which  occu- 
pation he  followed  for  four  years,  and  then 
entered  the  service  of  the  Ohio  &  Mississippi 
Railway  Company  as  engineer,  which  posi- 
tion he  held,  at  different  periods,  for  eighteen 
years.      In  the  meantime,  he  engaged  in  the 


avocation  of  a  farmer  near  Jeff ersonvi lie,  111. 
for  three  years,  and  while  there,  in  1866,  he 
was  licensed  as  a  minister  of  the  Gospel  in 
the  Christian  Church,  in  which  capacity  he 
has  been  very  useful,  and  is  regarded  as  a 
man  well  advanced  in  ecclesiastical  affairs. 
In  1876,  he  moved  to  Belleville,  Ohio,  where 
he  was  engaged  for  the  term  of  two  years  as 
a  silversmith,  after  which  he  returned  to 
Fairfield  and  has  occupied  the  position  of 
chief  engineer  and  machinist  in  the  Fairfield 
Woolen  Mills  to  the  present  time.  Payton, 
the  son  of  David  Ayles,  was  born  in  Wash- 
ington County,  Ohio,  iu  1800.  David  came 
from  England.  James  Carmichael  was  a 
Colonel,  from  Ohio,  in  the  war  of  1812.  Su- 
san died  in  Ohio  in  1848,  at  the  age  of  forty- 
seven  years.  George  Brock  was  born  in 
Pennsylvania,  and  died  in  Wayne  County, 
111.,  in  1868.  His  children  were  Jane  (Clev- 
enger),  Parlia  A.  (Ayles),  Philip,  and  Eli 
(who  died  in  the  army  in  1864).  Payton 's 
children  were  Mary  J.  (Lemaster),  Elias  S., 
Hannah  L.  and  David  J.  Subject  is  a  man 
of  varied  information,  being  conversant  with 
many  subjects,  and  especially  is  he  well 
versed  on  scientific  matters,  in  addition  to 
being  regarded,  and  justly,  too,  as  one  of 
the  most  expert  machinists  in  Southern  Illi- 
nois. 

ALLEN  H.  BAKER,  manufacturer,  Fair- 
held,  was  born  December  7.  1839,  in  Chester 
County,  Penn.  His  father,  whose  name  was 
Lewis  H.  Baker,  was  born  in  1804,  on  Prince 
Edward's  Island,  where  ho  remained  until 
1837,  when  he  came  to  Pennsylvania  and 
located  iu  Chester  County.  Here  he  married 
Mary  A.  Ward.  She  was  born  in  Pennsylva- 
nia in  1817,  and  is  now  a  resident  of  Wayne 
County,  residing  with  a  daughter.  Leonora, 
wife  of  James  Barnhill.  This  family  re- 
moved to  Wayne  County  in  1853,  and  hero 
Lewis  H.  followed  his  trade     that  of  carpen- 


CITY   OF    FAIRFIELD 


ter.  He  died  in  1870,  leaving  two  children, 
three  having  died  previous  to  the  decease  of 
the  father.  Allen  H.  Baker  is  the  oldest  of 
this  family  of  five  children.  In  July,  1861, 
he  enlisted  in  the  Fortieth  Illinois  Regiment, 
and  was  a  non-commissioned  officer  in  Com- 
pany D.  At  the  end  of  the  first  year's  serv- 
ice he  was  discharged  in  consequence  of  im- 
paired eyesight.  In  180:5,  having  recovered 
from  this  affliction,  he  accepted  a  clerkship 
in  the  Paymaster's  Department  at  Cincinnati, 
under  Judge  E.  Beeeher,  where  he  remained 
until  the  close  of  the  war  in  1865.  He  then 
went  to  Olney,  111.,  where  he  was  employed 
for  sometime  as  l>ook  keeper.  Here  he  mar- 
ried on  June  21.  1868,  to  Mary  E.  Carroth- 
ers,  daughter  of  Dr.  George  \V.  Carrothers. 
She  was  born  in  Ohio,  November  9,  1839.  In 
1871,  they  removed  to  Fairfield,  111.,  to  en- 
gage in  the  drug  business,  which  he  did  with 
William  G.  Carrothers.  In  the  spring  of 
1873,  he  was  induced  to  take  the  position  of 
Superintendent  of  the  Fairfield  Woolen  Mills. 
He  continues  in  this  position,  and  in  1882 
became  a  part  owner  of  this  extensive  estab- 
lishment. His  family  consists  of  George  C. 
Baker,  born  December  10,  ISO'.),  and  Katie 
Baker,  born  March  30,  1874  He  is  an  ar- 
dent member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  as  is  also  his  wife. 

JOSEPH  G.  BARKLEY,  deceased,  was 
born  in  Mercer  County.  Penn.,  May  1,  L804, 
and  was  of  Scotch-Irish  ancestry.  His  par- 
ents removed  to  Clermont  County,  Ohio,  in 
1810,  where  Joseph  grew  to  mature  years, 
residing  there  until  coming  to  Edgar  Coun- 
ty, 111.,  in  1830.  He  attended  school  but  six 
months  in  his  life,  and  that  before  reaching 
theageof  ten  years.  His  education,  however, 
was  much  above  an  average  for  his  day.  but 
almost  wholly  acquired  by  the  fireside  of  bis 
home.  He  thereby  obtained  sufficient  edu- 
cation to  enable  him  to   teach   school,  which 


he  followed  in   1831    in   Edgar^  County.     In 
1832.  ho  enlisted   in    the   Black  Hawk   war. 
serving  in  the  ranks   three  months.      A  few 
years  later  he  was   appointed  agent    for  the 
Commission  of  Internal   Improvements,  and 
in  1838  was  Assistant  Engineer  on   the   con- 
struction  of   the  "Old   St.  Louis   trail,"  the 
great   ante-thoroughfare  between   St.    Louis 
and  Cincinnati.      In    1839,  Mr.  Barkley  re- 
moved to  Wayne  County,  where  he  engaged 
in  merchandising,  both  on   his  own   account 
and  in  partnership  with  Hon.  O.  B.  Ficklin 
He  was  appointed  by   Judge   Justin  Harlan 
in  1839  to  the  position  of  Circuit   Clerk  of 
Wayne,  County;    this   appointment  was  re- 
newed by  Judge  Wilson  in   1841.     He  was 
then  elected  by  the  people  to  the  same  office, 
which  he  acceptably   filled   by    the   suffrage 
of  the  people  until   1856.      He  also  served 
the  county  as  County  Clerk,  and  later  in  life 
as  Master  in  Chancery  and  Police  Magistrate. 
He  was  married,  April  25,  1841,  to  Eliza  A. 
Wright,  a  daughter  of  David  Wright,  Sr.,  a 
pioneer  merchant  and  miller  of  Wayne  Coun- 
ty.    Five    children    was   the  result    of    this 
union — David  W.,  Caroline  R.  (wife  of  R.  D. 
Adams).  Orlando  F.,  Joseph   L.,   and   Theo- 
dosia  E.  Barkley,    the  two  younger  of  whom 
are  deceased.     Mr.  Barkley   died   December 
19,  1874     He  was  a  quiet,    modest,    unas 
suming  man.  whose  correct  business   habits 
and  unquestioned  integrity    made    him    the 
confidant  and  the  business   adviser  of  many 
of  his  fellows.     He  was  a  faithful  man  in  all 
the  relations  of  life,  and  the   memory  of  his 
noble  life  is  cherished   by   hundreds  of   the 
pioneers  of  Wayne  County. 

DAVID  WRIGHT  BARKLEY,  editor  and 
publisher  of  the  Fairfield  Press,  was  bom 
May  21,  1842,  in  the  village  of  Fairfield, 
111.,  and  is  therefore  entitled  to  all  the  hon- 
ors of  a  pioneer.  His  early  education  was 
obtained  undor  the  circumstances  which  char- 


6 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


acterized  the  pioneer  schools,  and  to  draw  a 
pen-picture  of  the  old  log  schoolhouse,  with  its 
I  mncheon  floor  and  split- log  benches,  broad, 
deep  fire-place,  long,  narrow  window,  would 
be  only  refreshing  the  memory  of  a  great 
portion  of  our  readers  with  their  own  ex- 
periences a  few  decades  gone  by.  Mr.  Bark- 
ley,  however,  enjoyed  the  instruction  of  Dr. 
Daniel  Wright,  a  man  of  no  mean  ability  and 
surpassing  far  the  average  teacher  of  his 
day,  and  who  taught  at  that  time  in  what  is 
now  known  as  the  Shiloh  District,  three 
miles  south  of  Fairfield,  from  where  it  drew 
a  large  delegation  of  students — indeed  it  was 
the  Wayne  County  High  School.  Allowing 
the  imagination  a  little  scope,  we  can  see 
them  seated  upon  those  wooden  horses,  after 
the  fashion  of  a  clothes-pin,  their  dinner- 
basket  before  Lhein.  while  with  a  relish  they 
partake  of  their  noon-day  meal,  comprised 
in  part  of  wild  meats;  this  exercise  com- 
pleted, the  next,  and  not  less  interesting,  was 
their  games  of  foot-racing  and  "  bull  pen," 
which  invariably  followed.  Then  when  came 
that  day  for  which,  to  the  mind  of  the  school 
boy,  all  other  days  were  made,  and  the  day 
when  every  debtor  expects  to  be  rich — when 
Christmas  came — we  see  those  same  wooden 
horses  brought  to  bear  in  barricading  the 
door  on  the  venerable  teacher  until  the  prom- 
ise to  "  treat "  is  obtained,  said  treat  often 
consisting  of  a  whisk}'  stew,  or  eggnog, 
for  the  larger,  and  apples  and  candies 
for  the  smaller  ones.  Those  days  are  gone, 
as  are  also  many  of  those  early  teachers,  but 
it  is  refreshing  to  know  that  they  performed 
their  mission,  and  that  very  many  of  those 
tutored  in  these  humble  institutions  of  learn- 
ing, have  filled  and  are  now  tilling  many  of 
the  important  positions  in  the  government  of 
our  States.  Later  in  life  Mr.  Barkley 
spent  a  few  months  as  a  student  in  McKen- 
dree  College,  and  for  several  years   was  em- 


ployed as  a  salesman  in  Fairfield  and  in 
Xenia,  111.,  after  which  he  became  associated 
with  E.  A.  Johnson  in  general  merchandise, 
and  for  some  time  conducted  a  similar  bus- 
iness alone.  In  1805,  he  spent  several 
months  as  a  salesman  in  a  wholesale  clothing 
house  in  Cincinnati,  but  finding  that  it  was 
not  congenial  to  his  tastes,  he  came  home 
aud  in  December  of  that  year  he  purchased 
the  War  Democrat,  which  name,  in  January, 
1866,  was  changed  to  the  Wayne  County  Press, 
of  which  he  has  since  been  the  publisher.  He 
has  served  several  years  as  a  momber  of  the 
town  council,  and  in  1872  was  elected  to  a 
seat  in  the  Lower  House  of  the  Twenty-eighth 
General  Assembly  from  the  Forty-fourth 
District.  We  desire  in  this  connection  to 
preserve  a  fact,  famous  in  the  history  of 
minority  representation,  and  remarkable  for 
the  even  division  of  votes  between  Mr.  Bark- 
ley  and  his  colleague,  Hon.  I.  N.  Jaquess,, 
the  former  receiving  a  majority  of  four  votes 
from  a  poll  of  18,385.  Space  will  not  per- 
mit us  here  to  perform  the  pleasant  task  of 
reviewing  Mr.  Barkley's  legislative  record, 
but  suffice  it  to  say  that  he  was  an  active 
member  of  some  of  the  most  important  com- 
mittees, and  his  influence  was  always  exerted 
in  support  of  what  he  deemed  the  common 
good  of  the  State  at  large.  He  is  an  active 
member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
and  for  several  years  past  has  been  the  Super- 
intendent of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Sunday 
School.  He  was  married  at  Claremont. ,  111., 
March  16,  1870,  to  Miss  Bell  Gowdy,  daugh- 
ter of  William  E.  Gowdy,  formerly  of  Miamis 
burg,  Ohio.  Their  union  has  been  blest 
with  three  children,  viz.:  Grace  G.  Bark- 
ley,  born  January  7,  1871;  Theodosia,  born 
February  4,  1873;  and  David  W.  Barkley, 
Jr.,  born  March  25,  1882. 

ORLANDO    F.     BARKLEY,     merchant, 
Fairfield,    aud  son   of  Joseph   Barkley,  was 


CITY    OF   FAIRFIELD. 


born  in  Fairfield,  in  Wayne  County.  March 
28,  1847.  He  was  educated  in  the  common 
schools,  learned  the  printer's  trade  in  the 
office  of  the  Wayne  Count//  Press  and  was 
for  several  years  connected  with  his  brother, 
D.  W.  Barkley,  in  the  publication  of  that 
paper,  as  the  firm  of  Barkley  Brothers. 
Since  attaining  his  majority,  however,  he 
has  spent  much  of  his  time  in  mercantile 
f  pursuits,  and  is  now  the  active  partner  in  an 
extensive  business  under  the  firm  name  of  O. 
F.  Barkley  &  Co.  He  was  married,  October 
8.  1873,  to  Jessie  Dales.  She  was  bom 
August  30,  1849.  in  Leicester,  N.  Y.  Their 
children  are  Charles  E.  and  Joseph  G,  Bark- 
ley. the  former  born  October  22,  1874,  and 
the  latter  July  23,  1SS0. 

FRANCIS  BEAN,  physician,Fairfiold,Ill.. 
was  born  in  Athens  County,  Ohio,  February 
1">.  1845.  He  is  the  third  of  a  family  of 
twelve  children  of  Archibald  Bean  and  Ad- 
eline Woodworth,  both  of  whom  were  natives 
of  Ohio.  Francis  Bean  was  reared  upon  the 
farm  and  educated  in  the  public  schools  of 
his  native  county,  where  he  qualified  himself 
for  the  profession  of  teaching.  In  June  of 
1862,  he  enlisted  in  Company  H,  of  the 
Eighty  seventh  Ohio  Regiment,  and  in  Sep- 
tember of  the  same  year  was  captured  at 
Harper's  Ferry,  paroled  and  sent  home.  Af- 
ter remaining  at  home  for  eighteen  months, 
he  again  volunteered,  this  time  in  the  One 
Hundred  and  Forty- first  Regiment,  Com 
pany  C.  from  which  he  was  discharged  in 
the  fall  of  1804.  In  1865,  he  came  with 
his  father's  family  to  Wayne  County,  111., 
and  settled  in  Laniard  Township,  near  Jef- 
fersonville.  In  April,  1870,  he  commenced 
the  study  of  medicine,  performing  the  usual 
preparatory  reading  under  Dr.  S.  W.  Ver- 
treese  at  Fairfield,  111.  He  graduated  from 
the  Medical  College  of  Ohio,  and  in  1875, 
having  previously  practiced  two  years  at  Jef- 


fersonville.  He  located  at  Fairfield  in  1875, 
where  he  still  remains.  Dr.  Bean  was  mar- 
ried in  Fairfield,  111 ,  November  6,  1867,  to 
Nancy  J.  Koontz,  daughter  of  Simon  P.  and 
Easter  Koontz,  of  Laniard  Township.  She 
was  born  in  Wayne  County  March  19,  1848. 
They  have  a  family  of  four  children — Ida 
May,  born  January  26,  1869,  and  died  Octo- 
"ber  7,  1873;  La  O.  Bean,  born  August  25, 
1872;  Charles  I.  Bean,  born  August  27, 
1876;  and  Wilsey  R.  Bean,  born  October  28, 
1878.  George  Bean,  grandfather  of  Dr. 
Bean,  was  born  in  1789,  and  died  on  the  15th 
of  May,  1864.  His  grandmother,  Ann  Bean, 
was  born  in  1794,  and  died  February. 1,  1867. 
His  grandparents  on  his  mother's  side  were 
Zebina  and  Mary  (Baker)  Woodworth,  the 
former  boru  in  New  Hampshire  and  died  in 
advanced  age  in  Wayne  County.  111.,  in  the 
year  1873.  The  latter  was  born  in  Boston 
and  died  in  this  county  in  1864.  Archibald 
Bean  was  born  in  November,  1815,  and  died 
April  3,  1875.  Adeline  (Woodworth)  Beau 
was  born  November  26,  1819,  and  died  Ma\ 
21,  1870.  They  were  married  April  16, 
1840,  and  had  a  family  of  eleven  children, 
seven  of  whom  are  now  residents  of  Wayne 
County  and  four  of  whom  are  deceased.  Dr. 
Bean  is  a  member  of  the  Ancient  Order  of 
United  Workmen,  and  both  he  and  wife  are 
members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
of  Fairfield  . 

LILBURN  D.  BENNETT,  painter.  Fair 
field,  was  born  in  Ohio  County,  Ky. ,  September 
16,  L830.  His  father,  Asa  Bennett,  was  born  in 
Maryland,  and  removed  to  Kentucky  while 
young,  where  he  married  Delilah  Woodward, 
a  native  of  Maryland.  She  was  born  in  1798, 
and  died  while  visiting  her  son,  L.  D.  Ben 
nott.  in  Fairfield,  ou  January  9,  1881.  The 
father  died  several  years  ago  in  Kentucky. 
Their  family  consisted  of  eleven  children,  L. 
D.    being  the  eighth.       L.    D.    Bennett  was 


s 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


married  in  Kentucky.  August  20,  1853,  to 
Amanda  McCall,  of  that  State.  She  was  born 
May  11,  1837,  and  died  in  Fairfield,  111., 
November  27,  1880.  His  present  wife  is 
Rebecca  Cochran,  whose  father  was  a  resi- 
dent of  Clay  County,  but  now  deceased.  She 
was  born  in  Clay  County,  111.  Mr.  Ben- 
nett's first  marriage  resulted  in  the  birth  of 
eleven  children,  five  of  whom  are  deceased. 
In  early  life,  Mr.  Bennett  learned  the  trade 
of  house  and  sign  painting,  which  has  been 
his  chief  occupation  since  moving  to  this 
county  in  1857,  excepting  eight,  years,  dur- 
ing which  time  he  was  called  to  fill  public 
offices.  He  was  elected  in  1868  to  the  office 
of  County  Sheriff  for  two  years,  which  duties 
he  discharged  with  credit  to  himself,  and 
from  1876  to  1880  was  appointed  Deputy 
County  Sheriff,  and  again  elected  to  the  of- 
fice of  Sheriff  in  the  fall  of  1880  on  the 
Democratic  ticket.  He  is  a  member  of  Fair- 
field Lodge,  No.  206,  A.  F.  &  A.  M.,  Fair- 
field Chapter,  No.  179,  R.  A.  M.,  and  both 
he  and  wife  are  members  of  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  Church. 

EDWARD  S.  BLACK,  of  Fairfield,  and 
a  native  of  Wayne  County,  was  born  June 
24,  1834.  He  is  a  son  of  William  J.  Black 
and  Elizabeth  H.  Stuart;  the  former  was  born 
in  Tennessee  February  12,  1806,  and  came 
to  Wayne  County,  111.,  with  his  parents, 
Robert  and  Elizabeth  Black,  in  the  year  1822. 
They  settled  in  Barnhill  Township,  about 
two  miles  from  Fairfield,  where  both  Robert 
and  Elizabeth  died,  leaving  a  family  of  seven 
children.  About  the  time  of  the  coming  of 
the  Black  family,  came  the  family  of  Hugh 
and  Lncinda  Stuart,  from  Todd  County,  Ky. 
Hugh  Stuart,  however,  was  a  native  of  South 
Carolina.  They  had  two  children — James 
S.  and  Elizabeth  Stuart.  Hugh  Stuart  was 
bora  in  August,  1792,  and  Lucinda  Stuart 
was    born     in    Virginia    in    October,    1792. 


Hugh  died  in  Wayne  County  on  the  20th  of 
February,  1852.  his  wife  surviving  him  until 
November  24,  1866.  Too  much  could  not  be 
said  in  honor  of  these  two  persons,  had  we 
the  space  to  do  them  justice.  They  were  re- 
garded by  all  as  humble  Christians,  members, 
and  we  might  say  founders,  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  in  Wayne  County;  pos- 
sessed of  liberal  views,  and  still  more  liberal 
hearts,  their  residence  providing  a  place  of 
worship  in  the  absence  of  a  church,  and  their 
door  was  ever  open  to  the  ministers  of  the 
Gospel,  and  their  hands  extended  to  assist 
any  one  who  might  need  their  help.  Though 
no  mammoth  marble  is  erected  to  their  mem- 
ory, their  monument  is  established  in  the 
hearts  of  the  people,  among  whom  they 
lived  so  long.  William  J.  Black  and  Eliza- 
beth Stuart  were  married  February  7,  1829. 
She  was  born  March  6,  1813,  and  came  here 
with  her  parents  in  1818.  They  had  a  fam- 
ily of  three  children — Hugh  P.,  Edward  S. 
and  Elzira,  wife  of  John  Moffitt.  William 
J.  Black  was  also  a  zealous  member  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  a  success- 
ful farmer  until  his  health  failed,  which  it 
did  several  years  prior  to  his  death,  which  oc- 
curred July  11,  1868.  His  wife  is  still  liv- 
ing in  Fairfield,  her  home  for  the  past  fifty 
years.  Edward  S.  Black  was  chiefly  reared 
by  his  Grandfather  Stuart,  and  with  him 
learned  the  trade  of  blacksmith,  at  which  he 
has  ever  since  engaged.  He  was  married  in 
Fairfield,  July  12, 1859,  to  Clemence  George, 
daughter  of  Francis  and  Lourania  George. 
She  was  born  in  White  County,  111  ,  April  16, 
1840.  They  have  six  children  living  and  twc 
deceased.  Their  names  are  as  follows:  M. 
Fredonia  Black  (dead).  Sophronia,  James  E.. 
Earnest,  Francis.  Edward  (deceased),  Lou- 
rania and  Clara  I.  Black.  The  parents  and 
eldest  daughter  are  members  of  the  Method- 
ist Episcopal  Church.     Mr.    Black  is  a  mem- 


CITY   OF    FAIRFIELD. 


ber  of  the  A.  O.   LT.  W.,   and  an  ardent  ad- 
vocate of  the  cause  of  temperance. 

EDWARD  BONHAM,  merchant,  Fairfield, 
is  one  of  the  old  landmarks  of  Wayne  Coun- 
ty. 111.,  coming  to  Fairfield  in]  1843.  He 
was  born  in  Northumberland  County,  Penn., 
on  the  30th  of  April,  1826.  His  father, 
Thomas  T.  Bonham.  was  born  in  Pennsylva- 
nia August  16,  1790,  and  was  there  married, 
January  30,  1821,  to  Miss  Elizabeth  Jenkins. 
She  was  a  native  of  the  same  State,  and  was 
born  October  27.  1801.  His  father  was  a 
soldier  in  the  war  of  1812,  and  in  later  years 
he  became  a  merchant  and  contractor  in  the 
construction  of  what  is  now  known  as  the 
Air  Line  Railroad.  He  came  with  his  family 
to  Illinois  in  1838,  at  which  time  he  located 
at  Mount  Carmel.  About  1840,  he  estab- 
lished a  mercantile  business  in  Fairfield,  un- 
der the  management  of  a  relative,  with  whom 
he  was  associated.  The  death  of  this  party, 
about  1843,  was  the  immediate  cause  which 
brought  Mr.  Bonham  to  the  town  of  Fair- 
field. Here  he  remained  until  the  time  of 
his  death,  which  occurred  April  24,  1871, 
very  suddenly,  at  a  time  when  he  was  in  vig- 
orous health.  He  was  noted  for  his  business 
ability  and  his  fidelity  to  the  Methodist 
Church,  of  which  he  was  an  active  and  zeal- 
ous member,  as  well  as  for  his  sterling  quali- 
ties as  an  advocate  of  temperance.  His  wife, 
who  was  also  one  of  the  pillars  of  the  church, 
died  in  Fairfield  March  9,  1802.  They  had 
a  family  of  four  children,  Edward  being  the 
oldest,  and  the  only  one  now  living.  He 
was  educated  in  the  common  schools  and  in 
the  Bloomington,  Ind..  University.  With 
the  exception  of  a  few  months,  he  has  been 
in  active  mercantile  business  since  sixteen 
years  old,  and  is  now  the  pioneer  merchant 
of  Wayne  County.  He  is  now  associated 
with  J.  T.  Fleming  in  a  general  mercantile 
business,  and  is  President  of  the  private  bank 


of  E.  Bonham  &  Co.  Though  not  a  politi- 
cian in  all  that  the  term  implies,  yet  he  takes 
an  active  interest  in  the  issues  of  the  day, 
and  wields  no  small  influence,  which  is  en- 
joyed by  the  Republican  party.  He  has 
served  several  years  as  Postmaster  at  Fair- 
field. He  was  married  in  Fairfield,  October 
9,  I860,  to  Berintha  E.  Woodin,  daughter  of 
R.  and  L.  Woodin.  She  was  born  in  the 
State  of  New  York  March  12,  1842.  Their 
union  has  been  blest  with  five  children,  two 
of  whom  are  deceased — Thomas  E.  was  born 
August  11,  1SG1,  and  died  June  20,  1875;' 
and  Charles  R..  born  February  15,  1863; 
Lucretia  F...  born  April  G,  1865;  Mary  J., 
January  3,  1869;  and  Berintha  W.,  Decem- 
ber 12,  1880.  Both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bonham 
are  members  of  the  M.  E.  Church. 

GEORGE  W.  CARROTHERS,  physician, 
Fairfield,  descends  from  Scotch  ancestry,  who 
first  emigrated  to  the  United   States    in  the 
latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  century.     They 
settled  in  Pennsylvania,  where  his  father  was 
born.     He   grew  to  manhood,  and  was  mar- 
ried in  Pennsylvania  to  Mary  Dye.      In  1815, 
they  removed  to  Harrison  County,  Ohio,  and 
there,  in   1816,  G.  W.  Carrothers  was  born 
being  the  fifth  of  a  family  of  seven  children 
He  received  a  common   English    education 
and  in  1837,  in  Richland  County,  Ohio,  mar 
ried  Catherine  Hale.      She  was  born  in  Rich 
land  County,  Ohio,  in  1820.      After  marriage 
he  began  the  study  of  medicine,  under  Dr. 
A.  Blymier,   of  Mansfield,    Ohio,   and    later 
under  Dr.  J.  T.  Mitchel,  of  same  place,  read- 
ing with  them  five  years,  and  attending  lect- 
ures  in    Willoughby,  Ohio.     He  has  been  in 
active  practice   since   1840.     In   the  fall  of 
1848,  he  came  to  Olney,  111  ,  where  he  prac- 
ticed for  thirty-two  years,  and  of  course  en- 
dured all  the  hardship   incident  to  a  practice 
in  a  pioneer  country.      He  came  to  Fairfield, 
Wayne  CountyT,  in  1880,  that  they  might  be 


to 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


associated  with  their  children,  W.  G.  Car- 
rothers  and  Mary  E.  Baker.  They  have  had 
sis  children,  four  of  whom  are  deceased. 
Both  Air.  and  Mrs.  Carrothers  are  members 
of  the  M.  E.  Church. 

WILLIAM  G.  CARROTHERS,  Fairfield, 
Deputy  United  States  Revenue  Collector  for 
the  Third  Division  of  the  Thirteenth  District, 
is  a  son  of  Dr.  George  W.  Carrothers,  of  Fair- 
field, 111.  He  was  born  in  Olney,  HI.,  June 
9,  1851,  where  he  was  reared  to  maturity. 
He  was  educated  at  the  public  schools  of 
Olney,  and  at  the  Wesleyan  University,  at 
Delaware,  Ohio.  In  1870,  he  embarked  in 
the  drug  business  in  Olney,  and  two  years 
later  came  to  Fairfield,  where  he  continued 
the  same  trade  as  a  member  of  the  firm  of 
Baker  &  Carrothers,  until  1875,  at  which 
time  he  purchased  the  interest  of  Mr.  Baker, 
and  continued  alone  until  1878.  He  took 
charge  of  his  present  office  under  Gen.  Pav- 
i'v  on  the  1st  of  January,  1883.  He  was 
married,  in  Olney,  111.,  September  28,  1871, 
to  Miss  Sallie  R  Walker,  daughter  of  Eben- 
ezer  and  Abigail  (Reetl)  Walker.  She  was 
born  in  Mt.  Carmel,  111. ,  on  the  25th  of  Au- 
gust, 1851.  They  have  five  children,  viz., 
Frank  L.,  born  November  29,  1872;  Jennie, 
born  May  26,  1875;  Mary,  born  November  5, 
1877;  Susie,  born  August  26,  1879;  and 
William,  born  March  11,  1S82.  Mr.  Car- 
rothers is  a  member  of  the  Fairfield  Lodge, 
No.  206,  A.  F.  &  A.  M. ,  Fairfield  Chapter,  No. 
171),  R.  A.  M.,  and  of  the  Ancient  Order  of 
United  Workmen.  In  politics,  he  is  a  Re- 
publican. Family  residence  on  corner  of 
Railroad  and  Division  streets. 

DR.  P.  H.  CHAMBERS,  dental  surgeon, 
Fairfield,  is  a  native  of  La  Fayette  County, 
Mo.,  and  was  born  March  7,  1855.  His  par- 
ents, Paschal  H.  Chambers  and  Elizabeth  Wal- 
lace, were  born  in  Kentucky  and  married  in 
Missouri,  where  the  father  now  lives.      The 


mother  died  in  Missouri,  leaving  a  family  of 
four  children,  Dr.  P.  H.  being  the  second. 
He  was  reared  and  educated  in  Missouri,  and 
studied  dentistry  under  Dr.  J.  S.  Hassel!,  of 
Lexington,  Mo.  He  afterward  completed 
his  study  in  the  St.  Louis  Dental  College, 
and  practiced  for  some  time  previous  to  com- 
ing to  Fairfield,  111.,  in  1879.  He  has  built 
up  a  profitable  practice  here,  and  is  worthy 
of  universal  confidence.  He  was  married, 
on  the  6th  of  March,  1882,  to  Annie  Bennett, 
daughter  of  L.  1).  Bennett  and  Amanda  (Mc- 
Call)  Bennett.  She  was  born  in  Fairfield, 
in  December,  1861.  Their  family  residence 
is  on  the  corner  of  King  and  Turney  streets. 
JAMES  A.  CREIGHTON,  lawyer,  Spring- 
field, was  born  March  7,  1846,  in  WThite 
County,  111.  His  great-grandfather,  John 
Creighton,  was  born  in  Ireland,  of  Scotch 
parentage,  about  1745.  He  married,  in  Ire- 
land, and  with  his  wife  came  to  the  colony 
of  South  Carolina  about  1770,  and  settled 
about  sixty  miles  from  Charleston,  in  what 
was  then  Dover  District,  where  he  became  a 
planter.  He  had  a  large  family,  including 
eight  sons,  among  the  younger  of  whom  was 
Joseph  Creighton.  grandfather  of  James  A. 
He  was  born  in  South  Carolina  about  1788, 
and  was  married  to  Miss  Martha  Jaggers,  * 
and  soon  after  the  war  of  1812,  moved  to  the 
Territory  of  Illinois,  and  settled  in  what  is 
now  White  County.  There  the  father  of 
James  A.,  John  M.  Creighton,  was  born  in 
1821.  He  married  Miss  Mary  Ann  Crews,  in 
Wayne  County,  111.,  about  the  1st  of  Jan- 
uary, 1845.  and  commenced  housekeeping 
near  his  father's  in  White  County.  His  wife 
was  a  daughter  of  James  Crews,  who  was 
born  in  Virginia  about  1796,  and  came  with 
his  parents  to  Illinois  from  Kentucky,  some 
time  prior  to  18 19,  and  married,  in  Wayne 
County,  about  1823,  to  Miss  Elizabeth 
Owens.      He  then  settled  in  Thorn's  Prairie, 


CITY   OF    FAIRFIELD. 


11 


where  Mary  A.  Crews  was'  born  in  1827. 
John  M.  and  Mary  A.  Creighton  continued 
to  reside  in  White  County  until  James  A. 
•was  seven  years  old,  when  they  removed  to 
Wayne  County,  and  settled  in  Jasper  Town- 
ship, on  the  farm  where  the  motherstill  lives, 
and  where  the  father  died  in  1869.  They 
had  a  family  of  eight  children,  James  A.  be- 
ing the  eldest.  Jacob  K.  Creighton,  of 
Fairfield;  Rev.  Charles  E.  Creighton:  Mar- 
tha J.,  wife  of  Dr.  W.  Borah,  of  Louisiana; 
Joseph  C.  Creighton.  of  Taylorville.  111.;  and 
Milton,  John  M.  and  Thomas  Creighton, 
farmers  of  Wayne  County,  constitute  the  fam- 
ily. James  A.  Creighton  in  early  life  at- 
tended the  common  schools  of  the  country. 
When  seventeen  years  old  he  became  a  pupil 
of  the  Fairfield  school  under  the  instruction 
of  Professor  Cooper,  to  whom  he  refers  with 
much  pleasure  a^  a  worthy  man  in  every  re- 
spect, and  one  who  was  his  friend.  In  June, 
L868,  he  graduated  from  the  College  at  Sa- 
lem, 111.,  after  which  he  devoted  some  years 
to  teaching,  during  which  time  he  was  prin- 
cipal of  the  public  schools  of  Graysville  and 
Fairfield.  He  read  law  with  Messrs.  Beech- 
er.  George  \  Sailor,  of  Fairfield,  and  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  March,  1871.  He 
then  opened  an  office  in  Fairfield  and  prac- 
ticed in  Wayne  and  adjoining  counties  until 
May.  1^77.  when  he  removed  to  Springfield, 
111.,  and  formed  a  copartnership  in  practice 
with  Alfred  Orendorff,  his  present  partner. 
He  was  married,  in  Fairfield,  Wa\  ae  Co., 
111.,  January  1.  1871,  to  Miss  Mary  Xewman. 
They  have  three  daughters,  viz.,  Ada,  Edna 
and  I'.va  Creighton. 

JACOB  R.  CREIGHTON,  lawyer,  of  the 
firm  of  Creighton  A  Sibley,  Fairfield.  111.,  is 
a  son  of  John  M.  and  Mary  A.  Creighton, 
and  was  born  in  White  County.  He  was 
educated  in  the  public  schools  of  Wayne 
County,  ami  at  the  State  Normal  University, 


at  Normal,  111.  He  read  law  with  his  brother, 
James  A.  Creighton,  and  was  admitted  to 
practice  in  June,  1875.  Since  that  date  he 
has  practiced  in  Wayne  and  adjoining 
counties.  He  was  elected  to  the  office  of 
State's  Attorney,  in  November,  1880,  and  is 
now  serving  in  that  capacity  with  universal 
acceptance.  He  is  a  Democrat,  a  member  of 
the  Masonic  order  and  of  the  A.  O.  U.  W. 
[For  biography  of  ancestry  see  sketch  of 
James  A.  Creighton.] 

JOSEPH  G.  CREWS,  lawyer,  Fairfield, 
is  a  representative  of  one  of  the  oldest  fam- 
ilies in  Eastern  Illinois.  Andrew  Crews,  his 
great-grandfather,  came  from  Kentucky  and 
settled  in  Wayne  County  in  the  days  of  Ter- 
ritorial government  Some  years  after,  he 
was  followed  by  his  five  sons,  yho  are  de- 
scribed as  being  very  tall  and  erect,  and  pos- 
sessed of  strong  muscular  power,  and  all 
farmers.  The  oldest  of  these  was  Matthew, 
who  had  a  family  of  thirteen  children  as  the 
result  of  two  marriages.  William,  the  eld- 
est of  these,  married  in  1839,  to  Thurmutis 
Gillison.  William  was  born  in  Kentucky,  in 
IMS,  coming  to  this  county  in  1822.  The 
latter  was  born  in  White  County,  111., 
in  1821.  Joseph  G.  Crews  is  the  oldest  of 
a  family  born  to  these  parents,  and  was  born 
in  Wayne  County,  July  16,  1843.  William 
Crews  died  in  1862,  and  his  wife  in  1877. 
His  education  is  the  result  of  studious  ap- 
plication to  books  at  home,  coupled  with  the 
advantages  of  a  common  school.  He  early 
qualified  himself  for  the  position  of  teacher, 
and  taught  successively  for  a  period  of  nine 
years.  Having  decided  upon  the  practice  of 
law,  he  pursued  the  necessary  reading  under 
the  Hon.  James  McCartney,  and  was  ad- 
mitted to  practice  in  1871,  since  which 
time  he  has  been  a  member  of  the  Wayne 
County  bar,  at  Fairfield.  He  is  an  earnest 
advocate  of  the  temperance  reform,  and  has 


12 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


exerted  no  small  influence  in  perpetuating 
the  good  name  of  Fairfield  in  that  direc- 
tion. He  was  married  in  Fairfield,  to  Miss 
Eliza  Shaeiler,  daughter  of  Henry  and  Eliz- 
abeth Shaeffer.  She  was  bom  May  10, 
1855,  in  Tuscarawas  County,  Ohio.  Both 
ftre  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  Their  family  consists  of  four  chil- 
dren, -viz. :  Lillian.  Edith,  Carl,  and  Bertha 
Crews. 

W.  H.  DICKEY,  Constable,  Fairfield,  was 
born  Augnst  27,  1837,  in  Bledsoe  County, 
Tenn.  His  father,  who  was  of  Scotch  ances- 
try, was  born  in  North  Carolina  in  1814. 
His  grandfather  was  the  first  representative 
of  the  family  in  the  United  States,  and  was 
killed  by  Indians,  in  the  time  of  the  Revo- 
lution. He  left  three  sons,  one  of  whom 
settled  in  Pennsylvania,  and  the  other  two 
in  North  Carolina.  Moses  Dickey,  one  of 
the  latter,  reared  a  large  family  in  North 
Carolina,  his  fourth  child,  David  Dickey, 
being  the  father  of  W.  H. ,  Dickey,  whose 
name  heads  these  lines.  His  mother,  who  is 
now  living  in  this  county,  was  born  in  1816, 
in  North  Carolina,  married  to  David  Dickey, 
in  Tennessee,  and  is  a  daughter  of  Silas 
Page,  who  died  in  the  war  of  1812.  Soon 
after  the  birth  of  William  H.,  their  first 
child,  they  removed  to  Georgia,  where  they 
remained  until  1865,  when  they  removed  to 
Wayne  County,  111.  This  removal  was  ren- 
dered necessary  on  account  of  the  part  taken 
by  the  family  in  the  late  war.  Here  David 
Dickey  died  in  January,  1867.  William  H., 
in  1863,  left  his  Southern  home,  came  North, 
and  joined  the  Union  army,  and  was  at  once 
detailed  to  the  secret  service,  for  which  he 
was  especially  qualified.  He  was  discharged 
at  Chattanooga,  Tenn.,  in  April,  1865.  For 
ten  years  he  followed  farming  in  Arrington 
Township,  but  in  1875,  having  been  ap- 
pointed Deputy  Sheriff,  he  removed  to  Fair- 


field. Since  the  expiration  of  his  term  as 
Deputy  Sheriff  he  has  held  the  office  of  Con- 
stable. He  was  married  in  Walker  County, 
Ga.,  March  10,  1859,  to  Mary  Phillips, 
daughter  of  John  and  Martha  Phillips. 
She  was  born  February  12,  1836,  in  Geor- 
gia. They  have  seven  children,  viz. :  Thomas 
B. ,  Sarah  Jane  who  is  deceased,  Mary  Ann, 
John  D.,  L.  T.  Dickey,  Martha  E.,  Ida  C, 
William  R.  N.  and  Harry  Edward  Dickey. 
J.  T.  FLEMMING,  merchant,  Fairfield. 
The  family  from  whom  the  gentlemen  whose 
name  heads  this  sketch  is  descended  origi 
nally  came  from  Scotland  to  this  country 
about  1683,  and  settled  in  Delaware,  and 
there  they  made  their  stand  for  upward  of  a 
hundred  years.  In  1789,  a  part  of  the  fam- 
ily moved  to  West  Virginia  and  settled  in 
what  is  now  Marion  County,  along  the  banks 
of  the  Schuylkill  River;  and  most  of  the  land 
then  entered  is  owned  by  their  descendants 
uutil  this  day.  Theiv  Matthew  and  Mary 
Flemming,  the  great-grandparents  of  subject, 
grew  to  mature  life,  and  to  them  were  born 
eight  children.  Of  that  number,  Alexander 
was  the  third  child,  and  was  born  January  5, 
1775.  In  due  course  of  time  he  reached 
manhood's  estate,  and  on  March  27,  1793,  he 
was  married  to  Mary  Hays.  That  union  re- 
sulted in  twelve  children,  of  whom  Zadock, 
the  father  of  our  subject,  was  the  ninth. 
The  grandfather  died  in  Virginia  on  October 
11,  1847,  aged  seventy-seven  years  nine 
months  and  six  days.  The  father  lived  in 
Virginia  until  about  1828,  and  then  came  to 
Zanesville,  Ohio.  On  March  11,  1830,  he 
married  Ellen  Powell,  and  to  them  were  born 
ten  children — Mary,  Joseph  T.  (our  subject), 
Charles,  Melissa,  Hannah,  William  Sanford, 
Oscar,  Augusta,  Lucinda  and  Mary  Emma. 
Of  this  number  four  only  are  now  living — 
Joseph,  Melissa,  Lucinda  and  Mary  E.  The 
father,  who   was   a  shoe-maker  by  trade,  re- 


ill  Y    OF    lAIl'.l'IKI.I). 


i:i 


sided  in  Ohio  until  1834,  and  then  moved 
back  to  Middletown,  W.  Va.  (now  Fairmont). 
While  a  resident  of  that  State,  his  first  wife 
died  on  August  18,  1854,  and  on  March  2, 
1856,  he  was  married  to  Sarah  A.  Staddon. 
In  1857,  he  removed  to  Newark,  Ohio,  and 
lived  there  until  1861,  then  came  to  Fair- 
field, 111.,  and  resided  here  until  his  death 
on  September  21,  1S74.  Subject  was  born 
on  May  13,  1833;  his  education  was  received 
in  the  olden  times  subscription  schools,  and 
at  the  early  age  of  thirteen  ho  commonceil  to 
learn  his  father's  trade,  that  of  a  shoe-maker. 
AYhen  sixteen  years  of  age  he  commenced 
his  chosen  profession  that  of  the  mercantile 
business — as  a  clerk  in  a  dry  goods  store  in 
Fairmont,  Va. ;  and  ho  has  been  engaged  in 
t  that  business  most  of  the  time  since.  For  a 
number  of  years,  ho  clerked  and  also  operated 
a  store  for  himself  in  Maryland  and  West 
Virginia,  and  in  February,  1857,  he  came 
West  3Dd  first  settled  in  Warsaw,  111.  His 
first  venture  in  that  village  was  in  following 
the  trade  of  an  ambrotyper,  but  soon  com- 
menced clerking  again.  In  the  spring  of 
I860,  he  crossed  the  plains  and  mined  for 
one  season  in  Colorado.  When  he  returned 
to  the  States,  he  came  to  Fairfield,  and  has 
since  been  a  resident  of  this  place,  with  the 
exception  of  the  year  1875,  when  he  traveled 
for  Bond  Bros.,  of  Cincinnati.  During  his 
sojourn  in  this  city,  he  has  followed  the  mer- 
cantile life,  with  the  exception  of  about  three 
years — from  1875  to  1878,  when  ho  acted  as 
agent  for  the  O.  &  M.  Ft.  K.,  and  also  oper- 
ated in  grain  some  in  his  business;  ho  has 
been  associated  at  different  times  with  the 
substantial  business  men  of  this  city.  First 
with  a  Mr.  Adams,  next  Dr.  S.  \V.  Vertrice, 
and  also  with  J.  ('.  Alexander.  He  after- 
ward sold  out  entirely  and  clerked  subse- 
quently for  Patterson  &  Berkley,  and  also 
for  Martin  Somers  &  Co.     In  February,  1881, 


he  again  embarked  in  tho  mercantile  business 
J  for  himself,  with  Edward  Bonham,  under  the 
title  of  Bonham  &  Flemming.  This  tirm  is 
still  in  business  in  this  city.  Mr.  Flemming 
was  married,  in  Fairmont,  W.  Va. ,  on  May 
29,  1854,  to  Miss  Cordelia  Dudley,  a  daugh- 
ter of  Elias  and  Hannah  (Jones)  Dudley; 
her  parents  are  also  natives  of  that  State. 
She  was  born  on  November  7,  1832,  in  Mari- 
on County,  Va.,  and  is  the  mother  of  nine 
children,  of  whom  four  aro  now  living — Lew 
L„  born  March  13,  1862;  Frank  D..  born 
January  5,  1868;  J.  T.,  Jr.,  born  August  15, 
1871,  and  Eldon  P.,  August  3,  1873.  Of 
tho  deceased  children,  Fred  R.  was  born 
July  2,  1859;  Harry  D.  was  born  July 
11,  1864,  and  died  January  4,  1865; 
Mary,  born  August  3,  1863,  died  May 
13,  1874,  and  two  infants  still  born.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Flemming  are  members  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church.  He  is  a  member  of 
Fairfield  Lodge,  No.  206,  A.  F.  &  A.  M., 
Fairfield  Chapter,  No.  179,  and  Gorin 
Commandory,  K.  T.,  No.  14,  of  Olney.  In 
politics,  he  is  a  Republican.  Mr.  F.  was 
one  of  tho  projectors,  incorporators  and  di- 
rectors of  the  Springfield  Division  of  the  O. 
&  M.  Railroad.  His  mother  was  a  lineal  de- 
scendant of  Sir  Francis  Drake,  tho  celebrated 
English  explorer. 

G.  J.  GEORGE,  lawyer,  Fairfield. 
Prominent  among  those  who  have  figured  in 
the  history  of  Wayne  County,  and  whose 
memory  is  cherished  as  almost  sacred,  is  that 
of  Francis  George,  or  "  Uncle  Frank,''  as  he 
was  more  familiarly  known,  and  father  to 
G.  J.  George,  whose  name  heads  this  -ketch. 
Francis  (ioorge  was  of  South  Carolina  stock, 
of  the  old  Whig  type,  a  man  of  great,  ener- 
gy, firm  in  his  convictions  of  right,  and  a 
born  Abolitionist,  believing  in  the  absolute 
right,  of  every  man  to  equality  before  the 
law — a  man  of  strong  mind  and  independence 


14 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


of  thought,  who  dared  to  act  and  think    for 
himself,  and  he  often  predicted  the  downfall 
of  Blavery,  and    lived    to    see    it    eliminated 
from  our  national  government,  though  effect- 
ed at  the  sacrifice  of  the  blood   of    his    sons. 
Of   his    many    worthy   characteristics,    none 
linger  in  the  memory  more  vividly  than  his 
fidelity  to  the  Christian  religion.      For  more 
than  an  average  lifetime,   he  was  a  member 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  for 
forty  years  was  constantly  found  at  his   post 
as  leader  of  his  class.     Few  men  in  the  coun- 
ty's history   have    exerted    such  a  potent  in- 
fluence   for    good,  and,  though   his    remains 
now  rest  in  the  Fairfield  Cemetery,  the  influ- 
ence of  his  molding  hand  and   the  example 
of  his  godly  life  are  still  seen  and  felt  in  the 
community  in  which   he  lived  so    long  and 
well.     He  died  June  11,  1882,  at  the  age  of 
seventy  years.     His  wife,    whose  name  was 
Luraney  Gillison,   is  still  living,  at  the  age 
of   seventy   years,   and  retains   much  of  her 
youthful   vigor.     She   is  a  sister  of  the  late 
Hull    Gillison,    so    well    known    in    Wayne 
County.     Francis  and  Luraney  George  had  a 
family  of  fourteen   children,  seven  sons  and 
seven    daughters.       The    oldest    son,    Capt. 
Ezekiel  George,  fell  on  the  field    of    Shiloh 
April  6,  1862,  and  is  buried  beside  his  father, 
as    is   also    Gillison,  the    fourth  son,  whose 
wounds  and  exposure  of  the  war  brought  him 
to  a  premature  grave.     "  Zeke,"  as  the  Cap- 
tain was  better  known,  was  a  young   man  of 
noble  parts,  universally   loved  at  home  and 
very  popular  in  the  ranks,  and  is  a  man  des- 
tined to  have  risen  to  distinction  as  a  Boldier 
and  citizen,  had  not  his  life  been  taken  as  a 
part  of  the  great  price  of   national  freedom, 
and   in   the   infinite  galaxy  of  heaven  there 
phines  no  brighter  gem  than  that  which  decks 
the  brow  of  snch    brave  men.      Nine  of  tin- 
children  still  live  to  honor  the  memory  of  their 
deceased  father,  and  to  bestow  their    hearts' 


affections   upon  their  mother  in  her  declin- 
ing years.      G.  J.  George,  commonly  known 
as  James  George,  was  born  in  White  County, 
near  Liberty,  on  March  17,  1837.     But    few 
men  are  allowed  to  linger  in  the  flesh  so  long 
after   their  decease    as    has  James    George. 
While  we  write,  we  have  before  us  copies  of 
the  Fairfield  papers  of  July,  1864,  in  which 
is  published  his  obituary,  as  well  as  a  number 
of  resolutions  of  respect  by  his  many  friends. 
On  the  27th  of  June,  1864,  he  had  fallen  in 
the  charge  on  Kenesaw  Mountain,  and,  as  all 
thought,  mortally  wounded;  but  was    picked 
up  by  the  enemy  and  carried   within   their 
lines,  while  the  killed  were  left  unburied  on 
the    field.       Three   days    later,    the    Federal 
dead  were  buried  by  their  comrades.      One 
of   these   lay    where   James    fell,    and    was 
thought   to   be   he,  though    the   three  days' 
heat  of  a  Southern  sun  rendered  them  un- 
recognizable.     They,    as  well  as    the   Chap- 
lain, wrote  to  his  parents,  telling  of  his  valor, 
trying  to  comfort   them  with  the   report  of 
how   nobly   he   had    f  allien,    etc. ,    etc. ,    and 
hence  the  resolutions  of  respect.     James  says 
some  of  those  friends  now  think  the    resolu- 
tions somewhat  overdrawn,  but  they  thought 
he  was  dead;  and  that  now,  when   he   reads 
those   resolutions   signed  by  Jeff   Barnhill. 
Bill  Robinson  and  others,   and  sees  in  what 
esteem  he  was  held,   he   is    admonished    to 
guard    carefully  his  acts,  lest  when  he  has 
been  called  upon  to  "  shuffle  off  this  mortal, 
etc..-'  he  find  himself  under  the  necessity  of 
re-publishing  the  old,  rather   than   risk  the 
formation  of  new  resolutions.      Suffice  it  to 
say,  that,  though  Mr.  George  lay  for  ninety- 
six  days  in  a  rebel   prison,  he  survived,  re- 
turned to  his   loving  parents  and  cherished 
friends,  and  still    lives,  an   honor  to  society 
and   the   Methodist    Episcopal    Church,     in 
which  he,  like  his  father,  is  a  faithful  clasH 
leader.       Ill    conversation,    he   said    to    the 


CITY   OF    FAIRFIELD. 


15 


writer:  "  All  that  time  I  knew  that  the  peo- 
ple thought  mo  dead,  and  no  one  knows  how 
much  food  it  was  for  even  my  emaciated  body 
to  live  in  anticipation  of  being  released  and 
in  coming  in  person  to  my  resurrection;" 
adding  that  "  in  the  jail  at  Charleston,  S. 
C.  I  took  a  sip  of  poodle-dog  soup  and  a  bit 
of  the  flesh,  but  give  it  as  my  opinion  that 
there  is  absolutely  no  condition  in  which  man 
can  be  placed  that  a  sirloin  steak  from  a  fat- 
ted calf  would  not  bo  preferred.''  After  a 
total  imprisonment  of  six  months,  he  re- 
turned to  his  home,  bringing  the  clothes  worn 
when  wounded,  and  says:  "To  hold  them  up 
and  look  at  them  now — for  I  have  them  yet 
— you  cannot  imagine  how  a  man  could  have 
been  in  those  breeches  when  those  balls 
passed  through,  and  not  have  been  riddled.'' 
But  Mr.  George  is  now  a  hearty  man,  not 
much  lame,  a  splendid  lawyer,  a  good  farmer 
and  trader,  and  has  accumulated  a  handsome 
fortune.  He  is  a  liberal  man,  and  especially 
in  the  support  of  the  erection  of  churches. 
He  was  married,  October  11,  180(3,  to' Emily 
Wilcox,  daughter  of  J.  C.  and  Mary  (Beecher) 
Wilcox.  She  was  born  in  November.  1843,  in 
Licking  County.  Ohio.  They  have  four 
children— Mary,  Chloe.  Rena  and  Lewis 
George. 

JACOB  HALL,  retired,  Fairfield.  The  gen- 
tleman whose  name  heads  this  sketch,  and  who 
is  one  of  the  oh  lest  pioneers  of  this  county,  was 
born  in  Warren  County,  Ohio,  June  17,  1812. 
He  is  son  of  Richard  and  Eleanor  (Foster) 
Hall,  and  was  the  second  of  six  children,  viz. : 
Hezekiah  S.,  Jacob,  Ann.  Mary,  John  W.  and 
Druzilla.  In  1816,  the  parents  left  Ohio 
and  came  to  this  county,  settling  in  Thorn's 
Prairie.  There  the  father  died  in  1830,  and 
the  mother  subsequently  married  Alexander 
Ramsey,  and  died  finally  in  Mount  Erie. 
Both  of  the  parents  were  members  of  the 
Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church       Our  sub- 


ject remained  in  Ohio  with  his  grandfather 
and  did  not  come  to  Illinois  until  1824.  He 
remained  at  home  on  the  farm  until  he  was 
twenty-three  years  of  age.  He  began  his 
commercial  career  at  Thorn's  Prairie,  but 
only  remained  at  that  point  two  years,  and 
then  in  1830  he  came  to  Fairfield  and  opened 
a  general  store,  which  he  carried  on  until 
1879.  He  then  retired  from  active  business, 
and  has  since  given  his  attention  to  his  farm- 
ing interests  and  valuable  city  improvements. 
Mr.  Hall  was  married  in  this  county  in  1837, 
to  Miss  Catherine  Maclin.  This  lady  was 
born  in  Kentucky  on  February  27,  1816,  and 
.vas  a  daughter  of  Rev.  David  W.  and  Nancv 
Maclin,  who  came  to  this  State  with  their 
daughter  about  1S28.  The  result  of  this 
union  was  two  children,  viz.:  Mary  D.,  born 
December  18,  1840,  died  December  4,  1869; 
Sarah  O,  born  December  28,  1843,  and  united 
in  marriage  in  October,  1863,  to  George  L. 
Slocumb.  The  twain  are  now  living  in  Cal- 
ifornia. Mrs.  Hall  died  February  25,  1846. 
Mr.  Hall  is  a  man  of  strong  physique  and 
great  mental  energy.  His  whole  career  in 
the  city  of  Fairfield  has  brought  him  nothing 
but  friends,  and  as  his  well-lived  life  is  clos- 
ing none  speak  but  in  praise  of  the  old  pi- 
oneer. Since  1838,  he  has  been  a  member 
of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church. 

JOHN  L.  HANDLEY,  physician,  Fairfield, 
was  born  Feb.  9,  1835,  in  Sheffield,  Eng..  and 
is  a  son  of  James  and  Martha  (Eunis)  Handley, 
both  of  whom  were  natives  of  Yorkshire,  Eng. 
The  father  died  in  iho  old  country  in  181". 
and  three  years  later  John  L.,  then  thirteen 
years  old,  in  company  with  his  mother,  came 
lo  the  United  States,  landing  at  New  York. 
They  located  at  Evansville,  Ind.,  in  1850, 
and  after  a  residence  of  about  four  years 
came  to  Carmi,  White  Co..  111.,  in  which 
county  the  mother  died  in  1869.  After  re 
moving  to   Carmi,   111.,  John   L.  decided   to 


16 


BIOGRAPHICAL. 


adopt  the  profession  of  physician  and  sur- 
geon, aDd  accordingly  entered  the  office  of 
Dr.  E.  L.  Stewart,  under  whom  he  did  the 
usual  preparatory  reading.  Early  in  the 
progress  of  the  rebellion,  "ho  entered  the 
Eighty-seventh  Illinois  Infantry  as  Hospital 
Steward,  and  was  afterward  made  the  Acting 
Assistant  Surgeon,  which  position  he  credit- 
ably tilled  until  the  close  of  the  war.  He 
was  honorably  discharged  in  June,  1865. 
In  August  following,  he  located  at  Mount 
Erie,  Wayne  Co.,  111.,  where  he  practiced 
until  the  fall  of  1868.  He  was  then  made 
the  choice  of  the  people  of  Wayne  County 
for  Circuit  Clerk,  to  which  office  he  vsas 
elected  on  the  Democratic  ticket.  At  the  end 
of  four  years,  he  was  re-elected  to  the  same 
office  by  a  large  majority,  and  served  with 
acceptance  until  1876.  In  1870,  he  was  ap- 
pointed as  Master  in  Chancery,  serving  until 
1876,  re-appointed  in  1880,  and  is  the  pres- 
ent incumbent.  He  was  a  delegate  to  the 
National  Democratic  Convention  of  1876. 
which  nominated  Tilden  and  Hendricks.  He 
was  placed  in  nomination  by  and  received  the 
full  Democratic  vote  of  the  State  Senate  as 
Clerk  of  the  Senate,  in  1878.  He  has  al- 
ways acted  with  the  Democratic  party  from  a 
sense  of  principle  and  right.  He  was  mar- 
ried, September  27,  1865,  to  Miss  Clarinda 
Hoffman,  of  Carmi,  White  Co.,  111.  She 
died  in  March,  1873,  leaving  one  child — 
Bessie  S.  Handley.  He  was  married  to  his 
present  wife,  Miss  Sallie  McCall,  on  the  29th 
of  April,  187-4.  Dr.  Handley  was  made  a 
Mason  in  1858,  in  Carmi  Lodge,  No.  272. 
and  is  now  the  Secretary  of  Fairfield  Lodge, 
No.  206,  A.  F.  &  A.  M.,  and  Most  Excellent 
High  Priest  of  Fairfield  Chapter,  No.  17'.t. 
and  the  Thrice  Illustrious  Master  of  Fair- 
field Council,  U.  D.;  also  a  member  of  Gorin 
Commandery,  No.  14,  Knights  Templar,  at 
Olney,  111.     He  has  been  an  important  mem- 


ber of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  Fairfield, 
and  is  now  its  clerk;  was  a  candidate  for  the 
position  in  the  Appellate  Court  for  the  Third 
Grand  Division  of  Illinois  before  the  Demo- 
cratic Convention  of  1879,  at  Centralia,  and 
though  receiving  a  flattering  support  was  de- 
feated by  a  few  votes. 

HON.  ROBERT  P.  HANNA,  Fairfield. 
Of  the  different  professions,,  none  afford 
greater  opportunities  for  the  development  of 
native  ability  than  the  law;  for  here  one  is 
led  into  the  investigation  of  subjects  more 
vital  to  the  interests  of  his  fellows,  and  may, 
if  he  will,  become  familiar  with  the  ques- 
tions of  moment  which  affect  his  country  and 
State.  Foremost  in  the  rank  and  file  of  those 
who  have  taken  advantage  of  these  oppor- 
tunities, is  he  whose  name  heads  this  sketch. 
Robert  P.  Hanna  was  born  in  Salem,  Col- 
umbiana Co.,  Ohio,  December  10,  1834. 
His  father,  John  Hanna,  was  a  native  of  Ire- 
land, and  a  descendant  of  a  family  well 
known  in  the  early  history  of  the  Presbyte- 
rian Church,  many  of  whom  were  ministers  of 
some  note  in  that  society.  His  father,  how- 
ever, was  a  Catholic,  and  emigrated  to  the 
United  States,  settling  in  Ohio,  about  the 
year  1818,  where  he  engaged  in  a  general 
mercantile  business.  He  married  Miss  Sarah 
Conn,  a  native  of  Philadelphia.  Her  ances- 
tors in  this  country  date  back  to  the  Revolu- 
tionary period,  and  are  of  the  Society  of 
"  Friends,"  sometimes  termed  Quakers.  In 
early  life,  Mr.  Hanna  performed  the  usual 
routine  of  preparatory  study  in  the  common 
schools,  and  when  fifteen  years  old  entered 
the  printing  office  of  Aaron  Hinchman,  at 
Salem.  Ohio,  where  he  remained  for  about 
two  years.  He  then  became  a  student  in  the 
Athens  University,  taking  the  course  of  that 
institution.  He  came  to  Fairfield,  111.,  in 
1N55,  and  soon  after  entered  the  law  office  of 
Judge  Edward  Beecher,  under  whom  he  per- 


CITY   OF   FAIRFIELD. 


17 


formed  the  usual  reading,  and  in  1857  was 
admitted  to  practice.  Since  his  admission, 
he  has  practiced  in  Wayne  and  adjoining 
counties,  when  not  engaged  with  matters  of 
a  public  character.  In  1862,  Mr.  Hanna 
was  elected  to  a  membership  in  the  State 
Constitutional  Convention,  and  though  its 
youngest  member  he  took*  an  active  part  in 
the  important  business  of  that  body.  He 
was  elected  to  the  State  Legislature  in  1806, 
where  he  won  the  reputation  of  an  efficient 
member,  procuring,  through  hi->  influence, 
the  charter  for  the  Springfield,  Illinois  & 
Southeastern  Railroad,  which  has  since  be- 
come a  branch  of  the  Ohio  &  Mississippi 
Railroad.  He  was  a  Director  and  Attorney 
for  the  road  until  that  change  took  place, 
and  is  now  Local  Attorney  for  the  Ohio  & 
Mississippi  Company.  In  1870.  Mr.  Hanna 
was  again  the  choice  of  the  people  of  his 
district  to  represent  them  in  the  construction 
of  the  new  constitution  of  Illinois,  and  there 
introduced  the  measure  regulating  the  minor- 
ity representation.  He  was  elocted,  in  1870, 
to  a  seat  in  the  State  Senate  on  the  Demo- 
cratic ticket,  although  representing  a  Repub- 
lican district,  and  while  a  member  of  that 
body  was  a  very  important  factor  in  many  of 
the  more  important  committees.  As  a  con- 
scientious politician,  Mr.  Hanna  has  proven 
himself  possessed  of  no  mean  ability,  the  ad- 
vantages of  which  have  always  been  enjoyed 
by  the  Democratic  party.  He  has  been  a 
delegate,  and  reported  at  "roll  call"  at 
i'i  Democratic  State  Convention  since  he 
became  of  age,  besides  acting  in  Presidential 
conventions.  As  a  speaker,  he  is  forcible 
and  concise,  an  I  in  his  various  campaigns 
has  made  mam  important  political  speeches, 
always  willing  to  become  the  champion  of 
what  he  deemed  the  common  right,  regard- 
less of  personal  prejudices.  His  first  im- 
portant canvass  of  the  State  was  in  1858,  in 


the  contest  between  Stephen  A.  Douglas  and 
Abraham  Lincoln  for  the  position  in  the 
United  States  Senate.  He  was  married,  in 
1859,  to  Miss  Clara  Smith.  She  is  a  daugh- 
ter of  Moses  Smith,  a  well-known  merchant 
of  Albion,  111.,  who  emigrated  from  England 
and  became  one  of  the  pioneer  settlors  of 
that  place.  Mr.  Hanna's  family  consists  of 
two  sons  and  two  daughters.  His  eldest 
son,  Francis  B.  Hanna,  is  a  practicing  law- 
yer and  member  of  the  Fairfield  bar. 

ROBERT  HAYYVARD,  farmer,  P.O.  Fair- 
field, a  native  of  England,  was  born  December 
23,  1826.  His  parents,  whose  names  were 
Isaac  Hay  ward  and  Ann  Shepherd,  emigrated 
to  the  United  States  and  located  in  Bucks 
County,  Penn.,  in  1831.  After  a  residence 
of  two  years  in  Pennsylvania,  they  removed  to 
Ohio,  and  settled  in  Marion  County,  where 
they  remained  until  ISIS,  engaged  in  farm 
ing.  In  ISIS,  the  parents  again  moved,  and 
this  time  to  LaGrange  County,  Ind. ,  where 
they  resided  until  their  death.  The  mother 
died  in  ISoS  in  her  sixty  fourth  year,  and  the 
father  died  in  March.  1SS2.  at  a  very  ad- 
vanced age.  They  had  a  family  of  thirteen 
children,  eleven  of  whom  arrived  at  maturity. 
But  four  of  them,  however,  are  now  living. 
Robert  was  raised  on  the  farm  which  has 
boon  his  life  pursuit.  He  was  married  in 
Marion  County,  Ohio,  on  January  10.  1850, 
to  Miss  Maria  Davis.  She  was  born  in  Logan 
County.  Ohio,  October  (J,  1825.  She  was  a 
daughter  of  William  IF.  and  Mary  I  Johnson) 
Davis.  Mr.  Hay  ward  was  a  member  of  the 
Thirty-eighth  Regiment  Ohio  Infantry,  and 
nth  Sherman  on  the  memorable  march 
to  the  sea.  and  at  ten  led  I  he  "'  grand  review  " 
at  Washington.  He  came  to  Wayne  Count;.  . 
111.,  in  1SS0,  and  purchased  an  extensive 
farming  interest  near  the  city  of  Fairfield. 
They  are  both  honored  members  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church. 


18 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


ROBERT  N.  JESSOP,  insurance  agent, 
Fairfield,  was  born  June  18,  1842,  in  Kings 
County,  Ireland.  His  parents,  Robert  Jessop 
and  Anna  Sturgeon,  were  natives  of  Ireland, 
where  they  grew  to  maturitj ,  and  married. 
They  had  a  family  of  nine  children,  but 
three  of  whom  are  now  alive.  The  names  of 
the  children  were  Samuel  S.,  Mary,  Alex- 
and  or  S.,  Robert  N.,  Anna,  Carrie  and  John 
G.  Jessop.  Those  living  are  Samuel  S., 
Alexander  S.  and  Robert  N.  Their  father, 
who  was  a  Methodist  minister,  came  to  the 
United  States  in  the  year  1848,  and  was  first 
located  in  New  York  City,  where  he  preached 
four  years,  from  where  be  was  sent  to  Dan- 
bury,  Conn.,  remaining  there  two  years.  His 
next  field  of  labor  was  Sag  Harbor,  from 
whence  he  came  to  Fairfield,  111.,  in  1856, 
having  been  transferred  to  the  Southern 
Illinois  Conference.  He  was  here  engaged 
as  the  traveling  agent  for  the  McKendree 
College  of  Lobanon,  Hi.  He  died  in  Wayne 
County  in  1867,  and  his  wife  died  in  same 
county  two  years  later.  Robert  N.  Jessop 
had  good  educational  advantages  in  New 
York  and  at  Danbury,  Conn.,  and  in  1862  he 
enlisted  in  the  Fifth  Illinois  Cavalry,  his 
brothers  Samuel  and  Alexander  having  gone 
into  the  army  the  previous  year.  He  was 
mustered  in  as  a  private,  but  was  raised  to 
the  rank  of  First  Lieutenant,  which  com- 
mission he  held  at  the  time  of  his  resignation 
in  August,  1864.  He  was  married  in  Wayne 
County,  in  October,  1867,  to  Miss  Joseph 
anna  Hand,  a  native  of  Wayne  County,  and 
daughter  of  Isaac  and  Angeline  (Wilson) 
Hand.  She  was  born  in  February,  1849. 
They  have  four  children  living — Robbie, 
Caroline,  Anna  and  Katie  Jessop.  Two  have 
died,  named  Etta  and  Katie  Jessop.  Mr. 
Jessop  is  a  Republican,  and  a  member  of  the 
G.  A.  R.,  also  of  the  Ancient  Order  of  United 
Workmen  and  Select  Knights. 


G.  W.  JOHNS,  junior  member  of  the  law 
firm  of  Robinson.  Boggs  &  Johns,  Fair- 
field, 111.,  was  born  March  7,  1849,  in  Ed- 
wards County,  111.  He  is  a  son  of  George  J. 
Johns  and  grandson  of  Robert  Johns,  both 
of  whom  were  of  English  birth,  his  father, 
G.  J.  Johns,  being  a  native  of  Cornwall, 
where  he  waB  bom  April  6,  1820.  He  came, 
when  twelve  years  of  age,  to  the  United 
States,  and  located  in  Albion,  Edwards  Co., 
111.,  where  he  grew  to  manhood,  and  where 
he  spent  the  remainder  of  his  life.  He  was 
.married,  February  18,  1848,  to  Harriet  Smith, 
a  native  of  Albion,  111.,  and  daughter  of 
Moses  Smith,  one  of  the  old  citizens  and 
leading  merchants  of  that  place.  In  the 
early  part  of  1862,  he  recruited  a  company 
of  men  for  the  service,  which  company  was 
attached  to  the  Sixty-third  Regiment  Illinois 
Infantry,  and  known  as  Company  B,  of 
which  he  was  elected  Captain.  He  was  after- 
ward tendered  a  commission  as  Lieutenant 
Colonel  by  Gov.  Yates,  which  honor  he  was 
compelled  to  decline,  loss  of  health  disabling 
him  for  active  service  and  necessitating  his 
resignation,  which  was  effected  in  November, 
1862.  George  W.  Johns,  though  but  fifteen 
years  old  at  the  time,  obtaine"d  admission 
into  the  ranks  as  a  private  in  Company  H, 
of  the  One  Hundred  and  Thirty-sixth  Illi- 
nois Volunteers,  in  which  he  served  about  six 
months.  His  early  education  was  obtained 
while  a  student  in  the  public  schools  of  Al- 
bion, 111.  He  afterward  entered  the  State 
Normal  School  of  Bloomington,  Iud..  where 
he  graduated  with  the  degree  of  B.  S.  in 
lSii'.t,  and  in  the  following  year  graduated  in 
the  law  department  of  the  same  institution. 
He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1870,  and  en- 
tered  on  the  practice  of  his  profession  in 
Carini,  111.  Thei'e  he  remained  for  two  \  ■ 
coming  thence  to  Fairfield,  111.,  and  in  1872 
formed  his  present  partnership,  which  is  <<:  .■ 


CITY    OF    FAIRFIELD. 


19 


of  the  ablest  law  firms  in  Southern  Illinois. 
He  was  Journal  Clerk  of  the  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives in  the  Twenty-eighth  General 
Assembly;  was  appointed  Colonel  and  Aid. 
de-camp  on  Gov.  Cullom's  Staff  in  1878, 
which  position  he  held  until  the  election  of 
Gov.  Cullom  to  the  United  States  Senate  in 
January,  1883,  when  he  resigned,  but  was 
re  appointed  to  the  same  rank  by  Gov.  Ham 
ilton.  G.  W.  Johns  was  married,  November 
17,  1875,  to  Mary  E.  Barnhill.  of  Fairfield, 
111.  Three  children  have  blessed  this  union 
— Katie,  born  September  25.  ls7t>,  deceased; 
Mary,  born  January  19,  1881,  and  Anna 
Johns,  born  January  14,  1883. 

ETHAN  A.  JOHNSON,  Fairfield,  was 
born  in  Connecticut  July  16,  1817,  and  when 
yet  a  child  name  with  his  parents  to  South- 
ern Illinois,  where  his  father  soon  after  died. 
He  was  next  deprived  of  his  mother  by  death; 
then  was  cared  for  by  an  older  sister  who  was 
married,  and  resided  in  Terre  Haute,  Iud. 
Entirely  thrown  upon  his  own  resources,  he 
early  acquired  habits  of  industry,  which  char- 
acterized the  whole  of  his  after  life.  He 
was  married  three  times,  all  in  Wayne  Coun- 
ty, first  to  Julia  Gash  in  1842.  She  was 
born  in  Wayne  County  in  1819,  and  died  in 
1815.  leaving  two  children  -William  H.  John- 
son, now  of  California,  and  Julia  L,  deceased 
wife  of  Eugene  Forest.  His  second  marriage 
occurred  in  1846,  to  Eliza  M.  Linton  She  was 
born  in  White  County  in  1820,  and  died  in 
L854,  leaving  three  children — Olive,  deceased 
wife  of  Benjamin  Organ:  EthaD  A.,  died  at 
the  age  of  nine  years;  and  Leo  Johnson,  now 
of  California.  John  and  Elizabeth  Koontz, 
n6e  Knap]),  were  both  born,  reared  and  mar- 
ried in  Pennsylvania,  and  after  their  mar 
riage  removed  to  Stark  County,  Ohio,  when' 
they  remained  several  years,  and  until  con 
ing  tn  Wayne  County,  III.,  in  1839.  Here 
they  lived,  pursuing  the  interest  of  the   farm 


until  the  death  of  John  Koontz  many  years 
ago.  The  wife  died  at  the  residence  of  her 
daughter,  Mrs.  B.  A.  Johnson,  in  Fairfield,  in 
1874  They  had  a  family  of  seven  children. 
of  whom  five  are  now  living.  Barbara  A. 
Koontz,  daughter  of  John  and  Elizabeth 
Koontz,  was  born  in  Stark  County,  Ohio, 
August  1,  1824,  and  came  to  Fairfield,  111., 
with  her  parents  in  1839.  She  was  first 
married  to  Joseph  D.  Shaeffer,  January  26, 
1843.  He  was  a  native  of  Somerset  Coun- 
ty, Penn.,  and  was  born  August  17,  IN  13, 
and  died  in  Fairfield,  111. ,  October  30,  1848. 
Of  this  family  there  were  three  children — 
Loretta  Shaeffer,  born  June  4.  1844,  and  died 
in  infancy;  John  F.,  was  born  October  5, 
1846,  and  died  in  Jefferson  City,  Mo..  July 
20,  18(kS;  and  Joseph  D.  Shaeffer.  (See 
sketch.)  Elizabeth  (Koontz)  Shaeffer  and 
Ethan  A.  Johnson  were  marri  ed  in  Fairfie] 
June  3,  1855.  Mr.  E.  A.  Johnaon  died  in 
Fairfield.  111..  May  7,  1865,  leaving  four 
children  Charles  Johnson,  who  was  born 
June  S,  1856  (he  is  married  to  Miss  Etta 
Baker);  Libbie.  deceased  wife  of  Ella  Stalcy. 
was  born  March  25.  1S5S,  and  died  April  22, 
1881,  leaving  an  infant  daughter.  Libbie, 
born  April  10.  1881,  and  named  in  memory 
of  her  deceased  mother;  Harry  K.  Johnson 
was  born  April  29,  i860;  and  Clara  ()..  the 
youngest  of  the  family,  was  born  June  2, 
L863.  She  was  married.  March  lit,  L882,  to 
Frank  Yelch,  now  residents  of  Olncy,  111. 

BASCOM  E.  JOHNSON.  Fairfield,  was 
born  August  24,  1831,  in  Meig  County.  Iud. 
He  is  a  son  of  Abraham  Johnson,  who  was 
born  in  Washington  County.  Penn,  in  17'.)3. 
Abraham'.! i ihnson  emigrated  with  his  parents 
to  Ohio  about  1811,  and  in  1813  settled  in 
Meigs  County.  There  Abrah  im  married 
Clarinda  Eddy,  and  began  life  in  Bedford 
Township,  beine-  the  second  settlor  within  its 
limits.      He  remained  there  on  the  same  farm 


20 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


until  1854,  rearing  a  large  family  of  chil- 
dren, all  of  whom  grew  to  maturity.  They 
removed  to  Wayne  County.  111. ,  in  1S54,  and 
settled  in  Laniard  Township,  on  a  farm  now 
occupied  by  a  daughter,  Mis.  Woodworth. 
Here  he  lived  until  his  death,  which  occurred 
in  September,  18*33.  He  was  a  zealous  Chris 
tian  man,  sustaining  the  relation  of  local 
preacher  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
for  more  than  forty  years.  Clarinda  Eddy 
was  of  English  ancestry,  who  were  repre- 
sented on  board  the  Mayflower  in  1(320.  She 
was  born  in  1795  in  Rutland  County,  Vt., 
and  when  three  years  old  was  taken  by  her 
parents  to  Ohio,  who  settled  near  Marietta. 
While  she  was  yet  a  child,  her  father  died, 
and  she  and  her  widowed  mother  experienced 
very  much  of  the  hardship  incident  to  pio- 
neer life.  She  was  married  to  Abraham 
Johnson  in  1817,  and  died  on  the  old  home- 
stead in  Wayne  County  in  1872.  B.  E. 
Johnson  came  to  this  county  in  1854  with 
his  parents,  and,  after  seeing  them  comfort- 
ably located,  returned  to  Ohio,  and  there 
married  Maggie  A.  Bing,  a  daughter  of  An- 
drew C.  Bing  and  Eliza  Amsden,  of  Ohio. 
They  removed  to  Illinois,  and  to  Jasper 
Township  of  this  county  in  1861.  Her  father 
was  born  in  Gallia  County,  Ohio,  in  1804, 
and  died  iu  this  county  September  1,  1SG8. 
Eliza  Amsden  was  born  April  5,  1805,  in 
Erie  County,  Penn.,  from  where  her  parents 
came  to  Ohio  about  1809,  thence  to  Wayne 
County  in  1863.  Mrs.  Bing  was  noted  for 
her  piety,  and  for  a  meek,  lovable  nature, 
which  endeared  her  to  all  who  knew  her.  She 
died  in  Wayne  County,  July  16,  1864.  Mag 
gie  A.  Bing  was  born  in  Gallia  County,  Ohio, 
in  1834,  married  to  B.  E.  Johnson  in  June, 
1858.  Two  years  later,  they  removed  to  this 
county,  where  Mr.  Johnson  followed  the  pur- 
suit of  farming  until  1878,  when  they  came 
to  Fairfield.     Thev  are   both   honored  mem- 


bers of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and 
have  a  family  consisting  of  Lycurgus  E. 
Johnson,  born  April  25,  1860;  Madora  M., 
April  25,  1865;  and  Milo  D.  Johnson,  July 
15,  1867.  Mr.  Johnson  is  a  Republican, 
and  has  served  two  terms  as  a  member  of 
Town  Council. 

JOHN  KEEN,  Jr.,  County  Judge,  Fair 
field,  is  a  native  of  Wayne  County,  111.,  and 
was  born  October  29,  1837.  His  parents, 
James  and  Harriet  Keen,  are  still  living  in 
the  county,  well  and  favorably  known,  and 
among  the  oldest  settlers  now  in  the  county. 
Judge  John  Keen  is  the  oldest  of  a  family  of 
ten  children,  and  grew  to  manhood  under  the 
influences  of  pioneer  life,  enjoying  such  edu- 
cational advantages  as  the  county  then  af- 
forded, which  were  limited  to  a  short  sub- 
scription term  each  year,  which  was  held  in 
the  historical  old  log  schoolhouse,  supplied 
with  the  puncheon  floor  and  slab  seats.  How- 
ever, by  making  the  best  of  his  opportunities, 
he  developed  an  ability  for  public  position, 
which  was  recognized  by  the  people  of  his 
town  by  electing  him  to  the  offices  of  Town 
Clerk  and  Justice  of  the  Peace.  He  was 
afterward  elected  to  the  office  of  County 
Treasurer,  and  filled  this  position  of  public 
trust  with  acceptance  for  ten  years.  In 
1882,  he  was  elected  to  the  office  of  County 
Judge,  which  position  he  now  occupies.  He 
was  admitted  to  practice  in  1877,  having  ac- 
complished the  required  reading  under  G.  J. 
George.  He  was  married  in  Wayne  County 
on  the  7th  of  April,  1859,  to  Miss  Martha  J. 
Atteberry,  daughter  of  Stout  and  Fannie  L(C<?"-= 
Atteberry.  She  was  born  December  29,  1832, 
in  Kentucky.  The  record  of  their  family  is 
as  follows:  Isaac  N.  Keen,  born  January  18, 
1860;  Asa  F.,  December  7,  1863;  Martha  J., 
born  June  15.  1868,  and  died  September  17, 
1872;  Emma  R..  born  October  25,  1869,  and 
died  September  18,  1872;  Harriet  L.  Keen, 


<  ity  of  faii;fii:i,i). 


21 


bom  May  12,  1875.  Mr.  Keen  is  a  member 
of  the  Masonic  order  and  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  his  wife  is  a  member  of  the  Bap- 
tist Church.  Residence,  corner  of  Water 
and  Factory  streets. 

EDWARD  C.  KRAMER,  lawyer.  Fair- 
held,  a  native  of  Wabash  County,  111.,  and 
son  of  Henry  and  Martha  Kramer,  now  of 
Mount  Erie.  Wayne  County,  was  born  Feb- 
ruary 1,  1857:  He  was  reared  on  the  farm, 
and  received  his  primary  education  in  the 
public  schools,  and  qualified  himself  for  the 
profession  of  teaching,  which  he  began  in 
Edwards  County  in  1S77.  He  attended  the 
Central  Indiana  Normal  School  at  Ladoga, 
and  at  Danville  after  the  school  had  been  re- 
moved to  the  hitter  place.  He  graduated  in 
the  teachers'  course  in  1879,  after  which  he 
took  two  terms'  work  in  the  department  of 
language  in  the  same  institution.  In  the 
early  part  of  1880,  he  entered  the  law  office 
of  Hanna  &  Adams  as  a  student,  with  whom 
he  performed  the  usual  preparatory  reading; 
was  admitted  to  practice  in  February,  1882, 
since  which  time  he  ha-  been  practicing  at 
Fairfield.  He  was  married  in  Grayville, 
111.,  in  September.  1880,  to  Miss  Laura  J. 
Ellis,  daughter  of  John  and  Mary  Ellis,  of 
Grayville.  She  was  born  in  Grayville  April 
8,  1858.  Both  are  honored  members  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  of  Fairfield. 
Mr.  Kramer  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  or- 
der and  A.  O.  U.  W.  James  H.  Kramer,  of 
the  firm  of  Kramer  Bros.,  Fairfield,  was  born 
October  4,  1855,  in  Wabash  County,  and  is 
the  oldest  of  the  family  of  twelve  children  of 
Henry  and  Martha  Kramer.  He  is  a  practi- 
cal teacher  of  several  years'  experience,  and 
was  educated  at  Danville,  Ind..  graduating 
in  the  teachers'  course  in  1880.  He  is  also 
engaged  in  the  implement  trade,  and  asso- 
ciated with  E.  C.  Kramer  in  the  real  estate 
business.  Member  of  the  Fairfield  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church. 


C.    C.     KURZDORFER.       Taking    front 
rank  among  the  business  men  of  Fairfield  is 
the  man  whose  name  heads   this  sketch;   and 
we  know   of  no  one   among  the  many  enter- 
prising business  men  more  aptly  adapted  to  his 
line    than    he.      The    Fairfield    Marble    and 
Granite   Works,  of  which  Kurzdorfer  is  pro- 
prietor, has  developed  from  a  small  remnant 
of  stock,  which   he  purchased  in  1882,  to  its 
present  proportions.    Frequent  attempts  have 
been  previously  made  to  establish   this  line 
of  industry  in  Fairfield,  and  failure  has  been 
the   common    result.       Mr.    Kurzdorfer    has 
proven    himself  the  right  man  in  the  right 
place,  and  in  a  very   brief   period  has  made 
for  himself  a  trade   which,   though   large,   is 
still   increasing.     He   has  recently  erected  a 
new  and  commodious  building  adjoining  the 
bank,  where,  with  his  large  stock  and  exten- 
sive  force   of    workmen,  he    is    prepared    to 
meet  the  demands  of  the  public  for  anything 
in  his  line.     We  predict  for  Mr.  Kurzdorfer 
the   future   success  which  his  energy  merits, 
He  was  born  in  the  city  of  St.  Louis,  Mo., 
March  21,  1860,  and  is  the  second  of  a  fam- 
ily of  eight  children   born    to    George    and 
Otilla  Kurzdorfer,  both  of  whom  are  natives 
of    Germany.      They    were    married    in    St. 
Louis,  and  in  1869   removed   to    Belleville, 
111.,  where  they  now  reside.     Charles  C.  was 
educated  in  the  public  schools   of   St.  Louis 
and    Belleville,  and    in    1878   became  book- 
keeper for  Mr.  F.  J.  Scholz,  a  marble  dealer 
of  Evansville,  Ind..  remaining  with  him  un- 
til August,  1882,  when  he  came  to  Fairfield, 
as   above  stated.     He  was   married  in  Nor- 
borne.    Mo.,   September   5,  1882,    to    Mattie 
Scholz,  daughter  of  Rev.   F.  W.  and  Chris- 
tina   Scholz.      She    was    born    September  5, 
L862,  and  died   in   Fairfield   September   19, 
INKS. 

ROBERT  E.  MABRY,  Circuit  Clerk, 
Fairfield,  111.;  is  the  fifth  of  a  family  of  nine 
children  born  to  Seth  W.  and  Martha  Mabry, 


22 


BIOGRAPHIC  A  I. 


well  and  favorably  known  in  Wayne  County, 
Robert  E.  was  born  in  November,  1848,  in 
Mississippi,  and  came  to  this  county  with  his 
parents  in  1S53,  and  has  been  in  the  county 
continuously  since  that  time.  By  earnest 
application  to  books,  supplemented  by  the 
common  schools  of  the  county,  he  has  suc- 
ceeded in  obtaining  a  practical  common 
school  education,  and  for  eight  years  accept- 
ably tilled  the  position  of  teacher  in  Wayne 
County.  The  interests  of  the  farm,  however, 
claimed  much  of  his  attention  until  he  was 
elected  to  the  office  of  Circuit  Clerk  in  1876. 
His  ability  as  a  proficient  and  worthy  official 
warranted  the  people  in  his  re-election  to  the 
same  office  in  1880,  which  term  he  is  now 
serving  with  unusual  acceptance.  In  poli- 
tics he  is  a  Republican.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  A.  O.  U.  W.  and  a  Royal  Arch  Mason. 
Mr.  Mabry  was  married  in  Wayne  County, 
December  12,  1872,  to  Miss  SarahTA.  Borah, 
daughter  of  Jacob  B.  and  Emma  Borah.  £>he 
was  born  in  Wayne  County  January  9,  1848, 
and  is  a  member  of  the  Cumberland  Presby- 
terian Church.  The  parents  of  both  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Mabry  are  living,  and  residents  of 
Jasper  Township.  Millard  F.  Mabry,  Dep- 
uty Circuit  Clerk  since  1876,  and  brother  of 
R.  E.,  was  born  in  Wayne  County  January 
30,  1857.  He  was  educated  in  the  common 
schools,  and  was  married,  December  25,  1881, 
to  Miss  Sadie  E.  Borah.  She  was  born  Feb- 
ruary 12,  1858,  and  is  a  daughter  of  William 
N  and  Eliza  Borah,  of  Jasper  Township,  and 
residents  of  Wayne  County  since  1819. 

THOMAS  A.  MARTIN,  merchant,  Fair- 
field. The  gentleman  whose  name  heads 
this  sketch  was  born  in  this  county  on  Feb- 
ruary 19,  1841,  and  is  a  son  of  James  D.  and 
Jane  (White)  Martin.  The  grandfather  of 
our  subject  came  to  this  county  from  Vir- 
ginia in  1816,  and  died  here  in  an  early  day. 
The  father  was  born  here  in  1818,  and  was 


married  in  1840.  He  followed  farming  for  a 
number  of  years,  but  was  finally7  stricken 
blind  and  remained  so  until  his  death,  which 
occurred  in  the  spring  of  1872  at  Clay  City. 
The  mother  of  our  subject  was  born  in  Ken- 
tucky on  August  3,  1816,  and  died  in  Clay 
County  in  1868.  Our  subject  remained  in 
this  county  with  his  parents  until  1861,  and 
here  he  received  his  education.  In  that  year, 
he  went  to  Clay  County  with  his  parents,  and 
resided  there  a  number  of  years,  but  subse- 
quently returned  to  Wayne  County.  He  has 
been  associated  in  business  for  a  number  of 
years  with  Mr.  Summers  in  both  the  grocery 
business  and  also  in  the  pork  packing  estab- 
lishment. Mr.  Martin  was  married  in  Clay 
City,  in  1864,  to  Anna  Golliher,  a  daughter 
of  Henry  Golliher,  of  Lamard  Township.  She 
was  a  native  of  Ohio,  being  born  there  in 
IS — .  and  to  her  were  born  two  children — 
America,  wife  of  A.  H.  Wood,  of  Nebraska, 
and  Edwin  A.  This  lady  died  in  this 
county  in  1870.  In  1871,  our  subject  was 
married  to  Nancy  McCollum,  who  was  born 
in  this  county  in  1853  and  is  a  daughter  of 
Samuel  McCollum.  The  result  of  this  union 
has  been  four  children,  three  of  whom  are 
now  living,  viz.,  Henry  T.,  Grace  and  Frank 
C. ;  Mary  is  the  name  of  the  deceased  one. 
Our  subject  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  and  also  of  Clay  City 
I  Lodge,  No.  48S,  A,  F.  &  A.  M. 

HON.  JAMES  McCARTNEY,  Spring- 
field, was  born  in  Perry  County,  Penn.,  Feb- 
ruary 14,  1835,  of  Scotch  ancestry,  but  his 
parents  were  born  in  Ireland.  His  father 
moved  to  Lawrence  County,  Penn.,  when 
James  was  but  six  years  of  age,  where  he  re- 
sided for  a  period  of  about  five  years,  after- 
ward moving  to  Trumbull  County,  Ohio, 
where  he,  together  with  his  father,  engaged 
in  farming.  During  the  winter  months,  he 
went  to  school,  and  advanced  rapidly  in  his 


CITY    OF    l'AIKKIKI.I> 


23 


studies;  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  he  attended  the 
high  school,  and  for  a  brief  period  in  the 
fall  pursued  his  studies  with  energy  and  dil- 
igence, and  during  the  winter  obtained  a 
position  as  teacher,  which  he  tilled  for  some 
time,  after  which  he  became  a  student  at  the 
Western  Reserve  Seminary,  at  Farmington, 
Ohio,  and  during  his  college  life  here  he 
often  visited  the  school  at  Hiram,  Ohio, 
which  was  then  presided  over  by  Hon.  James 
A.  Garfield.  In  1856.  he  entered  the  law 
office  of  Hon.  Matthew  Birchard,  at  Warren, 
Ohio,  and  commenced  the  study  of  law,  where 
he  remained  for  about  one  year,  and  in  Oc- 
tober, 1857,  went  to  Monmouth,  111.,  and 
went  into  the  office  of  Harding  &  Reed,  where 
he  finished  reading  and  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  in  1858,  and  immediately  entered  into 
partnership  with  Mr.  Reed.  In  1859,  he  re- 
moved to  Galva,  Henry  Co.,  III.,  and  sue 
cessfully  practiced  law  until  the  war  broke 
out.  On  the  19th  of  April,  I  Mil,  he  enlisted 
in  a  company  raised  at  Galva,  and  was  elected 
First  Lieutenant.  The  company  was  mus- 
tered into  the  service  as  Company  D,  Sev- 
enteenth Illinois  Infantry.  After  serving 
faithfully  until  after  the  battle  of  Fort  Don- 
elson,  his  health  failing  from  exposure,  he 
was  compelled  to  resign  his  commission.  He 
visited  Lake  Superior,  and  after  recovering 
his  health  returned  and  again  entered  the 
service  as  First  Lieutenant  in  Company  G, 
One  Hundred  ami  Twelfth  Illiuois  Infantry, 
Col.  Thomas  J.  Henderson  commanding.  He 
was  soon  after  promoted  to  a  Captaincy,  and 
served  through  the  war,  and  mustered  out 
with  the  regiment  at  Camp  Douglas  in  July, 
1865.  While  in  the  service,  he  was  engaged 
in  doing  special  duty  as  Judge  Advocate  of 
Court  Martials.  and  for  nearly  a  year  as  A. 
A.  A.  G.  of  the  Third  Brigade,  Third  Divi- 
sion Cavalry  Corps,  Army  of  the  Ohio.  After 
being  mustered  out  of  the  service  in   1865, 


he  immediately  went  to  Fairneld,  111.,  and  re- 
commenced the  practice  of  law,  which  has 
occupied  his  attention  ever  since.  In  May, 
he  was  nominated  Attorney  General  by  the 
State  Convention,  to  which  office  he  was 
elected.  He  is  a  gentleman  of  high  legal 
abilities,  and  competent  in  every  respect  to 
till  that  exalted  position.  Personally  he  is 
a  most  agreeable  gentleman,  and  extremely 
popular  with  all  who  have  the  pleasure  of 
his  acquaintance. 

MoCLUNG  FAMILY.  Hugh  and  Mary 
McClung  came  from  Beaver  County,  Penn., 
about  the  year  1840,  and  settled  in  Wayne 
County,  near  Fairfield,  where,  after  four  years. 
Hugh  died,  his  wife  surviving  him  until 
1858,  when  she,  too,  died  at  the  same  place. 
They  had  a  family  of  six  children  when  they 
came  to  Illinois,  one  having  died  in  the  East, 
and  one  was  drowned  in  Skillet  Fork  soon 
after  coining  to  the  county.  Three  are  still 
living — Catherine;  Mary,  widow  of  Joht 
Ewing,  of  Wayne  County;  and  Mrs.  Lydia 
Martin,  widow  of  John  A.  Martin,  and  a  res- 
ident of  Flora.  Clay  County.  Ephraim 
McClung.  the  youngest  of  this  family,  was 
married  to  Miss  Ann  Beauchamp,  daughter 
of  William  and  Mary  Beauchamp,  who  died 
while  she  was  a  child.  She  was  reared  by 
Lewis  Organ.  To  them  were  born  tivo  chil- 
dren, one  of  whom  is  deceased,  and  four  are 
residents  of  Wayne  County — Edward  Mc- 
Clung, editor  of  the  Wayne  County  Record, 
Alice,  wife  of  Joseph  Gaston,  Carrie  M.,  and 
Thomas  McClung.  The  father  removed  to 
Fairfield  about  1860,  engaged  in  merchan- 
dising and  milling,  and  died  in  1867.  Ann, 
his  wife,  died  August  8,  1881.  It  may  be 
truthfully  said,  that  they  filled  an  important 
position  in  the  society  in  which  they  moved, 
and  still  live  in  the  memory  and  hearts  of 
their  many  friends. 

THOMAS  MoMACKIN,  furniture  dealer, 


24 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


Fairfield,  son  of  George  C.  and  Sallie  (Bo 
vee)  McMackin.  was  born  in  Jasper  Town- 
ship, Wayne  County.  111..  May  8,  1848,  and 
is  the  ninth  of  a  large  family.  He  was 
reared  on  a  farm,  but  when  fifteen  years  old 
began  the  carpenter  trade,  which  he  has  fol- 
lowed continuously  ever  since.  He  was  mar- 
ried in  Wayne  County,  December  22,  1872, 
to  Clara  McCollum,  daughter  of  Samuel  Mc- 
Cullom.  She  was  born  in  Wayne  County 
March  15,  1851.  Both  are  members  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  have  a  fam- 
ily of  two  children — Nellie  McMackin,  born 
in  Fairfield,  April  15,  1877,  and  Freddie  Mc- 
Macki  d,  born  March  4.  1882.  They  removed 
to  Fairfield  in  1871,  and  in  January,  1883, 
Mr.  McMackin  associated  with  S.  O.  Wick- 
lin.  engaged  in  the  furniture  trade,  of  which 
they  keep  a  very  complete  stock.  Both  are 
expert  mechanics,  and  are  always  found  at 
their  bench,  when  not  otherwise  engaged, 
making  articles  of  furniture  on  order.  John 
McMackin.  grandfather  of  Thomas,  moved 
with  his  family  from  Butler  County,  Ky. , 
and  in  1822  settled  near  a  crab-apple  thicket 
called  Fairfield,  or  at  least  the  little  grove  of 
shrubby  trees  contained  all  there  was  of  the 
now  pleasant  and  prosperous  town.  He  re- 
mained here  until  1825,  moving  thence  to 
what  is  now  Jasper  Township,  where  he  spent 
the  remainder  of  his  life.  He  was  a  pious 
and  useful  man,  and  his  house  was  ever  open 
to  be  used  as  a  place  of  worship,  or  as  a  home 
for  the  pioneer  preachers.  His  son,  George 
C.  McMackin,  the  father  of  Thomas,  was 
born  in  Butler  County,  Ky. ,  May  15,  1807, 
and  came  to  Wayne  County  with  his  parents 
in  1822.  He  became  one  of  the  leading 
members  of  the  Methodist  Church  in  Jasper 
Township,  and  was  noted  for  his  zeal  in 
Christian  work.  He  married  SallieBovee  on 
the  28th  of  December,  1828.  She  was  born 
line  9,  1811.     Both  are  deceased. 


JOHN  A.  MOFFITT,  Fairfield.  Among 
the  first  marriages  on  the  records  of  Wayne 
County  is  that  of  John  Moffitt  and  Sarah  M. 
Campbell,  which  took  place  in  September  of 
1820.  Mr.  Moffitt  probably  came  to  this 
county  in  1818,  soon  after  the  coming  of  his 
father-in-law,  Alexander  Campbell,  both  of 
whom  came  from  Kentucky,  where  his  wife, 
Sarah  W.,  was  born  in  1802.  Mi-.  Moffitt  was 
by  trade  a  hatter,  and  followed  it  for  a  short 
time  after  coming  to  this  county,  but  soon 
abandoned  it  altogether  for  other  pursuits, 
which  was  chiefly  farming,  in  connection  with 
which,  for  a  time,  he  taught  in  the  pioneer 
schools,  being  a  man  of  more  than  ordinary 
education  for  those  days.  He  was  reared  by 
Quaker  parents,  commonly  styled  "Friends," 
which  rarely  fails  to  insure  good  citizens,  to 
which  rule  Mr.  John  Moffitt  was  no  exception. 
He  was  a  successful  farmer,  reared  a  family 
of  eleven  children,  and  died  in  this  county  in 
May,  1857,  his  wife  surviving  him  nearly 
twenty-six  years.  She  died  January,  1883. 
John  A.  Moffitt  is  the  eighth  member  of  this 
family,  and  was  born  November  11,  1836. 
He  obtained  a  liberal  common  school  educa- 
tion, and  on  arriving  at  manhood  began  teach- 
ing, which  he  followed  for  eleven  years,  dur- 
ing which  time  he  established  the  reputation 
of  an  efficient  teacher.  He  served  several 
years  as  a  township  official,  and  in  1869  was 
elected  to  the  office  of  County  Treasurer,  the 
duties  of  which  he  discharged  with  accept- 
ance. He  is  a  Democrat  and  a  member  of 
the  Masonic  fraternity.  Married  in  Fairfield, 
February  15,  1871,  to  Eliza  B.  DormaD, 
widow  of  Dr.  Dorman,  and  daughter  of  Will- 
iam and  Elizabeth  H.  She  was  born  in  this 
county  in  1836.  Of  the  eleven  children  of 
John  and  Sarah  Moffitt,  five  are  residents  of 
Wayne  County,  three  are  deceased,  one  a 
resident  of  Effingham  County,  one  of  Sanga- 
mon County,  and  one   in  Colorado. 


CITY    OF   FAIRFIELD. 


25 


JONAH  MORLAN.  contractor.  Fairfield, 
is  a  native  of  Columbiana  County,  Ohio, 
where  h-*  was  born  May  16,  L827.  His 
father,  whose  name  was  Jonah  Morlan, 
was  of  Scotch  ancestry,  and  was  born  in 
Virginia.  He  was  married,  in  Ohio,  to 
Emily  Armstrong,  who  was  of  Welsh  ori- 
gin, and  who  was  born  in  Wilmington,  Del. 
They  were  both  reared  under  the  influences 
of  Quaker  parents,  and  were,  perhaps,  the 
Srsi  of  their  families  to  break  over  the  rites 
and  customs  of  that  sect.  They  had  nine 
children,  Jonah  Morlan,  Jr. ,  being  the  young- 
est of  the  family.  The  father  died  in  Co- 
lumbiana County.  Ohio,  about  1830,  and  the 
mother  in  same  county  in  1863.  Three  broth- 
ers and  one  sister  of  the  family  came  to 
Wayne  County,  111.,  in  1843.  The  sister, 
Deborah  McNeely,  and  James  A.  Morlan  re- 
moved from  here  to  Morgan  County,  111.,  mam- 
years  ago.  and  the  latter  is  now  a  Baptist 
minister  in  Jacksonville,  111.  Jonah  Morlan 
was  married,  April  18.  1850,  to  Naomi  S. 
Johnson,  of  White  County.  She  was  born 
May  L6,  1829.  In  1861,  Mr.  Morlan  was 
mustered  into  the  United  States  Military  serv- 
ice as  Second  Lieutenant  of  Company  G. 
Fortieth  Regiment.  Ho  took  a  prominent 
part  in  the  battle  of  Shiloh,  in  which  exactly 
two-thirds  of  his  company  were  either  killed 
or  wounded.  In  consideration  of  meritori- 
ous conduct  in  that  battle,  he  was  promoted 
to  the  position  of  First  Lieutenant,  and  soon 
after  to  the  Captaincy  of  the  company.  Ho 
was  on  board  the  "  Robert  Campbell,"  which 
burned  near  Milliken's  Bend,  above  Vicks 
burg,  and  there  saved  his  life  and  the  life  of 
his  wounded  Colonel.  Hicks,  by  swimming  a 
distance  of  150  yards,  to  the  shore.  In  Feb- 
ruary. 1864,  he  was  appointed  by  Lincoln  to 
the  office  of  Assistant  Quartermaster  with  the 
rank  of  Captain,  in  which  capacity  he  served 
until  the  close  of  the  war.      After  returning 


from  the  ranks,  he  engaged  in  merchandising 
in  White  County,  111.,  and  removed  to  "Wayne 
County  in  L881,  and  is  now  a  resident  of 
1'airlield.  They  have  a  family  of  four  chil- 
dren— Isore,  wife  of  Charles  V.  Rice,  of  Mc- 
Leansboro;  Louisa  A.,  wife  of  J.  B.  Odell, 
of  Enfield,  111.;  John  H.  and  Arthur  J.  Mor- 
lan, of  Fairfield.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Morlan  and 
daughters  are  members  of  the  Christian 
Church. 

JOHN  MORRIS,  of  Fairfield.  111.,  was 
born  September  14,  1830,  in  Monroo  County, 
Ohio.  The  family  was  first  represented  in 
America  during  the  colonial  days,  and  be- 
longed to  the  Society  of  Friends,  or  Quakers, 
settling  in  New  Jersey,  where  Elihu  Morris, 
father  of  John,  was  born  in  1 70S.  While 
Elihu  was  yet  a  lad,  his  parents  removed  to 
the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  where  he  grew  to 
manhood,  and  where  he  was  first  married,  to 
a  Miss  Davis,  soon  after  which  they  removed 
to  Monroe  County,  Ohio,  where  his  wife  died, 
leaving  several  children.  He  was  next  mar- 
ried to  Mary  Hartley,  a  native  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  a  daughter  of  James  Hartley,  of 
English  ancestry.  She  was  born  in  1802, 
and  was  married  to  Elihu  Morris  about  1833. 
This  union  resulted  in  the  birth  of  five  chil- 
dren— Richard  S.,  now  of  Clay  County,  John, 
Harriet,  Job  and  Elihu,  the  three  latter  being 
deceased.  The  family  removed  to  Clay  Coun- 
ty, 111.,  and  settled  in  Xenia  in  1859.  Here 
the  parents  both  died.  John  Morris  returned 
to  Ohio  in  1800,  and  was  there  married  to  Miss 
Lucinda  E.  Lentz,  daughter  of  Israel  and 
Catharine  Lentz,  both  of  whom  were  born  in 
Germany,  and  are  now  dead.  She  was  born  in 
Monroe  County,  Ohio,  Febvuary  18,  1840.  In 
August.  1862,  Mr.  Morris  enlisted  in  Company 
C,  of  the  One  Hundred  and  Eleventh  Illinois 
Infantry,  and  was  elected  to  the  position  of 
First  Sergeant;  in  August,  1803,  was  pro- 
moted to  Second  Lieutenant,  and  soon  after 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


to  First  Lieutenant.  He  was  in  command  of 
his  company  on  the  Atlanta  campaign.  He 
was  in  all  the  active  engagements  incident  to 
that  campaign,  closing  at  Jonesboro,  after 
which  he  resigned,  on  account  of  the  death 
of  his  parents.  From  1866  until  1873,  Mr. 
Morris  was  engaged  in  farming  principally, 
and  in  the  last-named  year  was  elected  Coun- 
ty Clerk  of  Wayne  County,  serving  four 
years;  was  then  elected  to  the  office  of  Coun- 
ty Treasurer,  in  which  capacity  he  served  one 
term.  He  is  a  member  of  the  order  of  Ma- 
sons, and  Deputy  Grand  Master  Workman  in 
the  A.  O.  U.  W. ;  has  a  family  of  seven  chil- 
dren—Harry E.,  born  May  13,  1S84;  Ralph 
H.,  born  February  25,  1866;  Kate,  born 
March  10,  1868;  Cloyd,  born  February  7, 
1870;  Fred,  born  March  21,  1872;  Bessie 
Morris,  born  December  28,  1877;  besides  an 
infant,  unnamed,  born  June  28,  1883. 

WILLIAM  M.  MURPHEY,  Fairfield,  a  na- 
tive of  Meade  County.  Ky.,  was  born  October 
26,  1830.  His  father.  Davis  Murphey,  was 
born  in  Kentucky  in  1809,  and  in  1829  married 
Lucinda  Conn.  She  was  born  in  Kentucky 
in  1810.  They  came  to  Wayne  County  in 
1831,  landing  here  on  the  day  William  M. 
was  one  year  old.  They  settled  in  the  south 
em  portion  of  Barnhill  Township,  where 
they  pursued  the  interest  of  the  farm  until 
their  death.  They  reared  ten  children,  Will 
iam  being  the  oldest,  all  of  whom  lived  to 
grow  to  maturity.  Two  are  now  deceased, 
and  sis  are  living  within  the  limits  of  Wayne 
and  "White  Counties.  Davis  Murphey  died 
Jurje  21,  1866,  and  Lucinda  Murphey  died 
in  May,  1873.  Williarn  M.  remained  on  the 
farm  until  I860,  when  he  removed  to  Fair- 
field, where  he  has  since  been  engaged  in 
running  a  livery  and  sale  stable.  He  was 
married,  in  Wayne  County,  in  March,  1851, 
to  Darthula  Boyce.  She  is  a  daughter  of 
Mns>'s  and   Mahala  Boyce.  and   was  born  in 


Kentucky  March  17,  1837.  She  came  to 
Wayne  County  with  her  mother  in  1848,  the 
father  havino-  died  in  Kentuckvin  1847;  her 
mother  died  in  White  County,  111.,  in  March, 
1862.  Mr.  Murphey  has  had  a  family  of 
thirteen  children,  of  whom  but  three  are  liv- 
ing— Henry  F.  Murphey,  born  in  April,  1865, 
married  to  Bell  Alexander,  daughter  of  Nich- 
olas and  Jane  Alexander;  Lucinda,  wife  of 
Alexander  Funckhowser,  was  born  March  21. 
1862;  Einily'Murphey,  born  March  14,1873. 
Mr.  Murphey  is  a  member  of  the  Fairfield 
Lodge,  No.  206,  A.  F.  &  A.  M.  Henry  F. 
and  Lucinda  Murphey  have  two  children,  one 
of  whom  is  deceased. 

REV.  WILLIAM  M.  MURRAY,  minister, 
Fairfield,  is  one  of  Nature's  noblemen, 
and  may  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  use- 
ful members  of  society  in  Wayne  County. 
He  was  born  in  Bond  County,  111..  June 
1,  1844,  beinsc  the  son  of  William  and  Jane 
(Harris)  Murray,  whose  children  were  Jordan 
R.,  of  Thirty-fifth  Illinois  Volunteer  In- 
fantry; Nancy  E.  (Akenian),  our  subject, 
John  H.  and  Sarah  E.  (Green).  His  father 
was  born  in  Virginia  in  1808,  was  reared  in 
Bedford  County,  Tenn.,  and  came  to  Bond 
County,  111.,  when  there  were  only  seven 
families  living  in  the  county,  and  died  in 
Fayette  County,  111.,  in  February,  1876. 
His  mother,  the  daughter  of  John  Harris, 
was  born  in  Warren  County,  Ky.,  in'1825. 
Her  grandfather,  Rev.  William  Harris,  was 
for  forty  years  pastor  of  the  Pilot  Knob 
Presbyterian  Church,  in  Logan  County,  Ky. 
He  at  one  time  sat  in  the  pulpit  with  seven 
of  Lis  sons,  all  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
ministers.  From  the  old  patriarch  seems  to 
have  sprung  a  race  of  preachers,  our  subject 
being  the  twenty-ninth  in  the  line  occupying 
the  sacred  desk.  On  November  30,  1865, 
in  Fayette  County,  111.,  he  married  Mrs. 
Anna  Surl)er,  daughter    of    Edmund    Green, 


CITY   OF    FAIRFIELD. 


27 


and  to  thorn  were  born  Maggie  N.,  June, 
isTl:  Roy,  April  12,  1873;  Florence  D.,  Oc- 
tober 20,    1876;  Mary  L..  January  5,   1878; 

and  Annie,  August  •",.  1881.  Our  subject 
lirst  a  soldier  in  tbe  Ninety-eighth  Illi- 
nois Infantry,  hut  was  transferred  to  the 
Sixty-fourth  Regiment,  with  which  he  served 
to  the  eml  of  the  war.  In  lSfiO,  he  was  con- 
verted, and  united  with  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  Church,  received  under  care  of 
the  McLin  Presbytery  in  October,  1868.  li 
probationer  in  1871,  and  or- 
dained to  the  whole  work  of  ministry  in  Sep 
tember,  1S75,  in  Fairfield  (Albion  Presby- 
tery),  where,  with  the  exception  of  nine 
months,  he  has  remained  pastor  to  the  pres- 
ent time.  Mr.  Murray  is  a  minister  of  great 
energy,  untiring  in  his  labors,  and  has  prob- 
ably received  more  members  into  his  church 
in  Wayne  County  during  his  pastorate  than 
any  other  minister.  His  style  is  that  of  the 
fathers,  and  one  that  will  attract  attention 
in  any  community.  He  has  twice  been  a 
delegate  to  the  general  assembly  of  his 
church.  Being  very  popular,  his  party,  in 
1882,  placed  him  in  the  field  as  a  candidate 
tor  Treasurer  of  Wayne  County,  and.  with  a 
strong  pain  majority  against  him  and  one 
of  the  strongest  men  in  the  count}  as  a  com 
petitor,  he  came  within  eight  votes  of  being 
elected.  He  has  a  grand  held  of  usefulness 
before  him  as  a  minister,  and,  if  he  lives  t" 
be  old,  will,  in  all  probability,  !»•  a  promi- 
nent factor  in  the  history  of  his  church. 

NEWTON  J.  ODELL.  grain-dealer,  Fair- 
field, son  of  Joseph  and  Elizabeth  Odell,  of 
Barnhill  Township,  was  born  in  WayneCoon- 
ty,  III.,  in  February.  1840,  and  was  reared  on 
the  farm  and  educated  in  the  public  schools  of 
the  country.  Like  so  many  others  of  Wayne 
County's  noblemen,  he  responded  to  the  call 
of  the  Government  by  enlisting  in  Company 
H,  Fifty-sixth  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry  in 


January.  1862.  For  two  years  he  was  a  non- 
commissioned  officer  iu  his  company,  and  wa9 
mustered  out  in  August,  1865,  with  the  com- 
mission of  First  Lieutenant,  having  re-en- 
listed at  the  expiration  of  three  years.  He 
participated  in  much  of  active  service,  in- 
cluding the  siege  and  battle  of  Corinth, 
.Miss.,  siege  of  Vicksbnrg.  battle  of  Mission 
Ridge  am]  many  other  engagements,  partici- 
pating in  the  grand  review  at  Washington, 
and  was  mustered  out  at  Little  Rock,  Ark. 
Returning  to  Wayne  County,  he  followed 
farming  one  year,  and  iD  the  fall  of  18(jli 
was  elected  to  the  office  of  County  Sheriff, 
and  was  the  first  Republican  Sheriff  ever 
elected  in  the  county.  For  the  next  live  or 
six  years  he  was  engaged  iu  merchandising 
with  J.  W.  Tullis.  He  was  married,  in  Fair- 
field,  111.,  Februarj  8,  1ST!,  to  Frances 
Shaeffer,  daughter  of  William  and  Maria 
Shaeffer,  of  Fairfield.  She  was  born  in 
Wayne  County,  111.,  January  31,  1851.  They 
have  had  two  children,  one  of  whom  is  de- 
ceased. Dellos  Odell  was  born  October  3, 
1ST".;  Mary  Odell,  born  January  22,  1877, 
and  died  February  17.  1882.  Mr.  Odell  is 
an  advocate  of  temperance,  and  a  member  of 
R.  T.  of  T.  and  of  the  Christian  Church. 
Hi  wife  is  a  member  of  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  Church.  He  is  now  and  for 
some  years  has  been  engaged  in  the  grain 
trade  at  Fairfield. 

JAMES  C.  OVE11BEE.  retired,  Fairfield, 
was  born  in  Allou  County,  Ky.,  April  22, 
L82U,  and  is  a  son  of  James  and  Lueretia 
i  Wade)  Overbee.  The  father  was  of  Scotch 
descent,  and  was  born  a  few  days  after  the 
coming  of  his  parents  to  the  United  States. 
He  grew  to  manhood  in  Virginia,  and  about 
lNi  in  he  wes  married  to  Miss  Wade,  who  was 
a  native  of  that  State.  He  fought  in  the 
war  of  L812,  and  afterward  moved  to  Ken- 
tucky,   where    the   family    resided    until  the 


28 


BIOGEAPHICAL: 


year  1827.  In  that  year,  the  father,  attract- 
ed by  the  promises  of  Edward  Maxey,  who 
was  then  a  settler  of  Jefferson  County,  111., 
brought  his  family  to  that  county.  He  was 
not  permitted  to  enjoy  the  pleasures  and  pri- 
vations of  the  new  territory  long,  but  died 
two  years  after  his  arrival  there,  and  the 
mother  died  in  that  county  in  the  fall  of 
1835.  James  C.  is  the  eighth  of  a  family 
of  ten  children,  and  the  only  one  now  living. 
He  grew  to  manhood  near  Mt.  Vernon,  Jef- 
ferson County,  and  resided  in  that  county 
until  1850,  when  he  came  to  Wayne  County. 
In  this  county  he  farmed  for  a  number  of 
years,  and  in  1870  he  came  to  Fairfield, 
where  he  has  since  resided.  Mr.  Overbee 
was  married  in  Jefferson  County  in  October, 
1841,  to  Miss  Eleanor  McKight,,  a  native  of 
Kentucky.  Three  children  resulted  from 
this  marriage — Mary  E.,  wife  of  C.  Hall,  of 
Fairfield;  Sarah  L.,  wife  of  Daniel  Green, 
of  Elm  River  Township;  and  John  F. ,  de- 
ceased. This  lady  died  January  25,  1845, 
in  Jefferson  County,  and  subject  was  married 
the  second  time,  in  Wayne  County,  on  June 
25,  1845,  to  Jane  A.  McNeely,  a  daughter  of 
Robert  and  Rebecca  McNeely,  the  father  of 
Scotch  descent,  the  mother  of  German.  She 
was  born  in  Columbiana  County,  Ohio,  on 
February  14,  1827,  and  is  the  mother  of  the 
following  children:  Emily  C  wife  of  James 
Ewing.  of  Logan  Comity,  111. ;  Caroline, 
wife  of  Finnis  Ewing.  of  same  county; 
George  W.,  Charles  R..  both  in  business  in 
Fairfield;  Margaret  A.,  wife  of  John  Tribe; 
Rebecca  J.,  Ella,  and  James  C,  Jr.  In 
1846,  he  became  a  member  of  Third  Illinois 
Regiment,  under  Col.  Foreman,  and  served 
under  that  command  until  the  close  of  the 
Mexican  war,  and  was  mustered  out  at  the 
expiration  of  his  term  of  service.  Among 
the  battles  in  which  he  participated  were 
those  of  Monterey,  Vera  Cruz,  Cerro    Gordo 


and  others  of  less  importance.  In  the  late 
war,  he  also  helped  to  organize  several  corps, 
and  was  occupied  in  military  service  until 
1864.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fra- 
ternity, also  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Re- 
public, and  for  forty-three  years  he  has  been 
a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

OLIVER  P.  PATTERSON,  the  present 
County  Treasurer  and  popular  boot  and  shoe 
merchant  of  Fairfield,  was  born  May  25, 
1838,  and  is  a  son  of  Richard  M.  Patterson 
and  Rachel  Fleming.  He  grew  to  manhood 
in  his  native  State,  West  Virginia,  and  when 
nineteen  years  old  went  from  home  and 
spent  several  years  in  various  parts  of  the 
West.  He  came  to  Fairfield  in  1861,  since 
which  time  he  has  been  principally  engaged 
in  merchandising,  and  is  now  proprietor  of 
an  extensive  boot  and  shoe  store  on  South 
street.  He  was  elected  to  the  office  of  Coun- 
ty Treasurer,  on  the  Democratic  ticket,  in 
1882.  Married  in  Fairfield,  111.,  in  1868,  to 
Miss  Nannie  Carter,  daughter  of  Charles 
Carter,  of  Fairfield.  She  was  born  April  9, 
1847.  He  is  an  A.  F.  &  A.  M.,  and  an  A. 
O.  U.  W. 

ERASMUS  W.  PENDLETON,  retired, 
Fairfield,  son  of  Samuel  C.  Pendleton,  was 
born  November  13,  1834.  in  Warren  County, 
Ky.  His  father,  who  was  so  long  and  favorably 
known  in  Wayne  County,  was  born  in  Vir- 
ginia in  1811,  and  when  a  young  man  re- 
moved to  Kentucky,  where,  in  1833,  he  was 
married  to  a  lady  whose  maiden  name  was 
Eliza  Covington.  She  was  born  in  Kentucky 
in  1808,  and  was  first  married  to  a  man 
named  John  Whitlock,  by  whom  she  had  one 
son,  Dr.  Whitlock,  formerly  a  practicing 
physician  in  Fairfield.  Her-husband  having 
died,  she  next  married  Elijah  Mansfield. 
They  had  one  child,  a  daughter.  Susan,  wife 
of  David  K.  Felix,  of  Barnhill  Township. 
This  husDand  also  died,  and  she  was  married 


CITY    OF    FAIKFIKl.l) 


29 


to  Samuel  C.  Pendleton,  as  above  stated. 
This  marriage,  as  in  former  ones,  resulted  in 
the  birth  of  one  child,  whoso  name  heads  this 
sketch.  They  came  to  Wayne  County  in 
the  spring  of  1840  and  bought  a  farm  in 
Bamhill  Township,  where  they  spent  the  re- 
mainder of  their  useful  lives.  Samuel  C. 
Pendleton  was  an  ordained  minister  in  the 
Missionary  Baptist  Church,  and  led  a  life 
characterized  for  honesty  and  Christian  de- 
votion. He  died  on  the  11th  of  November, 
1875,  his  wife  having  died  September  27, 
1873.  Erasmus  W.  received  such  education- 
al  advantages  as  could  be  obtained  in  the  pi- 
oneer schools  of  the  country,  and  has  devoted 
his  time  to  the  pursuits  of  the  farm  until  re- 
moving to  Fairfield  in  1875,  and  still  owns 
several  hundred  acres  of  land.  He  was  mar- 
ried in  1861  to  Miss  Lucretia  Murphy,  daugh- 
ter of  Jeremiah  and  Ann  (Harl)  Murphy. 
She  was  born  in  Barnhill  Township  Septem- 
ber 4,  1840.  Both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Pendleton 
are  members  of  the  Baptist  Church,  which 
they  honor  by  their  useful  and  pious  lives. 
Mr.  Pendleton  is  a  member  of  the  A.  O.  TJ. 
W.,  and  is  esteemed  by  all  who  know  him  as 
an  honorable,  enterprising  citizen.  Their 
union  has  been  blessed  with  seven  children, 
but  the  reaper,  Death,  has  live  times  visited 
their  household,  each  time  conveying  upon 
his  cold  bosom  one  of  their  jewels.  Elmer 
W.  was  born  March  7.  1862,  and  died  Sep- 
tember 21,  1879;  Mary,  born  May  5,  1863, 
died  September  9,  1865;  Laura,  born  De- 
cember 15,  1865;  Cora,  born  July  14,  1S68, 
died  September  11.  lsT'.i;  Clara  Bell,  born 
May  13,  1870,  died  August  1,  1879;  Wil- 
burn,  born  May  13,  1873,  died  May  :i. 
1874;  and  Samuel  Thomas  Pendleton,  born 
July  19,  1877. 

WILLIAM  H.   PORTERFIELD,  retired; 
Fairfield.     Biography  may  seek  to  ilium 
its  subjects  with  more  brilliant  achievements, 


and  romance  may  furnish  more  thrilling  pict- 
ures and  greater  variety  of  exciting  advent 
ores,  but  there  is  nothing  as  directly  inter- 
esting to  the  family  as  the  simple  history  of 
the  lives  of  William  H.  Porterneld  and  Eliz- 
abeth M.  Wall.  The  former  was  born  in 
Westmoreland  County,  I'eiin..  Februan  28, 
1830,  but  moved  with  his  parents,  when  quite 
young,  to  Armstrong  County.  His  boyhood 
was  spent  on  the  slopes  of  the  Alleghany 
Mountains,  and  among  the  rugged  hills 
which  embrace  the  great  coal  mines,  oil  wells 
and  iron  foundries  of  the  "  Keystone  State." 
His  father  was  a  poor  but  industrious  farmer, 
who  gained  for  his  family  a  decent  living  by 
the  sweat  of  his  brow,  and  although  he  had 
to  encounter  many  misfortunes  and  disadvan- 
tages, he,  together  with  the  assistance  of  the 
willing  hands  of  wife  and  children,  managed 
to  keep  their  heads  above  want.  But  as  the 
crowded  and  growing  population  of  the  East 
afforded  few  advantages  to  the  poor  man.  and 
as  his  opportunities  for  providing  for  the  fut- 
ure welfare  of  his  family  were  limited,  he 
decided  to  remove  to  the  "  Prairies  of  the 
Goldon  West."  Consequently  a  home  was 
selected  in  Wayne  County,  111  .  and  later  a 
permanent  homo  was  purchased  near  the 
present  site  of  Mt.  Erie,  where,  though  they 
had  tin*  inconveniences  of  frontier  life  with 
which  to  contend,  they  enjoyed  a  sufficient 
degree  of  prosperity  to  enable  them  to  live 
comfortably.  Hero  in  their  Western  home, 
many  both  happy  and  sad  seasons  were  spent 
le.  the  family  of  John  Porterfield.  Though 
many  changes  have  taken  place  in  the  old 
homestead,  and  death  has  claimed  its  portion 
of  its  occupants,  including  the  parents,  it  is 
still  owned  by  a  younger  brother,  -lames  T. 
Porterfield.  William  H.  ha' I  reached  the  age 
of  nineteen,  when  the  family  removed  to  Il- 
linois. He  had  received  a  liberal  common 
school   education,  sufficient    to  enable  him  to 


30 


l'HKiRAI'HKWl.: 


teach  the  rural  districts.  But  little  of  his 
time  was  spent  in  this  way,  the  labors  of  the 
farm  claiming  the  greater  portion  of  his  time, 
and  the  toil  and  hardship  incident  to  pioneer 
farm  life  eminently  fitted  him  for  this  call- 
ing in  later  years,  and  supplied  him  with  the 
necessary  energy  to  insure  his  future  success. 
Elizabeth  M.  Wall  was  born  in  Daviess  County, 
Ky.,  February  1, 1836.  Her  father  was  like- 
wise possessed  of  small  fortune,  and  longing 
to  live  in  a  free  State  and  to  otherwise  better 
his  condition,  in  obtaining  for  his  family  a 
home,  he  severed  the  ties  to  the  "Old  Ken- 
tucky Shore,"  and  settled  in  Wayne  County. 
111.,  in  1850,  near  where  the  Portertield  fam- 
ily had  located  in  the  same  year.  William 
H.  Portertield  and  Elizabeth  M.  Wall  were 
married  on  the  30th  of  November,  1854. 
They  still  live  to  comfort  each  other  in  the 
decline  of  life,  and  have  surrounded  them- 
selves with  a  host  of  ardent  friends,  who  love 
them  for  their  many  virtues.  Their  family 
consists  of  Melvin  W..  horn  September  6, 
1855;  W.  Clem,  born  March  28,  1858;  Laura 
E.,  born  September  22,  1860;  Luella,  born 
April  1,  1863;  Mary  I.  born  April  19,  1866; 
Joe,  born  January  3 1 ,  1869,  and  an  infant, 
deceased.  Mr.  Portertield,  in  August,  1862, 
enlisted  in  Company  D,  Eighty-seventh  Illi- 
nois Regiment,  and  served  as  an  officer  in 
that  organization  until  discharged  in  July, 
1865.  He  participated  in  the  siege  of  Vicks- 
bnrg  and  the  Red  River  expedition.  Four 
of  the  children  have  engaged  in  the  county 
as  teachers.  The  older  sons,  M.  W.  and  W. 
C,  were  educated  at  Ladoga,  Ind.,  the  former 
graduating  in  the  class  of  1878.  Since  1880, 
they  have  engaged  in  the  drug  trade  at  Fair- 
field, and  are  now  associated  with  William 
N.  Lasley,  and  are  enjoying  a  lucrative 
patronage,  which  they  evidently  merit.  The 
entire  family  are  members  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church   of    Fairfield,   111.,    where 


the  parents  have   recently  moved   for  retire- 
ment. 

LEWIS  J.  RIDER,  miller,  Fairfield,  is 
a  son  of  Sylvester  and  Ann  F.  Rider,  for- 
merly of  Wayne  County,  and  now  of  Flora, 
111.  He  was  born  August  11,  1837,  in  Stark 
County,  Ohio.  He  came  to  Wayne  County 
when  a  boy  of  seven  years,  since  which  time 
he  has  continued  a  resident  of  the  county. 
He  was  reared  on  the  farm  of  his  father  near 
Fairfield,  and  had  only  the  advantages  of 
limited  sehooliug,  when  the  schools  were  very* 
inferior,  and  yet  he  is  a  very  practical  man 
and  noted  for  business  ability.  He  was  mar- 
ried to  Miss  Ruth  A.  Montgomery,  daughter 
of  Daniel  and  Alice  Montgomery.  She  was 
born  October  22,  1831,  in  Ohio.  Their  fam- 
ily consists  of  Harriet  A.,  born  August  26, 
1860;  Bernard  M.,  born  March  9.  1S63,  and 
Mary  Maud  Rider,  born  December  7,  1867. 
The  entire  family  are  members  of  the  Cath- 
olic Church  of  Fairfield.  Mr.  Rider  is  an 
extremely  active  worker  in  the  cause  of  tem- 
perance, and  is  respected  by  all  for  his  many 
good  qualities,  especially  for  his  many  free- 
will offerings  to  the  worthy  poor  in  his  midst. 
He  is  Democrat  in  politics,  and  a  member  of 
the  firm  of  Rider  Bros.,  of  Fairfield  (see  his- 
tory of  "  Sucker  Mills").  Carroll  B.  Rider, 
a  younger  brother  of  A.  B.  and  L.  J.  Rider, 
and  a  resident  of  Fairfield,  was  born  in 
Wayne  County.  EL,  July  21,  1854.  He  was 
educated  at  St.  Vincent's  College  of  Cape 
Girardeau,  Mo.,  and  married  May  11,  1880, 
to  Hattie  E..  daughter  of  William  H.  and 
Anna  E.  Vandewater.  She  was  born  in  St. 
Louis  August  25.  1858.  Their  children  are 
Anna  Cecelia,  born  September  4,  1881,  and 
Luke  Alexius  Rider,  born  December  12.1882. 

ALEXIUS  B.  RIDER,  miller,  junior 
member  of  the  firm  of  Rider  Bros.,  Fair- 
field. 111.,  is  a  son  of  Sylvester  and  Ann 
F.    Rider,    well     and     favorably    known    in 


CITY    OF    FAIRFIELD. 


31 


Wayne  County.  A.  B.  Rider  was  born  in 
this  county  on  October  10,  1845.  and  was 
reared  principally  upon  the  farm.  Ho  at- 
tended the  common  schools  of  the  county 
until  about  grown,  when  he  went  to  St. 
Louis,  and  there  attended  college  for  one 
year.  In  1867,  the  Sucker  Alii  I  was  built, 
and  he  became  its  part  owner,  since  which 
time  he  has  been  a  resident  of  Fairfield. 
Here  he  was  married  to  Lucinda  A.  Fleming, 
May  29,  1871.  She  was  born  June  9,  1850, 
in  Virginia,  and  is  a  daughter  of  Zadoc 
Fleming  and  Emma  Rowel  1.  Her  mother 
died  in  Virginia,  and  her  father  removed  to 
Wayne  County,  111.,  in  1862,  and  died  in 
Fairfield  on  September  21.  1S74.  They  have 
two  children — Edward  F.  Rider,  born  De- 
cember 14,  1875:  Clara  Rider,  born  October 
4,  1880.  The  family  are  honored  members 
of  the  Catholic  Church  of  Fairfield,  and  by 
upright  lives  and  generous  deeds  have  won 
the  respect  of  a  large  circle  of  ardent  friends. 
(For  biography  of  parents,  see  biographical 
department  of  Clay  County. ) 

NATHAN  E.ROBERTS.  J  r.  .druggist.  Fair- 
field. One  of  the  earliest  pioneer  settlers  of 
Wayne  County  was  Archibald  Roberts,  who 
came  to  Illinois  from  Virginia  in  1818.  By 
trade  he  was  a  hatter,  at  which  he  worked  but 
little  after  coming  to  this  county,  occupying 
himself  with  the  pursuits  of  the  farm-.  He 
was  a  zealous  Christian  man,  a  member  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  in  which 
he  sustained  the  relation  of  local  preacher. 
He  had  a  family  of  ten  children,  of  whom  but 
two  are  now  living.  Nathan  E.  Roberts,  Sr. , 
was  the  eldest  of  this  family,  and  was  born  in 
180S  in  Virginia.  He  married,  in  Wayne 
County,  about  1826.  to  MaryBovee,  who  was 
born  in  the  State  of  New  York  in  1809. 
They  made  their  first  settlement  within  the 
present  limits  of  Jasper  Township,  but  later 
entered  a  tract  of  land  in  Leech  Township, 


where  they  remained  until  1859,  when  they 
removed  to  Union  Prairie  Township,  which 
continued  to  be  his  home  until  his  death. 
Nathan  E.  Roberts  was,  in  politics,  a  leading 
Republican,  and  like  his  father,  was  a  Meth 
odist  minister;  professionally,  a  physician, 
and  died  suddenly  while  on  a  trip  in  Kan- 
sas in  1869.  His  wife  still  survives,  and 
now  resides  with  her  son,  J.  Roberts.  They 
had  also  ten  children,  the  subject  of  these 
lines.  Nathan  E.  Roberts.  Jr.,  being  the  ninth. 
He  was  born  in  Wayne  County  April  26, 
1849,  and  was  chiefly  reared  in  the  village  of 
Johnsonville,  where  he  attended  the  public 
schools.  After  a  brief  experience  as  a  teach- 
er, he  came  to  Fairfield  in  1870,  and  en- 
gaged in  the  drug  business,  which  he  con- 
tinues with  fair  success.  Owns  a  good  store 
building,  which  he  erected  in  1873,  at  a  cost 
of  about  $4,000.  N.  E.  Roberts  was  mar- 
ried, in  Fairfield.  January  18  1872,  to  Han 
nah  Rea.  She  was  born  June,  1849,  in  Ohio, 
but  descends  from  Scotch  ancestry.  Her 
parents,  Madison  and  Elizabeth  Rea,  came  to 
Wayne  County  about  1862,  and  settled  in 
Indian  Prairie,  near  Blue  Point,  where  they 
died.  Mr.  Roberts  family  consists  of  three 
children,  viz..  LaRue,  born  May  21,  1873; 
Dollie,  born  November  26.  1877,  and  Kath- 
leen. N.  E.  Roberts  is  a  member  of  the 
Fairfield  Lodge,  No.  206,  F.  &  A.  M.;  Fair- 
field Chapter,  No.  179,  R.  A.  M. ;  Gorin 
Commandery.  No.  14,  K.  T.,  and  Peoria  Con 
sistory,  S.  \  P.-.  R.  .  S.  \ 

W.  H.  ROBINSON,  lawyer,  Fairfield,  was 
born  in  Lawrence  County,  111.,  on  January 
31,  1837,  and  is  a  son  of  I.  B.  and  Elizabeth 
(Curry)  Robinson.  The  grandfather  of  our 
subject.  Squire  Robinson,  was  a  native  of 
Virginia,  and  was  a  minister  of  the  Method- 
ist Episcopal  Church  for  forty-eight  years. 
He  emigrated  to  Lexington  County,  Ky.,  and 
there    the    father  of   our  subject  was   born 


32 


BKXiUAPHICAL: 


The  former  moved  afterward  to  Lawrence 
County,  111.,  where  he  died  at  the  age  of 
eighty-four.  The  father,  who  was  a  farmer, 
came  to  this  State  in  183-1,  and  settled  in 
Lawrence  County.  He  is  now  living,  at  the 
age  of  seventy-nine,  in  Marion  County.  The 
mother  of  our  subject  was  a  daughter  of 
James  T.  and  Anna  (Mounts)  Curry,  and  was 
born  in  Indiana  in  1812.  The  father  was  a 
native  of  Ireland,  and  Anna  Mounts,  a  native 
of  Kentucky,  and  a  daughter  of  Thomas 
Mounts,  a  native  of  Virginia,  and  a  soldier 
of  the  Revolution.  The  old  gentleman  lived 
to  be  about  one  hundred  years  old,  and  one 
of  the  heirlooms  of  the  family  is  a  gold- 
headed  cane  presented  to  him  by  Gen.  Craw- 
ford, for  some  signal  act  of  bravery  per- 
formed in  that  sanguinary  conflict.  The 
mother  of  our  subject  was  the  mother  of  nine 
children,  of  whom  three  are  now  living — 
Mrs.  Matilda  Waters,  Mrs.  Caroline  Russell 
and  our  subject,  and  died  January  10,  1879. 
Mr.  Robinson  received  a  slight  education 
from  the  common  schools  of  Southeastern 
Illinois,  but  is  mainly  what  may  be  called  a 
self-made  man.  In  early  life,  he  worked  on 
a  farm,  until  he  was  eighteen,  and  then  com- 
menced the  study  of  law  in  the  office  of 
Charles  A.  Beecher,  of  Fairfield,  he  having 
come  to  Wayne  County  with  his  parents  in 
1843.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1860, 
and  immediately  began  the  practice  of  his 
profession  in  this  circuit.  In  January,  1861, 
he  was  elected  Journal  Clerk  of  the  Illinois 
Legislature,  but  resigned  the  position  in 
April  of  the  same  year.  He  enlisted  in  Com- 
pany G,  of  the  Eighteenth  Illinois  Volunteer 
Infantry.  He  was  immediately  elected  Sec- 
ond Lieutenant,  but  upon  reaching  camp 
was  detailed  by  Capt.  U.  S.  Grant  to  act  as 
Adjutant  of  the  regiment.  This  position  he 
occupied  until  November,  1861,  when  he  was 
honorably  discharged  by  the  regimental  Bur- 


geon on  account  of  disability.  Upon  his 
return  home,  he  resumed  the  practice  of  law, 
and  ever  since  has  devoted  his  entire  time  to 
that  profession,  except  when  called  upon  by 
the  people  to  accept  some  office  of  trust  and 
profit.  In  1864,  he  was  a  delegate  from  the 
Eleventh  Congressional  District  of  Illinois, 
to  National  Republican  Convention,  held  at 
Baltimore,  and  assisted  in  the  nomination  of 
Lincoln.  He  was  also  a  delegate  to  the  Re- 
publican Convention  at  Chicago,  in  1868, 
which  nominated  Grant.  In  1870,  he  was 
nominated  for  Congress  in  the  Thirteenth 
District,  against  Judge  S.  S.  Marshall.  In 
1872,  he  acted  as  Presidential  Elector,  and 
was  a  delegate  in  1876  to  the  Cincinnati 
Convention.  He  served  as  railroad  and  ware- 
house Commissioner  of  the  State  from  Feb- 
ruary, 1881,  until  March,'  1883.  Subject  has 
done  quite  a  good  deal  for  the  improvement 
of  this  county.  In  Fairfield,  he  owns  sev- 
eral valuable  pieces  of  property,  and  has 
erected  the  finest  residence  in  the  city.  He 
was  the  first  proprietor  of  the  land  upon 
which  the  town  of  Cisne  now  stands,  and  by 
his  direction  the  village  was  platted  off.  and 
the  town  named  from  an  old  citizen.  In  the 
county  he  also  owns  some  1,600  acres.  At 
present,  he  is  the  senior  member  of  the  Arm 
of  Robinson,  Boggs  &  John  (established  in 
1871).  Mr.  Robinson  was  married,  in  Fair- 
field, 111.,  on  November  20,  1864,  to  Miss 
Eliza  Julia  Smith,  who  was  born  in  Albion, 
111.,  in  1845.  This  lady  is  the  daughter  of 
Moses  and  Anna  (Stone)  Smith,  natives  of 
England,  and  the  mother  of  five  children, 
viz.,  William  H. ,  Jr.,  born  November  11, 
1865;  Edward  S.,  born  February  20.  L869; 
Charles  Dickens,  born  February  14,  1871. 
Anna  E.  and  Mary  A.  are  deceased.  Mrs. 
Robinson  is  a  member  of  the  Episcopal 
Church.  Subject  is  a  member  of  the  Royal 
Arch  Masons  and  the  I.  O.  O.  F.  fraternities 


(  ITY 


ov 


FAIRFIELD. 


33 


of  Fairfield.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  Mr. 
Robinson  is  a  stalwart  of  the  stalwarts  in  the 
Republican  party,  and  his  devotion  to  his 
party  is  well  known  throughout  Southern 
Illinois. 

THOMAS  M.  ROGERS,  physician,  Fair- 
field, was  born  in  Ohio  County,  Ky., 
on  the  15th  of  August,  1830.  He  is  the 
oldest  of  a  family  of  eight  children  born 
to  Samuel  R.  and  Sarah  (Morgan)  Rog- 
ers, both  of  whom  were  natives  of  Ken- 
tucky, but  of  Scotch  Irish  descent,  whose 
ancestors  were  first  represented  in  America  in 
the  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  century. 
They  removed  to  Wayne  County,  111.,  in 
1852  or  1853,  and  settled  in  the  western 
part,  but  soon  after  came  to  Fairfield,  where, 
in  1855,  the  mother  died.  The  father  re- 
moved to  his  farm  in  Hickory  Hill  Township, 
where  he  died  some  years  later.  Dr.  Thorn 
as  M.  Rogers  is  the  oldest  of  their  family,  of 
whom  seven  are  'still  living.  He  grew  to 
manhood  in  Kentucky,  meanwhile  attending 
the  common  schools,  after  which  he  attended 
college  two  years  in  Lebanon,  Ky.  He  then 
began  the  study  of  medicine,  teaching  school 
at  intervals  to  support  himself  while  so  doing. 
He  attended  one  course  of  lectures  at  the 
University  of  Ann  Arbor.  Mich.,  in  1857,  af- 
ter which  he  began  the  practice  of  his  pro- 
fession. In  1863,  he  entered  the  Ohio  Med- 
ical College,  receiving  the  degree  conferred  by 
that  institution  the  following  year.  He  then 
entered  on  what  proved  to  be  a  very  successful 
practice  of  sixteen  years'  duration  in  Johnson- 
ville.  Wayne  County.  In  1875,  he  removed 
to  I 'airfield,  where  he  now  enjoys  a  lucrative 
practice.  He  married,  in  1857,  in  Ohio,  to 
Martha  E.  Haines.      She  was  born  in  Greene 

inty,  Ohio,  in  1834.  Their  family  con- 
sists of  Charles  F. ,  Robert  E.,  Araminta 
May  and  Clara  Bell  Rogers,  tho  first  two  of 
whom  are  deceased.     He  is  a  member  of  the 


A.,  F.  &  A.  M..  and  his  wife  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church.  Residence,  corner  of  Jack- 
son and  Water  streets.  Office,  corner  of 
Market   and  Center  streets. 

THOMAS  W.  SCOTT,  merchant,  Fair- 
field, was  born  February  1,  1842,  in  Danville, 
111.  His  parents,  John  J.  Scott  and  Mary  A. 
Roland,  the  former  a  native  of  Hardy  Coun- 
ty, Ya.,  and  the  .latter  of  Maysville,  Ky. 
His  father  died  in  1856,  and  the  year  follow- 
ing, he  came  to  Olney,  111.,  where  he  at- 
tained his  manhood.  He  received  a  common 
school  education  in  the  public  schools  of  Dan- 
ville and  Olney.  In  April,  1861,  he  enlisted 
in  the  three  months'  services  as  a  member  of 
Company  D,  Eighth  Illinois  Infantry,  from 
which  he  was  discharged  at  the  expiration  of 
his  term  of  enlistmeut.  In  July  of  1 8(32,  he  en- 
listed in  the  Ninety-eighth  Illinois  Regiment. 
While  a  member  of  this  organization,  he  par- 
ticipated in  a  large  number  of  active  engaga- 
ments,  in  which  he  won  the  distinction  of  a 
competant  leader  and  a  brave  soldier.  He 
was  raised  to  the  position  of  Captain  of 
Company  K,  in  1863,  and  succeeded  signally 
in  gaining  the  confidence  and  esteem  of  those 
under  his  command.  Amoag  the  last  acts  of 
the  martyred  President  Lincoln  was  the  sign- 
ing of  the  appointment  of  Mr.  Scott  to  the 
rank  of  Major,  which  was  done  in  recogni- 
tion of  his  bravery  in  the  engagement  at 
Selma,  Ala.  At  the  close  of  the  war,  Mr. 
Scott  returned  to  Olney,  111.,  where  for  two 
years  he  was  engaged  in  the  mercantile  bus- 
iness, and  was  then  employed  as  a  traveling 
salesman. and  remained  on  the  road  for  three 
years,  in  the  meantime  establishing  a  dry 
goods  business  in  Fail-field.  111.  He  imiuo  to 
tho  latter  place  in  1871.  and  lias  remained 
since,  conducting  a  large  and  prosperous  bus 
iness.  He  is  the  present  Postmaster  of  Fair- 
field, to  which  office  he  was  appoinl  id  in 
1880.     Be  exerts  a  very  potenl   influence  in 


34 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


the  political  arena,  which  benefits  are  enjoyed 
by  the  Republican  party.  He  has  been  a 
member  of  the  Republican  State  Central 
Committee  since  1877.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  Fairfield  Lodge,  No.  206,  A.  F.  &  A.  M., 
Fairfield  Chapter,  No.  179,  R.  A.  M.:  Gorin 
Commandery,  No.  14,  K.  T. ,  and  the  Peoria 
Consistory,  S.  \  P.-.  R.\  S.  Mr.  Scott  was  mar- 
ried in  Olney,  111.,  September  26,  1865, 
to  Miss  Mary  R.  Spring,  eldest  daughter  of 
Henry  and  Caroline  R.  Spring,  of  Olney, 
where  she  was  born,  being  the  first  child  born 
in  Olney.  Their  family  consists  of  two 
daughters — Carrie  and  Alice  Scott. 

WILLIAM  SHAEFFER,  one  of  the  old 
and  respected  citizens  of  Fairfield,  was  born 
in  Stark  County,  Ohio,  July  28,  1817.  His 
parents,  Daniel  Shaeffer  and  Elizabeth  Rine- 
hart,  were  of  German  parentage,  the  father 
of  the  latter  having  served  as  a  Drum  Major 
in  the  Revolutionary  war.  The  Shaefters 
also  were  represented  in  the  United  States 
in  the  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  century. 
Daniel  Shaeffer  was  born  in  Pennsylvania, 
and  there  married  to  Elizabeth  Rinehart, 
soon  after  which — in  1812 — they  settled  in 
Stark  County,  Ohio.  He  was  the  proprietor 
of  the  town  of  Waynesburg,  of  that  county, 
and  was  killed  in  that  county  March  14, 
1846,  by  the  falling  of  a  building.  William 
Shaeffer.  in  1S3S,  left  Ohio  and  came  to 
Graysville,  111. ,  and  there  engaged  at  his 
trade,  having  learned  the  trade  of  house- 
carpenter  in  Ohio.  He  came  to  Wayne 
County,  111.,  in  1840,  and  was  married,  in 
Fairfield,  May  13,-  1843.  to  Miss  Maria 
Alexander,  of  Carroll  County,  Ohio,  where 
she  was  born  December  14,  1822.  For  fif- 
teen years  they  pursued  the  interests  of 
farming,  located  in  Barnhill  Township,  two 
miles  south  of  Fairfield;  but  he,  being  of  a 
speculative  turn,  soon  found  broader  fields 
upon  which   to  bestow  his   energies,  and  be- 


came variously  interested  in  merchandising, 
stock-dealing  and  also  dealing  iu  grain,  in 
which  he  still  engages.  He  has  had  a  family 
of  children  as  follows  :  Daniel  T.  Shaeffer, 
was  born  March  8,  1844;  Mary  E.,  deceased, 
wife  of  W.  J.  Sailor,  was  born  March  14, 
1S46;  David  H.  Shaeffer.  was  born  Decem- 
ber 24,  1847,  deceased;  Sallie  A.,  wife  of  C. 
C.  Boggs,  was  born  January  25,  1850;  Fran- 
ces, wife  of  James  A.  Odell,  was  born  Jan- 
uary 13,  1852;  William  O,  born  March  28, 
1854;  Rebecca  J.,  deceased,  wife  of  S. 
Steiner,  born  October  17,  1856;  Loie  B. 
Shaeffer,  born  April  9.  1859;  Elmer,  de- 
ceased infant,  was  born  February  8,  1862; 
Arthur,  born  July  8,  1864,  died  in  infancy, 
and  Julia  Shaeffer,  born  October  16,  1869. 

JOSEPH  D.  SHAEFFER,  clerk,  Fair- 
field, is  a  son  of  John  D.  Shaeffer  and  Barhara 
A.  Koontz,  a  sketch  of  whom  will  be  found 
elsewhere  in  these  pages.  Joseph  D.  was 
born  in  Wayne  County.  111.,  September  21. 
1848;  grew  to  manhood  in  the  county  and 
was  educated  in  the  public  schools.  For 
many  years  he  has  been  a  faithful  servant  of 
the  county,  having  performed  the  duties  of 
Deputy  County  Clerk  for  eight  years,  after 
which — 1877 — he  was  elected  to  the  office  "f 
County  Clerk,  serving  five  years,  and  is  still 
performing  clerical  duties  in  that  depart- 
ment. He  is  a  member  of  Fairfield  Lodge, 
No.  206,  A,  F.  &  A.  M..  Fairfield  Chapter, 
R.  A.  M..  and  also  of  the  A  O.  U.  W.  He 
was  married,  in  Fairfield.  October  15.  1878. 
to  Miss  Alice  M.  Trousdale,  daughter  of 
John  and  Ellen  Trousdale.  She  was  born  in 
Fairfield  July  20.  1857.  They  have  one 
daughter — Annie  Shaeffer,  born  in  Fairfield 
September  30,  1879. 

CHARLES  W.  SIBLEY,  physician,  of 
Fairfield,  was  bora  on  October  6.  1841,  in 
Trumbull  County.  Ohio.  His  father.  Charles 
Sibley — well  and  favorably  kuown  in  Wi 


CITY   OF    FAIRFIELD. 


County — was  a  native  of  New  York,  and  was 
born  in  1818.  Having  removed  to  Trum- 
bull County,  Ohio,  he  was  there  married,  in 
IS  10  tc  Azuba"  L.  Waters,  a  native  of  that 
county.  Charles  Sibley  was  a  man  of  rare 
will-power,  and  among;  the  characteristics 
which  marked  him  as  a  noble  man  were  his 
great  zeal  for  the  cause  of  Christianity  and 
his  tireless  energy  as  an  able  exponent  of 
the  doctrine  of  prohibition,  being  one  of  its 
first  and  most  uncompromising  advocates  in 
this  county.  He  possessed  broad  and  charit- 
able views,  yet  was  always  found,  with  un- 
yielding tenacity,  adhering  to  what  he  con- 
sidered the  side  of  right,  without  regard  to 
self-interest  or  personal  prejudice.  He  died 
in  Fairfield  in  1879,  surrounded  by  a  large 
circle  of  ardent  friends,  who  admired  him 
for  his  many  virtues.  His  wife  and  six  of  a 
family  of  seven  children  survive  him,  and 
an'  all  residents  of  the  town  of  Fairfield. 
Mother  Sibley  was  born  in  Trumbull  County, 
Ohio,  in  1S21.  She  is  one  of  the  pillars  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  as  was  also 
her  late  husband  Dr.  C.W.  Sibley  received 
a  liberal  common  school  education,  and  came 
to  this  county  with  his  parents  from  Meigs 
County.  Ohio,  in  1853.  In  September,  ISIil. 
he  enlisted  in  Company  D,  Thirty-fourth 
Illinois  Infantry,  under  Capt.  Pratt,  of  Lee 
County,  111.  He  received  a  serious  wound 
at  the  battle  of  Shiloh.  in  consequence  of 
which,  in  the  following  September,  he  wa9 
discharged.  He  read  medicine  under  the  in- 
struction of  Dr.  J.  R.  Philson;  took  a  course 
in  the  Ohio  Medical  College,  after  which  he 
began  his  practice  at  Fairfield.  He  subse 
quently  entered  the  Bellevue  Medical  Col  I 
of  Xew  York,  from  which  he  graduated  in 
1877.  He  possesses,  to  a  worthy  degree,  a 
warm  and  sympathetic  nature,  so  indisp 
able  in  the  true  physician.  Married,  in 
Racine.    Ohio,    in    1867.    to    Miss   Mary   C. 


Lultinca  She  was  born  in  Ohio  in  1844. 
and  is  a  daughter  of  Archie  and  Catherine 
Lalance.  of  French  ancestry.  Dr.  Sibley  is 
an  official  member  of  the  order  of  It.  T.  of  T., 
and  both  are  honored  members  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  Their  family 
consists  of  Charles  E,  Maud  (deceased  I, 
Theo  A..  Frank  C,  William  A.  and  Mary  C. 
Sibley. 

J.  FRANK  SMITH,  photographer,  Fair- 
field, is  a  native  of  Switzerland;  was  born  in 
October.  1841.  He  came  to  the  United  States 
with  his  parents,  Anthony  and  Mary  Smith, 
who  settled  with  their  family  in  the  present 
limits  of  the  city  of  Chicago.  There  the  par- 
ents and  an  older  brother's  wife  and  child 
died,  in  September,  1853,  of  cholera.  In 
1855,  the  remainder  of  the  family  removed 
to  McHenry  County,  111.,  where  they  engaged 
in  the  pursuit  of  fanning.  J.  F.  Smith  was, 
therefore,  early  thrown  upon  his  own  re- 
sources for  a  livelihood,  and  his  opportunities 
for  education  materially  abridged.  He  had 
acquired  a  tolerable  proficiency  in  reading 
undenting  in  German,  before  leaving  his 
native  country.  By  the  economy  of  time 
and  application  to  study,  he  qualified  him- 
self for 'practical  business  life.  During  the 
lati>  civil  war.  he  was  assistant  in  the  Quar- 
termaster's Department,  and  while  in  that 
position  he  embraced  the  opportunity  to  learn 
the  art  of  photography,  which  achievement 
alone  has  influenced  his  subsequent  life,  as 
he  has  followed  that  profession  continuously 
ever  since.  Soon  after  the  war.  he  locate.  I  at 
Xenia,  Clay  Co.,  Ill,  to  pursue  his  trade, 
and  while  there  became  acquainted  with 
Nancy  L.  Younp;.  to  whom  he  was  married 
on  the  15th  of  March.  1868.  She  is  a  dangh 
ter  of  Thomas  and  Mary  (Berry)  Young. 
formerly  of  Hickory  Hill  Township,  where 
Nancy  L.  was  born  on  the  4th  of  December. 
1847.     Thomas  Young  was  born  January  21, 


30 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


1816,  and  Mary  Berry  waB  bora  October  10, 
1816.  They  were  married  in  Greene  County, 
Ind.,  January  23,  1840,  and  came  to  Wayne 
County,  III.,  as  early  as  1844,  The  former 
died  in  1848,  and  the  latter  in  1851.  Mrs. 
Smith,  thus  early  left  an  orphan,  was  reared 
by  Mr.  Stout  Atteberry,  of  Wayne  County. 
Mr.  Smith  came  to  Fairfield  in  the  spring  of 
1878,  after  a  residence  of  several  years  in 
Minneapolis,  Minn,  and  has  a  thriving  busi- 
ness and  pleasant  residence  property.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Royal  Templars  of  Tem- 
perance. Their  union  has  been  blessed  with 
four  children — J.  Frank  Smith,  Jr.,  born 
August  13,  -1873;  Mary  M.  Smith,  born  Au- 
gust 27,  1875;  Lizzie  M.  Smith,  born  Octo- 
ber 16,  1878:  and  William  T.  Smith,  born 
September  6,  1880,  and  died  October  6,  1880. 
SAMUEL  M.  STALEY,  merchant,  Fair- 
field,was  born  in  Montgomery  County,  Tenn., 
Jan.  22, 1823,  and  descends  from  German  an- 
cestors. His  father,  Frederick  Staley,  was 
married  in  Virginia  to  Mary  Kirk,  and  reared 
a  family  of  nine  children— Samuel  M.  being 
the  youngest.  Frederick  Staley  died  ^Vir- 
ginia, and  the  wife,  with  her  children,  after- 
ward removed  to  Illinois,  and  in  1828  lo- 
cated in  White  County.  Here  Samuel  grew 
to  maturity,  and  was  married,  March  1,  1848, 
to  Harriet  Melrose,  of  Edwards  County,  111., 
who  died  nine  years  later,  leaving  three  chil- 
dren— George,  Ulla  S.  and  Worley  Staley; 
the  latter  died  in  infancy.  Mr.  Staley  next 
married  Rebecca  Melrose,  a  younger  sister  of 
his  former  wife,  which  union  resulted  in  the 
birth  of  four  children — Douglas  M.,  Charles 
M.,  Mary  H.  and  John  E.  Staley.  The 
maiden  name  of  his  present  wife,  to  whom 
he  was  married  in  1S70,  was  Sarah  Renfro. 
She  was  born  in  Illinois  in  1832.  Their 
marriage  has  been  blessed  with  one  child — 
Sarah  E.  Staley.  Mr.  Staley  is  a  practical 
farmer,  which  pursuit  still  absorbs  a  portion 


of  his  attention.  He  removed  to  Fairfield 
in  1875.  and  engaged  in  the  hardware  trade, 
which  he  continues  successfully.  His  family 
are  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  he  sustaining  the  relation  of  Stew- 
ard. George  M.  Staley,  son  of  Samuel  M. 
and  Harriet  (Melrose)  Staley,  was  born  in 
Carmi,  White  Co.,  111.,  on  the  10th  of  April, 
1S49.  His  education  was  obtained  in  the 
common  schools  of  Grayville,  and  in  the  Mc- 
Kendree  College  at  Lebanon,  111.  He  became 
an  experienced  teacher,  and  for  three  years 
was  employed  in  the  Grayville  Public  School. 
He  was  married  in  Bloomington,  111. ,  Decem- 
ber 30,  1874,  to  Sophia  A.  Merritt.  She  was 
born  in  Nashville,  N.  Y.,  May  10,  1853. 
Their  family  consists  of  John  Merritt  Staley, 
born  November  30,  1875,  and  Samuel  C. 
Staley,  born  January  1,  1878,  and  died  June 
15,  1878.'  George  M.  Staley  came  to  Fair- 
field in  1875,  and  for  some  years  was  em- 
ployed as  salesman  and  book-keeper  in  his  fa- 
ther's store.  He  was  three  years  a  student 
in  the  McKendree  College,  and  one  year  in 
the  State  Normal  Institute,  and  being  a  true 
gentleman,  enjoys  the  esteem  of  a  large  cir- 
cle of  friends.  He  fills  with  efficiency  the 
position  of  Deputy  Postmaster  at  Fairfield, 
and  is  an  honored  member  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  Ulla  S.  is  a  young  man 
of  noble  parts,  universally  esteemed.  He  is 
present  book-keeper  in  the  bank  of  E.  Bon- 
ham  &  Co.,  Fairfield. 

EMANUEL  STEINER,  clothier,  Fair- 
field, of  the  firm  of  Bach  &  Steiner,  was 
born  in  Austria  on  June  27,  1850,  where  he 
resided  until  coming  to  the  United  States  in 
1863,  being  educated  in  his  native  country. 
His  parents,  Isaac  Steiner  and  Bertha  (-Huf- 
man)  Steiner,  are  both  natives  of  Austria, 
and  are  now  living  in  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  where 
they  located  in  1863.  They  have  a  family 
of  five  children,  one  of  whom  is  dead,  and 


CITY   OF    FA1KFIELD. 


37 


two    are    now   residents    of    Fairfield,    111. 
Emanuel  Steiner  came  to  Fairfield  in    1874, 
and    in    connection    with  I.    Bach  opened   a 
store,  which  they   have  continued   until  the 
present  time.      They  keep  an  extensive  stock 
of   clothing,    boots    and   shoes,    trunks   and 
gents'  furnishing    goods,   and   enjoy   a  very 
satisfactory  trade.     Mr.  Steiner  was  married 
in  St  Louis,    September  3,   1876, .to  Bertie 
Loebner,    daughter   of    Isaac    Loebner   and 
Lena    (Freuna)    Loebner.       She    was    born 
April  10,  1S57.  in  Austria,  and  came  to   St 
Louis  with  her  parents  in  1867.      They  have 
one  child,    Blanche  Steiner,  born  April   20, 
1883.      Family  residence  is  on  the  corner  of 
Main  and  Church  streets.      Mr.  Steiner   is  a 
member  of  the  Fairrield  Lodge,  No.  206,  A. 
F.  &  A.  M.;  Fairfield  Chapter,  No.  179,  R.  A. 
M. ,  and  also  of  the  Ancient  Order  of  United 
Workmen.     He    is    Treasurer   of    the  Town 
Board  and  a  Director  of  the  Fairfield  Loan  As- 
sociation.   Sigsmond  Steiner, younger  brother 
of    Emanuel    Steiner,   was  born  in   Austria 
May  9,  1857,  and  came  withthe  family,  con- 
sisting of  five   children,    to  the  city  of   St. 
Louis  in  1863.     On  the  9th  of  June,  1876, 
he  was  married  to  Rebecca  Shaeffer,  daugh- 
ter of  William   Shaeffer,  of   Fairfield.     She 
having  died,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Georgia 
A.   Steves,    daughter   of    P.   S.    and    Louisa 
Steves,  of  Flora,  111.,  where  her  father  died  in 
1878.     Her  mother  is  still  living,  and  makes 
her    home   with    Mrs.  Steiner    in    Fairfield. 
Georgia    A.    Steves    was    born    in    Elkhorn, 
Wis..  May    25,  I860.      They   have  two  chil- 
dren—Fannie  A.  Steiner,  born  July  9,  1S80, 
and  Charles  Steiner.  born  December  5,  1882. 
Mr.  S.  Steiner  is  a   member  of  the  Ancient 
Order  of    United    Workmen,    and    has  been 
Treasurer  of  the  Council  since  1881. 

COL.  H.  TOMPKINS,  lawyer,  Fair- 
field,  was  born  September  14,  1S30,  in  York- 
town,  Westchester  Co.,  N.  Y.     He  was  on  the 


farm  until  fourteen   years  old,  when  he  was 
placed   in   the  Ellington  Institute,   of   Con- 
necticut, where  he  took  a  four  years'  course 
of   study.     From  the  time   of    leaving    this 
school  until  coming  to  Chicago   in    1852,  he 
was  engaged  in  teaching  school,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  one  and  a  half  years'  law  study  in 
Glens  Falls,  N.  Y.     In  1853,  he    located    in 
Champaign    County,    111.,    where    for    some 
years  he  engaged  in  farming  and  in  the  prac- 
tice of  law.     In  1801,  he  enlisted  as  a  private 
in  the    Twenty-fifth    Illinois    Infantry,    but 
was  soon  after  promoted  to  the  rank  of   Ma- 
jor of   the   Thirteenth  Missouri  Mounted  In- 
fantry, by  John  C.  Fremont   and  Gov.  Gam- 
ble.     He  was  subsequently  detached   by  re- 
quest    of      Gov.    Yates,    to     organize     the 
Fourteen  Illinois  Cavalry,  which  he  did,  re- 
signing his  commission  in   the  former  regi- 
ment to  take  the  commission  of  Major  in  the 
latter,  with  which  he  served  until   the  close 
of  the  war.      He  was  detailed  on  the  staff  of 
Gen.   Sturgis    in    the    East   Tennessee  cam- 
paign, and  on  the  staff  of  Maj.  Gen.  Stone- 
man  in  the   Atlanta  campaign.       For  some 
years  immediately  following  the  close  of  the 
war,  he  was  engaged  in  the  practice  of   law, 
and    in    writing   the    "  Laws    of    Municipal 
Bonds."    He  is  regarded  as  an  able  chancery 
attorney,  and  has  charge  of  the  complicated 
question  of  swamp  lands  of   Wayne  County. 
WILLIAM  H.  VAN  DE  WATER.  Justice 
of     the    Peace,    Fairfield,    111.. a    native    of 
New  York   City,   was  born   on    the   25th   of 
November,    1828.     When  he  was  two  years 
old,  his  parents,    Joshua   and  Carolino  Van 
De  Water,  removed  to  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  where 
he  attained  his  manhood,  meantime  receiving 
a  fair  education  in  Woodward  College.   Early 
in  life,  he  engaged   in   the  drug  business  in 
Cincinnati,  remaining  in  that  city  until  1853, 
when  he  went  to  St.   Louis,  and,  until  1860, 
was  employed  by  different  business  firms  as 


38 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


book  keeper.  From  1862  to  1870,  his  time 
was  variously  spent  with  mining  and  mer- 
chandising on  the.  Pacific  Coast,  and  mer- 
chandising in  Missouri,  losing  in  the  latter 
place  what  he  had  accumulated  in  the  former. 
Since  1S70,  he  has  been  a  resident  of  Fair- 
field, 111.,  where  for  three  years  he  served  as 
Deputy  Circuit  Clerk,  and  is  now  serving  his 
second  term  of  office  as  Justice  of  the  Peace. 
Ke  is  a  Democrat,  and  a  member  of  the 
Royal  Templars  of  Temperance.  In  addi- 
tion to  his  official  duties,  he  is  selling  the 
celebrated  Mason  it  Hamlin  organs,  and  also 
is  agent  for  the  Continental  Insurance  Com- 
pany. Sir.  Van  De  Water  was  married,  Octo- 
ber 20,  1857,  in  the  city  of  St.  Louis,  to 
Miss  Annie  E.  Stuart.  She  was  born  in  Cin- 
cinnati, Ohio,  September  18,  1831,  and  died 
February  3,  1871,  leaving  two  children,  Hat- 
tie  E.,  wife  of  B.  Hider,  of  Fairfield  (she 
was  born  in  St.  Louis  August  25,  1858),  and 
Walter  A.  Van  De  Water,  born  May  11,  1805. 
The  parents  of  W.  H.  Van  De  Water  were 
both  natives  of  New  York.  The  father  died 
in  Cincinnati  in  June,  1877,  and  the  mother 
died  in  the  same  city  July  19,  1S83.  Their 
family  of  six  children,  of  whom  William  H. 
is  the  oldest,  are  all  living. 

Z.  B.  WEST,  lawyer,  Fairfield.  Samuel 
West,  father  of  Z.  B.  West,  was  of  Irish  de- 
scent, born  in  Illinois  in  1827,  and  is  still 
living.  Samuel  West,  grandfather  of  Z.  B., 
was  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  born  in  1794, 
and  died  in  1844.  His  wife,  grandmother 
of  Z.  B.,  was  a  native  of  Ohio,  and  of  En- 
glish descent,  and  died  in  1873,  at  the  age 
of  seventy-four  years.  Margaret  A.  (Hoover) 
West,  mother  of  Z.  B.,  was  born  in  Illinois 
in  1830;  was  of  German  descent,  and  is  still 
living.  Her  father,  Peter  Hoover,  was  born 
in  Germany  in  1778;  came  to  America 
in  1809,  and  died  in  1871.  Margaret  A. 
West's  mother  was  of  German  descent;  born 


in  Pennsylvania  in  1802,  and  died  in  1854. 
Mr.  Z.  B.  West  was  born  March  1,  1854,  in 
Wayne  County,  111.  His  early  education 
consisted  of  what  could  be  obtained  by  a 
somewhaLirregular  attendance  in  the  district 
schools.  He  there  succeeded  through  per- 
sonal effort  in  preparing  himself  for  the  pro- 
fession of  a  teacher,  which  duties  he  first  as- 
sumed in  the  year  1873.  Inspired  by  a 
thirst  for  knowledge,  he  appropriated  the 
means  thus  acquired  to  carry  him  through 
a  collegiate  course.  In  the  spring  of  1874, 
he  entered  Holbrook  Normal  School  of  Leb- 
anon, Ohio,  and  graduated  in  the  teachers' 
and  business  courses  in  1876.  He  subse- 
quently became  a  student  in  the  Ladoga 
(Ind.)  College,  at  present  the  Danville  (Ind.) 
Normal  College,  taking  the  scientific  course, 
and  receiving  the  degree  conferred  by  that 
institution  in  1881.  In  the  interims  of  his 
attendance  at  college,  he  has  been  actively 
eugaged  in  teaching,  having  taught  forty- 
eight  months.  His  reputation  as  a  teacher 
in  Grayville,  Fairfield,  ami  in  fact  through- 
out Wayne  and  Edwards  Counties,  is  well 
known,  and  requires  no  comment  here.  In 
the  fall  of  1881,  Mr.  West  was  appointed  to 
the  position  of  County  Superintendent  of 
Schools  for  Wayne  County,  and  was  the 
choice  of  the  people  for  the  same  position, 
to  which  he  was  elected  in  the  fall  of 
1882,  and  which  he  is  now  filling  with 
universal  acceptance.  Though  Mr.  West 
has  chosen  the  legal  profession,  he  justly 
looks  with  a  degree  of  pride  upon  his  experi- 
ence in  the  interest  of  education,  and  is  the 
author  of  a  School  Superintendent  Record, 
which  is  destined  to  meet  with  favor  wher- 
ever and  whenever  examined.  Mr.  West 
read  law  under  the  instruction  of  Messrs. 
Hanna  &  Adams,  of  Fairfield,  and  was  regu- 
larly admitted  to  practice  on  the  29th  of 
August,  1883.      He  is  a  member  of  the  Fair- 


CITY   OF  FAIRFIELD. 


39 


field  Lodge,  No.  206,  A.,  F.  i  A.  M.,  and  in 
politics  a  Democrat. 

ANDREW  WILSON,  native  of  Northum- 
berland, England,  was  born  in  1788.  Grew 
to  manhood,  and  married,  in  his  native  coun- 
try, to  Mary  Hall.  She  was  born  in  1  790  on  the 
coast  of  the  North  Sea,  England.  The  father 
was  by  trade  a  tailor,  and  came  with  his  wife 
and  eleven  children  to  the  Dnited  States  in 
1835,  and,  until  1838,  he  located  in  New- 
York  City,  where  he  followed  his  trade. 
Came  in  the  fall  of  1838  to  Illinois,  and  set- 
tled in  Fairfield.  Here  he  engaged  in  the 
pursuit  of  his  trade,  which  he  followed  for 
many  years.  In  England,  he  was  early  iden- 
tified with  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and,  on 
coming  to  the  new  country,  he  at  once  let 
his  light  shine  by  taking  an  active  part  in 
the  work  of  the  Sabbath  school.  It  is  gen- 
erally known  that  no  man  has  been  more 
faithful  in  his  mission  than  was  this  old  vet- 
eran; always  at  his  post  as  Superintendent  of 
the  Presbyterian  school,  until  so  enfeebled  by 
age  that  he  could  no  longer  walk  to  the 
school,  and  even  then  so  necessary  were  his 
sol  vices  that  often  he  was  waited  upon  by 
loving  hands,  and,  supported  between  two 
friends,  would  make  his  way  to  the  place  he 
had  so  long  and  so  ably  tilled.  He  died  in 
Flora,  111.,  in  October,  1864.  But  few  men, 
if  any,  in  the  history  of  this  county  have 
left  few«r  faults  to  be  deplored,  or  more  vir- 
tues to  be  emulated  by  his  many  friends; 
and,  though  old  as  he  was  and  enfeebled  b_v 
age,  his  place  is  difficult  to  till.  Mrs.  Man- 
Wilson,  who  died  in  August,  1859,  was  an 
active  member  in  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
and  was  respected  and  loved  by  all  who 
knew  her.  Of  their  family,  which  consisted 
originally  of  twelve  children,  but  six  are 
now  living,  and  but  two  in  Wayne  County. 
John  Wilson,  of  Fairfield,  and  Ellen,  widow 
of  John  Trousdale.      John  Wilson  was  born 


in  August,  1820,  in  England,  and  in  his 
rearing  had  the  advantages  of  a  common 
school  education.  He  was  married,  in  the 
town  of  Fairfield,  October  8,  1846,  to  Miss 
Eliza  J.  Harper,  daughter  of  Thomas  and 
Esther  Harper,  of  Edwards  County,  111.  Soon 
after  marriage,  they  moved  to  a  farm  adjoin- 
ing the  town,  where  they  remained  for  the 
space  of  thirty-six  years.  Their  union  has 
been  blest  with  eight  children — Edward, 
Thomas,  Mary  L.,  Anna  Belle,  Lewis  H., 
William  H,  Ellen  and  Maggie  Wilson.  Ed- 
ward and  Lewis  are  deceased.  In  1S49,  Mr. 
John  Wilson  and  wife  united  with  the  M.  E. 
Church  of  Fairfield,  and  have  held  their 
membership  continuously  to  this  time.  Since 
1853,  Mr.  Wilson  has  been  a  member  of  the 
Quarterly  Conference  of  his  church.  He  is 
now  retired  from  the  farm,  and  a  resident 
of  Fairfield,  where  he  has  surrounded  himself 
with  many  ardent  friends. 

JOSEPH  E.  WILSON,  County  Clerk, 
Fairfield,  is  a  son  of  Alfred  and  Elizabeth 
Wilson,  well  known  residents  of  Wayne 
County.  Alfred  Wilson  was  born  in  Ken- 
tucky, on  the  22d  of  February,  1806,  going 
from  his  native  State  to  Missouri,  when,  a 
young  man.  There,  in  1836,  he  was  mar- 
ried  to  Miss  Elizabeth  Laughlin,  who  was 
boru  in  Missouri  April  6,  1819.  In  1839, 
they  came  to  Wayne  County,  111.,  and  settled 
where  the  widow  still  lives,  in  Hickory  Hill 
Township.  Alfred  Wilson  was  a  successful 
farmer,  a  man  of  strong  force  of  character! 
and  in  politics  an  Old-Line  Whig  during  the 
existence  of  that  party,  after  which  his  in- 
fluence was  given  to  Democracy.  He  was  by 
trade  a  carpenter,  by  profession  a  Baptist 
minister,  and  died  in  Wayne  County,  111., 
December  12,  1875.  Ho  had  a  family  of 
four  children,  viz.:  John  J.,  born  in  1837; 
Eliza  A.,  widow  of  Thomas  M.  Clark,  and 
born  in   1841,  who  has  seven  children;  An- 


40 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


geline,  wife  of  Samuel  B.  Griffith,  of  Wayne 
County;  and  Joseph  E.  Wilson,  who  was  born 
January  3,  1849.  He  was  reared  on  the 
farm,  receiving  the  advantages  of  a'coinmon 
school  education,  and  by  application  quali- 
fied himself  for  the  profession  of  teaching, 
which,  in  connection  with  farming,  he  fol 
lowed  from  1871  until  1882.  In  the  fall  of 
1882,  he  was  elected  to  the  office  of  County 
Clerk  of  Wayne  County,  on  the  Democratic 
ticket.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Hickory 
Hill  Lodge,  No.  759,  A.,  F.  &  A.  M. ; 
Fairfield  Chapter,  No.  179,  R.  A.  M.  He  was 
married  in  Louisville,  Clay  County,  111.,  Oc- 
tober 11,  1876,  to  Miss  Julia  V.  Galbraith, 
daughter  of  Col.  A.  T.  Galbraith,  now  of 
Flora,  111.  See  was  born  in  Wayne  County 
October  23,  1857.  Their  two  children— Ed- 
gar A.  and  Robert  A.  Wilson,  were  each  born 
in  Wayne  County,  the  first,  March  21,  1879, 
and  the  latter  January  31,  1881. 

PROF.  GEORGE  H.  WOODWARD,  Nor- 
mal instructor,  Mound  City,  Pulaski  County, 
111.  Among  the  teachers  and  normal  instruct 
ors  of  Southern  Illinois  who  have  done  so 
much  for  the  advancement  of  refinement,  cult 
lire  and  education  in  general,  and  who  have 
raised  the  standard  of  teaching  and  teachers, 
we  count  him  among  one  of  the  first  and  fore- 
most whose  name  heads  this  sketch.  Prof. 
Woodward  was  born  in  Albany,  Ohio,  July 
5,  1847.  He  is  a  son  of  Rev.  John  M. 
Woodward,  a  native  of  Smithtield,  Ohio, 
where  he  learned  and  followed  the  carpenter 
trade,  and  afterward  devoted  his  attention  to 
milling.  He  is  yet  living  in  Zauesville,  Ohio. 
His  life  has  been  one  that  may  well  serve  as 
an  example  to  posterity.  He  has  been  a 
minister  of  the  Methodist  Church  for  thirty 
years,  and  is  a  man  of  high  standing  in  that 
body,  where  his  services  as  pastor  and  friend 
to  all  benevolent  enterprises  are  duly  recog- 
nized    He   has  also  been  President  of  the 


Conference  for  many  years.  The  A..  F.  & 
A.  M.,  and  also  the  I.  O.  O.  F.  fraternities 
claim  him  as  one  of  their  earnest  and  active 
members,  having  held  prominent  offices  in 
both  orders.  Space  does  not  permit  us  to 
give  him  the  credit  he  so  well  deserves.  His 
father,  Presley  Woodward,  was  a  native  of 
Virginia.  The  mother  of  our  subject.  Mary 
(Dickens)  Woodward,  was  a  native  of  Penn- 
sylvania. Her  father's  name  was  Stephen 
Dickens.  She  was  the  mother  of  four  chil- 
dren, viz.:  George  H,  Henry  R.,  Mary  A. 
and  John  C,  deceased,  the  latter  being  one 
of  the  most  pi'ominent  and  promising  young 
lawyers  in  Ohio.  Our  subject  was  educated 
in  different  high  schools  in  Ohio,  and  fitted 
himself  for  his  noble  profession  at  the  Na- 
tional Normal  School  in  Lebanon.  Ohio. 
But  he  is  mainly  self-educated,  teaching  his 
first  school  at  the  age  of  fifteen,  and  with 
money  earned  by  teaching  he  paid  his  way 
through  the  Normal  School,  accomplishing 
what  few  would  undertake  under  more  favor- 
able circumstances.  He  taught  eight  terms 
in  two  country  schoolhouses  before  he  grad- 
uated at  Lebanon,  after  which  he  taught 
in  Flora.  111.,  and  then  in  Fairfield,  111., 
where  he  was  joined  in  matrimony  to 
one  of  Wayne  County's  fairest  daugh- 
ters; and  then  removed  to  Mount  Yer 
non,  111. ,  where  he  was  Principal  of  the  city 
schools.  From  there  he  went  to  Webster 
City.  Iowa;  Lafayette,  Ohio;  Wichita  and 
Anthony,  Kan.;  Metropolis,  111.;  and  is  at 
present  Superintendent  of  the  city  school  in 
Mound  City,  111.  In  all  the  above-named 
places,  Mr.  Woodward  left  a  fair  and  envia- 
ble record  as  a  teacher/ earning  the  acknowl- 
edgment of  different  State  Superintendents 
of  Public  Schools,  to  be  one  of  the  most  nat- 
ural and  efficient  teachers  of  the  West,  his 
object  in  teaching  in  so  many  different  places 
and  States  being  to  make  himself   familiar 


CITY  OF   PAIEFIELD 


41 


with  the  best  and  most'  practical  methods  of 
imparting  knowledge*  in  the  United  States. 
Mr.  Woodward  holds  three  State  certificates, 
and  has  been  County  Superintendent  of 
Schools  in  Iowa,  and  also  in  Sedgwick  and 
Harper  Counties,  Kan.  Our  subject  was 
married,  December  25,  1872,  to  Miss  Cle- 
mence  E.  Slocunib,  born  December  25,  1857. 
She  is  a  daughter  of  Judge  Rigdon  B.  and 
Clemence  S.  (Ridgwayi  Slocumb,  who  are 
mentioned  in  other  parts  of  this  work.  Five 
children  are  the  result  of  this  happy  union, 
viz.:  Harry  S.,  bom  November  10.  1873; 
Don  B.,  born  December  25,  1875:  Walter  S., 
born  November  5,  1877;  George  H..  deceased, 
and  C.  Roy.  born  October  31,  1882.  Mrs. 
Woodward  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist 
Church.  Mr.  Woodward  is  a  member  of  .the 
1.  O.  O.  F.  fraternity. 

F.  M.  WOOLARD  was  born  January  29, 
1835,  near  where  the  village  of  Mulberry 
Grove  now  stands,  in  Bond  County,  111.  He 
is  the  son  of  Rev.  James  B.  Woolard,  a  Meth 
odist  minister,  well  known  in  Southern  Illi- 
nois. James  B.,  the  son  of  Willoughby  and 
Rebecca  (Fatheree)  Woolard,  was  born  De- 
cember 16.  1804,  in  Beaufort  County.  N.  C; 
removed  with  his  parents  to  Tennessee  in 
1810,  and  settled  soon  after  on  Leeper's  Creek 
in  Maury  County,  where  he  married  Mary, 
daughter  of  Abraham  and  Nancy  (Brown) 
McGurley,  March  15,  1827;  removed  to  Green- 
ville, 111.,  with  a  "spike  team"  (the  wheel 
horses  were  osen)  in  1S29,  and  to  his  present 
location  in  1831.  He  was  a  Bugler  in  the 
Black  Hawk  war;  represented  Bond  County 
in  the  Legislature  in  1844  15;  and  was  Chap- 
lain in  the  Ono  Hundred  and  Eleventh  Illi- 
nois Volunteer  Infantry  in  the  late  war.  His 
brothers,  Churchell,  of  Tennessee:  William, 
of  Missouri,  and  Seth.  of  Mississippi,  all 
served  their  country  in  Jackson's  wars.  His 
sister.  Winifred,  married  Henry  Gardner,  of 


Montgomery  County,  111.      Mary  (mater)  was 
born  March  24,  1805,  in  Allen  County,  Ky., 
ami    with   her  parents  moved  to  Tennessee, 
wheiVshe  was  married.      She  lived  with  her 
husband   for  more  than  fifty-six  years,  and 
died  August  20,  1883,  having  been  a  member 
of    the    Methodist    Episcopal    Church    over 
sixty  six   years.     To   James  and  Mary  were 
born  six  children—  Nancy  R.  (Vest),  of  Green- 
ville; Eveline  C.  ^Harris),  of  Hillsboro;  Wash- 
ington W.  (deceased);  our   subject;  Mary  S. 
Elliott    (deceased);  Margaret   I.  (Harris),  of 
Greenville,  111.;  W.    W.,  a   Captain    in    the 
Twenty-sixth  Illinois  Volunteers,  died  Janu- 
ary 9,  1882,  and  his  wife,  Lucj  (Stites),  with 
Lilian,    Estella,    Samuel   F. ,    Winifred  and 
James,  their  children,  live  in  Wichita,  Kan. 
Abraham's  father,  was  of  Scotch  descent,  and 
slain  in  the  Revolutionary  war.     Nancy  was 
a  neiee  of  Judge  Brown,  of  Kentucky.    Wil- 
oughby,  the_son  of  John,  was  born  in  North 
Carolina    in   1761,  and  died  at  the  age   of 
eighty-five  years,  in  Fayette  County,  III.   His 
brothers  were  John,  Jr. .    Absalom  and  Jere- 
miah.     John  (pater),   the  son   of  John,  was 
born  in  1695,  and  died  in  1800.    His  nephew, 
Aligood,    of  Lebanon,  Tenn.,   died   in  1868, 
aged  one    hundred   and   fifteen  years.      The 
first,  John  was  an   Englishman,   an  early  set- 
tler in  North   Carolina,  and  a  tradition  has 
been  handed  down  in  the  family  that  he  sold 
his  peltries,  the  result  of  one  winter's  hunt- 
ing, for  his  hat  full   of  silver.      His  brother 
settled  in  the  northern  colonies,  and  his  de- 
scendants   are  called   "Willard. "     Rebecca, 
born       in      Massachusetts     in     1771,      was 
the    daughter   of    Maj.    Fatheree,    who    was 
killed  in  the  Revolutionary  war.    She  remem- 
bered   the    British   soldiers    plundering    her 
mother's  house,  leaving  the  family  destitute. 
She  was  for  seventy  years  a  Regular  Baptist, 
and  died  in  Polk  County.  Mo.,  in  1862,  amid 
trying  scenes,  very  similar  to  those  of  her  early 


42 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


childhood.  Subject  was  raised  a  farmer,  at- 
tended school  in  winter;  remembers  when 
wolves,  deer  and  panthers  were  common; 
attended  the  academy  inGreenville;  McKen- 
dree  College,  in  Lebanon;  taught  school  over 
three  years;  was  Deputy  County  Clerk  in 
Vandalia;  six  years  a  circuit  preacher,  and 
four  years  Superintendent  of  Schools  in 
Wayne  County.  Subject  was  married,  No- 
vember 9,  1859,  to  Miss  Margaret,  daughter  of 
William  J.  Crews,  of  Palestine,  111.,  and  to 
them  were  born  Charles  W.,  in  Bond  Town- 
ship, Lawrence  County,  111.,  September  22, 
1863.  "Charlie"  was  highly  skilled  and 
learned  for  one  of  his  age,  in  the  sciences, 
and  the  laws  of  mechanics  and  forces.  His 
ingenuity  was  a  matter  of  surprise,  and  often 
of  amazement  to  his  friends.  Being  em- 
ployed in  the  machine  shops  at  Springfield, 
he  was  accidentally  killed,  September  18, 
1880,  regretted  by  all  who  knew  him.  His 
remains  are  entombed  on  the  hill  in  the  new 
cemetery  in  the  northeast  part  of  Fairfield. 
William  F.  was  born  in  Lawrence  County 
March  5,  1805.  He  gathers  many  curiosi- 
ties, having  several  pieces  of  "  British  stamped 
paper,"  about  1,500  rare  and  odd  coins, 
among  which  are  some  "Jewish  mites." 
Mary  A.  was  born  in  Fairfield  November  30, 
1871,  and  is  a  promising  musician  for  one  of 
her  age.  The  mother,  Capt.  W.  W.  and 
Mary  S.  lie  buried  on  the  spot  where  the 
first  church  was  built,  in  the  east  part  of 
Bond  County. 

JOHN  C.  YOUNGKEN,  merchant,  Fair- 
field. Space  will  not  permit  an  extended  re- 
view of  the  lives  of  the  many  noble  men  and 
women  whose  acts  constitute  the  brightest 
pages  in  the  history  of  Wayne  County;  yet 
a  history  which  does  not  transmit  to  the  ris- 
ing and  future  generations  some  personal 
points  relative  to  this  class  would  certainly 
fail  in  the  most  essential  object  for  which  it 


was  written.  Conspicuous  in  this  rank  is 
the  man  whose  name  heads  this  sketch. 
Mr.  Youngken  was  born  August  4,  1839,  in 
Friendsville,  Wabash  Co.,  111.  His  father, 
John  F.  Youngken,  was  a  native  of  Bucks 
County,  Penn.,  born  in  1806,  and  was  a  de- 
scendant from  German  ancestry.  He  came 
to  Illinois  in  an  early  and  settled  in  Wabash 
County,  where  he  soon  made  his  influence 
felt  by  his  public  spirit  and  enterprise.  He 
represented  his  district  in  the  State  Legisla- 
ture and  there  characterized  himself  by  in- 
troducing into  that  body  a  bill  to  restrict  the 
liquor  traffic.  He  was  an  earnest  temperance 
worker,  a  zealous  member  of  tho  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  the  impress  of  his  molding 
hand  in  the  community  in  which  he  lived  so 
long  will  never  cease  to  be  felt.  He  was 
married,  about  1837,  in  Wabash  County,  to 
Harriet  Danforth,  who  was  born  in  New 
England  in  1802.  She  also  was  a  member 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  both  are  now 
deceased.  They  had  a  family  of  three  chil- 
dren, John  C.  being  the  only  one  living. 
He  grew  to  maturity  in  his  native  county, 
meantime  attending  the  public  schools,  and 
when  nineteen  years  old  entered  the  Hanover 
College,  from  which  he  graduated  in  1862. 
Immediately  after  his  graduation,  he  enlisted 
in  the  One  Hundred  and  Fifteenth  Illinois 
Volunteer  Infantry,  in  which  he  served  for 
the  term  of  three  years.  After  returning 
home,  he  began  an  extended  and  successful 
career  as  a  teacher.  For  five  years  he  was 
in  charge  of  the  public  school  of  Friends- 
ville, meantime  superintending  the  interests 
of  his  father's  farm,  after  which,  for  some 
years,  he  was  Superintendent  of  the  Mount 
Carmel  Public  School.  He  took  charge  of 
the  Fairfield  School  in  1873,  and  continued 
at  its  head  for  four  years.  He  gave  up  the 
profession  to  engage  in  mercantile  pursuits, 
and   is   now  engaged    in   a  general  grocery 


BAHNHILL  TOWXSI1  I  P. 


43 


ami  provision  store  in  Fairfield.  He  is  an 
Elder  in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  of  which 
his  entiro  family  are  members;  also  a  member 
of  the  A.  O.  U.  W.  and  the  G.  A.  R.  He 
was  married,  August  10,  1S6(5.  to  Julia  B. 


Vanausdel.  She  was  born  in  Lawrence 
County.  111.,  May  24,  1S4S.  Their  family 
consists  of  Harry  H,  Annie  K.,  Bennie  N. 
ami  Charles  X.  Younjrken. 


BABNHILL    TOWNSHIP. 


X.  C.  ALEXANDER,  farmer,  P.  O.  Mt. 
Vernon,  was  born  January  20,  1830,  in  Car- 
roll County,  Ohio.  He  is  a  son  of  David 
Alexander,  born  17S9,  in  Delaware.  He  was 
also  a  farmer.  'W  hen  a  young  man  he  moved 
to  Ross  County,  Ohio,  where  he  was  married. 
He  finally  moved  to  Carrol]  County,  and  then 
in  1839  he  came  to  Wayne  County,  111. ,  and 
died  here  in  1845.  He  was  a  soldier  in  the 
war  of  IN  12,  and  was  at  the  surrender  of 
Hull's  army.  His  father  was  a  soldier  in  the 
Revolutionary  war;  his  name  was  Philip  Alex- 
ander. Xhemotherof  our  subject.  Elizabeth 
f Cunningham)  Alexander,  was  born  1797,  in 
Virginia.  She  died  1861,  in  this  county. 
She  was  a  daughter  of  Nicholas  and  Anna 
(Morris)  Cunningham.  Nicholas  Cunning- 
ham fought  seven  years  in  the  Revolutionary 
war.  under  George  Washington,  as  his  com- 
mander, participating  in  many  thrilling 
scenes  and  famous  battles.  Mrs.  Elizabeth 
Alexander  was  the  mother  of  ten  children,  of 
whom  seven  are  now  living,  viz. :  Maria 
Shaeffer.  Rebecca  Brown,  Elizabeth  Clark, 
Nicholas  C,  our  subject;  David,  a  farmer  in 
(•bin;  and  John  and  Joseph,  now  residents  of 
Fairfield.  Our  subject  was  educated  in  Ohio 
and  in  Wayne  County.  111.  He  has  been  a 
practical  farmer  all  his  life,  and  now  owns  a 
farm  of  180  acres  of  fine  land  near  Fairfield, 
with  good  improvements.  He  was  joined  in 
matrimony  here   January   '23,    1851,  to   Jane 


Austen,  born  September  18.  1832,  jn  England. 
Her  parents,  James  and  Mary  (Hill)  Austen, 
were  both  natives  of  Old  England.  Five 
children,  who  are  now  lining,  have  come  to 
bless  this  happy  union,  viz.:  Mary,  born  Au- 
gust 20,  1854,  wife  of  William  Head;  Bell, 
born  September  22,  18G0,  wife  of  H.  F. 
Murphy;  Bertha  J.,  born  January  1,  i860; 
Nicholas  H,  born  July  4,  18(58;  and  Zerilda, 
born  June  22,  1872.  Besides  these  Mr.  Alex- 
ander and  his  estimable  wife  are  rearing 
three  little  grandchildren,  viz.:  John  B., 
James  C.  and  Elizabeth  J.  Their  father, 
James  Alexander,  died  in  October,  1881,  and 
their  mother,  Martha  A.  (Trousdale)  Alexan- 
der, died  in  November,  1881.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Alexander  are  members  of  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  Church.  He  has  held  school 
offices,  and  been  Township  Supervisor.  In 
political  affairs,  he  is  a  Democrat. 

NATHAN  ATTEBERRY,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Fairfield,  was  born  August  10,  1803,  in 
South  Carolina.  His  father,  Richard  Atte 
berry,  was  born  in  South  Carolina,  where  he 
farmed;  he  died  in  Grayson  County,  Ky. 
The  mother  of  our  subject  was  Rebecca  (Ben- 
net)  Atteberry,  born  in  South  Carolina;  she 
died  in  Kentucky.  She  was  the  mother  of 
fourteen  children,  of  whom  our  subject  was 
next  to  the  youngest,  aud  is  the  only  one  liv- 
ing. He  went  to  school  in  Kentucky,  where 
he  lived  several  years.     In  the  fall  of   1811), 


44 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


be  came  to  Wayne  County,  111.,  where  he  has 
lived  ever  since.  He  came  here  when  the 
woods  were  rilled  with  wild  beasts  and  the 
country  was  a  wilderness.  He  came  here 
with  his  older  brother.  It  was  in  a  time 
when  the  mustering  day  surpassed  in  grand- 
eur our  fair  day;  at  least  more  bad  whisky 
was  stowed  away,  and  more  free  rights  in- 
dulged in.  Here,  on  Turney's  Prairie,  he 
lived  with  an  old  gentleman,  and  the  first 
winter  went  to  school  about  three  months. 
He  finally  bought  forty  acres  at  11.25  per 
acre,  and  with  a  brave  heart  and  hardened 
muscles  went  to  work  improving  it  He  at 
one  time  owned  300  acres  of  land,  and  now 
owns  128  acres,  a  part  of  which  is  the  old 
homestead.  Our  subject  has  seen  a  great  many 
changes,  and  has  at  least  seen  more  than  two 
generations  rise  and  pass  away.  He  was  mar- 
ried twice.  His  first  wife,  Maria  Butler,  was 
a  native  of  Kentucky,  and  died  here  in  1861, 
leaving  eight  children,  of  whom  three  are 
now  living,  viz. :  Warren.  David  and  Thomas. 
The  latter  is  living  in  California.  His'pres- 
ent  wife,  Martha  A.  (George)  Atteberry,  is  a 
daughter  of  William  W.  George.  Esq.,  a 
prominent  citizen  of  this  county.  This 
union  was  blessed  with  four  children,  viz.: 
Martha  M.,  William  W.,  Delbert  B.  and  Os- 
car B.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Atteberry  are  active 
members  of  the  Missionary  Baptist  Church, 
and  their  standing  in  the  community  is  the 
very  best.  Mr.  Atteberry  is  a  true  type  of 
our  old  pioneers,  and  quite  strong  iD  body 
and  mind  for  a  man  of  his  age,  he  having 
seen  eighty  summers  unfold  their  beauteous 
foliage.  He  is  no  politician,  but  is  identi- 
fied with  the  Democratic  party. 

A.  J.  BEHIMER,  farmer,  P.  O.  Mill 
Shoals,  was  born  in  Clermont  County.  Ohio, 
on  January  22,  1832.  and  is  a  son  of  John 
and  Jane  (Meeker)  Behimer.  The  grand- 
father, Nathaniel  Behimer,  was  born  in  Vir- 


ginia, and  there  the  father  also  was  born. 
The  latter  moved  to  Richland  County,  111. , 
where  he  died.  The  mother  was  a  native  of 
New  Jersey,  and  a  daughter  of  Jonas  and 
Charity  Meeker.  This  lady  was  the  mother 
of  fifteen  children,  of  whom  nine  are  living, 
and  died  in  Richland  County,  111.  Subject 
went  to  school  in  Ohio  and  Indiana,  and  in 
early  life  he  turned  his  attention  to  saw  mill- 
ing, and  followed  that  from  1858  to  the  fore- 
part of  1883.  He  has,  however,  lately  turned 
his  attention  to  farming,  and  now  owns  140 
acres.  Mr.  Behimer  was  married,  in  1854, 
in  Jennings  County,  Ind.,to  Miss  Jemima  L. 
Beeman.  This  lady  was  born  in  Jennings 
County,  Ind.,  on  January  2,  1834,  and  is  a 
daughter  of  Jonathan  and  Mary  (Pool)  Bee- 
man.  Eight  children  have  blessed  this 
union — Alfred  J.,  Sarah  E.,  Francis  M.. 
Mary  A.,  James  E.,  Cora  J3t.,  Bertie  T.  and 
Delia  T.  In  politics,  Mr.  Behimer  is  iden- 
tified with  the  Republican  party. 

S.  M.  BOS  WELL,  farmer,  P.  O  Fairfield. 
The  one  of  whose  life  this  sketch  is  a  brief 
epitome,  was  born  on  December  19,  1836, 
and  is  the  son  of  H.  and  Jane  (Maxim)  Bos- 
well.  The  father,  who  was  a  native  of  North 
Carolina,  and  a  farmer  by  occupation,  was  a 
son  of  Hezekiah  Boswell,  Sr.,  and  came  to 
Gibson  County,  Ind.,  when  a  young  man, 
where  be  resided  till  his  death.  The  mother, 
who  was  a  native  of  Indiana,  lived  and  died 
in  that  [State.  Her  parents  were  Sylvester 
and  Polly  Maxim,  natives  of  Connecticut. 
She  was  the  mother  of  twelve  children,  of 
whom  three  are  now  living — Mary  (wife  of 
W'esley  Spain),  Amanda  (wife  of  Henry 
Lamb,  and  our  subject.  The  latter' s  educa- 
tion was  received  at  Princeton,  Gibson  Co., 
Ind.,  and  in  early  life  his  occupation  was 
mainly  that  of  a  farmer.  In  1867,  he  came 
to  Wabash  County,  111.,  and  on  the  following 
year   moved  to  Mount  Carmel.  and  there  re- 


liAltNIIIPI.  TOWNMIIP. 


45 


sided  twelve  years,  during  six  years  of  which 
time  he  was  engaged  in  the  sewing  machine 
agency  business.  In  ISM),  he  came  to  Wayne 
County,  purchasing  175  acres,  and  has  subse- 
quently devoted  his  attention  to  farming.  In 
Princeton,  Ind..  in  1858,  Mr.  Boswell  was 
married  to  Misjs  Sarah  Parmenter.  This  lady 
was  born  on  October  5,  183(3,  in  AY  abash 
County.  111.,  and  is  a  daughter  of  Col.  Isaac 
and  Sarali  (Utter)  Parmenter.  The  father 
was  a  native8e£_New  York,  and  a  carpenter  by 
occupation.  He  was  a  soldier  in  the  Black 
Hawk  war,  being  wounded  in  the  leg  and 
hand,  and  until  the  day  of  his  death  he  car- 
ried a  bullet  in  his  leg.  He  died  at  a  good 
old  age  near  Mount  Carmel,  111.  Four  chil- 
dren are  now  living  as  a  result  of  this  union 
— Alice  X..  born  on  February  8,  1859;  Adin 
P.,  born  on  September  14.  18(50;  Clara  C, 
born  on  October  27,  1862,  and  Minnie,  born 
on  March  L5,  ls07.  Mr.  Boswell  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  In 
politics,  Mr.  Boswell  has  given  his  support  to 
the  Republican  party. 

J.  R.  CARTER,  'farmer.  P.  O.  Fairfield, 
was  born  March  28,  1825,  in  Ohio  County, 
Ky. ,  son  of  William  Carter,  born  March  24, 
1799,  in  Virginia.  At  the  age  of  eight 
years,  ho  was  taken  to  Kentucky  by  his 
father.  William  Carter,  who  was  a  native  of 
Virginia,  but  who  died  in  Kentucky.  Will- 
iam A.  Carter  came  to  Wayne  County  in 
November,  1828.  He  farmed,  and  died 
October  HI.  1S(57.  He  was  a  tine  old  man. 
The  mother  of  our  subject,  Hannah  (Haynes) 
Carter,  was  born  May  7.  17117.  in  Virginia, 
Her  father,  Josiah  Haynes,  was  a  farmer  and 
a  native  of  Virgiuia.  She  is  the  mother  of 
eight  children,  viz  ,  John  R.  (our  subject), 
Sallie  (wife  of  George  Felix).  Judith  Wright 
(deceased),  Rolley  (he  died  while  in  the 
United  States  Army),  Polly  Sustleton  i  le 
ceased),    William    H.    Margaiet    poster  I de- 


ceased)  and  Frank,  the  youngest  (is  also  de- 
ceased). Our  subject  was  educated  in  this 
township,  and  here  he  has  farmed  all  his 
life.  He  has  180  acres  of  land  where  he 
now  resides,  and  160  acres  in  Clay  County, 
near  Flora.  He  was  married  twice.  His 
lirst  wife,  Rosannah  Holt,  was  born  in  Ohio. 
She  died  in  Fairfield  in  18(35,  on  the  17th 
day  of  April,  leaving  three  children,  viz., 
Rosetta  (deceased),  Horace  H.  (deceased)  and 
Charles  L.,  born  August  28,  1863.  His 
second  wife,  Charlotta  Darr,  was  born  in 
Ohio.  She  died  October  21,  1874,  leaving 
three  children,  viz.,  William  A.  (born  Janu 
ary  10.  1869),  Frank  W.  (born  March  27 
1871),  John  D.  (born  January  29,  1873) 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Carter  are  religiously  con 
nected  with  the  Missionary  Baptist  Church 
He  has  filled  both  school  and  township  of- 
fices. He  votes  the  Republican  ticket.  By 
dint  of  perseverance  and  hard  work,  Mr. 
Carter,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  has  been 
mainly  a  self-made  man,  and  although  at 
present  suffering  from  sickness,  he  is  yet 
cheerful  and  good-natured,  looking  back  with 
pleasure  on  his  past  life  and  looking  fearless 
into  the  future. 

WILLIAM  H.  CARTER,  farmer,  P.  (). 
Fairfield,  was  born  October  5,  1833,  in 
Wayne  County.  111.,  son  of  William  A.  Car- 
ter, born  in  Virginia  in  1799  He  died  in 
Barnhill  Township  in  IM5S,  having  come  to 
this  county  in  1829.  He  was  a  farmer,  and 
was  well  known  and  highly  respectedj  He 
held  the  office  of  Justice  of  the  Peace  for 
many  years,  and  was  in  early  days  a  muster- 
ing officer  iD  Kentucky,  where  ho  was  raided, 
ami  also  in  this  county.  His  father  was 
William  Carter,  a  native  of  Virginia;  he 
died  in  Ohio  County.  Ky.  He  was  a  soldier 
in  the^Revolutionary  war.  The  Carter  fam- 
ily is  of  English  descent,  and  is  of  a  cele- 
brated  race.      They  came  to  the  colonies  in 


46 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


an  early  day.  and  have,  down  to  the  present 
time,  been  connected  with  the  history  of  dif- 
ferent States.  The  mother  of  our  subject, 
Hannah  (Haynes)  Carter,  was  a  native  of 
Virginia,  born  1797.  She  died  October  4, 
1880,  in  this  county.  She  was  a  daughter 
of  Josiah  and  Judith  (New)  Haynes.  natives 
of  Virginia.  Josiah  Haynes  was  a  soldier  in 
the  Revolutionary  war.  He  was  the  father 
of  seventeen  children,  of  whom  only  one  died 
before  he  did;  he  saw  the  rest  all  married 
and  become  members  of  the  church.  His 
name  is  well  known  throughout  Kentucky 
for  his  hospitality  and  liberality.  Mrs. 
Hannah  Carter  was  the  mother  of  eight 
children,  of  whom  only  three  are  now  living. 
Our  subject  was  educated  in  Wayne  County, 
111.  He  has  farmed  all  his  life.  He  was 
married,  in  1856,  to  Miss  Elvira  J.  Kelley, 
born  February  3,  1833,  in  Kentucky,  daugh- 
ter of  Rev.  Carter  J.  Kelley,  a  native  of 
Kentucky,  and  Perlina  (Haynes)  Kelley,  a 
native  of  Kentucky.  Mrs.  Elvira  J.  Carter 
is  the  mother  of  ten  children,  of  whom  five 
are  now  living,  viz.,  David  K,  born  Febru- 
ary 28,  1859;  "Woodson  E.,  born  December 
15,  186">;  Ruth  A.,  born  June  27,  1870; 
Oscar  O. ,  born  September  2,  1872,  and  Mary 
P.,  born  May  16,  1875.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Carter  are  members  of  the  Missionary  Bap- 
tist Church.  He  is  an  A..  F.  &  A.  M., 
Fairfield  Lodge,  No.  206.  He  has  a  farm  of 
200  acres  of  land,  and  in  politics  he  is  a 
Republican.  He  served  almost  three  years 
in  our  late  war,  in  Company  K,  One  Hun- 
dred and  Twenty-fourth  Illinois  Volunteer 
Infantry,  participating  in  many  thrilling 
scenes  and  famous  battles.  He  enlisted  as 
private,  but  worked  his  way  up  to  Second 
Lieutenant.  During  the  siege  of  Vicksburg, 
he  commanded  his  company. 

C.   S.    CLARK,    farmer.    1'.    O.    Fairfield, 
was  born  December  25,  1843.  in  Mt.  Carmel, 


— 


Wabash  Co.,  111.,  son  of  Chciuncey  Clark, 
a  native  of  Connecticut,  born  May,  1812,  in 
Middlesex  County.  He  farmed,  and  also 
learned  the  ivory  rule-maker's  trade.  In 
1837,  he  moved  to  Chicago,  where  he  kept 
the  Batchelor  Hotel  for  some  years,  and  then 
moved  to  Wabash  County,  111-,  where  he 
farmed,  but  is  now  practically  retired  from 
active  life.  His  father  was  James  Clark. 
The  mother  of  our  subject  was  Jane  M. 
(Gould)  Clark,  born  in  Wabash  County,  111. 
She  wTas  a  daughter  of  Thomas  and  Marga- 
ret Gould,  and  is  the  mother  of  five  children 
— Jane  M.  Redman,  Helen  Smith,  Charles 
S.,  our  subject;  George  W,  who  was  killed 
at  the  battle  of  Atlanta,  and  Eliza  Bucken- 
ham.  Our  subject  was  educated  at  Mt.  Car- 
mel, 111.  At  the  age  of  twenty-one,  he  went 
to  Olney,  where  he  sold  goods  for  A.  B. 
Danniel  about  one  year,  then  clerked  in  Vin- 
cennes  for  one  and  a  half  years  for  Adam 
Gimbel,  and  then,  after  farming  almost  one 
year  at  home,  he  went  South  to  Mississippi 
and  Tennessee.  After  he  returned  home,  he 
made  an  extensive  trip  through  the  West, 
including  Idaho,  Utah,  Wyoming,  Colorado. 
Nebraska,  Nevada  and  Montana,  bitt  finally, 
after  several  years  of  rich  experience,  his 
roving  spirit  led  him  back  once  more  to  his 
dear  old  home,  but  after  one  year  of  home 
life  and  farming  he  sought  the  Pacific  coast, 
and  lived  in  the  States  of  California  and 
Oregon,  and  the  Territory  of  Washington. 
He  retraced  his  steps  homeward  once  more, 
and  was  married,  April  21,1881,  in  Mt.  Car- 
rael,  111.,  to  Miss  Addie  M.  Townsend,  born 
July  3,  1860,  in  Mt.  Carmel,  111.  She  is  a 
daughter  of  William  and  Sarah  J.  (Ingersoll) 
Townsend,  both  natives  of  Mt.  Carmel.  111. 
William  Townsend  was  formerly  a  pilot  on 
the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Rivers.  Our  sub- 
ject farmed  one  year  in  Wabash  County,  and 
then    came   to    Wayne     County,    where    he 


BARNHILL  TOWNSHIP. 


47 


bought  eighty  acres  of  land,  on  which  he  re- 
sides. He  is  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  in  politics  is  identified  with  the 
Democratic  party,  although  the  only  one  in 
his  family. 

HON.  NATHAN  CREWS,  merchant, 
grain-dealer  and  farmer,  P.  O.  Merriam.  The 
history  of  the  Crews  family  is  very  interest- 
ing; they  have  figured  a  great  deal  in  the 
early  settlement  of  Illinois.  Sketches  of  the 
family  can  be  found  in  many  county  his- 
tories. The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born 
September  3,  1825,  in  Wayne  County,  111. 
His  father,  James  Crews,  was  born  in  1798 
in  North  Carolina.  He  died  in  this  county, 
lie  was  a  farmer  and  Methodist  Episcopal 
minister  by  occupation.  Ho  was  principally 
reared  in  East  Tennessee,  near  the  home  of 
Gen.  Andrew  Jackson.  In  1816.  he  came  to 
White  County,  and  in  1818  came  to  Wayne 
County,  111.,  with  his  parents,  Andrew  and 
Hitter  (Bradley)  Crews.  Here  he  was  mar- 
ried to  Elizabeth  Owens,  a  native  of  Vir- 
ginia, who  had  lived  several  years  in  Ken- 
tucky, but  who  came  to  this  county  iu  an 
early  day  and  died  here.  She  was  the 
mother  of  ten  children,  of  whom  five  are  now 
living.  James  Crews  is  well  remembered  by 
old  settlers,  and  died  herein  1880.  Heboid 
the  office  of  Justice  of  the  Peace,  and  was  a 
member  of  the  County  Hoard.  His  memory 
is  cherished  by  those  with  whom  he  came  in 
contact.  Our  subject  went  to  school  only 
about  three  months  in  his  life,  devoting  most 
of  his  time  to  farming,  which  has  been  his 
main  occupation  in  life,  owning  at  present 
a  farm  of  1  l"  acres.  He  holds  with  the  Re- 
publican party.  but  has  a  good  many  Demo- 
cratic friends,  which  was  shown  when  he»was 
elected  to  the  Legislature.  He  served  his 
neighbors  in  the  capacity  of  Justice  of  the 
Peace  four  years,  and  was  twice  elected  i 
the  Legislature,  the  first  time  in  I860,  being 


an  independent  candidate,  and  elected  prin- 
cipally by  the  Republican,  Bell  and  Demo- 
cratic parties.  In  1880,  he  was  elected  as 
a  Republican  candidate,  but  received  a  large 
Democratic  vote;  and  in  1878  filled  the  office 
of  Door-keeper  in  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives. The  A.  F.  &  A.  M.  fraternity  of  the 
Fairfield  Lodge  claim  him  as  one  of  their 
active  members.  In  January,  1882,  he  put 
up  a  store  in  Merriam.  in  Barnhill  Town- 
ship, on  the  L.  E.  &  St.  L.  R.  R.,  keeping  a 
general  stock  of  merchandise.  He  also  pat 
up  a  warehouse  and  buys  grain.  Mr.  Crews 
has  been  married  three  times.  His  first 
wife,  Maria  Cannon,  died  in  1858,  leaving 
three  children — Marshall,  who  died  while  a 
student  at  Jacksonville,  111.,  aged  twenty-two; 
Jesse  A.;  and  Nancy  E.  Gregory;  she  mar- 
ried Charles  R.  Gregory;  they  have  four 
children — Hattie  M.,  Casey  A.,  Charles  N. 
and  Nancy  M.  His  second  wife.  Margaret 
Beach,  died  in  1863.  His  present  wife,  Clo- 
tilda A.  (Nye),  born  July  5,  184(1,  in  Meigs 
County,  Ohio,  was  a  daughter  of  Marshall 
and  Zillah  (Stivers)  Nye,  both  natives  of 
Ohio.  Her  grandfather.  Nial  Nye,  was  a 
native  of  New  York,  of  Holland  descent,  and 
a  Colonel  in  the  Revolutionary  war.  Four 
children  blessed  this  union — Martha,  born 
December  23,  1865;  Jane,  born  October  21, 
1869;  Laura  A.,  born  Juno  25,  1875:  and 
Charles  E.,  born  March  29,  1877.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Crews  are  members  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  In  the  spring  of  1846, 
while  Mr.  Crews  was  in  New  Orleans,  during 
the  Mexican  war,  he  hoard  of  the  battle  of 
Resacade  laPalma.  and.  being  of  an  advent- 
ure-loving disposition,  he  enlisted  immedi- 
ately on  arriving  home  in  the  Third  Illinois 
Volunteer  Regiment.  Company  F,  command- 
ed by  Capt.  John  A.  Campbell.  Ho  partici- 
pated iu  many  thrilling  scenes,  among  others 
the  siege  and  capture  of  Vera  Cruz  and  the 


48 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


battle  of  Cerro  Gordo.  After  a  twelve 
months'  service,  lie  returned  home  and  en- 
gaged in  farming  till  the  breaking-out  of  the 
civil  war  while  he  was  in  the  Legislature  in 
Springfield,  and  upon  the  adjournment  of 
that  body  he  hurried  home,  staying  only  one 
mcht  with  his  family,  and  then  enlisted  in 
the  Eighteenth  Illinois  Volunteer  Regiment, 
Company  G.  Here  is  an  example  of  true  pa- 
triotism worthy  of  imitation  and  reward.  He 
enlisted  as  private,  but  was  elected  First 
Lieutenant,  and  from  that  was  promoted  to 
Captain,  and  after  the  fall  of  Maj.  Eaton  at 
Shiloh  he  was  promoted  to  Major,  which  of- 
fice he  occupied  till  July,  1S64,  when  he  was 
compelled  to  resign  on  account  of  sickness, 
and  wounds  received  in  different  engage- 
ments, of  which  the  main  ones  were  Fort 
Donelson  and  Shiloh. 

JOHN  A.  CREWS,  farmer.  P.  O.  Fair- 
field, was  born  October  26,  1833,  in  Wayne 
County,  111.,  son  of  Jesse  Crews,  a  native  of 
Kentucky,  born  about  1804;  he  died  in  this 
county  in  1872,  having  come  here  in  or  about 
1818,  with  his  parents,  Andrew  and  Ritter 
(Bradley)  Crews.  Here  among  the  scenes  of 
pioneer  life  he  grew  to  manhood,  following 
farming  as  his  vocation.  The  mother  of  our 
subject,  Nancy  (Carter)  Crews,  was  born  in 
1809  in  Kentucky.  She  is  yet  living,  a  true 
specimen  of  our  hardy  pioneer  women  who 
wrought  such  deeds  of  toil  and  heroic  self- 
sacrifice,  as  to  forever  shine  as  worthy  exam- 
ples to  coming  posterity.  She  is  the  mother 
of  nine  children  \ who  reached  maturity,  of 
whom  five  are  now  living,  viz. ,  Mathew, 
John  A.,  our  subject,  Josiah,  Benjamin  and 
Nancy  Fetter.  Our  subject  was  educated  in 
this  county,  and  here  he  was  married,  on  July 
19,  I860,  to  Miss  Nancy  E.  Cannon,  born 
February  14,  1844,  in  this  county.  She  is  a 
daughter  of  .Tesse  and  Louisa  (Shaw)  Cannon. 
She  is  the  mother  of    eight    children,    viz. : 


C'lemence,  born  May  6,  1867;  Robert,  born 
March  10,  1869;  Ida  M.,  born  September  17, 
1S70;  Frank,  born  Jime  24,  1872;  Maggie 
E.,  born  February  19,  1874;  Lucy,  born 
December  7,  1875;  Benjamin,  born  March 
29,  1878,  and  Carrie,  born  August  7.  1882. 
Mrs.  Crews  is  religiously  connected  with  the 
Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church.  Mr. 
Crews  is  a  good  farmer,  owning  a  farm  of  1  21  > 
acres.      He  supports  the  Republican  party. 

ANDREW  CREWS,  farmer,  P.  O.  Merri- 
am,  was  born  December  1,  1837,  in  the  Sec- 
tion where  he  now  resides.  He  is  a  son  of 
James  and  Elizabeth  (Owens)  Crews.  Our 
subject  went  to  school  in  Barnhill  Township, 
where  he  also  farmed  and  was  married.  Sep- 
tember 21,  1860,  to  Mary  J.  Wilsou,  who 
was  born  here  September  10,  1840.  She  is  a 
daughter  of  S.  J.  R.  Wilson,  a  native  of 
Kentucky:  he  is  yet  living  in  this  count). 
Her  mother  was  Elvira  (Beach)  Carter,  a  na- 
tive of  Kentucky.  She  was  the  mother  of 
seven  children,  of  whom  Mrs.  Mary  J.  Crews 
is  the  only  one  now  living.  Mrs.  Crews  is 
the  mother  of  ten  children,  of  whom  five  are 
now  living,  viz.,  Elvira  E.,  born  August  30. 
1861, wife  of  Flemming  G.  Gregory;  Nathan 
T.,  born  January  26,  1868;  Samuel  J.,  born 
August  14,  1870;  Mary  A.,  born  October  14, 
1S73,  and  Roscoe,  born  August  15,  1881. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Crews  are  members  of  the 
Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church.  On  the 
13th  of  August,  Mr.  Crews  obeyed  the  call  of 
his  country  to  protect  the  stars  and  stripes, 
and  enlisted  in  Company  D.  of  the  Eighty- 
seventh  Illinois  Regiment  of  Infantry  Vol- 
unteers, which  was  mounted  after  one  year's 
service.  He  fought  till  the  close  of  the  war. 
When  the  company  was  organized,  he  was 
First  Sergeant,  but  was  elected  Second  Lieu- 
tenant,  and  through  his  own  exertion  rose  to 
First  Lieutenant  and  finally  Captain,  which 
position  he  occupied  when  he  was  mastered 


BARNHILL  TOWNSHIP. 


49 


out  He  participated  in  different  engage- 
ment?, among  others  that  of  Sabine  Cross 
Road-;.  Capt.  Crews  lias  been  Justice  of  the 
Peace  twice,  and  at  present  tills  that  office 
with  tact  and  ability.  Has  also  been  Town- 
ship  Assessor.  In  the  fall  of  1882,  he  was 
the  Republican  candidate  for  Sheriff  of 
Wayne  County  against  Isaac  B.  Carson, 
wno  was  elected  by  sixty  live  vote3  majority. 
Mr.  Crews  is  a  member  of  A,  O.  U.  W.  and 
G.  A.  R. 

JESSE  A.  CREWS,  farmer,  P.  O.  Mer- 
riam.  Among  our  young,  enterprising  farm 
ers,  we  place  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  who 
was  born  Januarj  25,  L853,  in  Barnhill 
Township.  He  is  a  son  of  Hon.  Nathan 
Crews.  His  mother's  maiden  name  was 
Maria  (Cannon)  Crews.  Our  subject  went 
to  school  in  this  county,  and  here  he  was  also 
joined  in  matrimony.  February  IS.  1875,  to 
Mis-  Mary  E.  Hoffe,  who  was  burn  May  25, 
1859,  in  Wayne  County,  111.  She  is  a 
daughter  of  Jonathan  and  Ann  (Ginimoson) 
Hoffe.  natives  of  Ohio,  and  now  residents  of 
this  county.  The  result  of  this  happy  union 
is  one  son  named  Nathan  Crews,  Jr.,  who 
was  born  December  15,  1875.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Crews  are  members  of  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal  Church.  He  has  a  farm  of  fifty-three 
B  ires  which  he  keeps  in  a  high  state  of  culti- 
vation.    In  politics,  he  is  a  Republican 

G.  M.  DAVIS,  farmer  and  stock-breeder, 
1'.  0.  Fairfield,  was  born  January  11),  1845. 
in  Marion  County,  Ohio.  His  father,  Joshua 
Davis,  is  a  native  of  Logan  County,  Ohio.  His 
history  ,is  given  complete  in  Big  Mound 
Township.  The  mother  of  our  subject  was 
Elizabeth  YV.  (Virden)  Davis,  a  native  of 
Delaware.  Our  subjec)  was  educated  in  Mar- 
ion County,  and  at  Hillsdale  College,  Michi 
gan.  Tn  early  life  he  farmed,  then  taught 
jcho  '!  and  also  traded  in  stock.  In  1871,  ho 
opened  a  lumber  yard  in  Fairfield,  and  con- 


tinued in  that  business  with  good  success  till 
1883,  when  he  sold  out  and  in  September  the 
same  year  moved  on  to  his  farm  one  mile 
southeast  of  town.  The  farm  consists  of  120 
acres  of  good  land,  with  now  and  commodious 
improvements.  On  it  he  intends  to  engage 
principally  in  breeding  thoroughbred  stock. 
mainly  sheep  and  hogs.  He  was  joined  in 
matrimony,  September  30,  1875,  in  Fairfield, 
to  Miss  Kate  Robertson,  born  April  10,  1855, 
in  Connersville,  Fayette  Co.,  Ind.  She  is  a 
daughter  of  Thomas  Robertson  and  Lydia 
(Frost)  Robertson.  He  was  a  native  of  New 
Jersey,  and  is  yet  living  in  Fairfield;  and 
she  is  a  native  of  New  York.  Mrs.  Davis  is 
the  mother  of  two  children  now  living,  viz., 
Charles  H..  born  March  29,  1880,  and  Will- 
iam H.,  born  October  8,  1882.  Mrs.  Davis  is 
a  highly  esteemed  member  of  society,  and  of 
the  Christian  Church  He  is  a  Royal  Temp 
lar;  is  a  Republican,  and  has  been  Treasurer 
and  a  member  of  the  Town  Board. 

MRS.  MARY  GIMMESON,  Fairfield,  was 
born  October  21.  1834,  in  Washington,  Penn. 
She  was  a  daughter  of  Samuel  Black,  who  was 
a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  and  followed  the 
carpenter  trade  in  Pittsburgh,  where  he  died. 
Her  mother  was  Lydia  (Burten)  Black,  a  na- 
tive of  Pennsylvania.  She  was  the  mother  of 
but  one  child,  which  is  our  subject,  Mary 
(Black)  Gimmeson,  who  was  joined  in  mat- 
rimony to  Samuel  Gimmeson,  a  uative  of 
Stark  County,  Ohio.  He  -was  a  fine,  indus 
trious  man.  whose  place  it  will  bo  hard  to  fill 
in  the  community.  He  died  February  b>. 
1878,  in  this  county,  mourned  by  all  who 
know  him.  Mrs.  Gimmeson  is  the  happy 
mother  of  three  children  now  living,  viz., 
Elizabeth  A  ,  born  February  10,  1853,  wife 
of  David  Shooh'eld;  Uriah  T..  born  Novem 
ber  17,  1855  — he  is  married  to  Louisa  Car- 
ter; and  John  W.,  who  was  born  June  30, 
1865.      He  is  a  lino,   promising  youth,   who 


50 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


looks  upon  honor  as  the  first  principle  of 
manhood.  He  is  now  at  home  managing  his 
mother's  farm  of  160  acres.  Mrs.  Gimme 
son  is  well  known  in  the  community  where 
she  lives  as  an  open-hearted  and  a  kind- 
hearted  lady.  She  is  religiously  connected 
with  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

JA.MES  GOODWIN,  farmer,  P.  O.  Fair- 
field, who  is  a  descendant  of  one  of  our  old- 
est pioneers  on  his  mother's  side,  was  born 
July  5,  1842,  in  Wayne  County,  III.  His 
father,  John  Goodwin,  was  principally  reared 
in  Illinois.  He  resides  on  the  place  where 
our  subject  was  born,  having  come  to  this 
county  about  1840.  The  mother  of  our  sub- 
ject was  Elizabeth  (Harris)  Goodwin,  a 
daughter  of  Isaac  and  Jennie  Harris,  natives 
of  Kentucky.  He,  it  is  said,  erected  one  of 
the  first  houses  in  Leech  Township,  if  not  in 
the  county.  Mrs.  Elizabeth  (Harris)  Good- 
win was  born  March  15,  1804.  in  Kentucky, 
She  died  August  15,  1883.  She  was  a  re- 
markable woman,  and  one  who  could  have 
aided,  by  her  wonderful  memory,  considera- 
ble in  the  compilation  of  this  history.  But 
she,  like  many  of  our  old  pioneers,  passed 
away  too  soon.  She  was  the  mother  of  ten 
children,  of  whom  five  are  now  living — Will- 
iam Meritt,  Isaac  Meritt,  Polly  Hodges 
and  Malinda  Posey,  are  from  her  first  hus- 
band, whose  name  wa»  Steven  Meritt,  now 
deceased,  our  subject  being  the  fifth.  Her 
father  lived  for  some  time  in  a  fort  in  White 
Countv;  on  account  of  Indian  troubles,  he 
returned  to  Kentucky,  but  finally  came  back 
to  Illinois,  where  he  died.  Our  subject  went 
to  school  in  this  county,  and  here  he  was  also 
married,  February  12,  1863,  to  Miss  Julia  A. 
Mathews,  born  September  15.  1844,  in  Wayne 
County,  111.  She  is  a  daughter  of  William 
T.  and  Levi tha  (McCulough)  Matthew,  natives 
of  Kentucky.  This  union  was  blessed  with 
nine  children — John  W.,Mary  O.,  Charles  B.. 


Samuel.  Jane,  Robbie  (deceased;,  Lotiisa, 
Emma  and  James  E.  Mrs.  Goodwin  is  a 
member  of  the  C.  P.  Church.  He  has  a 
farm  of  370  acres,  and  is  considered  one  of 
the  best  farmers  in  the  township.  In  poli- 
tics, he  is  a  Democrat. 

MRS.  MARIA  HARLAN,  Barnhill,  was 
born  September  18.  1828,  on  the  farm  where 
she  now  resides,  the  land  having  been  pre- 
empted by  her  father,  Daniel  Kenshalo,  in 
1816.  He  was  born  June  2,  1780,  in  Harri- 
son County,  Va.  He  died,  in  1872,  in  Mill 
Shoals.  White  Co.,  111.  In  early  life,  he  was 
educated  as  a  lawyer,  but  never  followed  his 
profession.  While  living  in  Kentucky,  he 
shipped  goods  and  also  negroes  to  New  Or- 
leans, to  which  place  he  made  thirteen  trips 
by  flat-boat,  and  walking  back,  carrying  at 
one  time  §17,000.  tied  up  in  a  handerchief. 
back  to  his  employers.  In  1819.  he  came  to 
Wayne  County,  111.,  where  he  pre-empted 
and  deeded  the  land  on  which  our  subject 
now  resides.  Daniel  Kenshalo  was  a  soldier 
in  the  war  of  1812.  participating  in  the  bat- 
tle of  the  Thames,  where  Tecumseh  fell,  se- 
curing the  great  chief's  tomahawk,  which  he 
brought  home  as  a  trophy.  His  last  days 
were  spent  in  quiet  country  life.  Our  sub- 
ject's grandfather,  Peter  Kenshalo.  was  a  na- 
tive of  Ireland,  and  came  here  during  the 
Revolutionary  war.  His  wife  was  Margaret 
Walls,  a  native  of  Germany.  The  mother 
of  our  subject  was  Anne  Van  Shoik,  born 
1784.  in  Amsterdam,  Holland;  she  died  in 
1842.  in  this  county.  She  was  the  mother 
of  twelve  children,  of  whom  our  subject  is 
probably  the  only  one  now  living.  Her 
father,  David  Van  Shoik,  also  a  native  of 
Holland,  was  a  wagon-maker  by  occupation. 
Her  mother  was  Pyrthina  Van  Shoik.  Mrs 
Harlan's  brother,  Peter  Kenshalo.  was  a  Firs! 
Lieutenant  in  the  Black  Hawk  war:  she  af- 
terward drew  tiis  pension.     She  was  married 


BARNHILL  TOWNSHIP. 


-.1 


twice;  her  first  husband.  Kufns  Sexton,  died 
in  White  County.  111.  Her  second  husband, 
Nathaniel  Harlan,  was  a  native  of  Kentucky; 
he  died  February  0,  LS72.  Mrs.  Harlan  is 
the  mother  of  ten  children,  of  whom  sis  are 
now  living — Augusta,  wife  of  K  H.  Puckett; 
India  B..  wife  of  John  Faulkner;  Metta  V.. 
born  April  5,  1862:  Charles  W..  born  March 
5,  1867;  Marshal  M..  born  November  5,  1868; 
and  Sallie,  born  February  27,  1870.  Mrs. 
Harlan  has  managed  her  farm  of  '210  acres, 
with  marked  success  since  the  death  of  her 
husband,  and  may  be  considered  as  one  of 
the  best  farmers  in  Wayne  County.  She 
made  a  tine  farm  cut  of  a  waste  place,  and 
at  present  has  mortgages  on  other  farms  and 
money  at  interest.  Religiously,  she  is  con- 
nected with  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
MILKS  H  HARRIS,  farmer.  ['.().  Mer- 
riam,  was  born  September  5,  1819,  in  the 
southeast  corner  of  Wayne  County,  HI.  He 
was  educated  in  theacademj  at  Burnt  Prairie, 
White  Co..  111.  Early  in  life,  he  devoted  his 
attention  to  instructing  the  young,  teaching 
for  four  or  live  years,  mainly  in  the  fall  and 
winter,  farming  in  the  summer.  He  bought 
his  tirst  farm  of  200  acres  in  Leech  Town- 
ship, which  he  sold  in  1858,  and  then  went 
to  New  Massillon.  where  he  bought  a  steam 
Hour  and  lumber  mill,  which  he  operated  for 
two  years,  and  then  trailed  it  for  a  farm  of 
100  acres,  on  which  he  now  resides.  He  was 
joined  in  matrimony  three  times.  His  tirst 
wife.  Matilda  Wilson,  died,  leaving  three 
children,  viz. :  Emma  H.  wife  of  W.  A. 
Trousdale;  Susan  A.,  wife  H.  P.  Trousdale, 
and  Miles  C  deceased.  His  second  wife 
was  Julia  A.  Fulkersou,  who  died  the  follow- 
ing year  after  fchej  were  married.  His  pres 
ent  wit'e  is  Mary  .1.  Robertson,  born  1834, 
in  White  County.  111.  Her  parents  were  Aaron 
and  Mahala  M.  (Funkhouser)  Robertson 
This    union    was   blessed    with   two  children. 


viz. :  Julia  M.  and  Mary  A.  Mr.  and  Mr.-. 
Harris  are  members  of  the  Cumberland  Pres- 
byterian Church.  In  political  matters,  Mr. 
Harris  is  identified  with  the  Democratic  par- 
ty. He  has  tilled  a  number  of  offices,  and 
tilled  them  to  the  satisfaction  of  his  constitu- 
ents. He  is  a  man  that  is  always  willing  to 
espouse  the  cause  of  right  and  justice.  He 
was  Justice  of  the  Peace  for  twenty-two 
years;  he  was  also  a  member  of  the  County 
Board  of  Supervisors  for  four  years,  was 
Constable  for  three  years.  Township  Assessor 
one  year,  and  for  two  years  tilled  the  office 
of  County  Superintendent  of  Schools,  with 
tact  and  ability. 

L.  P.  HAY,  farmer,  P.  O.  Fairfield,  was 
born  November  '22,  1823.  in  "White  County, 
111.  He  is  a  son  of  John  Hay,  born  1770 
in  Allegheny  County,  Penn..  where  he 
farmed.  About  1817,  he  located  in  White 
County,  II!.,  on  Little  Prairie,  near  the  Grand 
Chain,  and  then  removed  to  Big  Prairie, 
where  out  subject  was  born.  Here  he  farmed, 
and  in  partnership  with  his  uncle  Lowry,  put 
up  a  distillery,  which  he  operated  for  a  nutn- 
ber  of  years,  he  doing  the  main  buying  and 
selling,  and  flat-boating  the  produce  (whisky 
and  pork)  South  on  the  Wabash,  and  then  to 
New  Orleans,  an  occupation  he  had  followed 
several  years  during  the  war  of  1812,  and 
after.  The  number  of  porkers  killed  and 
shipped  bv  them  would  amount  to  from  500 
to  1.1)0(1  in  one  year.  John  Hay  died  1836. 
His  father,  John  Hay.  Sr.  was  a  native  of 
Virginia,  where  he  farmed.  He  died  in 
Pennsylvania.  His  father,  or  the  great- 
grandfather of  our  subject,  was  Alexander 
Hay,  a  native  of  Scotland;  he  died  in  Vir- 
ginia. The  mother  of  our  subject  was  Han- 
nah (Webster)  Hay,  born  in  Virginia;  she 
died  1856  in  White  County,  111.  She  was 
a  daughter  of  Henry  and  Lucre ti a  Preston 
Webster,    natives    of     Virginia.       She   had 


52 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


ten  children,  of  whom  two  are  now  living, 
viz.:  Hon.  Lowry  Hay,  former  Sheriff  of  this 
county,  and  once  a  Representative  of  White 
County,  111.,  and  Lawrence  P.,  our  subject, 
who  was  educated  in  White  County,  111., 
in  the  old  fashioned  subscription  schools. 
He  came  to  Wayne  County,  in  March,  1842, 
and  bought  320  acres  of  land,  owning  at  one 
time  several  hundred  acres  in  adjoining 
counties.  Here  he  was  married,  Septem- 
ber 4,  1846,  to  Miss  Jane  E.  Borah,  born 
July  22,  1828,  in  Wayne  County,  111.  Her 
parents  were  John  and  Sarah  (Wilson) 
Borah,  whose  history  appears  in  another  part 
of  this  work.  Nine  children  blessed  this  hap- 
py union,  viz.:  Samuel  T.,  deceased;  Mary  J., 
wife  of  McK.  Sunderland;  Sarah  A.,  born  De- 
cember 12,  1850,  wife  of  Peter  Cox,  now  a 
resident  of  California;  Clemence  A.,  born  Feb- 
ruary 16,  1853,  wife  of  Henry  Koontz,  also  a 
resident  of  California;  Nancy  H. ,  born  August 
19,  1855,  wife  of  George  B.  Sunderland,  now 
living  in  Ohio;  Eliza  H.,  deceased;  Kate, 
born  September  30,  181;  John  W.,  born 
September  11,  1864;  Joseph  M.,  born  Feb- 
ruary 9,  1867;  and  Lucy,  born  July  12,  1872. 
Mrs.  Hay  is  a  member  of  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  Church.  Mr.  Hay  obeyed  the 
call  of  his  country  to  save  the  stars  and 
stripes,  by  enlisting  September  13,  1861,  in 
the  Fifth  Illinois  Cavalry,  Company  D,  in 
which  he  served  till  May,  1865.  He  made 
his  way  from  private  to  Quartermaster  Ser- 
geant, then  Second  Lieutenant,  and  was  af- 
terward promoted  to  First  Lieutenant.  He 
served  in  the  Trans-Mississippi  Department, 
resigning  at  La  Grange,  Tenn.  He  is  a 
radical  Republican,  and  a  member  of  the 
G.  A.  R. 

E.    E.   HOLLOWAY,   farmer,   P.  O.  Fair- 
field, was  born  August .  30,  1836,  in  Wilson 
County,  Tenn.      He  is  a  son  of  John  Hollo 
way,  born  in  1807,  in  Wilson  County.  Tenn. ; 


he  died  in  Wayne  County,  '111.,  July  26, 
1873.  He  was  a  blacksmith  by  occupation, 
and  worked  at  his  trade  in  Wayne  County, 
111.,  to  which  place  he  came  in  1854.  His 
father,  Levi  Holloway,  was  a  native  of  North 
Carolina.  The  mother  of  our  subject  was 
Mary  (Caraway)  Holloway,  born  1809;  died 
December  6,  1880,  in  this  county.  She  was 
a  daughter  of  Moses  and  Mary  (Meritt)  Car- 
away, natives  of  North  Carolina.  She  was 
the  mother  of  ten  children,  viz. :  William  H. 
(deceased),  Elihu  E.,  Nancy  E.  Graves,  Rich 
ard  H.,  Mary  A.  J.  Meritt,  John  D. ,  James 
F.,  Martha  H.  Shaw,  Oliver  P.,  Sarah  J. 
Day  (deceased).  Our  subject  was  educated 
principally  in  Fairfield,  111.  He  has  taught 
school  for  ten  winters,  with  splendid  success; 
he  is  numbered  among  our  best  teachers.  He 
has  also  been  Tax  Collector  for  Barnhill 
Township  for  live  terms,  and  has  been  Town- 
ship Assessor  one  term.  His  other  time  he 
has  devoted  to  farming,  owning  now  a  farm 
of  eighty  acres  of  land.  He  was  joined  in 
matrimony,  March  29,  1863,  in  this  county, 
to  Miss  Mary  A.  Harper,  born  December  9, 
1843,  in  Fairfield,  111.;  daughter  of  James 
N.  and  Elizabeth  (Walker)  Harper.  James 
N.  Harper  lived  in  Fairfield  many  years, 
where  he  ran  a  wool  carding  machine,  and 
also  a  grist  mill.  Mrs.  Mary  A.  Holloway  is 
the  mother  of  six  children,  of  whom  four  are 
now  living,  viz. :  Charles  W.,  born  March  8, 
1864;  Walter  E.,  born  November  17,  1866; 
Luette  A.,  born  February  28,  1869,  and  Otis 
Lee,  born  March  29,  1S74.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Holloway  are  members  of  the  Baptist  Church. 
Mr.  Holloway  is  identified  with  the  Demo- 
cratic party. 

DR.  J.  E.  INSKEEP,  physician,  Mer- 
riam,  was  born  December  29,  1851,  in  Cul- 
peper  County,  Va.  He  is  a  son  of  James 
W.  Inskeep,  a  contractor  by  occupation, 
doing    all    kinds    of    builder's    work    in  the 


BARNHILL  TOWNSHIP. 


53 


way  of   brick  laying  and  making  and  plas- 
tering work.     He  was  born  1825  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  is  yet  living  in  Culpeper  County, 
Va.,  where  he  holds  the  office  of  State  Rev- 
enue Collector.  His  father.  Joel  Inskeep,  was 
born  in  Pennsylvania,  but  died  in  Virginia. 
The  mother  of  our  subject  was  Frances  B. 
(Hudson)  Inskeep,  a  native  of  Virginia:  she 
died  in  Culpeper  County,  Va.     She  was  the 
mother  of    eleven  children,   viz.,   Sallie  M. , 
William  A. .  James  E. ,  Charles  W. ,  Francis  E., 
Mary  F.,  Lilburn  D..  Turner  A.,  Myrtle  R, 
Elizabeth    (deceased)    and    Lizzie    L.      The 
Doctor   was  educated   at   f'ulpeper,   Va..   re- 
ceiving his  medical  education  at  the  Eclectic 
Medical    College,    Cincinnati,    Ohio.      The 
Doctor    practiced    six    months    in    Wabash, 
Wayne  Co.,  111.,  and  then,  December  11,  1877, 
he  came  to  Barnhill  Township,  near  Merriam, 
where  he  enjoys  a  large  and  lucrative  prac- 
tice, also  enjoying  the  respect  and  confidence 
of  the  people  of  this  and  adjoining  counties. 
Dr.  Inskeep  was  married,  December  18,  1879, 
in  Leech  Township,  Wayne  Co.,  111.,  to  Miss 
Elizabeth  C.  Harris,  born  October  28,  .1801, 
in  this  county.      She  is  a  daughter  of  John 
M.  and  Sarah  C.  (Parker)  Harris,  both  natives 
of    Kentucky.      Two    children    blessed    this 
.happy  union,  viz.,  Kate  M.,  born  October  18, 
1880,  and  an  infant  son  (deceased).      Dr.  and 
Mrs.  Inskeep  are  religiously  connected  with 
the  church  —  he  with  the  Christian,  and  she 
with  the  C.  P.  Church.     He  is  a  Master  Ma 
son  and  Coroner  of  Wayne  County,  111.      In 
politics,  the  Doctor  is  a  Democrat,  being  at 
present  Chairman  of  the  Central  Committee 
of  Wayne  County,  111. 

J.  E.  KENNERLY,  farmer,  P.  O.  Fair- 
field,  was  born  May  13,  1845,  in  Vanderburgh 
County.  Ind.  His  father.  W.  C.  Kennerlv. 
was  born  January  lfi,  1808.  Ho  is  a  farmer 
by  occupation,  and  came  here  about  1857,  and 
yet  resides  in  this  county.      The  grandfather 


of  our  subject  was  Everton  Kennerlv.  He 
was  a  native  of  Maryland,  and  a  farmer  by 
occupation.  He  died  near  Evansville,  Ind. 
The  mother  of  our  subject  was  Mary  (Mc- 
Dowell) Konnerly.  She  was  born  in  1815,  in 
Vanderburgh  County.  Ind.  She  is  a  daugh- 
ter of  Daniel  and  Comfort  (Marble)  McDowell. 
She  was  the  mother  of  twelve  children,  of 
whom  seven  are  now  living.  Their  names 
are  Daniel  B.,  George  Me.,  dames  E.,  May  B., 
Sarah  E.,  wife  of  E.  L.  Puckett;  Mary  E., 
former  wife  of  Ed  Fears  (deceased);  and 
Cynthia  J.,  wife  of  William  Nickens.  Our 
subject  was  educated  in  Barnhill  Township, 
where  he  has  been  devoting  his  attention  to 
the  tilling  of  soil  on  his  father's  farm,  con- 
sisting of  160  acres.  Mr.  Kennerly  may  be 
classed  among  our  wide  awake  young  men  in 
political  matters.  He  has  been  identified 
with  the  Democratic  party. 

JAMES  R.  NORRIS,  railroad  contractor, 
Fairfield,  was  born  September  fi,  1838.  in 
Kennebec  County,  Me.  He  is  a  son  of  G. 
K.  Norris,  also  a  native  of  Maine,  where  he 
farmed.  When  the  war  cloud  of  the  rebell- 
ion overspread  our  beautiful  country,  he 
volunteered  to  protect  the  stars  and  stripes  of 
the  Union,  and  as  Captain  of  the  Seventh 
Maine  Regiment  of  Infantry  Volunteers, 
Company  K,  he  rendered  valuable  service  to 
his  country.  He  died.  1883,  in  the  house  of 
his  birth.  His  father,  James  Norris,  was  a 
native  of  New  Hampshire;  he  died  in  Mon- 
mouth, Mo.  He  was  a  soldier  in  the  Revo- 
lutionary war;  was  made  a  prisoner  by  the 
Indians,  allowed  one  grain  of  corn  a  day  for 
rations,  but  fiually  made  good  his  escape. 
After  the  war,  he  went  to  Maine,  where  he 
engaged  in  farming  and  the  lumber  business. 
When  the  war  of  1812  broke  out,  he  raised  a 
company,  and  as  its  Captain  did  some  valua- 
ble service,  but  died  at  his  homo  before  the 
close  of  the  war.      He  was  married  to  Ruth 


54 


BIOCHArilH'AI. 


Dearborn,  a  native  of  New  Hampshire.  She 
died  in  1848,  in  Monmouth,  Me.,  aged  eighty- 
four  years.  She  was  a  niece  of  Maj.  Gen. 
Henry  Dearborn,  of  Revolutionary  fame. 
The  mother  of  our  subject,  Hannah  E.  (Jud- 
kins)  Norris,  was  a  native  of  Monmouth,  Me., 
where  she  died  in  1875.  She  was  a  daugh- 
ter of  Jonathan  and  Sylvia  (Fairbanks)  Jud. 
kins.  He  was  a  native  of  New  Hampshire, 
and  she  of  Maine.  Ten  children  called  her 
mother,  of  whom  eight  reached  maturity,  viz., 
George  W.,  also  a  railroad  contractor;  Emma 
and  Hannah  and  Henry  K.  are  deceased. 
James  R. ,  our  subject,  Charles  D.,  Superin- 
tendent of  the  0.  H.  V.  &  T.  R.  R.  in  Ohio; 
Augusta  M.  and  Greenleaf  D.,  deceased. 
Our  subject  was  educated  in  Monmouth,  Me., 
and  Baltimore,  Md.  Early  in  life,  he  turned 
his  attention  to  railroading,  which  has  been 
his  vocation  in  life,  doing  his  first  work  for 
the  M.  &  C.  R.  R.  Company,  of  Ohio. 
Since  then  he  has  done  contractor's  work  in 
Ohio,  Kentucky  and  Illinois.  In  December, 
1861,  he  enlisted  in  the  Second  Regiment 
District  of  Columbia  Volunteer  Infantry, 
Company  G,  serving  one  year,  after  which  he 
was  honorably  discharged  by  the  Regimental 
Surgeon  for  disability.  He  was  joined  in 
matrimony,  September  15,  1874,  in  Wayne 
County,  111.,  to  Miss  Melvina  A.  Brach,  born 
in  1854,  in  Beaver  County,  Penn.  She  is  a 
daughter  of  Albert  and  Barbara  Bracb,  the 
former  a  native  of  Prussia,  and  the  latter  of 
Lorain.  Three  children  are  the  result  of  this 
happy  union,  viz.,  Edith  A.,  deceased;  Green- 
leaf  A.,  born  October  14,  1877;  and  Mabel 
A.,  born  October  26,  1881.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Norris  are  members  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church.  He  is  a  member  of  the  A.  F.  &  A. 
M.  fraternity,  Blue  Lodge,  Royal  Arch, Coun- 
cil and  Encampment,  also  G.  A.  R. 

WILLIAM  T.  PALMER,  P.  O.  Barnhill, 
was  born  July  8,  1858,  in  Gasconade  County, 


Mo.  His  father,  Thomas  Palmer,  was  born 
February  24,  1810,  in  Halifax,  Va.  He  is  a 
farmer  by  occupation,  owning  at  present  140 
acres  of  land.  He  was  married  twice;  his 
first  wife,  Lydia  Odell.  was  born  in  Ken- 
tucky; she  died  in  this  county.  His  present 
wife,  Minerva  Shrewsberry,  was  born  in 
Kentucky.  Her  father  was  Samuel  Shrews - 
berry.  She  is  yet  living,  the  mother  of  nine 
children,  viz.:  James  K. ,  Mary  McKenney, 
Sarah  E.  Puckett,  Samuel  J.,  Francis  M., 
William  T.,  our  subject,  Benjamin  F.,  Sa- 
mantha,  and  Missouri  Ann,  deceased.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Palmer  are  members  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church.  The  father  of  Thomas  Palmer 
was  Elisha  Palmer,  a  native  of  Virginia. 
Our  subject,  William  T.  Palmer,  was  edu- 
cated partly  in  this  county,  and  partly  in 
Texas,  to  which  State  the  family  moved  in 
1877,  returning  in  187'J.  In  August,  1881, 
William  T.  Palmer  went  to  Texas  a  second 
time,  returning  May  5,  1883.  Mr.  Palmer  is 
a  wide-awake  young  farmer. 

C.  L.  POINDEXTER,  attorney  at  law, 
Mount  Vernon,  was  born  November  8,  1855, 
in  Springfield,  Tenn.,  a  son  of  Rev.  J.  W. 
Poindexter,  a  native  of  Virginia,  a  pastor  of 
the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church,  at 
present  located  in  Austin,  Tex.  The  mother 
was  Maria  E.  Paine,  a  native  of  Tennessee. 
She  died  June  27,  1868,  in  Owensboro,  Ky. 
She  was  a  daughter  of  Dr.  Alfred  and  Maria 
(Randolph)  Paine,  natives  of  Tennessee, 
Mrs.  Maria  E.  Poindexter  was  the  mother  of 
seven  children,  of  whom  four  are  now  living, 
viz.,  Claude  L.  (our  subject),  Myra  B. 
Smith,  Orville  and  Rose.  Our  subject  was 
educated  in  Lincoln  University,  after  which 
he  taught  school  about  seven  years,  and 
then  read  law  in  this  county  with  Hanna  & 
Adams  till  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
February,  1881.  Since  that  time,  he  has 
devoted  most  of   his  attention  to  his  profes- 


BAKXhlLI.  TOW  \MIII' 


55 


sion.  in  which  we  yet  hope  to  see  him  rise 
and  prosper  and  be  able  to  enroll  his  name 
among  the  leading  lawyers  of  the  State.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Fairfield  Lodge. 
A..  F.  &  A.  M.,  No.  206,  also  R.  A.  M.,  No. 
179.  and  Fairfield  Council,  Royal  and  Select 
Masters.  In  political  matters,  he  has  been 
identified  with  the  Democratic  party. 

R.  S.  RENFROW.  teacher  and  farmer, 
P.  O.  Mill  Shoals,  was  born  September  17, 
1S43,  in  Jackson,  Miss.  His  father,  Redin 
Renfrow,  was  a  native  of  Kentucky,  and  a 
farmer  by  occupation.  He  died  during  the 
great  epidemic  in  184S,  in  New  Orleans. 
The  grandfather  of  our  subject  was  Joseph 
Renfrow,  a  native  of  North  Carolina.  He 
was  also  a  farmer.  The  mother  of  our  sub- 
ject was  Nancy  (Smith)  Reufrow,  born  in 
August.  1811.  She  is  yet  living,  and  is  the 
mother  of  seven  children,  of  whom  four  are 
now  living,  viz.,  Sarah  J.  Staley,  Josephine, 
Thomas  J.  and  Robert  S.,  our  subject,  who 
was  educated  in  this  county  and  at  McLeans- 
boro.  111.  In  the  spring  of  1862,  he,  in 
company  with  Thomas  Grant  and  family, 
went  West  to  Pike's  Peak,  Colo.,  where  he 
farmed  one  year,  and  then  to  what  was  then 
called  Idaho,  but  is  now  a  part  of  Montana. 
Here  lie  mined  with  varied  success  for  sev- 
eral years,  and  then  teamed  for  some  time. 
after  which  he  returned  to  the  home  of  his 
childhood,  via  the  Missouri  River  from  the 
head  of  navigation  to  St.  John's,  Iowa.  A 
part  of  the  distance  was  full  of  adventures, 
having  one  of  their  number  killed  by  lurking 
Indians.  The  distance  from  St.  John's  to 
his  home  was  accomplished  mostly  by  rail- 
road.  He  was  welcomed  back  by  his  friends 
after  an  absence  of  five  and  one-half  years. 
Since  then,  he  has  fcaughi  school  a  great  deal 
of  the  time,  teaching  the  last  thirteen  years, 
but  mostly  in  the  winter  in  this  and  Clark 
Counties,    while   he    cultivates    his   farm    of 


fiftv  acres  in  the  summer.     He  was  married. 

- 

February  23,  1873,  near  Fairfield,  to  Miss 
Sallie  Todd,  born  April  22,  1855,  in  Ken 
tucky.  She  is  a  daughter  of  Dr.  C.  T.  Todd 
and  Susan  (Reynolds)  Todd.  Four  children 
now  living  have  blessed  this  happy  union, 
viz.,  Benjamin  L..  born  October  9,  1874; 
Maggie  Myrtle,  born  January  28,  1877; 
Frank  Mc,  born  May  4,  1879,  and  Lulu  Bell, 
born  September  13,  1881.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Renfrow  are  members  of  the  Christian 
Church,  of  which  he  is  an  Elder.  He  is 
also  an  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.,  Burnt  Prairie  Lodge, 
No.  068.  He  has  held  the  offices  of  Town 
Clerk  and  Police  Magistrate  in  White  Coun- 
ty, and  at  present  is  Township  School  Treas- 
urer.     In  politics,  he  is  a  Republican. 

J.  B.  SHAEFFER,  farmer,  P.  O.  Fair- 
field, was  born  December  29,  1846,  in 
Waynesburg.  Stark  Co.,  Ohio,  son  of  Henry 
Shaeffer,  born  in  Waynesburg.  Ohio.  He 
was  a  carpenter  by  occupation,  and  came  1 1 1 
this  county  about  1856,  and  died  1863,  in 
Memphis,  in  the  hospital,  from  sickness  con- 
tracted while  in  the  United  States  Army. 
His  father  was  Daniel  Shaeffer.  The  mother 
of  our  subject,  Mary  Elizabeth  (Zimraer) 
Shaeffer,  was  born  in  Germany.  She  is  yet 
living.  Her  parents  are  John  and  Mary  E. 
(Goettle)  Zimmer.  Our  subject  went  to 
school  in  Ohio,  and  Wayne  County,  111.  He 
devoted  his  time  to  stock-raising  and  farm- 
ing, and  for  a  number  of  years  bought  grain 
in  Farina,  Fayette  Co.,  111.,  and  Fairfield. 
111.  He  has  at  present  a  farm  of  379  acres 
of  good  land,  with  good  improvements  and 
well  stocked.  Mr.  Shaoffer  also  served  as 
a  soldier  in  our  late  war.  He  enlisted  March 
4,  18(>5,  in  the  Fifteenth  Illinois  Regiment 
of  Infantry  Volunteers,  Company  G.  He 
served  till  the  close  of  the  war.  and  was  mus- 
tered out  in  July,  but  not  discharged  till  Sep- 
tember, 1865,  arriving  homo  in  October,  1865, 


56 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


anil  after  that  he  has  made  farming  his  occu 
pation.  Mr.  Shaeffer  was  married  here  to 
Mary  J.  Johnson,  born  October  8,  1849,  in 
Wayne  County,  111.  She  is  a  daughter  of 
Andrew  and  Susan  (Shaw)  Johnson.  The 
former  a  native  of  Ohio,  and  the  latter  from 
Tennessee.  This  union  was  blessed  with 
six  children,  now  living — (Jlara  R. ,  born  Feb- 
ruary 13,  1871;  Nora  H.,  born  January  23, 
1873;  Alverette,  born  June  27,  1875;  Walter 
H.,  born  November  17,  1877;  Luella,  born 
September  15,  1879,  and  Maggie,  born  Feb- 
ruary 17,  1882.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Shaeffer  are 
members  of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Church.  He  is  an  A.  O.  U.  W.  He  has 
been  Supervisor  two  terms,  also  been  School 
Director.      In  politics,  he  is  Democrat. 

W.  C.  SHAEFFER,  farmer  and  stockman, 
P.  O.  Fairfield,  was  born  March  28,  1854,  in 
this  county,  two  miles  south  of  Fairfield,  son 
of  William  Shaeffer,  a  resident  of  this 
county,  whose  sketch  appears  in  this  work 
The  mother  of  our  subject,  Maria  (Alexander) 
Shaeffer,  is  yet  living,  a  tine  old  lady.  Our 
subject  was  educated  in  this  county,  and  in 
early  life  clerked  in  his  father's  store,  in  Fa- 
rina, Fayette  Co.,  111.,  for  eight  years,  and 
after  staying  in  his  father's  mill  three  years 
he  returned  to  Wayne  County,  111. ;  this  was 
in  the  spring  of  1879,  when  he  settled  on  a 
farm  of  295  acres  of  land,  with  80  acres  al- 
most adjoining  the  home  farm,  which  is  a 
gift  from  his  father.  He  has  tine  buildings 
on  his  place.  He  turns  most  of  his  attention 
to  stock-raising,  mainly  mules,  of  which  he 
has  sixty  head  now.  He  also  keeps  a  fine 
grade  of  Cots  wold  sheep.  Our  subject 
was  joined  in  matrimony,  December  14,  1876, 
in  Farina,  Fayette  Co.,  111.,  to  Miss  Mary 
Ann  Collins, .born  August  25,  1856.  in  Can- 
ada, near  Niagara  Falls.  She  is  a  daughter 
of  John  and  Bridget  (Mulvihill)  Collins, 
both  of  whom  are  natives  of  County  Clare, 


Ireland.  He  is  a  railroad  man,  and  with  his 
family,  lives  in  Farina.  Fayette  Co.,  111. 
Two  children  are  the  result  of  this  happy 
union — Henry,  born  September  10,  1877.  and 
Ella,  born  May  10,  1881.  Mr.  Shaeffer  is 
one  of  our  most  wide-awake  and  enterprising 
young  farmers.  He  is  an  A.  F.  &  A.  M  . 
and  in  politics,  he  is  a  Democrat. 

GEORGE  W.  SHAW,  farmer  and  stock - 
raiser,  P.  O.  Fairfield,  was  born  March  13, 
1831,  in  Davis  County,  Tenn.  His  father, 
William  W.  Shaw,  was  born  in  1799,  in  Ten- 
nessee. •  He  was  a  blacksmith  and  farmer  by 
occupation,  and  died  in  this  county,  to  which 
he  came  in  1834.  His  memory  is  cherished 
by  our  older  citizens  who  knew  him  well. 
The  mother  of  our  subject  was  Margaret 
(Campbell)  Shaw,  a  native  of  Tennessee.  She 
died  in  this  county.  Her  father.  George 
Campbell,  was  a  native  of  South  Carolina, 
and  a  tailor  by  occupation.  Eleven  children 
looked  up  to  her  and  called  her  mother;  sev- 
en of  them  are  now  living,  viz. :  Susan  A. 
Johnson,  Martha  A.  Dorris,  Nancy  N.  Bland, 
Kiziah  George,  Sarah  Meritt,  George  W. ,  our 
subject,  and  William  J.  Mr.  Shaw  used  to 
attend  the  old-fashioned  subscription  schools 
in  Barnhill  Township.  In  early  life,  he 
learned  the  blacksmith  trade  of  his  father, 
and  followed  it  for  many  years,  but  since 
1853  he  has  devoted  his  attention  mainly  to 
farming,  owning  now  a  farm  of  100  acres. 
He  was  joined  in  matrimony  here  in  October. 
1853,  to  Mrs.  Mary  McCullough,  born  1830,  in 
Illinois.  She  is  a  daughter  of  William  W. 
George,  deceased,  who  was  a  most  worthy  and 
highly  respected  citizen  of  this  county.  His 
sketch  appears  in  another  part  of  this  work. 
Mrs.  Shaw  is  the  mother  of  eleven  children, 
of  whom  seven  are  now  living,  viz.:  Valaria 
G.,  born  August  28,  1854.  wife  of  Joseph 
Farinsworth;  Paria  P.,  born  January  22. 
1859,   wife   of    Samuel    Brown,  George    D., 


r.AliXHILL  TOWNSHIP 


57 


born  April  22,  1861;  Thomas  L.,  born  March 
9.  1863:  PhalifaaA.,born  December  4,  1865; 
Elviria  I.,  born  February  20,  1869,  and  Aza- 
lia  K.,  bora  April  26,  1873.  Mr.  and  .Mrs 
Shaw  an<  active  members  of  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  Church.  In  politics,  he  is  a 
strict  Democrat.  It  is  said  that  he  is  one  of 
the  hardest  workers  in  the  county.  From 
1873  to  1S77  he  spent  in  Texas. 

\V.  C.  SIMPSON,  teacher,  Fairfield,  was 
born  April  23,  1853,  in  this  county,  and  is  a 
son  "of  J.  W.  and  Sallie  (Murphy)  Simpson. 
The  grandfather  of  subject.  William  Simpson, 
was  one  of  the  pioneers  of  this  county,  and 
was  a  soldier  in  both  the  Black  Hawk  and 
Mexican  wars.  The  father  isjalso  a  native  of 
Wayne  County,  and  was  born  here  in  1824. 
He  was  a  farmer  by  occupation,  and  his  death 
occurred  in  1880.  The  mother  is  a  native  of 
Kentucky,  and  was  a  daughter  of  Jeremiah 
and  Ann  (Harl)  Murphy.  She  is  still  living, 
and  is  the  mother  of  eight  children,  of  whom 
six  are  uow  living,  viz.:  Elizabeth  A.  (de- 
ceased), Henry  S.,  Jeremiah  B.,  William  C. 
(our  subject).  Oliver  P.,  John  V.,  Joseph  H- 
and  George  P.  Subject  was  educated  in  the 
schools  of  this  county,  and  at  the  age  of  | 
twenty  he  commenced  to  teach,  and  since 
then  has  taught  mainly  in  the  winter.  In 
the  summer,  he  devotes  his  attention  to  tilling 
the  soil,  having  a  farm  of  115  acres.  Mr. 
Simpson  has  been  married  twice.  His  first 
wife.  Martha  Johnson,  died  in  1880,  and  on  ! 
September  24.  INS 3.  he  was  married  to  Flor-  I 
i  nee  Seal,  a  daughter  of  Francis  Seal,  and 
was  born  in  1863.  Mrs.  Simpson  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  In  politics, 
Mr.  Simpson  has  given  his  support  to  the 
Democratic  party.  He  has  served  his  town- 
ship as  Assessor. 

McK.  SUNDERLAND,  farmer  and  trailer, 
P.  O.  Fairfield,  was  born  May  15,  1844,  in 
Belmont  County,    Ohio,   son  of  Richard  P. 


Sunderland,  a  native  of  Maryland.  He  was 
a  farmer,  and  came  to  Wayne  County  in  1863, 
and  died  here.  His  father  was  Cosmo  Sun- 
derland- The  mother  of  our  subject  was 
Elizabeth  (Hance)  Sunderland,  a  native  of 
Maryland.  She  was  the  mother  of  nine  chil- 
dren, of  whom  five  are  now  living,  viz.,  Mc- 
Kenzie.  our  subject,  Ellen  Curtis,  George  B. , 
Jacob  M.  and  Martha  Elliot.  Our  subject 
went  to  school  in  Atheus  County,  Ohio.  He 
came  to  this  county  in  1865,  and  was  mar- 
ried here,  October  4,  1866,  to  Mary  J.  Hay, 
born  February  12,  1849.  She  is  a  daughter 
of  L.  P.  Hay,  and  is  the  mother  of  five  chil- 
dren, viz.,  Lowory,  born  September  21,  1867; 
Eddie  L..  born  February  23,  1871  (he  was 
a  bright  boy  and  died  December  3,  1882). 
Denuie,  was  born  February  19,  1873;  Henry, 
was  born  August.  24,  1875;  and  Lawrence  F., 
May  22,  1882.  Mrs.  Sunderland  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church. 
Mr.  Sunderland  has  a  fine  farm  of  240  acres. 
He  devotes  a  great  deal  of  his  time  to  trad- 
ing, and  may  be  considered  almost  an  expert 
in  that  line.  On  February  15,  1864,  he  and 
his  two  brothers,  Cosmo  and  James,  enlisted 
in  the  Fifty-third  Ohio  Regiment  Infantry 
Volunteers,  Company  B,  Second  Battalion, 
Second  Division.  Fifteenth  Army  Corps.  He 
served  till  the  close  of  the  war,  participating 
in  many  engagements,  as  the  battles  of 
Jonesboro  and  Atlanta, ;  and  also  was  with 
Gen.  Sherman's  "  march  to  the  sea,"  and 
finally  returned  home.  His  two  brothers 
never  reached  home.  Cosmo  was  shot  at  the 
battle  of  Dallas,  Ga.,  and  died  soon  after 
ward  in  the  hospital.  James  died  in  the 
hospital  at  Chattanooga,  with  the  measles,  in 
18(54. 

JOHN  W.  TRIBE,  farmer,  P.  O.  Fair- 
field, was  born  December  25,  1831,  in  Edgar 
County,  HI  His  father,  John  Tribe,  was 
born  May    12,  1795,  in    England,    which  he 


58 


BIOGKAPHh  SAL: 


left  in  1S19,  landing  in  New  Orleans;  from 
there  he  ascended  the  Mississippi  and  Ohio 
Rivers  till  he  reached  the  English  settle- 
ments on  the  Wabash.  He  followed  the  car- 
penter's trade  in  Edwards  County.  111.,  for 
three  or  four  years,  and  then  engaged  in  the 
milling  and  wool-carding  business  for  over 
fifty  years,  ten  of  which  were  only  devoted  to 
nulling,  the  other  forty  to  wool-carding.  He 
was  a  man  of  considerable  intelligence,  lead- 
ing a  life  worthy  of  imitation.  He  died  Au- 
gust 24,  1880,  surrounded  by  his  loving  wife 
and  all  his  children,  nine  in  number,  viz., 
James.  Mary  A..  William  B.,  John  W.  (our 
subject),  Alfred  S.,  Jane,  Emily.  Thomas  H 
and  Gecrge.  The  mother  of  our  subject  was 
Jane  (Staley)  Tribe,  born  March  1803,  in 
England.  She  came  across  the  ocean  in  the 
same  vessel,  the  "  Columbia,"  that  John 
Tribe  did,  whom  she  married  in  1822.  She 
is  yet  living,  loved  by  all  who  know  her,  on 
the  old  homestead  in  Albion,  111.  Our  sub- 
ject worked  in  his  father's  woolen  mill  in 
early  life,  and  then  went  into  the  livery  bus- 
iness, which  be  followed  about  six  years,  and 
then  was  married  in  and  came  to  Wayne 
County,  111.,  where  he  now  owns  a  good  farm 
of  120  acres.  Mr.  Tribe  was  married,  April 
30,  1862,  to  Miss  Kate  A.  Funkhouser,  born 
July  21,  1S33,  in  White  County,  111.  She 
was  a  daughter  of  Robert  R.  and  Rachel 
(Cross)  Funkhouser,  natives  of  Kentucky. 
He  was  a  farmer  in  early  life,  andjafterward 
merchandized  in  Shawneetown.  and  finally 
became  interested  in  the  Saline  Salt  Works, 
where  Equality  now  stands.  He  died  in 
White  County.  111.,  and  was  without  a  doubt 
one  of  the  best  known  men  in  his  day  in 
Southern  Illinois.  His  wife  was  a  grand- 
niece  of  the  famous  hunter,  Daniel  Boone. 
The  grandfather  of  Mrs.  Kate  A.  Tribe  was 
Christopher  Funkhouser,  a  native  of  Ger- 
man v.      She  is  the  mother  of  five  children. 


viz.,  Mary  G.,  born  March  23,  1863;  Edith 
M..  born  June  8,  1S64;  George  T..  born  Au- 
gust 13,  1866;  Annabel,  February  7,  1867; 
and  Harry  H.,  born  July  3,  1871.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Tribe  are  members  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  In  politics,  he  is  a  Re- 
publican. 

T.  J.  TURNEY,  farmer  and  stockman,  P. 
O.  Barnhill.  was  born  May  7.  1830,  on  the 
old  homestead  in  Barnhill  Township.  He  is 
a  son  of  Anthony  B.  Turney.  born  August 
16,  1787,  in  Virginia.  When  three  years 
old.  he  moved  to  Kentucky  with  his  parents, 
Michael  and  Ellen  (Methaney)  Turney.  and 
lived  ^hore  till  about  1815,  when  he,  in 
company  with  his  wife  and  brother-in-law, 
went  to  Natchez,  Miss.,  in  a  flat-boat,  and  in 
the  fall  of  the  following  year  returned  on 
horseback  to  Kentucky.  While  traveling  in 
the  Indian  nation,  he  stopped  with  a  Choc- 
taw chief  the  same  night  on  which  an 
earthquake  occurred.  The  astonished  and 
bewildered  Indian  asked  many  questions  as 
to  the  cause  of  the  earthquake.  None  of 
the  party  could  give  information  except 
Anthony  B.  Turney,  who  explained  to  the 
chief  the  nature  and  cause  of  the  earthquake. 
Boundless  hospitality  and  presents  were  the 
result  of  the  explanation.  After  reaching 
home,  the  father  of  our  subject,  in  1816, 
made  an  extended  tour  through  the  Illinois 
territory,  and  located  on  what  was  afterward 
called  Turney's  Prairie,  to  which  place  he 
and  his  father  came  in  the  spring  of  1818, 
and  after  raising  a  corn  crop  they  returned 
to  Kentucky  and  moved  their  families  that 
fall  to  their  new  homes.  He  afterward 
moved  to  the  place  where  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  now  lives,  while  the  grandfather  of 
our  subject  moved  two  miles  southeast  of 
Fairfield,  where  he  died.  His  descendants 
have  become  numerous  and  noted,  filling  of- 
fices of  trust   in   this   county.     Anthony   B. 


lJAKXHII.I.  TOWNSHIP. 


59 


Turney  died  August  25,  1875.  The  mother 
of  our  subject  was  Frances  (Mob ley)  Turney, 
born  January  20,  1792,  in  South  Carolina. 
She  died  in  this  county  April  12,  L867.  Her 
father  married  a  Miss  Coleman.  She  was  the 
mother  of  eleven  children,  of  whom  six  are 
now  living.  Our  subject  is  mainly  self- 
educated.  He  devotes  his  attention  to  farm- 
ing and  stock-raising,  owning  a  farm  of  256 
acres.  He  was  married,  February  12,  1857, 
in  this  county,  to  Miss  Canzada  Whitson, 
born  January  12,  1832,  in  Indiana,  daughter 
of  Jonathan  and  Partliena  (Brown)  Whitson. 
This  union  was  blessed  with  ten  children,  of 
whom  seven  are  now  living,  viz.,  CloydC. 
deceased;  Paul  R.,  born  March  4,  1859; 
Hume  A.,  born  October  4,  1800;  Maggie  B., 
born  February  15,  1802;  Noble,  deceased; 
Ella,  born  September  30,  1865;  Clara  B., 
born  September  16,  1867;  Emma,  born  Jan- 
uary 17.  1*70;  Greeley,  deceased,  and  Min- 
nie C. ,  born  January  9,  1874.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Turney  are  members  of  the  Church  of  Christ. 
In  politics,  Mr.  Turney  has  been  identified 
with  the  Democratic  party.  The  Turney 
family  is  mentioned  in  other  parts  of  this 
work. 

WILLIAM  P.  WHITING,  farmer,  P.  O. 
1  airfield,  was  born  .May  5,  1837,  in  Fayette 
County,  Ky.  His  father.  William  Whiting, 
was  born  in  Virginia,  but  died  in  Wabash 
County,  111.,  in  1876.  He  lived  many  years 
in  White  County,  where  he  farmed.  While 
living  in  Kentucky  with  his  uncle,  he  en- 
listed in  the  United  States  Army,  fighting  in 
the  war  of  1812.  He  was  not  of  age  when 
he  went,  and  on  asking  his  mother's  consent, 
she  told  him,  with  the  spirit  of  a  Spartan 
mother,  "  Go,  my  son,  only  be  not  shot  in 
the  back."  The  mother  of  our  subject  was 
Margaret  (Robisou)  White;  was  a  native  of 
Kentucky.  She  was  the  mother  of  eleven 
children,  of  whom  six  are  now  living,  viz., 


Henry  C,  Sarah  E.  Hughes.  Matilda  J. 
Johnson,  William  P.  (our  subject),  John 
Thomas  and  Lydia  Ann  Crowder.  Mrs. 
Margaret  Whiting  died  Septembr  7,  1876, 
in  White  County,  111.  Our  subject  went  to 
school  in  Cynthiana,  Ind.,  to  which  place 
his  father  had  moved  from  Kentucky;  he 
also  went  to  school  in  Phillipstown,  White 
Co.,  111.  He  has  beou  a  farmer  all  his  life, 
with  the  exception  of  about  three  years 
which  he  spent  in  the  United  States  Army 
during  our  late  war.  He  enlisted  August 
15,  1862,  in  Phillipstown,  111.,  in  Company 
K,  of  the  Eighty-seventh  Regiment  Illinois 
Volunteer  Infantry.  After  one  year's  service, 
he  was  transferred  to  Company  E  of  the 
Fifteenth  Veteran  Reserve  Corps.  This  was 
after  he  came  out  of  the  hospital  at  Jefferson 
Barracks,  Mo.  At  the  close  of  the  war,  he 
returned  to  White  County,  where  he  farmed, 
and  was  married,  October  24,  1865,  to  Miss 
Ellen  Baught,  born  August  31,  1840,  in 
White  County,  111.,  daughter  of  William 
and  Margaret  (George)  Baught,  he  a  native 
of  Kentucky  and  she  of  South  Carolina. 
Our  subject  has  100  acres  of  land  in  Wayne 
County,  where  he  now  resides,  and  to  which 
he  came  in  1873.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Whiting 
are  members  of  the  United  Baptist  Church. 
In  politics,  he  is  an  Independent  Democrat. 
SILAS  WILSON,  farmer,  P.  O.  Barnhill, 
was  born  November  3,  1821,  in  Grayson 
County,  Ky.,  son  of  Samuel  Wilson,  born  in 
Virginia.  Ho  was  a  farmer  and  cooper  by 
occupation.  He  died  in  this  county)  to  which 
he  came  about  1836.  His  father,  Joseph 
Wilson,  was  a  native  of  England.  The 
mother  of  our  subject  was  Eliza  Esqueridge, 
born  in  Kentucky.  She  died  here  in  1879. 
She  was  the  mother  of  eighteen  children,  of 
whom  eight  are  now  living.  Her  parents 
were  George  and  Elizabeth  (Robison)  Es- 
queridge.    Our    subject  did  not  receive  an 


60 


RTOOUAI'Iin  !AL: 


educiition  like  most  people,  but  by  dint  of 
perseverance  and  hard  work  has  managed  to 
lay  up  for  a  rainy  day,  owning  also  a  farm  of 
140  acres.  He  is  in  the  acquisition  of  prop- 
erty a  self-made  man  in  every  respect.  Mr. 
'Wilson* was  married  three  times.  His  first 
wife,  Nancy  J.  Atteberry,  died,  leaving  eight 
children,  of  whom  the  following  are  now  liv- 
ing, viz.:  Samuel  E.,  Reuben  J.,  Charles  S. 
and  Eliza  Renfrow.  His  second  wife.  Me- 
lindaDorris,  died,  leaving  four  children,  viz. : 
Nancy  J.  Gifford,  Martha  E.  Simpson,  Mary 
E.  and  Fannie  A.  Black.  His  present  wife, 
Malinda  J.  Atteberry.  is  the  mother  of  four 
children  now  living,  viz.;  Sarah  E.,  John 
E.,  Asa  C.  and  Silas  L.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wil- 
son are  members  of  the  Missionary  Baptist 
Church.  In  politics,  Mr.  Wilson  is  identi- 
fied with  the  Republican  party. 

CHARLES  W.  WRIGHT,'  farmer.  P.  O. 
Faii-rield.  The  gentleman  whose  name  heads 
this  sketch  is  a  native  of  this  county,  and 
was  born  here  on  May  23,  1831,  and  is  a  son 
of  David  and  Elizabeth  Wright,  early  pio 
neers  of  this  county.  Our  subject's  educa- 
tion was  in  the  subscription  schools  of  this 
county.  His  home,  except  for  a  brief  time, 
has  always  been  on  the  old  Wright  home- 
stead, where  he  has  given  his  attention  to 
farming,  and  at  present  owns  420  acres  Mr. 
Wright  was  married  in  Liberty.  White  Coun- 
ty, on  February  17,  1857,  to  Miss  Mary  D. 
Reeves,  a  daughter  of  Jehiel  H.  and  Mary 
(Pickering)  Reeves.  The  father  was  a  native 
of  New  Jersey,  being  born  there  on  April  18, 
1799.  and  came  to  White  County  in  1820. 
There  he  resided  most  of  his  life,  but  died  at 
the  residence  of  his  daughter,  in  this  town- 
ship, on  February  17.  1880.  He  was  mar 
ried  to  the  mother  of  our  subject,  on  October 
27,  1821,  in  Turner's  Prairie,  Wayne  Coun- 
ty. This  lady  was  the  mother  of  thirteen 
children,  of  whom  Mrs.  Wright  is  the  ninth. 


Her  birth  occurred  in  Pennsylvania,  on  Janu- 
ary 31,  1804,  and  her  death  in  White  County 
on  September  27,  1860.  Mrs.  Wright  is  the 
mother  of  six  children,  five  of  whom  are  now 
living,  viz.:  Mary  E..  born  January  8,  1858, 
and  now  the  wife  of  Thomas  W.  Hooper; 
Luella.  born  March  5.  1862,  and  now  the 
wife  of  Jedediah  Bean;  Anetta  O,  born  De- 
cember 8,  1864;  Carrie  "V.,  born  April  17, 
1866;  Charles  H.,  born  November  29,  1869. 
The  deceased  child,  August  M.,  was  born  on 
December  22,  1859,  and  died  May  22,  1862. 
Mrs.  Wright  and  her  daughter.  Mrs.  Hoop- 
er, are  members  of  the  Cumberland  Presby- 
terian Church.  Mr.  Wright  is  a  member  of 
the  Fairfield  Masonic  fraternity. 

W.  A.  WRIGHT,  farmer  and  stock- 
man, P.  O.  Fairfield,  was  born  February 
14,  1849,  in  this  county,  son  of  A.  C.  Wright, 
also  a  native  of  Wayne  County.  111.  He  is  a 
farmer  by  occupation  and  is  yet  living,  being 
the  second  oldest  son  of  six  children.  His 
father,  A.  C.  Wright,  was  the  grandfather  of 
our  subject;  he  was  a  native  of  New  York, 
and  one  of  the  pioneers  of  Wayne  County, 
where  he  died.  Thus  one  by  one  the  land- 
marks, with  those  who  set  them,  pass  away, 
yet  their  memory  will  be  treasured  in  the 
history  of  Wayne  County.  The  mother  of 
our  subject  was  Judith  (Carter)  Wright,  de- 
ceased, a  native  of  Wayne  County,  111.,  a 
daughter  of  W.  C.  Carter.  She  was  the 
mother  of  five  children  now  living,  viz. : 
Sallie  Ann  Emmons.  William  A.,  our  sub- 
ject. Josephine  Simpson.  Mary  Morgan,  and 
Frank  G.  who  married  Martha  Atteberry. 
Our  subject  was  educated  in  this  county; 
here  he  also  married,  in  December,  1870,  to 
Miss  Sarah  C.  Johnson,  born  July  9,  1852, 
in  Wayne  County,  111.  Her  parents  were 
Andrew  and  Susan  (Shaw)  Johnson.  He 
was  a  native  of  Ohio  This  happy  union 
was  blessed  with   three  children,  now  living, 


MOUNT  ERIE  TOWNSHIP. 


61 


viz.:  Carrie  May.  born  August  8,  1872;  Cora 
Bell,  born  September  13,1874;  Mattie  K., 
born  July  4.  188 1 .     He  is  a  wideawake  farm- 


er, and  a  member  of  the  A.,  F.  &  A.  M. 
fraternity.  He  bas  a  farm  of  140  acres  of 
land,  and  in  politics  is  a  Republican. 


MOUNT    ERIE    TOWNSHIP. 


DR.  E.  BLACKFORD,  physician,  Mount 
Erie,  was  born  in  White  County.  111.,  on  No- 
vember 20,  1S25.  and  is  a  son  of  Maj.  Na- 
thaniel and  Man  (Bradberry)  Blackford.     The 

father  was  a  native  of  Kentucky,  being  born  in 
Warren  County  on  March  16,  1794,  and  was  of 

English  descent.  The  mother  was  a  native  of 
North  Carolina.  Our  subject  was  the  fourth 
of  nine  children,  of  whom  five  are  now  living — 
Nancy  J.  Hunsiuger  (of  White  County.  111.), 
Dr.  E.  Blackford  (our  subject).  Francis  M 
Blackford  (of  Woodruff  County,  Ark.),  and  An- 
drew J.  and  Martin  V.  (of  Lono,  Ark.).  Our 
subject's  education  was  received  in  the  sub- 
scription schools  of  his  county.  He  assisted 
his  lather  on  the  home  farm  until  eighteen  and 
then  commenced  life  by  farming  for  himself  in 
the  summer  and  teaching  school  in  the  winter. 
The  father  moved  to  Wayne  County  in  I860, 
and  our  subject  came  with  him.  The  father 
died  on  May  24,  1862.  and  the  mother  on  Sep- 
tember 23.  1869;  both  now  lie  buried  in  Mount 
Erie  Cemetery.  Our  subject  followed  farming 
and  teaching  until  1864,  and  then  commenced 
studying  medicine  with  Dr.  Samuel  Mundy.  of 
Mount  Erie.  He  remained  with  the  latter  two 
years,  and  then  commenced  practicing  for  him- 
self, and  has  followed  it  very  successfully  ever 
since  in  Mount  Erie  and  adjoining  townships, 
now  having  a  full  share  of  the  practice  of  that 
part  of  Wayne  County.  Dr.  Blackford  was 
married  in  White  County.  111.,  on  September 
2,  1842.  to  Mary  Ann  Lawler,  a  daughter  of 
Jehu  T.  and  Patsey  (Walker)  Lawler,  probably 
natives  of  Tennessee.   Mrs.  Blackford  was  born 


in  Northern  Alabama  on  May  17.  1823.  and  is 
the  mother  of  ten  children,  four  of  whom  are 
now  living,  viz..  Mary  J.  (born  July  27.  1849, 
and  now  the  wife  of  J.  K.  Price,  of  Mount  Erie 
Township),  Edith  S.  (born  January  15.  1852 
and  now  wife  of  J.  Siddell).  Frances  H.  (born 
August  13.  185G,  and  now  running  a  millinery 
store  in  Mount  Erie)  and  Esther  E.  (born  on 
April  3o,  1864,  and  now  the  wife  of  Charles 
Cox,  of  Mount  Erie  Township |.  The  following 
are  the  deceased  children,  viz.:  John  B.,  born 
August  5.  1843.  died  September  10,  l^-T.V 
Henry,  born  April  17,  184.").  died  August  14, 
1846;  Sarah  M.,  born  December  8,  1853,  died 
September  6,  1854;  Ephraim  J.,  born  Septem- 
ber 20,  1858,  died  September  27.  1802:  Man 
E..  born  July  15.  1867.  died  October  9,  1880; 
and  an  infant,  birth  not  recorded.  Mr.  aud 
Mrs.  Blackford  are  both  members  of  the  Bap- 
tist Church.  Mr.  Blackford  has  served  as  Po- 
lice Magistrate  of  Mount  Erie  for  eight  years; 
is  now  acting  as  Notary  Public;  has  also  served 
as  Town  Clerk  three  terms  and  member  of  the 
Village  Board  three  terms;  has  also  been  School 
Trustee  and  Director;  is  identified  in  politics 
with  the  Democratic  party. 

ANDREW  BLEAKLEY,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Mount  Erie,  was  born  in  County  Tyrone.  Ire- 
laud,  an  April  28,  1835.  and  is  a  son  of  Mat- 
thew and  Jane  (Job)  Bleakley.  Our  subject 
was  the  third  of  five  children,  of  whom  two — 
John  and  Andrew  (our  subject) — are  now  liv- 
ing. When  the  latter  was  ten  years  of  age. 
his  parents  emigrated  to  ''lis  country.  They 
came  directly  to  Wayne  County,  III.,  and  settled 


62 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


in  Mount  Erie  Township.  There  they  lived 
until  their  death,  that  of  the  father  in  the 
spring  of  1864  and  the  mother  January  10, 
1879.  Before  our  subject  left  Ireland,  he  had 
the  privilege  of  going  to  school  some,  and  after 
his  arrival  here  he  was  permitted  to  attend  the 
schools  of  this  county.  He  helped  on  the 
home  farm  until  about  twenty,  and  then,  com- 
mencing life  for  himself,  settled  in  the  southern 
part  of  Mount  Erie  Township,  where  he  resided 
until  1875.  He  then  came  to  his  present  loca- 
tion, where  he  has  since  resided.  He  now  owns 
142  acres  in  Section  20,  and  160  acres  in  Sec- 
tion 26  of  Town  1  north,  Range  9  east,  and 
forty  acres  in  Massillon  Township.  Of  the 
whole  there  are  about  200  acres  in  cultivation 
and  about  three  acres  in  orchards.  For  a  num- 
ber of  years,  he  dealt  quite  extensively  in  stock, 
but  in  the  last  few  years  has  been  slowly  retir- 
ing from  the  business.  Mr.  Bleakley  was  mar- 
ried on  March  10, 1859,  to  Miss  Celia  Johnson, 
a  daughter  of  Moses  and  Sarah  (Mason)  John 
son,  natives  of  Pennsylvania.  Mrs.  Bleakley 
was  born  on  December  1,  1841,  and  was  the 
mother  of  eight  children,  five  of  whom  are  now 
living — Edward  K.,  born  December  5,  1865; 
John  M.,  born  June  14, 1867;  Thomas  A.,  born 
October  14, 1870;  Sarah  J.,  born  December  13, 
1872;  and  Permelia  B.,born  May  28,  1877.  Of 
the  deceased  ones,  Matthew  B.,  born  July  14. 
1860,  died  January  10,  1880;  Andrew  J.,  born 
October  1,  1862,  died  September  1,  1865;  and 
Mary  M.,  born  March  10,  1875.  died  July  16, 
1876.  Mrs.  Bleakley  died  on  October  6,  1880, 
and  he  was  married  the  second  time,  on  Octo- 
ber 25,  1881,  to  Mrs.  Isabelle  Harris,  nre  Hen- 
derson, a  daughter  of  James  and  Jane  (Bunt- 
ing) Henderson,  also  natives  of  County  Tyrone, 
Ireland.  The  present  Mrs.  Bleakley  was  born 
in  March.  1839.  Our  subject  was  a  soldier  in 
the  late  war,  having  enlisted  on  October  8, 
1862,  in  Company  II  (Capt.  Thomas  Johnson), 
of  the  Ninety-eighth  Illinois  Volunteer  In- 
fantry,  Col.  John  J.  Funkhouser,  and  remained 


out  until  February  20,  1865,  when  he  resigned. 
On  February  16,  1863,  he  was  promoted  to 
Second  Lieutenant.  Among  the  battles  in 
which  he  participated  were  those  of  Chicka- 
mauga.Farmington.Murfreesboro  and  Ringgold. 
Both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bleakley  are  members  of 
the  Mount  Erie  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
Mr.  Bleakley  is  a  member  of  Mount  Erie 
Lodge,  No.  331,  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.,  and  also  of 
Mount  Erie  Grange.  In  politics,  he  remains 
Independent. 

DAVID  CREWS,  farmer,  P.  O.  Mt.  Erie. 
The  gentleman  whose  name  heads  this  sketch 
is  a  descendant  from  one  of  the  pioneer  fami- 
lies in  this  county,  and  was  born  in  Jasper 
Township  on  April  19,  1837.  He  is  a  son  of 
Peter  and  MarlhaJ(Monroe)  Crews.  The  great- 
grandfather of  our  subject,  John  Crews,  was 
born  in  South  Carolina  in  a  very  early  day,  and 
was  probably  of  English  descent.  His  son, 
Andrew  Crews,  was  also  born  there,  and  came 
to  East  Tennessee  in  an  early  day,  where  the 
father  of  our  subject  was  born  on  April  23. 
1798.  There  the  family  lived  until  the  father 
was  about  fifteen,  when  his  parents  moved  to 
Barren  County,  Ky.  In  1819,  Peter,  when  about 
twenty-one,  came  to  this  count}-  and  settled  in 
Jasper  Township.  In  the  course  of  a  year,  his 
brothers,  Matthew,  William,  James  and  Jessie, 
also  came  and  settled  in  that  township,  and  in 
the  historj*  of  Jasper  Township  the  full  history 
of  this  numerous  family  is  spoken  of  at 
length.  About  a  year  after  subject's  father  had 
first  emigrated  to  this  country,  he  again  re- 
turned to  Kentucky,  and  there  married  Martha 
Monroe.  She  was  a  daughter  of  Johnson  Mon- 
roe. This  family  was  also  originally  from 
South  Carolina,  and  came  to  this  country  in 
a  very  early  day.  A  short  time  after  his  mar- 
riage. David  again  returned  to  this  county  and 
became  a  citizen  of  Jasper  Township,  settling 
about  five  miles  east  of  Fairfield.  In  that 
township  he  resided  until  1850,  and  then  moved 
to  Wabash  County.    There  he  lived  about  eight- 


MOUNT   ERIE  TOWNSHIP. 


68 


een  months,  and  then  returned  to  this  county. 
This  time  he  settled  in  Mt.  Erie  Township,  on 
the  farm  that  subject  now  owns.  He  first  en- 
tered 120  acres,  which  he  afterward  increased 
to  160  acres,  and  on  that  farm  he  resided  until 
his  death,  May  25. 1871.  The  mother  departed 
this  life  some  time  in  August,  1874.  Both  are 
interred  on  the  home  farm.  Subject  was  the 
sixth  of  eleven  children,  of  whom  six  are  now 
living — Mrs.  Susan  E.  Farr.  in  Mt.  Brie  Town- 
ship; David,  our  subject;  William,  in  Massillon  ; 
Martha,  in  Mt.  Erie  ;  Samantha,  in  Massillon  ; 
and  Andrew  in  Oregon,  He  attended  the  sub- 
scription schools  of  Jasper  Township,  and  as- 
sisted on  the  home  farm  until  he  was  twenty- 
six.  He  commenced  life  on  a  rented  farm,  sit- 
uated about  two  miles  west  of  his  present  loca- 
tion. There  he  resided  for  two  years,  and  then 
purchased  a  farm  in  Kim  Township.  In  1876, 
he  came  to  Mt.  Erie  Township,  and  has  since 
been  living  on  the  old  homestead.  He  now  owns 
1  I  I  acres,  in  Sections  7  and  18,  of  Township  1 
north.  Range  !•  east      Mr.  Crews  was  married,  on 

January  21,   1864,  to  Miss   Joann    Y< g,  a 

daughter  of  Barnettand  Tabitha  Jane  (Carver) 
Young.  The  father  was  born  in  Virginia,  the 
mother  in  Kentucky.  Mrs.  Crews  was  born  on 
September  25.  181(1.  and  is  the  mother  of  seven 
children,  all  of  whom  an-  now  living — Tabitha 
D..  born  June  29,  1865  ;  Peter  G.,  born  Febru- 
ary 21.  1867;  Schuyler  B  ,  born  November  5, 
1868;  Frances  M.  born  January  12,  1872; 
Martha  J.,  born  March  16,  1875;  John  W.  11.. 
born  February  2d.  1S77;  Charles  A.,  August  9, 
1882.  Mr.  and  .Mrs.  Crews  are  both  members  of 
the  Mt.  Erie  Methodist  Fpiseopal  Church.  Mr. 
Crews  has  been  :i  member  in  times  past  of  both 
the  Mt.  Erie  Grange  and  the  Lodge  of  Son^  of 
Temperance.  The  Republican  party  receives 
his  support. 

WILLIAM  H.  DAUBS,  farmer.  1".  0.  Mt 
Erie,  is  a  native  of  this  county,  being  born 
here  on  June  27,  1842,  and  is  a  son  of  Michael 
and    Sarah    Ann     Knight)    Daubs.      The   father 


was  born  in  Germany,  and  when  a  boy  came 
with  his  parents  to  this  country.  They  settled 
in  Vanderburg  County,  Ind.,  and  there  the 
father  resided  until  the  spring  of  1842,  when 
he  came  to  this  county.  He  settled  about  a 
mile  west  from  where  subject  now  resides.  He 
resided  there  only  about  three  years,  however, 
and  then  moved  back  again  to  Indiana  In 
1 852.  he  again  returned  to  this  county,  and  set- 
tled about  two  miles  east  of  Mt.  Krie.  where  he 
resided  until  his  death,  which  occurred  on  April 
28,  1868.  The  mother  of  our  subject  was  born 
in  Indiana  on  April  5,  1828.  and  is  still  living 
in  Grayvtlle,  White  County.  She  was  the 
mother  of  twelve  children,  of  whom  our  sub- 
ject was  the  eldest.  Of  that  number,  but  two 
are  now  living— John  P.,  in  Mt.  Erie  Township, 
and  William  H.,our  subject.  The  free  schools 
of  Indiana  and  of  this  county  furnished  our 
subject  his  means  of  education.  He  remained 
at  home  with  his  father  until  about  twenty 
years  of  age,  and  then  starting  for  himself  began 
tanning  on  a  rented  place,  After  three  years' 
labor  there,  he  made  enough  to  purchase  a  pari 
of  his  present  farm,  where  he  has  since  resided. 
He  now  owns  about  2S(I  acres,  situated  in  Sec- 
tions 22  and  27.  of  Township  I.  Range  !l  east 
Of  this  there  are  about  230  acres  in  cultivation, 
and  about  seven  acres  in  orchard.  He  also 
raises  considerable  stock  for  market.  Mr. 
Daubs  was  married,  in  this  county,  on  Decem- 
ber 21.  1861,  to  Miss  Josephine  Travers,  a 
daughter  of  Solomon  and  Freelove  (Reeves; 
Travers.  natives  of  Posey  County,  Ind.  This 
huh  was  born  in  January,  1842,  and  is  the 
mother  of  eight  children,  seven  of  whom  are 
now  living,  viz.:  Luaiin.  George  F.  Mollie  R., 
Michael.  Josie  Hell.  William  M.,  Clyde  and 
Mattie.  Subject  enlisted  on  February  13,  1865, 
in  Company  D  of  the  One  Hundred  and  Fifty- 
fifth   Indiana   Volunteer  Infantry,  and  served 

until  September  18,  1865.  He  has  served  as 
Assessor  three  terms.  Collector  and  Scl I  Di- 
rector    lie  claims  to  he  Independent  in  polities 


64 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


DAVID  HOLMES,  farmer,  P.  0.  Mount 
Erie.  From  one  of  the  oldest  families  of  the 
Western  Reserve  the  gentleman  whose  name 
heads  this  sketch  is  descended,  being  born 
March  27,  1837,  in  Carroll  County,  Ohio.  The 
father  of  our  subject,  William  Holmes,  was  born 
in  Washington  County,  Penn.,  August  2(3,  1801, 
and  was  of  Scotch  descent.  While  he  resided 
in  Ohio,  he  was  the  editor  of  the  Carroll  Coun- 
ty i'ickayune,  and  was  an  almost  constant  office- 
holder during  his  residence  in  that  county, 
serving  fifteen  years  as  Auditor,  and  Treasurer 
four  years,  besides  other  minor  offices.  In 
1853,  the  father  came  to  Mount  Erie  Township. 
Wayne  County,  where  he  settled  down  on  about 
1,200  acres  of  land.  In  1871,  he  sold  out  his 
farm  and  came  into  the  village.  At  present  he 
is  living  with  one  of  his  children,  at  the  ad- 
vanced age  of  eighty -one.  In  his  lifetime,  he 
has  been  married  three  times.  The  first  time 
to  Elizabeth  Joseph,  the  second  time  to  Eliza 
Ann  Davis  (the  mother  of  our  subject,  and 
born  January  22,  1807),  and  the  third  time  to 
Martha  Wiseman.  The  result  of  these  three 
marriages  was  twenty-six  children,  and  the  fol- 
lowing record  of  their  births  is  taken  from  the 
old  family  Bible.  The  first  marriage  resulted 
in  four  children,  viz.,  Mary,  born  February  22, 
1821  ;  Elizabeth,  June  24, 1822  ;  William,  April 
20, 1824 ;  John,  December  31, 1825.  Eighteen 
children  were  the  result  of  the  second  marriage 
— Isaac,  born  November  30,  1827;  Catherine, 
November  1, 1828  ;  Martha,  December  2,  1829  ; 
Jonathan,  December  10,  1830;  James,  June 
30,  1832;  Mirara,  August  5,  1833:  Samuel, 
December  8,1834;  Eliza,  January  22.  1836; 
David,  March  27,  1837;  Oliver,  August  10, 
1838;  Martin,  October  2,  1830  ;  Daniel,  Janu- 
ary 11,  1841  ;  Milton.  January  3,  1842  ;  Sarah, 
September  18,  1843;  Eleanor,  January  24, 
1845;  Samantha,  May  10,  1840;  Calvin,  Octo 
ber  7,  1847;  and  an  infant  born  in  1849,  and 
the  mother  died  in  giving  birth  to  it  ;  and  four 
children  were  the  result  of  the  last  marriage, 


viz.,  Eli,  born  October  8,  1851  ;  Melissa,  May 
1,  1853;  George,  February  26,  1857;  Mary, 
August  14,  1859.  Of  this  remarkable  family 
the  following  are  now  living  :  William  (in  Car- 
roll County,  Ohio),  Isaac  (in  Seneca  County, 
Ohio),  Martha  (wife  of  Abraham  Koonbecker, 
of  Stark  County,  Ohio),  Samuel  (in  Greenwood 
County,  Kan.),  Miram  (widow  of  William  E. 
Harlon,  of  Arrington  Township),  Eliza  (wife  of 
A.  H.  Best,  of  Elm  Township),  David  (our  sub- 
ject), Oliver  (in  Lamard  Township  •,  Sarah  (wife 
of  Maston  Webb,  of  Elk  County,  Kan.),  Milton 
(of  Elm  Township),  Eleanor  Inlow  (of  Elm 
Township).  Calvin  (now in  Bosque  County,  Tex.), 
Samautha  J.  (wife  of  Jesse  Robertson,  of  Gray- 
ville,  White  County),  Eli  (of  Mount  Erie  Town- 
ship), George  (in  Bosque  County,  Tex.),  Melissa 
(wife  of  Kane  Staton,  of  Leadville,  Colo.),  and 
Mary  (wife  of  William  Westfall,  of  Mount  Erie 
Township).  Our  subject  received  his  education 
in  the  common  schools  of  Ohio,  and  at  the  age 
of  eighteen  came  to  Wayne  County  with  his 
father.  He  remained  at  home  with  his  father 
until  1858,  and  then,  settling  in  Elm  Township, 
commenced  life  for  himself.  In  that  township 
he  resided  until  1872,  and  farmed  ;  then,  pur- 
chasing a  saw  mill  in  Marion  County,  he  re- 
moved it  to  that  township,  where  he  ran  it  for 
four  years.  He  next  came  to  Mount  Erie 
Township,  and  there  ran  a  hotel,  livery  stable 
and  drug  store.  The  drug  store  he  finally  dis- 
continued, but  still  manages  the  hotel,  but  at 
present  he  himself  is  giving  his  attention  to 
farming,  owning  200  acres  in  Zif  Town- 
ship, 100  of  which  are  under  cultivation.  Mr. 
Holmes  was  married,  November  3,  1859,  to 
Mary  Huston  Webb,  a  daughter  of  Wiley  and 
Rachel  (Huston)  Webb.  This  lady  was  born 
September  29,  1836.  and  is  the  mother  of  eight 
children,  all  of  whom  are  living,  viz.,  William 
W..  born  March  1,  1861  ;  Lillie  E.,  May  17. 
i  1864;  Oscar  D.,  April  17,  1866;  John  C-, 
April  27,  1868;  Easter  M.,  April  17,  1870; 
Charles  S.,  March  10,  1872;  Ethelbert,  Janu- 


MOUNT  ERIE  TOWNSHIP 


05 


ary  27,  1874;  and  Isaac.  October  17,  1876. 
July  25.  1861,  our  subject  enlisted  in  Company 
B,  ('apt.  G-.  N.  Ulen,  of  the  Fortieth  Regiment, 
Col.  Stephen  i!.  Hicks,  and  remained  out  three 
years.  Among  the  battles  in  which  he  partici- 
pated were  the  battles  of  Shiloh,  Mission 
Ridge,  siege  of  Vickaburg,  Jackson,  Miss.,  Cor- 
rinth  and  Atlanta,  being  discharged  while  serv- 
ing in  the  rifle-pits  in  front  of  the  latter  named 
city,  July  25,  ISC  I.  From  1879  to  1S82.  Mr. 
Holmes  served  as  mail  carrier  from  Mount 
Erie  to  Clay  City  and  back.  For  two  years  of 
that  time,  his  sun  Oscar  performed  the  duty, 
and  in  that  time  only  missed  two  days.  Sub- 
ject is  a  member  of  Mount  Erie  Lodge,  No.  331, 
A.,  F.  &  A.  M..  and  is  at  present  agent  for  the 
Mattoon  Masonic  Benefit  Association.  In  poli- 
tics, Mr.  Holmes  is  a  Democrat. 

A.LEXANDEB  S  JESSUP,  farmer.  I',  o. 
Mount  Eric  was  born  in  County  Armagh.  Ire 
land,  on  March  28.  1S3S,  and  was  a  son  of  Rev. 
Robert  and  Anna  (Sturgeon)  -lessup.  The 
father  was  a  minister  in  the  Methodist  Church, 
as  was  also  Alexander  Sturgeon,  the  mother's 
father.  Subject  was  the  third  of  live  children, 
of  whom  three  arc  now  living — Samuel  (now  a 
physician  in  Mackinaw.  Mich.).  Robert  (now  in 
Fairfield,  111),  and  Alexander  (our  subject). 
When  the  hitter  was  seven  years  of  age,  his 
parents  emigrated  to  this  country,  and  settled 
in  New  York  City.  There  the  father  preached 
and  practiced  medicine  for  a  number  of  years. 
In  1857,  he  came  to  Wayne  County,  III.,  and 
settled  in  Mc nint  Erie  Township,  near  where 
subject  now  resides.  He  had  farming  carried 
on.  hut  gave  most  of  his  own  time  to  practic- 
ing medicine,  and  to  preaching.  Among  the 
charges  which  he  tilled  in  this  county  were 
those  uf  the  be  wis  villi-  Circuit,  and  Mount  I'',  lie 
Circuit.  Owing  to  his  advanced  age,  he  was, 
however,  finally  compelled  to  give  up  preach- 
He  died  on  October  31.  1807.  He  was  a 
man  of  rare  qualities,  and  was  universally  re- 
spected and  admired.     One  of  his  last  official 


duties  as  a  minister  was  to  serve  a  year  as 
financial  agent  of  the  McKendree  College.  The 
mother's  demise  occurred  on  March  25,  1871. 
Snbject's  education   was   received   in   the  New 

I  York  Free  Academy.  In  18.~>0.  he  came  to  this 
county,  and  took  charge  of  the  farm  which 
had  been  previously  purchased  by  his  father, 
and  there  remained  until  the  hitter's  death.  He 
then  commenced  to  farm  for  himself,  and  now 
owns  200  acres  situated  in  Sections  30  and  31, 
of  Township  1  north,  Range  9  east.  Of  that 
there  are  about  140  acres  in  cultivation,  and  has 
about  two  and  one-half  acres  in  orchard.  He 
also  handles  considerable  stock.  Mr.  Jessup 
was  married  on  March  4,  1868.  to  Miss  Isabella 

i  Best,  a  daughter  of  George  and  Eliza  Best,  na- 
tives of  Ohio.  They  came  to  this  county  in 
1858.  and  settled  in  Mount  Erie  Township. 
Three  children  blessed  this  union,  two  of  whom 
are  now  living — Samuel  and  George  (twins), 
born  November  1.  1868.  This  lady  died  in 
April.  1870.  anil  he  was  married  on  August  24, 
1871.  to  Miss  Sarah  .Jane  Williams,  a  daughter 
of  Henry  and  Elizabeth  (Reed)  Williams,  na- 
tives of  this  State.  This  lady  was  born  in  Elm 
Township,  on  December  10,  1851,  and  is  the 
mother  of  four  children,  two  of  whom  are  now 
living — Mary  Lizzie,  born  May  0.  1S72  ;  Anna 
May.  born  January  1,  1874.  .Mr.  Jessup  en- 
listed on  October  5,  1861,  in  Company  M,  of 
the  Fifth  Illinois  Volunteer  Cavalry,  and  served 
until  October  28,  ISO.").  Among  the  battles 
which  he  participated  in  were  the  battles  of 
Cotton  Plant,  siege  of  Vicksburg,  Mechanics- 
burg.  Woodville,  Egypt  Station  and  others. 
lie  entered  as  private:  was  promoted  to  Cap 
taincy  of  Companj  M.  on  September  16,  1862, 
and  on  August  8,  1865,  was  commissioned 
Major.  He  served  on  the  General's  staff  as  As- 
sistant Inspector,  from  April,  1804,  until  March. 
1st;;,  He  was  next  appointed  as  Ordnance 
Officer  Of  the  District  of   West  Tennessee,  with 

headquarters  at  Memphis.  Subject  has  held 
the  Office  of  County  Surveyor   for  eight    years; 


66 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


also  as  Township  Assessor.  Is  a  member  of 
McKendree  Chapel  of  Mount  Erie  Township. 
In  politics,  he  is  identified  with  the  Republican 
party. 

JAMES     MOUTRAY,     fruit     dealer    and 
Justice      of      the       Peace.      Wy  noose,      was 
born    in     Posey    County.    Ind.,    December    4, 
1835,  and  is  a  son  of  Allen  and    Ann  Eliza 
Thompson  Moutray.     The  father  was   a  native 
of  Kentucky,    and  was  of   Irish  descent — the 
mother  probably  of  Virginia.     Subject  was  the 
seventh  of  fourteen  children,  of  whom  five  are 
still   living — George  and  Sylvester   in  Indian 
Territory  ;   James  (our   subject)  ;  Phebe  Ann 
Balding,  in  Edwards  County,  111.;  and  Matthew, 
in  White  County,  111.     Our  subject's  education 
was  slight,  hut  since  he  has  come  to  manhood, 
he    has  taught  himself  some.     When  he  was 
fourteen  years  of  age,  his  parents  came  to  this 
county  and   settled  in  Mount    Erie  Township) 
where  the  father  resided  until  his  death  in  1862. 
The  mother  is  still  living  at  the  advanced  age 
of  eighty-three,    and    is    at    present    living  in 
Indiana  Township  with  one  of  her  sons.     Until 
twenty  years  of  age,  he  worked  on  the  home 
farm,  and  then  commencing  life   for  himself. 
At   present  he  owns  a   farm   of  100  acres  in 
Section  21,  of  Township  1,  Range  9  east,  and 
forty  acres  in  Section  28,  of  Township  1,  Range 
9  east.     Of  the  whole   there  are  about  eighty 
acres    under    cultivation.     For  a    number  of 
years  he  has  been  actively  engaged  in  the  fruit 
business,  selling  at  present  for  the  Vincennes 
Nursery.     Is  at  present  serving  as  Justice  of 
the  Peace  of  township.  Was  married  in  Mount 
Erie   Township,   November   6,    1855,    to  Miss 
Amanda  E.  Harleson,  a  daughter  of  William 
and  Catherine  (Bunker)  Harleson.    Mrs.  Mout- 
ray  was  born  on  September  15,  1835.  and  is 
the  mother  of  eight  children,  of  whom  four  are 
now  living — Jasper  I.,  born  February  6,  1857  ; 
William  W..  born  October  20, 1865  ;  Mark  0., 
born  December  — .  1868  ;  Van  R.,  born  Octo- 
ber 9,  1871.     Mr.    Moutray   is  identified  with 
the  Democratic  party  in  politics. 


DR.  SAMUEL  MUNDY,  physician,  Mount 
Erie.  One  of  the  oldest  practicing  physicians 
in  Wayne  County  is  the  gentleman  whose  name 
heads  this  sketch,  and  who  was  born  in  Wabash 
County,  111.,  on  December  25,  1825.  He  is  a 
son  of  Samuel  and  Phoebe  (Reed)  Mundy,  who 
were  natives  of  New  York  City.  The  paternal 
grandfather  of  our  subject  came  from  England 
to  this  country  and  settled  in  the  State  of  New 
York,  where  he  devoted  his  attention  to  farm- 
ing. The  maternal  grandfather  was.  however, 
of  Scotch  descent.  Our  subject  was  the  sixth 
of  twelve  children,  of  whom  eight  are  now  liv- 
ing, viz.:  Griffith  (in  Wabash  County),  William 
R.  (in  Colorado),  Henry  (in  Wabash  County), 
Samuel  (our  subject),  Caroline  (wife  of  Samuel 
Guun,  of  Ulney),  Phoebe  (wife  of  Judge  Pres- 
ton, of  Olney),  Julia  Ann  (now  in  Denver.  Colo.), 
and  Jersey  (wife  of  Charles  Roberts,  deceased). 
The  old-fashioned  subscription  schools  of  Wa- 
bash County  afforded  our  subject  his  means  of 
obtaining  knowledge,  and  his  leisure  time  was 
spent  in  assisting  his  father,  who  was  a  farmer. 
He  remained  at  home  until  he  was  twenty -one, 
and  then  commenced  farming  for  himself.  At 
the  age  of  twenty -six,  however,  he  commenced 
to  read  medicine  with  Dr.  James  Straham,  of 
New  Hope,  Wabash  County.  Under  the  pre- 
ceptorship  of  this  man,  our  subject  remained 
two  years,  and  then  became  a  partner  with  his 
former  teacher.  This  business  affiliation,  how- 
ever, only  lasted  about  one  year,  and  Dr. 
Mundy  then  moved  to  this  county  and  first 
settled  in  "yeolde"  village  of  Massillon  in  the 
spring  of  1S62.  He,  however,  came  to  Mount 
Erie,  where  he  has  since  resided.  At  present, 
he  has  a  very  large  practice  extending  over 
Massillon.  Mount  Erie,  Elm.  Zif  and  Jasper 
Townships  and  part  of  Edwards  and  Richland 
Counties.  Besides  his  professional  calling,  the 
Doctor  also  finds  time  to  devote  some  attention 
to  his  farm,  and  at  present  owns  about  220 
acres  in  Mount  Erie  Township  and  eighty  acres 
in  Massillon  Township  In  Wabash  County. 
111.,  on  December  5.  1852,  Dr.  Mundv  was  mar- 


MOUNT  ERIE  TOWNSHIP. 


67 


ried  to  Miss  Frances  M.  Wilcox,  a  daughter  of 
Lyman  and  Mary  (Richey.  Wilcox,  the  father 
being  born  in  New  York  in  1793,  the  mother 
in  Baltimore  in  1795,  and  both  were  of  English- 
Scotch  descent.  Mrs.  Mundy  was  also  born  in 
New  York  on  August  17,  1829.  At  the  age  of 
seventeen,  she  went  to  Wisconsin,  where  she 
taught  school  for  two  years,  and  then  came  to 
Illinois,  where  she  taught  school  until  her  mar- 
riage with  our  subject.  This  union  has  re- 
sulted in  eight  children,  four  of  whom  are  now 
living,  viz..  Nina.  Phrebe.  William  and  Carrie. 
Mrs.  Mundy  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist 
Church.  Our  subject  is  a  member  of  Mount 
Erie  Lodge.  No.  331.  A..  F.  &  A.  M.  The  Re- 
publican party  receives  the  Doctor's  support 
in  politics. 

ANDREW  F.  NISBIT.  merchant.  Mount 
Erie,  was  born  in  Mount  Erie  Township,  this 
county.  September  4.  1S27.  and  is  consequently 
one  of  J,he  oldest  native  born  children  in  tin- 
township.  James  Nisbit.  the  grandfather  of 
our  subject,  came  to  this  country  from  Scotland 
some  little  time  before  the  Revolution.  Will- 
iam, a  brother,  was  afterward  a  Captain  in  that 
conflict.  The  grandfather  settled  in  South 
Carolina,  and  there  married  Jane  Bratton,  who 
was  also  of  Scotch  tleseent.  There,  also.  Alex- 
ander Nisbit,  the  father  of  our  subject,  was 
born  September  2,  1792.  When  he  was  eight 
years  of  age.  his  father  moved  to  Kentucky. 
and  settled  in  Hopkins  County,  where  the  latter 
died  in  1860  In  that  State  the  father  grew  to 
manhood,  and  married  Dorcas  Ramsey,  a  daugh- 
ter of  Alexander  and  Ellen  (Lynn)  Ramsey, 
who  afterward  became  early  settlers  in  thi> 
county.  In  1816.  Alexander  Nisbit,  accom- 
panied by  Alexander  Ramsey.  James  Ramsey. 
William  Farmer,  William  McCormicb  and  Mi- 
chael Book,  came  to  White  County,  III.,  and 
settled  in  what  was  then  called  Seven-Mile 
Prairie,  near  where  the  town  of  Enfield  now 
stands.  In  that  county  they  lived  two  years. 
and   then  the   party,  building  a  pirogue,  came 


up  the  Little  Wabash  as  far  as  the  mouth  of 
Miller's  Creek.  Here  they  stopped,  and  made 
their  way  to  the  foot  of  the  hill  on  which 
Mount  Erie  now  stands,  but  which  they  then 
called  Ramsey's  Grove.  Here  they  spent  the 
night  (Christmas  Eve)  together,  making  the  first 
settlement  in  the  township,  and  the  next  morn- 
ing each  family  chose  a  home  for  itself.  The 
Nisbit  family  settled  about  one  mile  and  a  halt' 
west  from  the  present  village  of  Mount  Erie. 
On  that  farm  the  father  lived  about  two  years. 
and  then  moved  within  about  three-quarters  of 
a  mile  from  the  village.  About  1856,  he  re- 
moved to  the  village,  and  there  resided  until 
his  death,  which  occurred  July  8,  lsTS.  Alex- 
ander Nisbit  was  a  man  who  cared  more  for 
his  home  and  its  kindred  affairs  than  for  office- 
seeking  and  political  renown,  and  it  is  said  that 
during  his  long  residence  in  this  county  he 
never  held  an  office  in  his  life.  As  far.  how- 
ever, as  his  political  views  went,  he  was  Demo- 
crat, voting  lor  Jackson,  and  afterward  for 
Douglas,  and  remained  true  to  that  party  until 
his  demise.  He  was,  however,  a  strong  Union 
man.  and  did  what  he  could  for  the  cause  at 
that  time.  In  1851,  he  connected  himself  with 
the  Methodist  Church,  and  remained  connected 
with  that  denomination  through  life.  Mrs. 
Nisbit.  who  died  in  1841,  was  the  mother  often 
children,  of  whom  our  subject  was  the  seventh. 
Of  this  number,  but  three  are  now  living — Caro- 
line i  wife  of  James  Mays,  deceased).  Jane  M. 
(wife  of  J.  T.  Price)  and  Andrew  F.  our  sub- 
ject). The  deceased  ones  are  Eleanor,  James, 
Alexander,  Samuel.  Lucinda.  1'rudeuee  and 
Sarah.  (  Mir  subject's  education,  which  was  but 
slight,  was  received  in  the  subscription  school. 
and  since  coming  to  manhood  he  litis  taught 
himself.  He  worked  on  the  home  farm  until 
about  twenty-one,  and.  starting  for  himsell 
purchased  a  farm  about  three-quarters  of  a 
mile  east  of  town.  There  he  remained  about 
six  \ear~.  and  then,  in  IStiti.  he  moved  into  the 
village    of  Mount    Erie.      Here   he  commenced 


68 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


merchandising,  and  has  followed  that  vocation 
ever  since.  At  present  he  carries  a  stock  of 
about  $3,000.  For  a  number  of  years,  he  was 
connected  with  the  Gem  Flouring  Mill,  of 
Mount  Erie,  but  in  August,  1883,  sold  out  his 
interest  in  that  concern.  He  also  has  farming 
carried  on,  owning  about  500  acres.  Mr.  Nis- 
bit  was  united  in  matrimony,  December  16, 
1849,  in  Mount  Erie  Township,  to  Miss  Jane 
Bleakley.  This  lady  was  the  daughter  of  Mat- 
thew and  Jane  I  Job)  Bleakley,  natives  of 
County  Tyrone,  Ireland.  She  was  born  in  Ire- 
land in  1829,  and  died  April  30,  1854.  The 
result  of  this  union  was  three  children,  of  whom 
two  are  now  living — Mary  Jane  (wife  of  John 
Vandever)  and  John  Wesley  (now  in  business 
with  his  father).  October  1,  1856,  our  subject 
was  married  to  Miss  Lizzie  Massey,  a  daughter 
of  James  and  Matilda  (Harlan)  Massey.  The 
parents  were  probably  natives  of  Tennessee, 
and  were  early  settlers  in  this  county.  The 
father  was  an  early  pioneer  Methodist  preach- 
er, and  preached  over  this  part  of  Illinois  and 
Indiana.  Mrs.  Nisbit  was  born  in  1839,  and  is 
the  mother  of  three  children,  of  whom  two  are 
now  living — Matilda  E.  and  Minnie.  Mr.  Nis- 
bit enlisted  in  Company  E,  of  the  Fortieth  Illi- 
nois Volunteer  Infantry  ;  went  out  as  First 
Lieutenant  in  July,  1861,  but  was  out  only  a 
short  time  ;  resigned  on  account  of  sickness. 
In  politics,  subject  is  a  Republican,  and  in  con- 
nection with  county  affairs  has  been  a  member 
of  the  board  four  terms.  Is  a  member  of  the 
Mount  Erie  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and 
also  of  Mount  Erie  Lodge,  No.  331,  A.,  F.  &. 
A    M. 

EMANUEL  ORB,,  Sr.,  farmer,  P.  0.  Mount 
Erie,  was  born  in  Mecklenburgh  County,  N.  C, 
on  September  4,  1812,  and  is  a  son  of  Alexan- 
der and  Lucy  (Collins)  Orr.  The  father  was 
born  in  Maryland,  and  his  father  emigrated  to 
this  country  from  Ireland  about  two  years 
prior  to  the  Revolution,  and  was  afterward  a 
soldier  in  that  conflict.     The  mother  was  de- 


scended from  Old  Virginia  stock.  Our  subject 
was  the  third  often  children,  of  whom  four  are 
now  living — Anna  Jennings,  in  Grayson  Coun- 
ty, Tex.;  Emanuel  (our  subject);  Tabitha  ; 
Lewis,  in  Edwards  County,  111.,  and  Alfred,  in 
Missouri.  When  he  was  five  years  of  age,  his 
parents  moved  to  Bedford  County,  Tenn.,  and 
there  subject  attended  the  old  subscription 
schools.  After  six  years'  residence  in  that 
county,  the  parents  moved  to  Alabama,  but 
only  lived  there  two  years.  They  then  returned 
to  Tennessee,  and  there  resided  till  March  3, 
1830.  On  that  date,  they  left  Tennessee 
and  came  to  Edwards  County,  111.  In 
that  county  the  parents  lived  for  up- 
ward of  thirty-five  years,  and  then  moved  to 
the  southern  part  of  Wayne  County,  where  the 
father  died  on  July  12,  1858,  the  mother  hav- 
ing departed  this  life  on  October  5, 1855.  Our 
subject  lived  with  his  father  in  Edwards  County 
until  he  was  about  twenty.  He  then  settlgd  down 
and  commenced  life  for  himself  in  what  is 
known  as  Shelby  Precinct,  that  county.  There 
he  resided  for  about  twenty  years,  and  then 
came  to  this  county.  Here  he  settled  in  Sec- 
tion 5,  of  Township  2,  Range  9  east,  where  he 
now  owns  eighty  acres.  Mr.  Orr  was  married, 
in  Edwards  County,  111.,  on  September  1,  1833, 
to  Miss  Matilda  Bell,  a  daughter  of  John  and 
Elizabeth  (Saunders)  Bell,  who  were  originally 
natives  of  Tennessee.  Mrs.  Orr  was  born  on 
January  16,  1814,  and  was  the  mother  of  fifteen 
children,  of  whom  nine  are  now  living — John 
B.,  born  September  29,  1834  ;  Lucy,  born  April 
6.  183i).  and  now  the  wife  of  William  Bennett 
(deceased)  ;  Emanuel  J.,  born  on  February  28, 
1838  ;  Amos,  born  on  October  8,  1839  ;  Alex- 
ander, born  on  August  28.  1845  :  Asa.  born  on 
January  6,  1847  ;  Harlan,  born  on  March  10. 
L852;  .Matilda,  born  on  October  17,  1856,  and 
now  the  wife  of  Marion  Overton. ofGibson  Coun- 
!  v ;  and  Charles,  born  on  June  8.  1858.  This  lady 
died  on  February  10,  1870.  and  our  subject  was 
married  the  second  time,  on  December  24,  1872, 


MOUNT  ERIE   TOWNSHIP. 


69 


to  Mrs.  Nancy  Blinker,  nee  Pepple,  a  daughter 
of  Samuel  and  Nancy  (Jones)  Pepple,  natives 

of  Columbiana  County,  Ohio.  Mr.  Orr  lias 
served  as  Justice  of  th>'  Peace  for  the  past 
thirty  years  in  this  and  Edwards  County.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Baptist  ( 'lunch,  and  in 
polities  has  been  a  life-long  Democrat. 

J.  T.  PORTERFIELD,  farmer,  P.O.  Mount 
Erie,  was  born  in  Armstrong  County,  Penn., 
on  August  (I.  1840,  and  is  a  son  of  John  and 
Elizabeth  (Thompson)  Porterfield,  natives  of 
Pennsylvania.  Subject  was  the  sixth  of  nine 
children,  of  whom  the  following  are  now  liv- 
ing: William  (in  Fairfield),  Mrs.  Nancy  Bill 
son  (of  Massilon  Township).  Mrs.  Sarah 
Wall  (of  Mount  Erie  Township).  Mrs.  Maggie 
Johnson,  and  J.  T.  (our  subject).  In  1850,  his 
parents  moved  to  Wayne  County,  and  settled 
in  Mount  Erie  Township,  where  they  resided 
till  their  death,  that  of  the  mother  in  March, 
18G0,  and  the  father  in  July.  1862.  The  free 
schools  of  this  county  and  Pennsylvania  fur- 
nished out- subject  his  means  of  education.  In 
1863,  he  settled  on  the  old  homestead,  where 
he  has  since  resided.  He  now  owns  about  400 
acres,  most  of  which  is  situated  in  Sections  32 
or  33,  of  Township  1  north.  Range  !>  east.  Of 
tin'  whole  there  are  about  30(1  acres  in  cultiva- 
tion. Mr.  Porterfield  was  married  in  this 
county  on  January  25,  1870,  to  Miss  Marj 
Price,  a  daughter  of  Ira  and  Elizabeth  (Borah) 
Price.  The  father  was  a  native  of  Indiana, 
the  mother  of  this  county.  Mrs.  Porterfield 
was  born  on  December  0.  1847,  and  is  the 
mother  of  live  living  children  — Frank.  Bessie. 
Kaly.  Willie,  and  a  baby,  horn  October  6,  1883. 
Subject  enlisted  in  Company  E.  of  the  Fortieth 
Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,  on  August  6, 
1861,  and  was  out  two  years.  Both  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Porterfield  arc  members  of  McKendree 
Chapel,  Mount  Erie  Township.  In  politics.  Mr 
Porterfield  gives  his  support  to  the  Republican 
party. 

JAMES  T.  PRICE,  merchant,  Mt.  Erie,  was 


born  in  Posey  County,  Ind.,  on  January  25, 
1823,  and  is  a  son  of  Gillison  and  Mary  (Will- 
iams) Price.  The  father  was  a  native  of  South 
Carolina,  the  mother  of  Kentucky.  Subject 
was  the  third  of  ten  children,  of  whom  five  arc 
now  living,  viz.  :  Joseph  W.,  now  in  flrayville, 
White  County  ;  Mrs.  Eliza  Cook,  of  Indian 
Prairie  Township  ;  Mrs.  Miranda  Willey,  of 
Mt.  Erie  Township  ;  Mary  E.  Griffith,  of  Mas- 
silon Township,  and  Janus  T,  our  subject. 
When  the  latter  was  about  six  years  old,  his 
parents,  on  October  14,  1837.  came  to  Wayne 
County  and  settled  in  Massillon  Township, 
where  they  resided  until  their  death,  that  of 
the  mother  occurring  in  1851,  that  of  the  father 
in  1857.  Subject's  education  was  received  in 
the  subscription  schools  of  his  county,  and  up 
until  twenty  years  of  age  rendered  what  assist- 
ance he  could  on  the  home  farm.  At  that  age, 
he  started  out  for  himself,  and  settled  on  a  farm 
in  Mt.  Erie  Township,  about  two  and  a  half 
miles  southeast  of  the  village.  On  that  farm 
lie  remained  about  seven  years,  and  then,  in 
January,  1857, came  to  Mt.  Erie  Village.  Here 
he  began  merchandising  with  Andrew  F.  Nisbit ; 
that  partnership  remained  intact  until  May, 
1877,  when  it  was  dissolved  by  mutual  consent. 
In  January,  1S7K,  Mr.  Price  again  embarked 
in  business,  this  time  with  W.  C.  Ake,  which 
firm  still  exists.  They  now  carry  a  stock  of 
about  $7,000.  In  connection  with  Mr.  Nisbit, 
he  owns  about  500  acres  of  land  in  this  town- 
ship and  Mt.  Erie  Township.  On  October  10, 
1849,  our  subject  was  married  to  Miss  Jane 
Nisbit.  a  daughter  of  Alexander  and  Dorcas 
(Ramsey)  Nisbit.  old  pioneers  of  this  county. 
This  lady  was  born  November  22,  1822.  One 
child  has  blessed  this  union — Mary  Jane,  wife 
at  W.  C.  Ake.  Mr.  Price  was  a  soldier  in  the 
rebellion,  enlisting  in  Company  I),  of  the 
Eighty-seventh  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,  on 
August  12.1802;  was  out  six  months,  and  then 
resigned  on  account  of  sickness.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Price  are  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 


10 


BIOGRAPHICAL. 


Church.  Mr.  Price  has  served  as  Justice  of 
the  Peace  for  about  six  years  ;  also  as  School 
Director  and  Trustee,  and  member  of  County 
Board  Supervisors  ;  is  at  present  as  Postmaster 
and  Notary  Public.  In  politics,  he  is  a  Repub- 
lican. 

GEORGE  E.  QUIMBY,  merchant,  Mt.  Erie, 
was  born  in  Monroe  County,  Ky.,  on  January 
16,  1856,  and  is  a  son  of  James  B.  and  Eliza- 
beth (Hogan)  Quimby.  The  father  was  a  na- 
tive of  Tennessee,  the  mother  of  Kentucky. 
Our  subject  was  the  fourth  of  seven  children, 
of  whom  six  are  now  living.  When  he  was 
quite  small,  his  parents  moved  to  Warrick 
County,  Ky.  There  they  resided  until  1862, 
and  then  came  to  Wayne  County,  111.,  and  tirst 
settled  in  Elm  Township,  but  afterward  moved 
to  Mt.  Erie  Township.  In  1867,  they  moved  to 
Spencer  County,  Ind.,  but  in  1874  they  again 
returned  to  Mt.  Erie  Township,  and  there  lived 
until  1S7S,  when  they  went  to  Newton  County, 
Mo.,  where  they  are  still  residing.  Our  sub- 
ject's education  was  mostly  received  in  the  vil- 
lage school  ot  Mt.  Erie,  and  in  his  leisure  time 
he  assisted  on  the  home  farm  until  eighteen. 
In  that  year,  he  commenced  working  for  him- 
self, first  on  a  farm  in  this  county,  and  after- 
ward in  Missouri  and  Mississippi.  In  1878,  he 
again  turned  his  attention  to  farming,  and 
worked  at  that  until  the  following  winter,  when 
he  commenced  teaching  school.  This  plan  of 
work  he  followed  until  1882,  teaching  in  the 
winter  and  tanning  in  the  summer.  In  the  fall 
of  that  year,  lie  commenced  working  for  Luther 
Yohe  in  his  store,  and  after  four  months'  clerk- 
ship was  taken  in  as  a  partner.  This  partnership 
existed  until  September,  1883,  when  Mr.  W.  C. 
Camp  purchased  tin'  interest  of  Luther  Yohe 
in  that  establishment,  and  the  business  is  now 
carried  under  the  linn  name  of  Camp  &  Quim- 
by, and  now  carry  a  stock  of  about  $4,000, 
On  December  20,  1880,  iu  Mt.  Erie  Township, 
subject  was  married  to  Tetta  Camp,  :i  daugh- 
ter of  George    and    Martha    (Wilhite)    Camp. 


One  child  has  blessed  this  union — Herman  G., 
born  June  2,  1881.  In  politics,  Mr.  Quimb}-  is 
a  Democrat. 

A.  L.  WALL,  farmer,  P.  0.  Mount  Erie,  was 
born  in  Davis  County.  Ky.,  on  January  9, 
1838.  and  is  a  son  of  A.  S.  and  Elizabeth 
(Allen)  Wall.  »  Bird  "  Wall,  the  grandfather 
of  our  subject,  probably  came  from  Scotland, 
when  a  boy,  and  settled  in  Beaufort  County,  N. 
C,  and  there  the  father  was  born.  When  the 
letter  was  about  ten  years  old,  his  father  moved 
to  Kentucky,  where  the  grandfather  died.  The 
father  grew  to  manhood  in  Hopkins  County,  Ky., 
and  there  resided  until  1850,  when  he  came  to 
Wayne  County,  111.  Here  he  settled  in  Mount 
Erie  Township,  about  a  mile  from  where  sub- 
ject now  resides.  In  this  county  he  lived  about 
six  years,  and  then  moved  to  Dickson's  Pre- 
cinct, Edwards  Count}-.  In  that  county  he 
only  lived  three  years,  and  then  moved  to 
White  County.  There  he  settled  on  a  farm 
south  of  Grayville,  where  he  resided  until  his 
death,  which  occurred  on  March  15,  1862.  The 
mother  of  our  subject  was  born  in  Richmond, 
Va.,  in  1807,  and  died  in  Massillon  Township, 
this  county,  on  November  15,  1870.  To  her 
were  born  nine  children,  and  of  this  number 
subject  was  the  fourth.  The  following  chil- 
dren are  now  living  :  C.  M.  (in  Xenia,  Clay 
County)  ;  Elizabeth  (wife  of  W.  H.  Porterfield). 
Sarah  F.  (wife  of  Allen  Graves,  of  White 
County),  and  A.  L.  (our  subject)  The  sub- 
scription schools  of  Kentucky,  and  the  Elder 
School  of  Edwards  County,  furnished  our  subject 
his  means  of  education.  He  remained  on  the 
home  farm  until  he  was  twenty-two,  when  he 
went  into  the  war.  In  1865,  he  |came  to  Wayne 
County,  and  settled  in  Mount  Erie  Township, 
where  he  has  since  resided.  He  now  owns 
130  acres  in  Section  33,  of  Township  1 
north,  Range  9  east.  Of  this  there  are  about 
120  acres  in  cultivation.  He  also  pays  some 
attention  to  stock-raising,  handling  from  fifty 
to  seventy-five  head  per  year.     Mr.  Wall  was 


MOUNT    ERIE   TOWNSHIP. 


71 


married  on  April  12,  1864,  to  Miss  Mary  B. 
Porterfield.  a  daughter  of  John  and  Elizabeth 
(Thompson)  Porterfleld,  natives  of  Pennsylva- 
nia. She  was  born  in  Worthington,  Armstrong 
Co..  Penn..  on  April  25,  1841.  and  was  the 
mother  of  two  children,  one  of  whom  is  now 
living— Mary  E.,  born  July  21, 1869.  This  lady 
died  October  15,  1870,  and  subject  was  mar 
ried  the  second  time,  on  December  3.  1871.  to 
Mrs.  Sarah  J.  Vandyke,  nee  Porterfield,  a  sister 
of  his  first  wife.  She  was  born  in  Pennsylvania 
on  October  12,  l»o7.  Mr.  Wall  enlisted  on 
July  25,  1861.  in  Company  E,  of  the  Fortieth 
Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,  and  served  until 
July  24,  1865.  Be  acted  as  Corporal  and 
Sergeant  while  in  the  service.  Among  the 
battles  in  which  he  participated  were  those 
of  Shiloh,  Corinth.  Vicksburg,  Jackson,  Mis- 
sion Ridge  and  Savannah.  He  has  served  as 
member  of  the  County  Board  one  teim,  and 
two  terms  as  Justice  of  the  Peace.  In  polit- 
ical belief,  lie  is  a  Republican  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Wall  are  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  of  McKendree  Chapel. 

JOHN  WILLEY.  farmer,  P.  0.  Mount  Erie, 
was  born  in  Columbiana  County.  Ohio,  Septem- 
ber 24,  1834,  and  was  a  sou  of  James  and  Nan- 
cy (Coppage)  Willey.  The  parents  were  born 
in  Culpeper  County.  Va.,  and  their  ancestors 
were  probably  natives  of  England.  Subject 
was  the  sixth  of  ten  children,  of  whom  seven 
are  now  living— Mrs.  Frances  Wolf  (in  De  Kalb 
County.  Ohio),  Mrs.  Elizabeth  West  (in  Law- 
rence County.  111.),  Mrs.  Jane  Kelly  (in  De 
Kalb  County.  Ohio),  Robert  (in  Wabash  Coun- 
ty, 111.),  Mrs.  Sarah  Van  Gilder  (in  Johnson 
County.  Ark  .  Riley  (in  Wabash  County,  Ind.) 
and  John  (our  subject).  What  little  schooling 
he  had  was  received  in  the  subscription  schools 
of  his  native  county.  His  father  died  when  he 
was  quite  young,  and  he  was  earlv  forced  to 
take  care  of  himself.  At  the  age  of  sixteen, 
he  learned  the  trade  of  a  cigar-maker,  and  fol- 
lowed that  both  in   Ohio  and  in  this  county. 


after  his  arrival  here  in  1853.  He  worked 
around  for  the  different  farmers  until  1859, 
when  he  settled  on  his  present  farm.  He  now 
owns  about  sixty-six  acres,  situated  in  Sections 
L".t  and  .III.  of  Township  1  north.  Range  9  east. 
All  is  in  cultivation.  In  this  county.  July  1, 
1S5S.  Mr.  Willey  was  married  to  Miranda  J. 
Price,  a  daughter  of  (lillison  and  Mary  Price. 
The  father  was  a  native  of  South  Carolina,  and 
the  mother  of  Kentucky,  and  they  are  noticed 
in  full  in  connection  with  the  sketch  of  James 
T.  Price.  Mrs.  Willey  was  born  in  Posey 
County,  Ind.,  April  11,  1S32,  and  is  the  mother 
of  six  children,  one  of  whom  is  now  living, 
Marion,  born  January  1.  1867.  Of  the  deceased 
ones,  Mary  A.,  born  April  10,  1859,  died  July 
31.  1861  ;  Samantha  .)  .  born  July  3,  1862,  died 
February  16.  1869  ;  Florence  M.,  born  June  15, 
1864,  died  September  25.  1876;  Edward  G., 
born  April  1.  ISO!),  died  November  6,  1876; 
Maggie  E.,  born  November  20,  1871,  died 
March  30,  1878.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Willey  are 
members  of  the  Mount  Erie  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church.  Mr.  Willey  is  a  Republican  in 
politics. 

G.  N.WYATT,  farmer,  P.  ().  Wynoose,  was 
born  in  Greenbrier  County,  W.  Va.,  January 
28,  1839,  and  is  a  son  of  Charles  and  Delila 
(Butcher)  Wyatt,  who  were  natives  of  Virginia, 
and  descendants  of  old  South  Carolinian  stock. 
Subject  was  the  second  of  live  children,  four  of 
whom  are  now  living — Gilbert  \.  (our  subject), 
Elizabeth  (wife  of  G.  B.  Tanner,  deceased). 
Valentine  B.,  and  Mary  (wife  of  John  Ramsey), 
all  of  whom  are  living  in  this  township.  When 
three  months  old,  his  parents  came  to  the 
State  of  Illinois,  and  settled  in  Edwards  Coun- 
ty. There  the  parents  resided  until  1865,  when 
they  moved  to  Wayne  County,  settling  in  Mount 
Erie  Township,  where  the  father  died  December 
31.  1875,  and  the  mother  March  24,  1876. 
Most  of  his  education  was  received  in  the  sub- 
scription schools  of  (Iravville  and  Albion,  Ed- 
wards  County.     He  rendered  what  assistance 


72 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


ho  could  on  the  home  farm  until  about  seven- 
teen, and  then  worked  around  for  :i  number  of 
years.  At  the  age  of  twenty-three,  he  settled 
in  Mount  Erie  Township,  where  he  has  since 
resided.  He  now  owns  140  acres  in  Sections 
26  and  35  of  Town  2  north,  Range  9  east.  Of 
the  whole  there  are  about  ninety-five  acres  in 
cultivation,  and  about  three  acres  in  orchard. 
Hr  also  does  something  in  stock-raising.  Mr. 
Wyatt  was  married.  June  1, 1862,  to  Miss  Mary 
Pcitchett,  a  daughter  of  John  and  Susan  (Ma- 
son) Pritchett,  natives  of  North  Carolina.  This 
lady  was  born  November  7,  1847.  and  was  the 
mother  of  six  children,  five  of  whom  are  now 
living,  viz.,  Charles  W.,  born  November  3, 
1863;  Valentine  and  Adeline,  December  29, 
1868;    Rosetta,    March  27.   1873;  Gilbert,   in 


April,  1872.  The  mother  died  April  12,  1876, 
in  giving  birth  to  Susan  B.,  who  died  the  next 
day.  Mr.  Wyatt  was  married,  May  3.  1877,  to 
Mrs.  Anne  Bristow,  »it<  Johnson,  a  daughter 
of  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Johnson,  who  is  now  living 
with  her  son-in-law,  at  the  advanced  age  of 
eighty-three.  She  was  born  in  South  Carolina, 
and  when  she  was  twelve  years  of  age,  her  par- 
ents came  to  Indiana.  There  she  resided  until 
1850,  when  she  came  to  this  county,  where  she 
has  since  resided.  The  present  Mrs.  Wyatt 
was  born  January  29,  1829.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Wyatt  are  members  of  the  Christian  Church 
of  Marion,  Edwards  County.  Mr.  Wyatt  is  a 
member  of  Parkersburg  Lodge,  No.  509,  A.,  F. 
&  A.  M.  In  his  political  faith  he  is  a  Demo- 
crat. 


BEDFORD    TOWNSHIP. 


CHARLES  G.  ARCHIBALD,  Cisne,  was 
born  in  Wayne  County,  111.,  November  11, 
1844,  to  Charles  and  Celia  (Taylor)  Archi- 
bald, both  of  whom  were  natives  of  Ken- 
tucky. The  father  was  a  farmer  by  occupa- 
tion; came  to  Wayne  County  in  1835  and 
died  in  1857.  During  his  residence  here, 
there  was  hardly  a  court  held  but  what  his 
services  appeared  to  be  needed,  for  the  rec- 
ords show  that  he  was  on  almost  every  jury 
during  the  time.  The  parents  of  our  subject, 
who  are  now  both  deceased,  were  blessed 
with  nine  children,  two  of  whom — Henry  W. 
and  Alexander — served  in  the  late  war.  Those 
living  are  Amelia  Williams,  William  S. , 
Charles  G.  and  Nancy  J.  Patterson.  Our 
subject  obtained  his  education  in  the  common 
schools,  and  in  early  life  engaged  in  farming 
pursuits.  In  1877,  he  and  J.  P.  Jordan 
purchased  a  general  stock  of  goods  of  F.  A. 


Kutz,  and  up  to  the  spring  of  1883  ran  a 
store  in  Cisne,  which  they  sold  at  the  latter 
date  to  R.  F.  Davidson,  the  present  propri- 
etor. Mr.  Archibald  owns  the  store  build- 
ing, which  he  built  in  1881.  He  also  has  a 
residence  and  lot  in  town.  He  was  married, 
February  12,  1865.  to  Mary  J.  Blakely,  a 
daughter  of  Joseph  Blakely,  of  this  county. 
This  union  has  given  eight  children,  of  whom 
there  are  six  living — William  H.,  Nancy  I., 
Willie  M.,  Luella,  Charles  and  James  F. 
Mr.  Archibald  is  an  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.,  John- 
sonville  Lodge,  No.  713,  and,  with  his  wife, 
of  the  Methodist  Church.  Politically,  he 
is  a  Republican. 

JAMES  P.  BILLINGTON,  druggist,  Cis- 
ne, was  born  in  Marshall  County,  Tenn.,  Feb- 
ruary 23,  1843,  to  Jesse  P.  and  Willmouth 
(Hogg)  Billiugton,  natives  of  the  same  State. 
The  parents    are    now    residents   of    Wayne 


BEDFORD    TOWNSHIP. 


73 


County,  are  farmers,  and  Jesse  P.  Billington 
is  widely  known  throughout  the  county  for 
his  extensive  dealings  in  stock.  Of  their 
nine  children,  there  are  seven  who  are  liv- 
ing— James  P.,  Sarah  J..  Clay,  David  A., 
John  H.,  Louisa  Winters,  William  H.  and 
Frances  A.  Our  subject  remained  in  his 
native  State;  engaged  in  farming'.until  com- 
ing to  Wayne  County  in  October,  186U,  and 
here  he  worked  at  farming  and  wagon-mak- 
ing for  several  years.  In  1864,  he  enlisted 
in  Company  H,  Second  United  States  Vol- 
unteers, and  served  until  discharged  in  No- 
vember, 1865.  Mr.  Billington  was  first  mar- 
ried to  Louisa  E.  Maneer,  who  died  in  1863, 
the  mother  of  one  child — Thomas  J.  He 
married  a  second  time,  October  4,  1866,  Sa 
rah  A.  Campbell,  a  daughter  of  Alexander 
Campbell,  formerly  Sheriff  of  Wayne  County. 
In  March,  1873,  Mr.  Billington  purchased 
the  drug  stock  of  Dr.  W.  H.  St.  John,  of 
whom  he  also  learned  the  business.  He  af- 
terward went  into  partnership  with  Frank  A. 
Kutz,  and  for  several  years  ran  a  general  store 
in  connection  with  his  drug  business.  After 
partnership  was  dissolved,  Mr.  Billington 
continued  the  drug  business,  and  has  since 
added  a  line  of  groceries,  etc.  Politically, 
Mr.  Billington  is  a  Democrat. 

JACOB  C.  BROCK,  proprietor  of  the  ('is- 
ne  Hotel,  is  a  native  of  Monroe  County,  Ohio. 
He  was  born  December  17,  1826,  to  Isaac  A. 
and  Elizabeth  (Mugg)  Brock,  the  father  a 
native  of  Ohio  and  the  mother  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, of  German  descent.  Isaac  A.  Brock 
worked  at  carpentering  in  early  life,  but  in 
later  years  gave  his  attention  more  to  farm- 
ing pursuits.  He  was  a  son  of  Jacob  Brock, 
who  came  from  Virginia  and  was  born  in  a 
block-house  where  Cincinnati,  Ohio  now 
stands.  He  was  twice  married,  his  second 
wife  being  the  mother  of  our  subject.  To 
them  were  born  six  children,  of  whom   five 


are  living — Malinda  Linn,  John  W  M.  (a 
merchant  in  Stafford,  Ohio),  Malissa  Trago, 
Jaeol/C.  and  Isaac  T.  Isaac  A.  Brock  came 
to  Wayne  County  in  1851,  bringing  part  of 
his  family  with  him.  He  located  in  Laniard 
Township,  but  some  years  later  removed  to 
Bedford  Township.  Jacob  O,  our  subject, 
was  raised  on  the  farm,  and  has  given  his 
attention  in  this  direction  most  of  his 
life.  He  married  his  present  wife,  Rebecca 
Brock,  nee  Flick,  in  Ohio.  She  is  a  daugh- 
ter of  Michael  aud  Rebecca  (Davis)  Flick, 
who  came  to  "Wayne  County  about  1854. 
Seven  children  have  blessed  this  union,  six 
of  whom  are  living — Almira  (wife  of  Fran- 
cis M.  Carson),  Francis  M.  (married  Ella  P. 
Collins,  which  union  has  given  three  chil- 
dren, two  of  whom  are  living — Mabel  Glen 
and  Edna.  Mr.  F.  M.  Brock  is  the  senior 
member  of  the  well-known  firm  of  Brock  & 
Cisne),  Viola  (wife  of  William  H.  Cisne,  the 
junior  member  of  the  above  firm.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Cisne  have  one  child — Leo — a  bright 
and  promising  boy,  born  July  16,  1878), 
Charles  M.  (Railroad  Agent  at  Rochester, 
111.),  Jennie  and  Irvin  E.  In  the  fall  of 
1881,  our  subject  opened  a  general  grocery 
store  in  Cisne,  which  he  run  until  purchas- 
ing the  hotel  building  and  a  stock  of  goods 
of  Dr.  Isaac  L.  Dobbs,  since  which  time  he 
has  continued  the  grocery  business  in  con- 
nection with  that  of  the  hotel.  Mr.  Brock 
has  also  a  farm  of  100  acres  situated  in  La- 
niard Township,  of  which  latter  he  was  once 
Supervisor.  He  is  a  Republican  politically, 
and.  with  his  wife,  is  a  member  of  the 
Christian  Church. 

WILLIAM  CARSON,  farmer,  P.  O.  En 
terprise,  is  a  native  of  Washington  County, 
Penn.  He  was  born  October  20,  1821,  the 
eldest  child  of  George  and  Susanna  (Obney) 
Carson.  The  father  was  a  native  of  Ireland, 
and  was  a  son  of  Robert  Carson.     He,  George, 


74 


HKNJRAPIIICAL: 


came  to  America  first  in  1790,  and  after  a 
residence  here  of  about  ten  years,  returned 
to  the  Emerald  Isle,  and  there  married  his 
first  wife,  and  came  back  to  this  country  in 
1801.  This  marriage  was  with  Mary  Steven- 
son, and  was  blessed  with  five  children,  of 
whom  three  survive — Martha,  aged  eighty- 
two,  Eleanor  and  Robert.  The  father's  sec- 
ond wife,  the  mother  of  our  subject,  bore  him 
seven  children,  five  of  whom  are  living — 
William,  James,  Luella,  Elizabeth  and  Sam- 
uel. Our  subject  was  raised  in  Jefferson 
County,  whence  his  parents  had  removed 
when  he  was  about  two  years  old.  He  came 
to  Wayne  County  in  1851,  and  made  crops 
for  several  years,  but  did  not  remove  his  . 
family  here  until  1865,  since  which  date  he 
has  resided  in  this  county.  His  farm  con- 
sists of  240  acres  of  land,  which  is  given  to 
the  raising  of  stock  and  general  farming. 
Mr.  Carson  married,  in  Ohio,  Miriam  Guess, 
a  daughter  of  John  Guess,  an  early  settler 
in  that  State.  The  Union  has  been  blessed 
with  fourteen  children,  of  whom  there  are 
living  Robert,  born  May  22,  1850;  William 
E.,  October  10,  1854;  Hettie  M.,  February 
25,  1861;  Andreas,  January  14,  1863;  Frank 
E.,  July  29,  1865;  Mary  F.,  January  1,  1870; 
and  Lindsey  A.,  June  9,  1871.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Carson  are  members  of  the  Christian 
Church,  and  in  politics  he  is  a  Republican. 
Mr.  Carson  has  of  late  years  given  consider- 
able attention  to  bee  culture,  and  in  favor- 
able seasons  disposes  of  a  large  amount  of 
honey. 

ISAAC  B.  CARSON,  Sheriff  of  Wayne 
County,  111.,  was  born  in  Carroll  County, 
Ohio,  September  17,  1832.  His  parents  were 
William  and  Elizabeth  (Booth)  Carson.  The 
father  was  a  native  of  Ireland,  and  emigrated 
to  the  United  States  with  his  parents  when 
four  years  old.  The  mother  was  born  in 
Pennsylvania.      They  were  married  in  Carroll 


County,  Ohio,  and  reared  a  family  of  three 
sons,  viz.,  Joseph,  Isaac  B.  and  Robert  V- 
Carson,  the  oldest  of  whom  is  living  in  Wayne 
County,  and  the  youngest  is  deceased.  The 
father  is  still  living  and  a  resident  of  this 
county.  The  mother  died  in  Ohio  in  1836- 
Mr.  I.  B.  Carson  married,  in  Ohio,  May  1, 
1853,  and  in  fall  of  same  year  came  to  Illi- 
nois and  settled  in  Wayne  County,  near  the 
present  village  of  Cisne.  Here  he  has  been 
engaged  in  the  pursuit  of  farming  since  that 
time.  In  politics,  he  is  a  Democrat,  and  has 
represented  his  township  as  Supervisor.  In 
1882,  he  was  elected  to  the  office  of  Sheriff  of 
Wayne  County,  a  position  which  he  fills  with 
universal  acceptance.  They  have  a  family  of 
nine  children,  viz.,  Elizabeth  A.,  deceased; 
Sarah  L.,  wife  of  B.  F.  Bowles;  Mary  E. ; 
Joseph  W.,  married  to  Eliza  L.  Wood;  Eliza 
J.,  William  H,  Elmer  R.,  Laura  May  and 
Alice  M.  Carson. QMr.  Carson  owns  a  farm 
of  200  acres  in  Sections  21  and  28  of  Bed- 
ford Township. 

DAVID  F.  CHANEY,  merchant,  Rinard, 
was  born  in  Clinton  County,  Ind.,  October  1, 
1846,  a  son  of  Abel  and  Christina  (Fisher) 
Chaney,  the  father  a  native  of  Maryland  and 
the  mother  of  Pennsylvania.  They  moved  to 
Ohio,  where  they  were  married,  and  thence 
to  Indiana,  and  finally  to  Illinois,  and  are 
now  residents  of  Clay  County.  Six  of  their 
nine  children  are  now  living — Washington 
O,  Thomas  A.,  Catharine  (wife  of  J.  F. 
Sheridan),  David  F.,  Phcebe  A.  (wife  of  E. 
McGilton),  and  Charles  C.  Mr.  Chaney  was 
eight  years  of  age  when  his  parents  came  to 
this  State,  and  during  his  early  life  he  en- 
gaged in  farming  pursuits.  He  went  to 
Iowa,  and  after  clerking  two  years  in  Ottum- 
wa,  that  State,  came  to  Rinard,  this  county, 
and  with  his  cousin,  Mr.  B.  J.  Chaney, 
erected  a  business  building,  and  opened  up 
a  general  stock  of  goods.     Mr.  R.  L.  Wilcox 


BEDFOKI)   TOWNSHIP 


75 


purchased  the  interest  of  B.  J.  Chaney,  ami 
the  new  firm  ran  the  business  for  several 
years,  when  our  subject  sold  out,  and  has 
since  been  engaged  in  business  for  himself. 
3e  carries  a  general  line  of  goods,  and  en- 
joys a  liberal  patronage.  He  has  a  residence 
in  Riuard,  and  also  has  a  half  interest  in  120 
acres  of  land  in  an  adjoining  township.  Mr 
Chaney  married  Hannah  Itutter,  a  daughter 
of  N.  S.  Rutter,  who  is  at  present  in  Mr. 
Chaney's  employ.  The  union  has  given  two 
children,  one  living — Ernest.  Politically. 
Mr.  Chaney  is  a  Democrat. 

LEVI  M.  CISNE,  farmer,  P.  O.  Cisne. 
Prominently  identified  among  the  substantial 
and  respected  citizens  of  Wayne  County  is 
the  gentleman  whose  name  heads  this  sketch, 
the  necessary  brevity  of  which  compels  us  to 
note  but  a  few  of  his  many  genial  and  worthy 
qualities.  He  came  from  Monroe  County. 
Ohio  (his  native  couutv),  where  he  was  born 
December  28,  L830.  He  is  the  eldest  child 
of  Emanuel  and  Sarah  (Garrett)  Cisne,  both 
of  whom  were  natives  of  Pennsylvania.  The 
father  was  a  miller  by  occupation  in  early 
life,  but  gave  his  attention  more  to  farming 
pursuits  in  later  years.  During  his  life,  he 
book  active  interest  in  political  affairs,  and 
enterprises  calculated  for  the  public  good, 
and  was  for  many  years  a  General  in  the 
old  State  militia,  and  was  thereafter  pop- 
ularly known  as  (leu.  Cisne.  He  served 
also  in  an  Ohio  regiment  during  the  late 
war.  His  venorablo  partner  in  life  sur- 
vives him,  and  is  still  living  in  Ohio,  at 
the  good  old  age  of  seventy  four.  Their 
wedded  life  was  blessed  with  nine  chil 
dren.  all  of  whom  wore  raised  to  manhood 
and  womanhood,  and  six  are  now  living  — 
Levi  M.,  Mary  E.  Phillips,  David  A.,  Nancy 
J.  Crawford,  Eunice  A.  Amos,  and  Sarah  C, 
wife  of  Dr.  J.  P.  Walters,  of  Cisne.  Levi 
M.  Cisne,  the  subject  of  these  lines,  obtained 


what  little  education  was  afforded  by  the  old- 
fashioned  subscription  schools  of  his  native 
State,  and  he  remained  thore,  engaged  prin- 
cipally in  farming,  and  occasionally  in  steam- 
boating,  until  removing  to  this  county  in 
December,  1854.  In  18(50,  the  people  eleet- 
<•<!  him,  as  a  Republican,  member  of  the 
County  Board  from  Bedford  Township,  and 
he  served  as  such  with  greal  ability  through- 
out seven  consecutive  years.  Having  the 
welfare  of  the  people  at  heart,  all  enterprises 
which  promised  beneficial  returns,  and  those 
calculated  for  the  lasting  good  of  the  masses 
at  large,  found  in  him  an  able  and  stubborn 
advocate,  and  at  the  time  when  the  proposi- 
tion requesting  the  assistance  of  the  citizens 
o*  W  ayne  County  in  the  building  of  the  pro- 
posed southeast  division  of  the  O.  &  M.  R. 
R.  was  under  consideration,  he  wielded  a 
powerful  influence  in  its  favor,  and  the  ulti 
mate  building  of  the  road  was  largely  due  to 
his  commendable  efforts  in  its  behalf,  and  the 
village  of  Cisne  now  bears  his  name,  in  rec 
ogiiitiou  of  the  valuable  services  he  rendered. 
During  the  war,  Mr.  Cisne  took  a  census  of 
the  township,  preparatory  to  a  draft,  ascer- 
taining thereby  the  names  of  those  eligible 
for  war  service.  He  also  canvassed  part  of 
the  county,  soliciting  names  to  a  petition  re- 
questing the  Governor  of  the  State  to  exert 
his  influence  in  favor  of  some  plan  to  secure 
the  soldiers'  vote  at  Lincoln's  second  elec- 
tion. Mr.  Cisne  has  also  given  a  good  deal 
of  attention  to  church  debts,  and  has  within 
his  life  been  many  times  instrumental  iu 
raising  them  to  the  extent  of  several  thou- 
sands of  dollars.  He  has  for  many  years 
been  a  member  of  the  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.,  and, 
with  his  wife,  of  the  Christian  Church.  He 
was  married,  January  18,  1855,  to  Jane 
Ray,  born  November  8,  1833,  a  daughter  of 
Maj.  B.  and  Mary  I  Martin)  Ray.  The  union 
has  !»•. 'ii  blessed  with  nine  children,  of  whom 


76 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


there  are  eight  living,  as  follows:  William 
H.  (who  is  the  present  general  railroad  agent 
at  Cisne,  and  is  also  a  member  of  the  firm  of 
Brock  &  Cisne.  general  grain  and  produce 
merchants),  Mary  C.  (wife  of  B.  M.  Brock), 
Sarah  J.  (wife  of  Allen  Stine),  Julia  A..  Ag 
nes  M.,  Jonah  G.,  Charles  B  ,  Edna  P.  (de- 
ceased), and  Isaac  M.  Mr.  Cisne  has  a 
farm  of  320  acres,  which  is  devoted  to  farm 
ing  in  its  various  branches,  but  a  specialty 
is  made  of  red  top  grass,  the  seed  of  which 
Mr.  Cisne  has  aunually  sold  in  such  large 
quantities  as  to  give  him  the  name  of  "Grass 
Seed  Cisne."  The  presence  of  such  men  in 
any  community  tends  to  its  higher  advance- 
ment, and  to  their  enterprising  efforts  is 
,  largely  if  not  altogether  due  the  material 
growth  and  prosperity  of  our  Western  coun- 
try. 
♦  THOMAS    D.    COLVIN,   Postmaster   and 

merchant,  Cisne,  is  a  native  of  Highland  Coun 
ty,  Ohio,  born  February  1 2,  1840,  a  son  of  Amos 
and  Elizabeth  (Holden)  Colvin,  both  Ohioans 
by  birth.  The  father  was  a  son  of  Thomas 
Colvin,  and  was  a  farmer  by  occupation. 
The  mother  is  now  living  in  Jefferson  vi  lie. 
this  county,  aged  seventy  years.  Her  father, 
Charles  Holden,  served  in  the  war  of  1S12. 
The  parents  of  our  subject  were  blessed  with 
ten  children,  of  whom  there  are  seven  living 
— Andrew  J.,  Ann  Doan.  Thomas  D.,  Solo- 
mon B. ,  Cyrus,  Hannah  Simmons  and 
George  W.  At  the  age  of  thirteen  years, 
our  subject  came  with  his  parents  to  Rich- 
land County,  111.,  where  he  lived  until  1872, 
engaged  principally  in  farming.  In  Sep- 
tember, 1801,  he  enlisted  in  the  Sixty  sixth 
Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,  Company  I. 
The  regiment's  sharpshooters  were  com- 
manded by  Col.  Burke.  Mr.  Colvin  served 
out.  his  three  years  of  enlistment,  but  re  en 
listed  in  the  same  company  and  regiment, 
and  served  until   the  close   of  the  war.     He 


was  engaged  throughout  the  Western  cam- 
paign, and  was  with  Sherman  in  his  famous 
march  to  the  sea.  He  opened  up  in  <he  mer- 
cantile business  at  Calhoun,  111.,  and  in 
1872  came  to  Cisne,  moving  his  stock  of 
goods  with  him,  and  he  has  since  continued 
in  the  same  business,  and  has  also  had 
charge  of  the  post  office  at  this  point  for 
about  eight  years.  Mr.  Colvin  married 
Elma  Comstock,  a  daughter  of  Isaac  Corn- 
stock,  who  came  from  Ohio,  and  located  in 
1864,  in  Richland  County,  this  State.  The 
union  has  been  blessed  with  seven  children, 
of  whom  three  are  living — Charles  H.,  Geor- 
gie  M.  and  Aden  P.  Subject  is  a  member 
of  the  A.,  F.  &  A.  M,  Johnsonville  Lodge,  No.  j 
713.      Politically,  is  a  Republican. 

JESSE  L.  DYE,  farmer,  P.  O.  Cisne,  was/W 
born  in  Monroe  County,  Ohio,  August  25,  \  \ 
1833.  He  is  a  son  of  William  and  Maria 
(Mitchell)  Dye,  the  father  an  Ohioan,  and 
the  mother  a  native  of  Pennsylvania.  The 
father  was  a  farmer  by  occupation.  To  the 
parents  were  given  ten  childrsn,  four  of 
whom  alone  remain — Matilda  J.,  Jesse  L., 
Thomas  and  Elizabeth.  Our  subject  ob- 
tained but  a  meager  schooling,  and  for  sev- 
eral years,  during  his  early  life,  was  engaged 
in  running  a  ferry-boat  across  the  Ohio 
River.  In  1851,  he  came  with  his  parents 
to  Wayne  County,  and  in  August,  1854.  set- 
tled where  he  at  present  resides,  on  a  farm 
consisting  of  125  acres,  having  disposed  of 
eight}7  acres  a  short  time  since.  Mr.  Dye 
married  Achsah  Ann  Emmons,  who  died  in  De- 
cember, 1869,  the  mother  of  nine  children, 
four  of  whom  are  living—  William  F.  (de 
ceased,  was  killed  by  lightning  when  he  was 
about  twenty  years  of  age),  Thomas  H. ,  Mar- 
tin, Emma  and  Roseberry  M.  Mr.  Dye's 
present  wife.  Mary  A.,  is  a  daughter  of  Jer- 
emiah Spriggs,  who  came  to  Wayne  County 
in  1863.      Subject  and  wife  are  members   of 


BEDFORD   TOWNSHIP. 


77 


the  Christian  Church,  anil  in  politics  Mr. 
Dye  is  a  Republican. 

JOSEPHS.  HARKY,  apiarian,  P.  O.  Cisne, 
came  from  Pennsylvania,  where  he  was  born 
October  20.  1850,  a  son  of  Simon  and  Cathar- 
ine (Korp)  Harry,  both  natives  of  the  same 
State.  The  father  was  a  cooper  by  trade,  but 
devoted  his  time  to  agricultural  pursuits  in 
later  years.  His  wife  is  still  living  with 
our  subject.  The  parents  were  blessed  with 
eight  children,  of  whom  six  survive — John 
H..  Joseph  S.,  Susan,  Sophinia,  Cedalia  and 
Simon.  Joseph  S.,  our  subject,  moved  with 
his  parents,  when  he  was  qiiiet  small,  to 
Marshall  County,  Ind.,  and  thence  to  Minne- 
sota, and  finally  to  Wayne  County,  in  1869, 
after  returning  to  Indiana  again.  Since  the 
latter  date,  he  has  resided  in  this  county, 
with  the  exception  of  a  few  years  in  In- 
diana. For  many  years  past,  he  has  given 
his  attention  to  bee  culture.  The  Italian  bee 
has  his  preference,  and  he  possesses  facilities 
for  safely  transporting  queens  of  this  vari- 
ety to  all  parts  of  the  country.  He  dis- 
poses of  honey  in  large  quantities  annually, 
and  at  present  devotes  most  of  his  time  to 
the  successful  management  of  his  many 
hives  of  the  busy  insect.  Mr.  Harry  married 
Rebecca  S.  Flick,  a  daughter  of  Arthur 
Flick,  of  this  county.  The  union  has  given 
one  child — Junie  M.  Mr.  Harry  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Christian  Church,  and,  politically, 
is  a  Republican. 

SAXFORD  C.  JORDAN,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Rinard,  was  burn  in  Tippecanoe  County, 
Ind.,  May  15,  1842,  to  Joshua  and  Jemima 
(Hagle)  Jordan,  both  of  whom  were  natives 
of  Ohio.  The  father  was  a  cooper  by  trade, 
but  he  engaged  in  farming  pursuits  during 
the  latter  part  of  his  life.  He  was  a  son  of 
Samuel  Jordan,  an  old  soldier  in  the  Indian 
wars.  To  the  parents,  of  whom  the  mother 
is  still  living,  were  born   ten  children,  only 


two  of  whom  survive — S.  O,  and  Mary,  wife 
of  Joseph  Pittman,  of  this  township.  Our 
subject  came  to  Wayne  County  in  the  fall 
of  1S52,  and  has  since  resided  here,  with 
the  exception  of  a  few  months  in  Edwards 
County,  this  State.  He  taught  school  some 
in  early  life,  and  September  11.  1861,  en- 
listed in  what  was  called  the  Engineer  Reg- 
iment of  the  West,  which  was  afterward  re- 
organized, and  was  known  as  the  First  Mis- 
souri Engineer  Corps  He  served  until  dis- 
charged November  1.  L864  Mr.  Jordan 
married  Elizabeth  Vail,  a  daughter  of  Oliver 
and  Theresa  Vail.  Seven  children  have 
blessed  this  union,  four  of  whom  are  living 
-Florence,  Frank,  Dms  C.  and  Roy.  .Mr. 
Jordan  has  a  farm  of  240  acres,  which  is 
given  mostly  to  the  raising  of  stock.  He  has 
tilled  the  offices  of  Assessor  and  Collector  of 
the  township,  and  in  politics  is  a  Repub- 
lican. 

LEWIS  .].  KEITH,  farmer,  P.  ().  Rinard, 
is  one  of  the  substantial  fanners  of  Bedford 
Township.  He  was  born  in  Noble  Count v, 
Ohio,  October  8,  1839,  to  Peter  and  Mary 
(Taylor)  Keith;  he  is  a  Pennsylvanian  by 
birth,  and  she  a  native  of  Fmgland.  The 
father  was  a  blacksmith  by  trade,  and  for 
many  years  made  bells  for  farm  use,  but  in 
later  years  engaged  in  farming.  He  was  a 
-on  of  Peter  Keith,  who  was  of  German  de- 
scent. Our  subject's  mother  is  still  living  in 
Ohio,  aged  eighty-three  years.  The  union  of 
the  parents  was  blessed  with  thirteen  chil- 
dien,  of  whom  there  arc  eleven  now  livincr — 
Benjamin,  Robert.  John,  Betsey  Grimes, 
Peter,  Philip  W..  Joseph  S.,  Pardon  O, 
France  A.  Culler,  Lewis  J.  and  Charlos  II. 
Our  subject  obtained  a  common  school  edu 
cation,  and  until  becoming  of  age,  assisted 
his  father  on  the  farm.  He  was  afterward 
for  several  years  in  the  milling  business,  and 
also  farmed  in  Delaware  County,  Iowa.     He 


7v 


BKKIKAI'IIK'AL 


came  to  Wayne  Couuty  after  two  years'  resi- 
dence in  Iowa,  and  has  since  remained  here. 
His  present  farm  property  consists  of  465 
acres  of  land,  mostly  in  Bedford  Township. 
His  residence  is  in  Rinard.  He  was  married 
to  Margaret  Taylor,  a  daughter  of  William 
Taylor,  deceased.  The  union  has  given  three 
children — Wesley  E.,  Mamie  A.  and  Charles 
E.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Keith  are  members  of  the 
Methodist  Church.  Politically,  he  isaDem- 
crat.  For  the  past  ten  years,  Mr.  Keith  has 
dealt  quite  extensively  in  stock. 

JOHN  W.  KINDLE,  farmer,  P.  0.  Ri- 
nard. is  one  of  Wayne  County's  largest  and 
most  substantial  farmers,  having  farm  prop- 
erty to  the  amount  of  760  acres,  which  is  de- 
voted principally  to  the  raising  of  stock. 
He  was  born  in  Brown  County,  Ohio,  June 
1,  1828,  the  eldest  son  of  Joseph  and  Nancy 
(Morrow)  Kindle,  the  father  a  native  of 
Virginia,  and  the  mother  of  Ohio.  The 
parents  came  to  Wayne  County  about  1863, 
from  Johnson  County.  Ind. ,  whence  they  had 
removed  from  Ohio  in  1841.  They  finally 
returned  to  Johnson  County,  where  they  both 
died.  Their  union  was  blessed  with  five 
children,  of  whom  there  are  four  living  — 
John  W.,  Eliza  J.  (widow  of  James  Burget), 
James  M. ,  and  Nancy  A.  (wife  of  James  M. 
Mullikin.  of  Bedford  Township).  The  re- 
maining child — Mary  E. — married  John 
White,  both  now  deceased.  Our  subject  ob- 
tained but  a  meager  education  in  the  old- 
fashioned  schools,  and  he  remained  on  the 
farm  until  twenty-one  years  of  age.  He  then 
followed  carpentering  for  several  years,  but 
has  since  given  his  attention  entirely  to  ag- 
ricultural pursuits.  He  was  united  in  mar- 
riage to  Ruth  M.  Oosney,  a  daughter  of  John 
J.  Oosney,  a  resident  of  Piatt  County,  this 
State.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Kindle  have  raised  two 
children  -Catharine  and  Charles  H.  Freer, 
who  came  from  English  parents,  the  former 


having  been  born  in  England.  Their  mother 
was  accidentally  burned  to  death.  Charles  H 
has  been  adopted  by  Mr., Kindle,  and  has  had 
his  surname  accordingly  changed.  Mr.  Kin- 
dle is  a  Democrat  in  politics. 

FRANK  A  KUTZ,  stock-dealer,  Cisne, 
was  born  in  Berks  County,  Penn.,  November 
5,  1840,  the  only  child  of  Henry  and  Mary 
(Adam)  Kutz,  both  natives  of  the  same  State. 
The  father  was  a  teacher  and  farmer  by  occu- 
pation, and  was  a  son  of  Jacob  Kutz,  also  of 
Pennsylvania.  Our  subject  remained  in 
Pennsylvania,  engaged  in  farming  pursuits, 
until  twenty-two  years  of  ago,  when  he  came 
to  Illinois,  after  stopping  a  season  in  India- 
na. He  returned  to  Pennsylvania  for  six 
months,  but  came  West  again  at  the  end  of 
that  time,  and  a  year  later  commenced  mer- 
chandising in  Wabash  County.  111.,  where  he 
remained  a  year.  He  came  to  Wayne  Coun- 
ty, and  for  eight  years  ran  a  general  store  in 
Enterprise.  He  removed  his  stock  of  goods 
to  Cisne,  and  continued  in  business  for  sev- 
eral years  at  this  place,  being  for  two  years 
in  partnership  with  J.  P.  Billington  He 
finally  sold  out  to  Archibald  &  Jordan,  who 
.  in  turn  later  disposed  of  the  same  to  Capt. 
R,  F.  Davidson,  the  present  proprietor.  Mr. 
Kutz  now  gives  his  attention  to  the  raising 
of  stock,  principally  horses  and  mules.  He 
has  a  farm  of  344  acres,  besides  several  lots 
and  buildings  in  the  village  of  Cisne.  He 
was  first  married  to  Sarah  Johnson,  who  bore 
him  one  child.  Mary  A.  His  second  marriage 
was  with  Mary  Sprankle,  a  daughter  of  John 
Spraukle,  now  a  farmer  in  Colorado.  This 
union  liae  given  four  children,  three  of  whom 
are  living — Florence  O.,  Elva  A.  and  John  C. 
Mr.  Kutz  is  Democratic  in  politics. 

PATRICK  McBRIDE.  farmer.   P.  O.  Cis 
ne.  is  a  native  of  County  Donegal,  Ireland. 
He  was  born  June   16,  1854,  to  James  and 
Maggie  (Brannon)  McBride,    both  now    de- 


BEDFORD   TOWNSHIP. 


79 


ceased.  The  father  was  a  farmer  and  a  fish- 
erman by  occupation.  Our  subject  came  to 
America  in  1ST  1 .  and  after  serving  a  year  at 
marble  cutting  in  New  York,  came  West  and 
located  in  Knox  County,  Ind.,  where  he 
clerked  a  year  in  a  general  store,  after  which 
he  was  engaged  for  several  years  in  running 
a  peddler's  wagon  throughout  Indiana  and 
Illinois.  In  1879.  he  came  to  Wayne  Coun- 
ty, 111.,  and  purchased  80  acres  of  land, 
which,  with  20  acres  of  timber  land,  consti- 
tutes his  present  farm  property.  He  married 
Mary  Quinn,  a  daughter  of  Andrew  Quinn, 
of  Clay  County,  111.  The  union  has  given 
two  children,  one  of  whom,  James  A.,  is  liv- 
ing. Mr.  and  Mrs.  McBride  are  members  of 
the  Catholic  Church.  Politically. Democratic. 
WILLIAM  H  MIX,  general  buyer,  Cis 
ne,  is  a  native  of  Hamilton  County,  Ohio, 
born  April  20,  1829.  the  eldest  child  of 
Charles  H.  and  Belinda  P.  (Flowers)  Mix,  he 
from  Connecticut,  and  she  from  Kentucky. 
The  parents  had  seven  children,  all  of  whom 
are  living  in  Wayne  County.  Our  subject 
engaged  in  farming  in  early  life,  and  after 
ward  for  seven  years  clerked  in  Cincinnati. 
Ohio,  where  he  learned  the  harness  trade,  at 
which  he  works  some  at  present.  He  came  to 
Wayne  County  in  the  spring  of  1802.  from 
Hamilton  County,  111.,  whence  he  had  removed 
from  Ohio  the  previous  year.  (Tp  to  1873,  he 
gave  his  attention  to  farming,  and  was  after- 
ward in  the  harness  business  for  four  years  in 
Flora,  111.  He  shortly  afterward  came  to 
Cisne,  and  for  the  past  few  years  has  been 
engaged  in  buying  and  shipping  produce  arid 
all  sorts  of  marketable  stuff.  He  has  tilled 
the  offices  of  Assessor  and  Collector  of  the 
township,  and  in  the  spring  of  1881  was 
elected  Justice  of  the  Peace,  and  was  also 
appointed  Notary  Public.  He  was  also  Dep 
uty  Mail  Agent  on  the  railroad  for  about  six 
months.      He  was  first   married  to   Elizabeth 


Crainer,  who  died  in  January,  1872.  She 
was  the  mother  of  six  children,  of  whom 
there  are  four  living — Alice,  wife  of  Charles 
A.  Blake,  of  Springfield,  111.,  Ira  and  Ida, 
twins,  and  Erne.  Mr.  Mix  was  married  a  sec- 
ond time,  to  Sarah  C.  Swift,  a  daughter  of 
Milton  Swift,  of  Ripley  County,  Ind.  This 
union  has  given  two  children,  John  M.  and 
Theodore  V.  Mr.  Mix  is  a  member  of  the 
I.  O.  O.  F.  and  of  the  Methodist  Church,  to 
which  latter  his  wife  also  belongs.  In  poli- 
tics, he  votes  the  Republican  ticket. 

CASSELMAN  OUR,  farmer,  P.  O.  Cisne. 
came  to  Wayne  County  in  1853,  from  Ohio. 
He  was  born  in  Mahoning  County,  that  State, 
February  17,  1829.  He  is  a  son  of  Russell 
and  Eleanor  (Winans)  Orr — he  of  Ohio,  and 
she  of  Pennsylvania.  The  father  was  a 
farmer  by  occupation,  and  had  followed  mer- 
chandising some  in  early  life.  He  was  a 
son  of  William  Orr,  who  was  a  native  of 
Scotland.  The  union  of  the  parents  of  our 
subject  was  blessed  with  ten  children,  nine 
of  whom  survive — Eleanor,  wife  of  J.  Frank 
Pearce,  of  this  township.  Rodney,  Gates, 
Casselman,  Susan,  Mary  A.,  Jacintha  R., 
Olive  and  Russell.  Our  subject  obtained 
but  a  meager  schooling  in  Ohio,  and  he  has 
during  his  life  given  his  attention  almost 
wholly  to  farming  pursuits.  His  present 
farm  consists  of  200  acres  of  land,  and  he 
has  a  fine  residence  which  he  erected  in 
1882.  Mr.  Orr  wedded  Marietta  Willett.  a 
daughter  of  George  Willett,  deceased.  Seven 
children  have  blessed  this  union,  six  of  whom 
are  living— Orestes  O,  a  lawyer,  now  residing 
in  California,  Emma,  Grace,  Casselman  R., 
Addie  and  George  W.  Mr.  Orr  and  wife 
are  members  of  the  Christian  Church.  Po- 
litically, he  is  a  Republican. 

JAMES  F.  PEARCE,  farmer.  P.  O  Cisne, 
was  born  in  Trumbull  County,  now  Mahon- 
ing County,  Ohio,  August  24,  1820,  a  son  of 


80 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


Amos  and  Ada  (James)  Pearce — the  father  a 
native  of  New  Jersey,  and  the  mother  of 
Pennsylvania.  The  father  was  by  occupation 
a  tiller  of  the  soil,  and  he  was  a  volunteer  in 
the  war  of  1812,  but  his  services  were  not 
required.  He  was  a  son  of  Joseph  Pearce, 
who  was  of  Holland  descent.  The  parents 
of  our  subject  raised  a  family  of  four  chil- 
dren, of  whom  three  survive — Joseph  L., 
James  F.  and  Matilda  Hart.  Mr.  Pearce's 
father  died  when  he  (subject)  was  about 
eighteen  years  old,  and  the  mother  married 
afterward  a  Mr.  William  Dean.  Mr.  Pearce 
obtained  a  liberal  education,  having  attended, 
besides  the  district  schools,  two  academic 
institutions,  and  having  secured  a  teacher's 
certificate  he  taught  for  several  years  in 
various  States,  and  also  in  Wayne  County, 
havirg  come  here  in  1852.  For  many  years, 
he  was  an  active  member  of  a  debating  club, 
and  he  was  always  on  hand  to  participate  in 
its  proceedings.  In  late  years,  he  has  been 
often  called  upon  to  publicly  speak  upon  the 
leading  issues  of  the  day,  and  especially 
upon  questions  of  prohibition  and  political 
economy.  His  arguments  possess  a  great 
amount  of  originality,  and  ai'e  delivered 
with  marked  oratorical  effect.  He  was  nn 
active  member  of  the  Union  League  during 
the  war,  and  was  also  selected  by  the  County 
Grange  as  their  lecturer — an  office  requiring 
abilities  possessed  by  but  few.  He  has  been 
Supervisor  of  Bedford  Township,  and  also 
Town  Clerk  and  Collector.  He  was  a  candi- 
date for  Presidential  Elector  on  the  Greeley 
ticket,  and  was  also  a  candidate  for  the  State 
Senate.  Mr.  Pearce  married  Eleanor  Orr,  a 
daughter  of  Russell  Orr,  and  the  union  has 
been  blessed  with  six  children,  of  whom  five 
are  living — Adelia,  Frank  H.,  Ralph,  Ollie 
and  Fremont.  Mr.  Pearce  has  a  farm  of 
200  acres,  to  the  management  of  which  he 
gives  his  present  attention. 


EDWIN  L.  PETTIJOHN,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Rinard,  is  a  native  of  Brown  County,  Ohio, 
born  December  25,  1831,  the  eldest  child  of 
Zachariah  and  Maria  (McDaniel)  Pettijohn. 
The  father  was  born  in  Virginia,  and  is  yet 
living,  at  the  age  of  eighty-two.  He  is  a 
son  of  James,  who  was  a  son  of  John  Petti- 
john, or  Pettyjohn,  which  latter  spelling  was 
formerly  used.  Zachariah's  first  wife,  Nan- 
cy, bore  him  one  child,  now  deceased  His- 
second  wife,  our  subject's  mother,  gave  him 
seven  children,  of  whom  there  are  five  living 
— Edwin  L. ,  Diana  E.,  James  W.,  Annie  E. 
and  Robert  S.  Our  subject  came  with  his 
parents  to  Jefferson  County,  111.,  where 
they  resided  three  years,  returning  to  Ohio 
at  the  end  of  that  time,  and  remaining  there 
until  coming  to  Wayne  County  in  the  fall 
of  1865.  Mr.  Pettijohn  worked  at  his  trade 
of  wagon  and  carriage  making  while  resid- 
ing in  Ohio,  but  has  since  devoted  his  time 
to  his  farming  interests.  He  has  340  acres 
of  land,  given  to  general  farming,  and  also 
runs  a  cane  mill  upon  the  place.  October 
12,  1861,  Mr.  Pettijohn  enlisted  in  an  Ohio 
cavalry  regiment  and  served  three  and  a 
half  years,  within  which  time  he  rose  from  a 
private  to  the  position  of  Captain  of  his 
company.  He  was  united  in  marriage  to 
Margaret  Tracey,  a  daughter  of  Ira  Tracey.  a 
wealthy  farmer  in  Brown  County,  Ohio. 
The  union  has  given  ten  children,  of  whom 
there  are  six  living — Isadora  E.,  Belle,  D. 
S.  G.,  Sherman,  Viola  M.  and  Sheridan. 
Mr.  Pettijohn  has  served  as  Collector  of 
Bedford  Township,  and  politically  is  a  Re 

publican. 

JOHN  PETTYJOHN,  farmer,  P.  O.  Rin- 
ard, came  to  Wayne  County  in  1838  with 
his  parents,  and  has  since  resided  here.  He 
was  born  in  Brown  County.  Ohio.  May  9, 
1813,  the  eldest  child  of  Edward  and  Sarah 
(Line)  Pettyjohn,  the  father  a  native  of  Vir- 


15EDFOHD  TOWNSHIP. 


81 


ginia,  and  the  mother  of  Kentucky.  Edward 
Pettyjohn  was  a  farmer  by  occupation,  and 
was  a  volunteer  in  the  war  of  1812.  He  was 
a  son  of  John  Pettyjohn,  who  was  a  son  of 
one  of  three  brothers  who  came  to  this  coun- 
try from  Wales.  The  parents  of  our  subject 
were  blessed  with  ten  children,  of  whom  four 
are  now  living— John;  Ruth,  wife  of  J.  A. 
Hays,  of  McLean  County,  111.;  Thomas,  a 
farmer  residing  in  Ulay  County,  this  State: 
and  Ann,  who  lives  in  Tazewell  County,  111., 
widow  of  James  Gunyon.  Francis,  now  de- 
ceased, married  Marcus  Summers,  and  their 
only  child,  Sarah  E.,  is  now  the  wife  of  Sol- 
omon Yates,  a  substantial  farmer  in  Bedford 
Township.  Our  subject  received  only  a  lim- 
ited schooling,  and  during  his  life  has  given 
his  attention  to  farming  pursuits.  He  came 
to  his  present  place,  on  which  his  father  had 
previously  located,  about  L852.  It  now  con- 
sists of  240  acres.  He  has  been  married 
three  times;  first  in  Ohio  to  Kezi ah  Shearer, 
who  bore  him  seven  children— three  of  whom 
survive— Thomas  J.,  Rowan  and  Homer  S. 
His  second  marriage  was  with  Fidelia  (Sum- 
mers) Williams.  This  union  gave  two  chil- 
dren, both  of  whom  are  deceased.  He  mar 
ried  his  present  wife,  Catharine  Anderson,  in 
November.  1871.  She  is  the  daughter  of 
David  and  Nellie  (Miller)  Anderson.  Her 
father  is  at  present  living  in  Logan  County, 
Ohio,  a  farmer  by  occupation.  Mr.  Petty- 
john is  among  the  old  settlers  of  Wayne 
County,  and  is  highly  respected  by  all  who 
know  him.  In  political  affairs,  he  votes  the 
Republican  ticket. 

JOHN  C.  PHILLIPS,  blacksmith,  Cisne, 
is  a  native  of  Franklin  County,  N't.,  and  was 
born  August  26,  1823,  to  Seth  and  Nancy 
(Blake)  Phillips,  both  of  whom  were  natives 
of  New  England.  The  father  was  a  clothier 
by  trade,  and  was  thus  engaged  during  his 
life    principally.      He    was   a    son    of    Amos 


Phillips,    whose    father    came    from    Wales. 
The  parents  of  our  subject  were  blessed  with 
ten  children,  all  but  one  are  living — Ann  E. 
(wife   of  Dr.   Joel    N.    Converse),   John   C, 
Hannah    Converse,  Mercy  and  Mary  (twins, 
the  former  married  first  a  Mr.  Converse,  and 
afterwards  Mr.  Smith,  and  the  latter  married 
a  Mr.  Atkinson — both  are  now  widows),  Char- 
lotte Case,  Betsey  Rodgers,  Wealthy   Little 
and  Nancy  Atkinson.      The  father  of  our  sub- 
ject, was  married  a  second  time,  to  Rebecca 
Tague,  by  whom  he  had  one  child — Laura, 
now  the  wife  of   Shepherd   Miller,  of  West 
Liberty,  Ohio       At  about  eight  years  of  age, 
our  subject  removed  with  his   parents  from 
his    native    State   to    Union    County,    Ohio, 
where    he    resided    until     1867.     in     which 
year  he  came  to  Wayne  County,  where  he  has 
since  remained.     In  early  life,  Mr.  Phillips 
worked  at  the  same  trade  as  his  father,  but  in 
1850  he  commenced  to  learn  blacksmithing, 
and  has  since  been  thus  mostly  engaged.    He 
has  a  shop  in  Cisne,  and  also  a  residence  and 
some  property  iu  and  around  town.     Febru- 
ary 7,  1850,  he  wedded  Melissa  S.  Con  vers.'. 
born  December  27,  1832,  a  daughter  of  Par- 
ley  and  Sally   (Beach)   Converse,  who  were 
natives  of  New  England.     Both  of  the  par- 
ents had  been  previously  married.       Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Phillips  are  the  parents  of  seven  chil- 
dren,   of  whom   there   are  five  now  living — 
Annette  (wife  of   Thomas   J.  Simpson),  Ora 
(wife  of  Isaac  L.  Dobbs,  of  Cisne,  a  veteran 
of  the  late  war.      Mr.  Dobbs  served  over  three 
years,  the  latter  part  of  which  he  was  in  the 
veteran  service.       He  was  severely  wounded 
at  the  battle  at  Dallas,  (i.t.,  from  the  effects 
of  which    he  lost  his  loft  arm.     In    L867,  he 
commenced   the   study    "f    medicine,  and   at- 
tended the  Eclectic  Medical  College,  Cincin- 
nati, and  for  several  years  afterward  engaged 
iu   practice  in  various  parts  of  Illinois.      Ill 
health    compelled    him    to    discontinue    his 


S'J 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


practice,  and  he  has  in  later  years  been  other- 
wise engaged),  Mary  E.  (wife  of  John  lTl- 
rich),  Charles  W.  and  Mattie  M.  Mr.  Phil- 
lips is  a  man  esteemed  by  all  who  know  him, 
and  he  possesses  that  Yankee  energy  and  en- 
terprise wbich  makes  much  out  of  little,  and 
upon  which  has  depended  the  material 
growth  and  prosperity  of  our  Western  coun- 
try. Politically,  he  gives  his  support  to  the 
Republican  party. 

CALEB  W.  REID,  physician  and  farmer, 
P.  0.  Cisne,  is  a  native  of  Fayette  County, 
Ky.,  born  April  30,  1815,  the  eldest  child 
of  Benjamin  and  Mary  (Prall)  Reid,  tbe 
father  u  native  of  Maryland,  the  mother  of  New 
Jersey.  The  father  was  a  shoe-maker  by 
trade,  but  in  later  years  engaged  in  farming. 
He  served  in  the  war  of  1812.  The  parents 
had  eight  children,  of  whom  there  are  living 
Caleb  W.,  Benjamin,  Charlton  and  Will- 
iam. Our  subject  first  came  to  Illinois  in 
1836,  and  after  a  year's  residence  in  Sanga- 
mon County  removed  to  Edwards  County, 
where  for  several  years  he  engaged  in  farm- 
ing, and  here  also  he  began  the  study  of 
medicine.  His  next  move  was  to  Wabash 
County,  where  he  married  his  first  wife — 
Elizabeth  Gunn,  a  daughter  of  Havilla  Gunn. 
She  died  in  1879,  the  mother  of  seven  chil- 
dren, of  whom  four  survive— Henry  W., 
George  W.,  Nellie  E.  and  John  C.  Having 
attended  the  Physio-Medical  College  at 
Cincinnati,  the  Doctor  thereafter  devoted  his 
time  almost  exclusively  to  the  practice  of  his 
profession,  and  during  the  subsequent  part 
of  his  life  he  has  been  thus  engaged  in  vari- 
ous parts  of  the  State.  Articles  from  his 
pen  upon  agricultural  as  well  as  medical 
topics  have  always  elicited  favorable  com- 
ment, as  they  possessed  a  large  amount  of 
original  argument.  Since  taking  up  his  res- 
idence in  Wayne  County,  the  Doctor  has 
given  his  attention  to  his  practice,  and  aiso 


to  his  farming  interests.  He  has  farm  prop- 
erty to  the  extent  of  330  acres,  which  is  given 
to  the  raising  of  stock,  and  to  farming  in  its 
general  branches.  His  eldest  son.  Henry  W, , 
married  Caroline  Elliott,  a  daughter  of  Jo- 
seph Elliott,  of  this  township,  and  is  a  thriv- 
ing farmer  of  Bedford  Township.  George 
W.  takes  up  his  father's  profession,  and  is 
taking  his  second  course  of  lectures  at  the 
Physio-Medical  College  at  Cincinnati.  Sub- 
ject and  his  present  wife.  ne>  Ellen  (Har- 
ris) Harmon,  are  members  of  the  Christian 
Church,  and  politically  he  is  a  Republican. 
GEORGE  W.  SPAULDING.  farmer,  P. 
O.  Cisne,  was  born  in  Belmont  County,  Ohio. 
September  20,  1827,  a  son  of  William  and 
Mary  Spaulding.  both  of  whom  were  natives 
of  Maryland.  The  father  was  a  cooper  by 
trade,  but  in  later  years  engaged  in  farming 
pursuits.  He  was  a  son  of  Daniel  Spaulding, 
who  served  seven  years  in  the  Revolutionary 
war.  The  parents  of  our  subject  were 
blessed  with  twelve  childreD.  of  whom  five 
are  now  living — Mary  Sutton,  George  W.. 
Joseph.  Henry  and  Aaron.  The  two  latter 
were  members  of  the  Thirty-ninth  Indiana 
Volunteer  Infantry,  in  the  late  war.  Our 
subject  was  engaged  principally  at  carpenter- 
ing in  Ohio,  until  coming  to  Wayne  County 
in  18G4,  having  previously  purchased  some 
land  here.  His  present  farm  consists  of  232 
acres.  He  engages  in  general  farming,  but 
gives  special  attention  to  the  making  of  hay 
crops.  Mr.  Spaulding  married  Lydia  Gates, 
a  daughter  of  Valentine  Gates,  who  was  an 
old  settler  in  Ohio.  Subject  find  wife  are 
the  parents  of  eleven  children,  of  whom  there 
are  nine  living— David  L.,  Mary  E.,  Marilda. 
William.  Ollie  B.,  George  A..  Dillon  G.,  Lin- 
nie  and  Harper.  Mr.  Spaulding  is  the  pres- 
ent Supervisor  of  Bedford  Township,  and  has 
filled  other  offices  in  the  township.  He  and 
wife  are  members  of  the  Methodist  Church. 


BEDFORD  TOW  NSHIP 


83 


and  in  political  affaii'9  he  casts  his  vote  for 
the  Republican  party. 

GEORGE  W.  STATES,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Cisne,  was  born  in  Monroe  County,  Ohio. 
October  It.  IS.'il.  He  has  been  a  resident 
of  Wayne  County  for  several  years.  August 
8,  1878,  he  married  his  second  and  present 
wife.  Agues  A.  (Brown)  Deselues,  born  Au- 
gust 14,  1845,  a  <laughter  of  Elihu  and 
Ruthaua  (Gregg)  Brown,  and  widow  of  John 
Deselues,  whom  she  married  September  8, 
1 81 .7.  He  died  January  28,  1874.  He  came 
from  Ohio,  his  native  State,  to  Indiana,  and 
thence  to  Wayne  County.  He  served  four 
years  in  the  late  war,  in  the  First  Missouri 
Engineer  Corps,  but  was  a  member  of  an 
Illinois  company.  He  also  tilled  the  office 
of  Township  Clerk  and  Collector.  By  him, 
Mrs.  States  has  three  children  -William  D., 
born  June  8,  1N68;  Alice  N.,  November  30, 
1870,  and  Mary  E.,  February  17,  1873. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  States  are  the  parents  of  two 
children — Sylvia  D. ,  born  January  28,  1^80, 
and  Jennie  B. ,  April  10,  1882.  Subject  and 
wife  are  members  of  the  Christian  Church, 
and  in  politics,  he  is  a  Republican.  Their 
farm  consists  of  eighty  acres,  which  is  de- 
voted to  general  farming. 

JAMES  P.  WALTERS,  physician  and 
surgeon,  Cisne,  is  a  native  of  Washington 
Connty,  Ohio,  where  he  was  born  April  1, 
1848,  a  son  of  John  and  Julia  (Evans)  Wal- 
ters, who  are  natives  respectively  of  Ohio 
and  Virginia.  The  father  is  a  carpenter  by 
trade,  but  is  now  engaged  in  agricultural 
pursuits  in  Ferry  Count \ ,  hid.,  where  he  has 
a  320- acre  farm.  His  wife  is  also  living,  as 
is  also  his  father,  William  Walters,  aged 
eighty  six  year-,  and  it  is  a  remarkable  inci- 
dent in  the  lives  of  the  ancestors  of  our 
subject  that  they  have  generally  lived  to  be 
from  eighty- five  to  one  hundred  years  old. 
Our  subject's  grandfather,  John  W.  Evans, 


served    in    the    war    of    1812,    in    which    his 
father    was     also     a    Colonel.      The     latter, 
Col,    Dudley   Evans,  was   a    member   of  the 
Virginia  Legislature  for  a  period  of  fourteen 
year-.       The  Evanses  came    from  tho  aristo- 
cratic   families    of  Old    Virginia,    and    were 
prominont  in  the  wars  of  the  Revolution  and 
that   of    lSl'J.      The    parents   of  our   subject 
were    blessed  with   eight   children,  of  whom 
six  are   now   living — William  T,  James  P., 
Francis  M..  Anna  M.  (wifo  of  Jesse  Harding, 
of  Perry  County,  hid.),  Dudley  E.  and  Flora 
V.      James   1'.  worked   on   the  farm    in  early 
life,  and   attended  the  common  schools.      At 
the    ago    of    twenty -three,    he    attended    the 
State    Normal     School   at   West   Liberty.  W. 
Va.,  and   remained   there  during  two  terms. 
In  the  summer  of   1MU,  ho  succeeded,  after 
the  fourth  attempt,  in  enlisting  in  the  service. 
He   joined     Company    F.    One    Hundred    and 
Seventy-ninth  Ohio  Volunteer  Infantry,  Col. 
H.  H.   Sage,  and   served   till   the  close  of  the 
war.     In  the  summer  of  1872,  ho  commenced 
the  study  of  medicine  with  Dr.  G.  A.  Way, 
of    Caldwell.  Ohio.      After    taking    his    tirst 
course  of  study  in  the  Miami   Medical  Col- 
lege, he  went  to  Indiana  and  there  prosecuted 
his    studies    under    the    supervision    of    Dr. 
Stephenson,    of    Cannelton.     In    the  fall   of 
1875,  he  returned  to  the  Miami  College,  and 
graduated  with   the  Centennial   class  the  fol- 
lowing spring,  carrying  off  the  tirst  honors, 
a  prize  consisting  of  a  piece  of  white  mar- 
ble, broken  off  from   the   temple   erected  in 
honor   of    JOsculapius    in    the    River    Tiber, 
about    twelve  miles  below  the  city  of    Koine. 
Upon   one   side  of  the   marble  are  marks  in 
the    form   of    XI  or    l\,  the  precise   meaning 
..f    which  is  obscure.     In    April,    1876,  Dr. 
Walters  located  in  Cisne,   where  he  has  since 
remained  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  pro- 
m.      Although    comparatively   a    young 
man.  his  skill  as  a  physician  and  surgeon  is 


84 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


undoubted,  which,  with  his  many  genial 
qualities,  renders  him  a  great  favorite  with 
the  people.  September  30.  1875,  he  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Kate  Cisne,  a  daughter 
of  Emanuel  and  Sarah  (Garrett)  Cisne,  and 
the  union  has  been  blessed  with  four  chil- 
dren, of  whom  three  are  living — De  Forest 
E.,  Luna  D.  and  Charles  E.  The  Doctor  is 
a  member  of  the  County  Medical  Board,  of 
which  he  has  been  President  two  years,  and 
also  the  State  and  the  Centennial  Medical 
Societies,  of  which  latter  he  was  for  two 
years  Secretary.  With  his  wife  he  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Christian  Church,  and  is  the  Su- 
perintendent of  the  Sunday  school.  Politi- 
cally, the  Doctor  is  a  Democrat. 

ROSWELL  L.  WILCOX,  general  rail- 
road agent  and  merchant,  Rinard,  came  from 
Ohio,  Licking  County,  that  State,  being  his 
native  county.  He  was  born  October  27, 
1845,  to  Josiah  C.  and  Mary  (Beecher)  Wil- 
cox; the  father  is  a  native  of  Ohio,  and  the 
mother  of  New  York.  The  parents  are  farm- 
ers, and  are  now  living  in  Ohio.  Six  of 
their  seven  children  are  now  living — George 
C,  Emily  A.,  R.  L.,  Susan,  Charles  and  Zina. 
Our  subject  obtained  a  fair  education,  and 
in  early  life  he  assisted  his  father  on  the 
home  farm.  In  March,  1864,  he  enlisted  in 
Company  E,  One  Hundred  and  Thirty  fifth 
Ohio  Volunteer  Infantry,  and  served  until 
the  close  of  the  war.  In  1 868,  he  came  to 
Wayne  County,  and  has  since  remained  here. 
He  was  engaged  in  the  preliminary  surveying, 
etc.,  preparatory  to  the  construction  of  the 
branch  of  the  O.  &  M.  Railroad,  running 
through  this  county,  and  in  1870  the  com- 
pany sent  him  to  Rinard  as  their  ageut, 
which  position  he  has  retained  to  the  present 
time.  In  1871,  Mr.  Wilcox  purchased  the 
interest  of  B.  J.  Chaney,  of  the  firm  of 
Chaney  &  Chaney,  and  the  new  partnership 
lasted  for  several  years,  when  a  brother  of 


Mr.  Wilcox  bought  out  the  interest  of  Mr. 
Chaney.  and  two  years  later  sold  the  same 
to  our  subject,  who  has  since  run  it  on  his 
own  account,  carrying  a  general  line  of  goods. 
Mr.  Wilcox  married  Mary  L.  Wilson,  a 
daughter  of  John  Wilson,  a  citizen  of  Fair- 
field, this  county.  The  union  has  given  five 
children,  of  whom  four  are  living — Joseph 
C,  Arthur  L.,  Bessie  and  Maggie.  Mr.  Wil- 
cox has  been  the  Postmaster  at  Rinard  ever 
since  the  office  was  first  started,  and  he  has 
also  been  Notary  Public  for  about  six  years. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wilcox  are  members  of  the 
Methodist  Church.  In  politics,  Mr.  W.  is  a 
Republican. 

AARON  S.  YARNALL, farmer, P.  O.  Cisne, 
was  born  in  Belmont  County,  Ohio,  Novem- 
ber 21,  1831,  to  Joseph  and  Asenath  (Slack) 
Yarnall,  natives  of  Pennsylvania.  The  fa- 
ther is  a  son  of  Thomas,  who  was  a  son  of 
George  Yarnall,  both  of  whom  were  from 
Pennsylvania.  The  parents  of  our  subject 
are  both  living  in  this  county.  They  were 
blessed  with  eight  children,  of  whom  there 
are  four  now  living — Drusilla,  A.  S.,  Maria 
and  John.  Our  subject  received  but  a  limit- 
ed education;  during  his  residence  in  Ohio, 
he  was  engaged  principally  in  farming  pur- 
suits. March  28,  1853,  he  landed  in  Bed- 
ford Township,  and  located  where  his  father 
now  lives.  His"  present  farm  property  con- 
sists of  eighty  acres,  and  he  gives  his  atten- 
tion to  farming  in  its  various  branches.  No- 
vember 3,  1864,  he  married  Sarah  J.  Moore, 
a  daughter  of  Alexander  and  Jane  (Quinn) 
Moore,  who  came  to  Wayne  County  in  1860. 
The  latter  were  the  parents  of  nine  childi-en, 
four  sons  of  whom  were  in  the  army — Samson 
O.  in  the  Eighty-seventh  Illinois  Volunteer 
Infantry;  John  Q.,  Sixty-second  Illinois; 
Martin  W.,  first  in  Sixth  Missouri,  and  after- 
ward in  Thirteenth  Missouri  Cavalry,  and 
Robert  T. .    in    Sixty-first  Illinois.     Samson, 


BIG    MOUND   TOWNSHIP. 


85 


Robert,  and  possibly  a  third  child,  are  now  liv- 
ing. Mr.  Alexander  Moore  died  August  19, 
1883.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Yarnall  are  the  parents 
of  live  children,  four  of  whom  survive— Jes- 
sie M.,  Asenath  J.,  Joseph  M.  and  William 
H.  Mr.  Yarnall  is  a  Republican  in  politics, 
and  with  his  wife  are  members  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church. 

SOLOMON  YATES,  farmer,  P.  O.  Rinard, 
is  one  of  the  more  substantial  farmers  of 
Bedford  Township.  He  is  a  native  of  Law- 
rence County,  Ohio,  and  was  born  Septem- 
ber 22,  1835,  the  eldest  child  of  George 
Yates,  who  died  as  did  his  wife  also,  when 
Solomon  was  small.  The  latter  was  taken 
and   raised  by  an  uncle,  Joseph  Yates,  with 


whom  he  romaired  until  coming  to  Wayne 
County,  Ohio,  in  1855.  With  the  exception 
of  a  short  period  of  time,  Mr.  Yates  has 
been  a  resident  here  ever  since.  He  has 
a  farm  of  400  acres,  which  is  devoted  to 
stock-raising  and  general  fanning.  Ho  made 
all  the  improvements  upon  the  place  himself, 
and  they  include  a  substantial  and  commodi- 
ous residence.  Mr.  Yates  married  Sarah  E. 
Summers,  a  daughter  of  Marcus  Summers,  a 
farmer  in  Clay  County,  Ind.  This  union  has 
given  three  children — James  F.,  Martin  L. 
and  Luella  B.  Mr.  Yates  and  family  are 
members  of  the  Baptist  Church.  Politically, 
he  is  a  Democrat,  but  votes  for  the  man 
rather  than  for  party. 


BIG    MOUND    TOWNSHIP. 


MICHAEL  BOOK,  farmer, P.O.  Boyleston, 

is  one  of  the  oldest  native  born  citizens  in  the 
county.  He  was  born  in  Mount  Erie  Township 
on  October  15,  1823,  and  is  a  son  of  Michael 
and  Sibby  (Franks)  Book.  The  parents  were 
born  in  Fincastle,  Botetourt  Co.,  Ya..  and 
were  of  German  descent.  The  ancestors  came 
from  that  country  some  time  prior  to  the  Revo- 
lution, and  the  great-grandfather  of  our  subjecl 
was  killed  in  that  conflict,  and  up  until  a  few 
years  ago,  the  musket  used  by  the  grandfather, 
who  was  also  a  soldier  there,  was  kept  in  sub- 
ject's family.  It  is  said  that  the  grandfather 
was  one  of  the  guard  that  took  charge  of  Maj. 
Andre  after  bis  capture,  and  was  with  him  up 
until  his  execution.  After  the  war  had  closed, 
this  Revolutionary  hero  came  to  Henderson 
County.  Ky.,  with  his  family,  and  there  died 
at  a  good  old  age.  The  father  of  our  subjecl 
grew  to  manhood  in  Kentucky,  and  then  came 
to  White  County.  111.  In  ISL'1.  he.  in  connec- 
tion witli  the  Ramseys,  Nisbits,  and    Streets. 


built  a  pirogue,  and  came  up  the  Little  Wabash 
as  far  as  Mount  Erie  Township,  where  they 
settled.  In  1822,  Mr.  Book  went  to  Shawnee- 
town,  111.,  where  he  married,  and  then  returned 
to  Mount  Erie  Township,  where  he  resided  for 
fifteen  years,  and  then  came  to  Big  Mound 
Township,  where  he  died  in  October,  1858  ;  his 
wife  died  in  1835,  <  >ur  subject  was  the  oldest 
of  five  children,  of  whom  three  are  now  living. 
His  education  was  received  entirely  in  the  sub- 
scription schools  of  his  county,  but  since  his 
growth  to  manhood  he  lias  added  quite  a  good 
deal  to  his  information.  He  helped  on  the 
home  farm  until  he  was  twenty-four,  and  then, 
on  December  26,  1849,  he  came  to  the  (arm 
where  he  has  since  resided.  He  now  owns  280 
acres,  eighty  of  which  are  in  Section  17,  forty 
in  Section  16,  and  eightj  in  Section  21,  of 
Town  2  south,  Range  7  east,  and  eighty  acres 
in  Arrington  Township,  <>f  the  whole,  there 
are  about  eighty  acres  in  cultivation.  In  Big 
Mound  Township.  Wayne  County,  on  Decern- 


8(5 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


ber6,  1849,  Mr.  Book  was  married  to  Elizabeth 
Gaston,  a  daughter  of  Cyrus  and  Margaret 
(Clark)  Gaston,  natives  of  South  Carolina. 
This  lady  was  born  in  this  township  on  May 
28,  1828,  and  was  the  mother  of  seven  chil- 
dren, live  of  whom  are  now  living — Sibby, 
Nancy  (wife  of  Wilson  Sager),  Mary  J.  (wife 
of  William  E.  Cable),  George  W.  and  Ira  0. 
Mrs.  Book  died  on  March  10,  1876.  Mr.  Book 
is  a  member  of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Church.  He  has  served  as  Justice  of  the 
Peace,  Supervisor,  School  Trustee  and  Director 
and  Township  Treasurer.  Is  independent  in 
politics. 

SAMUEL  H.  BOOK,  Sr.,  farmer,  P.  O.  Fair- 
field.    From  one  of  the  first  families  of  this 
county  the  gentleman  whose  name  heads  this 
sketch  is  descended.     He  was  born  in  Hender- 
son County,  Ky.,  nine  miles  from  the  lied  Banks, 
on  September  15,  1825,  and  is  a  son  of  Henry 
and  Sarah  (Miller)  Book.     The  father  was  born 
in  Fineastle,    Botetourt  Co..  Ya.,  and   at  the 
age  of  fifteen  he  commenced  to  learn  the  trade 
of  a  hatter,  from  a  man  by  the  name  of  Rudi- 
zell.      This   trade    he    afterward    followed    for 
some  years.     At  first  leading  a  roving  life  up 
and  down  the  Mississippi,  but  finally  in  Chris- 
tian County,  Ky.,  he  married  his  wife,  and  set- 
tled down.     He  lived  in  Kentucky  until  Octo- 
ber. 1831,  when  he  came  to  Wayne  County,  111., 
and    settled  in  Laniard  Township.     There  he 
followed  the  hatter's  trade  for  one  year,  and 
afterward  turned  his  attention  to  farming,  and 
followed  it  until  his   death,  on   February   28, 
1853.     The  grandfather  was  a  native  of  Ger- 
many, and  died  in  Virginia  on  March  27,  1815. 
Subject  was  the  seventh  of  nine  children,  of 
whom  only  four  are    living — Harriet,  wife  of 
James  Keen,  of  Hickory  Hill  Township;  Mi- 
chael, in  Lamard  Township  ;  William,  in  Texas, 
and  S.  H,  Sr.,  our  subject.     His  education  was 
received  in  the  subscription  schools  of  ye  olden 
time,  and  he  lent  a  helping  hand  on  the  home 
farm  until  about  twentv-fivc.     He  then  settled 


on  the  farm  where  he  has  since  resided.  Here 
he  now  owns  200  acres,  120  of  which  are  in  Sec- 
tion 4,  and  eighty  in  Section  29,  of  Township 
2  south,  Range  7  east.  About  all  the  land  is 
in  cultivation,  and  about  two  acres  in  orchard. 
In  this  county,  on  April  18,  1850,  Mr.  Book 
was  married  to  Mary  Book,  his  cousin,  and  a 
daughter  of  Michael  and  Sibby  (Franks)  Book, 
who  were  also  settlers  of  this  county,  and 
were  natives  of  Virginia,  being  descended  from 
old  German  stock.  This  lady  was  boru  in  this 
county  on  February  21,  1829,  and  to  her  have 
been  born  three  daughters,  viz.:  Sibby  F.,  wife 
of  Samuel  Sager,  of  Big  Mound  Township  ; 
Louisa,  wife  of  A.  R.  Johnson  (noticed  in  an- 
other place),  and  Mary,  who  still  remains  at 
home.  Both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Book  are  members 
of  the  Missionary  Baptist  Church.  Mr.  Book 
has  kept  aloof  from  political  strife  and  office- 
seeking,  giving  most  of  his  time  to  his  own 
affairs,  but  as  far  as  his  support  has  gone  it  has 
been  given  to  the  Democratic  party. 

D.  G.  BUIS.  merchant  and  farmer,  P.  O- 
Boyleston.  Few  men  have  done  more  in  im- 
proving Wayne  County  in  the  last  twenty  years 
than  the  gentleman  whose  name  heads  this 
sketch.  He  was  born  in  Putnam  County,  Ind., 
on  September  1-9,  1831,  and  is  a  son  of  Caleb 
and  Margaret  (Hurst)  Buis,  the  father  being 
born  in  North  Carolina,  but  raised  principally 
in  Tennessee,  and  of  German  descent ;  the 
mother,  coming  from  Tennessee,  was  originally 
of  English  descent.  Subject  is  the  eighth  of 
fourteen  children,  of  whom  six  are  now  living. 
The  subscription  schools  of  his  county  fur- 
nished his  early  education.  But  he  is  more 
truly  what  might  be  called  a  self-made  man, 
having,  since  attaining  manhood's  estate,  added 
greatly  to  his  knowledge.  He  has  always  been 
a  painstaking  and  careful  reader,  and  has  tried 
to  become  acquainted  with  the  many  questions 
and  subjects  that  agitate  mankind.  Among 
other  things,  he  has  mastered  in  a  degree  the 
science  of  medicine,  and  is  enabled  to  practice 


BIG    MOUND   TOWNSHIP. 


87 


in  his  own  and  the  families  of  the  surrounding 
neighborhood.  He  rendered  what  assistance 
he  could  on  the  home  farm,  until  about  twenty, 
and  then  commenced  teaching,  and  followed 
this  occupation  for  upward  of  ten  years.  In 
Andrews  County,  Mo.,  he  commenced  merchan- 
dising in  the  year  1858,  and  at  that  point  did 
business  for  three  years.  He  then  came  to 
Moultrie  County,  111.,  and  there  farmed  for 
eighteen  months.  He  next  came  to  Wayne 
County,  and  first  settled  in  the  eastern  portion 
of  Arrington  Township.  There  he  farmed  in 
the  summer,  and  taught  school  in  the  winter 
for  about  four  years.  He  then  opened  a  gen- 
eral store  in  the  village  of  Cincinnati,  in  that 
township,  where  he  sold  goods  for  seven  years. 
In  1378,  he  sold  out,  and  commenced  farming 
in  the  eastern  part  of  that  township.  In 
1882,  soon  after  the  Air-Line  Railroad  was  put 
in  operation,  he  came  to  Big  Mound  Township, 
and  was  the  first  to  settle  in  the  village  of 
Boyleston,  upon  land  laid  out  by  a  Mr.  Morris. 
There  he  opened  a  store,  and  is  at  present  car- 
rying a  stock  of  about  $2,500.  He  is  also  act- 
ing as  Postmaster.  Railroad  and  Express  agent, 
and  Notary  Public.  Besides  his  other  business 
pursuits,  he  finds  quite  a  good  deal  of  time  to 
devote  to  farming.  He  now  owns  200  acres  in 
>iis  22  and  36,  of  Arlington  Township, 
120  acres  in  Sections  22  and  27  of  Four-Mile 
Township,  and  seventy-  ve  acres  in  Clay 
County.  Of  the  whole,  there  are  about  150 
acres  in  cultivation.  Mr.  Buis  was  married  in 
Putnam  County,  Ind..  on  April  1,  1851,  to  Miss 
Elizabeth  Wallace,  a  daughter  of  Enoch  and 
Winnie  (Norton)  Wallace,  who  were  natives  of 
Tennessee  and  of  Scotch-Irish  descent.  This 
lady  was  born  on  January  18.  1830,  and  is  the 
mother  of  eleven  children,  five  of  whom  are 
now  living — Winnie  Jane  (wife  of  James  E. 
Sous,  of  Four-Mile  Township),  Rebecca  Cath- 
erine (wife  of  R.  Findley,  of  the  same  town- 
ship). Walter  Scott,  Sarah  Melissa  and  Vir- 
ginia Ann.     During  part  of  the  war,  our  sub- 


ject served  for  eighteen  months  in  Company 
H,  of  the  Forty-first  Enrolled  Missouri  Militia, 
which  was  used  as  a  home  guard,  being  never 
called  into  action.  Since  Mr.  Buis'  arrival  in 
this  county,  he  has  occupied  numerous  offices 
of  trust  and  profit,  and  while  a  resilient  of  Ar- 
lington Township  he  served  as  Trustee  for 
some  time.  Is  a  member  ot  tue  Christian 
Church,  and  in  politics  is  a  Republican. 

A.  M.  CABLE,  farmer,  P.  0.  Boyleston,  born 
in  Athens  County,  Ohio,  on  November  22,  1829, 
and  is  a  son  of  George  and  Susannah  (John- 
son) Cable ;  the  father  is  a  native  of  New 
York,  and  the  mother  of  Pennsylvania.  He  is 
the  oldest  of  five  children,  of  whom  all  are  liv- 
ing. His  education  was  received  in  the  free 
schools  of  his  county,  and  at  the  age  of  eight- 
een he  commenced  learning  the  wagon-maker's 
trade.  At  that  business,  however,  he  onlv 
worked  about  two  years,  and  then  commenced 
selling  goods  at  Wilkesville,  Ohio,  for  Dr.  W. 
C.  Kline.  After  being  engaged  in  that  busi- 
ness for  a  number  of  years,  he  taught  school 
for  about  four  years,  and  then  in  1865  came  to 
Wayne  County,  111.  Here  he  first  settled  at 
Fairfield,  but  only  remained  a  short  time,  anil 
then  purchased  a  farm  in  Jasper  Township. 
On  that  place  he  lived  five  years,  and  in  1870 
he  came  to  his  present  farm,  where  he  now  has 
290  acres.  It  is  located  in  Sections  16  and  30, 
of  Township  2  south,  Range  7  east,  and  of  the 
whole  there  are  about  170  acres  in  cultivation, 
and  about  six  acres  in  orchard.  He  also  does 
something  in  stock-raising,  handling  the  Dur- 
ham breed  mostly.  Mr.  Cable  was  married,  in 
Meigs  County,  Ohio,  on  May  3,  1857,  to  Aman- 
da l.asley.  She  was  the  daughter  of  Jonathan 
and  Mary  (Hickle)  Lasley.  The  father  was  a 
native  of  Pennsylvania,  and  the  mother  of  Vir- 
ginia. This  lady  was  born  June  13,  1837,  and 
is  the  mother  of  three  living  children — William 
K..  born  April  28,  1858  ;  Frank  L.,  born  Octo- 
ber 30.  1800  ;  Jonathan  B.,  August  23,  1866. 
Subject  was  a  soldier  in  the  late  war.     He  en- 


88 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


listed  in  Company  M,  of  Eleventh  Pennsylva- 
nia Cavalry,  on  August  '.'.  1862,  and  was  out 
until  June  20,  1865.  Among  the  battles  in 
which  he  participated  were  Newport  News, 
Lee's  Mill,  siege  of  Suffolk,  Franklin,  Va., 
Mangohick  Church.  Va.,  Jackson,  N.  C,  and 
Ream's  Station,  Va.,  besides  many  other  smaller 
skirmishes.  Mr.  Cable  has  served  in  many 
offices  of  trust  in  his  county  and  township. 
From  1873  to  1877,  be  served  two  terms  as 
County  Treasurer.  While  a  resident  of  Jasper 
Township,  he  served  as  Township  Trustee  and 
Clerk,  and  since  he  has  been  a  citizen  of  Big 
Mound  Township  has  served  as  School  Trustee 
and  Highway  Commissioner.  Mr.  Cable  is  a 
member  of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  in  politics  is  identified  with  the 
National  party. 

A.  CUNNINGHAM,  farmer,  P.  0.  Boyleston, 
was  born  in  what  is  now  Lawrence  County, 
then  Beaver  County,  Penn.,  on  February  20, 
1840.  and  was  a  son  of  Thomas  and  Hannah 
(Beer)  Cunningham,  natives  of  that  State,  the 
father  being  of  Irish  descent  and  the  mother 
probably  of  German.  Subject  was  the  young- 
est of  six  children,  of  whom  five  are  now  liv- 
ing. His  education  was  received  in  the  free 
schools  of  his  native  county,  but  he  lent  an 
assisting  hand  on  his  father's  farm  whenever  it 
was  necessary.  In  1859.  he  came  to  Wayne 
County,  III,  and  at  first  worked  around  for 
some  of  the  farmers  who  were  then  residing 
here.  He  afterward  commenced  life  for  him- 
self on  a  farm  adjoining  the  one  he  now  occu- 
pies in  Big  Mound  Township.  On  that  farm 
he  resided  until  1871,  and  then  came  to  his 
present  farm,  where  he  now  owns  180  acres, 
situated  in  Sections  4,  5  and  33,  of  Township  2 
south,  Range  7  east.  Mr.  Cunningham  was 
married,  in  Lamard  Township,  Wayne  County, 
on  October  18, 1860,  to  Mary  J.  King,  a  daugh- 
ter of  Thomas  and  Sarah  Ann  (McLung)  King. 
The  parents  were  natives  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
came  to  this  county  about   1840,  where  they 


resided   until  their  deaths,  that  of  the  mother 

j 

occurring  on  August  14,  1864,  and  the  father's 
on  May  15,  1868.  Mrs.  Cunningham  was  born 
in  Laniard  Township,  Wayne  County,  on  Feb- 
ruary 28,  1843,  and  is  the  mother  of  four  chil- 
dren, all  of  whom  are  now  living,  viz.:  Edward 
S.,  born  March  24,  1862  ;  Jessie  M.,  born  Jan 
nary  11,  1864  ;  Cora  L.,  born  August  16, 1868  ; 
and  Mary  E.,  born  July  13,  1880.  She  is  a 
member  of  the  Jeffersonville  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church.  In  politics,  our  subject  is  a  Dem- 
ocrat. On  June,  1861,  Thomas  Cunningham, 
the  father  of  subject,  came  to  Wayne  County 
and  lived  with  his  son  until  his  death,  on  May 
2,  1864. 

JOSHUA  DAVIS,  farmer  and  stock-raiser, 
P.  O.  Fairfield.  The  gentleman  whose  name 
heads  this  sketch  was  born  in  Logan  County, 
Ohio,  on  May  6,  1821,  and  is  a  sou  of  William 
and  Mary  (Johnson)  Davis.  The  father  was 
born  in  Maryland,  and  was  descended  from 
old  Welsh  stock.  He  was  raised  principally  in 
Delaware,  and  came  to  Ohio  in  an  early  day. 
The  mother  was  a  native  of  Delaware,  and  her 
grandfather  was  one  of  the  early  Methodist 
preachers  of  that  State.  Subject  was  the  sec- 
ond of  eleven  children,  of  whom  seven  are 
now  living.  The  subscription  schools  of  his 
native  county  furnished  his  means  of  educa- 
tion. As  soon  as  possible,  he  began  to  assist 
on  the  home  farm,  and  remained  with  his 
father  until  twenty -three.  At  that  age  he  started 
out  in  life  for  himself,  and,  as  Ohio  was  in  its 
primitive  state,  his  first  work  was  the  clearing 
of  a  space  sufficient  for  his  first  crop.  He  re- 
mained in  that  State  until  1870,  and  then  came 
to  Waj'iie  Count3-,  purchasing  immediately  his 
present  farm.  He  now  owns  680  acres,  all  in 
Town  2  south,  Range  7  east,  and  has  about 
500  acres  in  cultivation.  He  also  trades  in 
stock  considerably,  handling  in  a  season  about 
1,200  head  of  cattle  and  200  head  of  sheep. 
Mr.  Davis  was  married  in  Marion  County, 
Ohio,  on  December  3,  1843,  to  Elizabeth  W. 


BIG   MOUND  TOWNSHIP. 


89 


Virden,  a  daughter  of  Allison  ami  Betsey  (Wil- 
son) Virden,  natives  of  Delaware.  Mrs.  Davis 
was   born   September    29,    1818,   and   is    the 

mother  of  seven  children,  of  whom  five  are  now 
living — George  W..  Irvin.  David  K.,  Wilson  and 
Warren  C.  All  except  G.  W.  are  helping  on 
the  home  farm,  and  he  is  now  living  in  Barn- 
hill  Township.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Davis  are  mem- 
bers of  the  Free- Will  Baptist  Church.  In  pol 
itics,  Mr.  Davis  is  a  Republican. 

RICHARD  FOSTER,  farmer,  P.  0.  Barnhill, 
was  born  in  Lincolnshire,  England,  on  Decern 
ber  21,  182G,  and  is  a  son  of  George  and  Re- 
becca (Brown)  Foster.  Subject  is  the  next  to 
the  youngest  of  a  family  of  seven  children,  of 
whom  six  are  living  and  two  are  in  this  coun- 
try, subject  and  Rebecca  Pykiet,  of  Barnhill 
Township.  He  attended  the  free  schools  of 
England  but  slightly,  but  since  he  came  to  this 
country  he  has  educated  himself  some.  In 
England,  he  hired  out  by-  the  year  and  fol- 
lowed that  occupation  until  he  was  about  twen- 
ty-five. He  then  sailed  for  this  country,  and, 
landing  at  New  Orleans,  he  came  direct  to 
Jersey  County,  111.  For  four  years  after  his 
arrival  in  this  country,  he  worked  by  the  day 
for  farmers.  He  afterward  bought  a  farm  and 
commenced  life  for  himself  in  that  county.  In 
March,  1866,  he  came  to  Wayne  County  and 
settled  in  Big  Mound  Township,  where  he  now 
owns  160  acres  in  Section  35,  of  Town  2  south, 
Range  7  cast.  Of  this  there  are  about  seventy 
acres  in  cultivation.  Mr.  Foster  was  married 
in  Jersey  County,  111.,  on  June  15,  1847,  to 
Alice  Siddell,  a  daughter  of  Squire  and  Mary 
(Barnes)  Siddell.  They  were  natives  of  Lin- 
colnshire, England,  and  there  the  father  died  in 
1835,  and  the  mother  came  to  this  county  in 
1854  and  is  at  present  the  wife  of  a  Mr.  Grif- 
fith, of  Salt  Lake  City,  Utah.  Mrs.  Foster  was 
born  in  Lancashire.  England,  on  March  13, 
1828,  and  is  the  mother  of  five  children,  of 
whom  four  are  now  living — Mary  R.,  born  No- 
vember 12,  1858,  now  wife  of  P.  Zimmerman; 


George   R.,  born   January   7,  1862;  Sarah  E., 

born  May  25.  1S00;  Nathan  II.,  born  February 
21,  1867.  In  politics.  Mr,  Foster  is  identified 
with  the  Democrats. 

PHILIP  HALL,  farmer,  P,  0.  Barnhill.  was 
born  in  this  township  on  November  17,  1826, 
and  is  a  son  of  David  and  Hannah  (Philips) 
Ball.  The  father  was  a  native  of  Georgia,  the 
mother  of  North  Carolina.  Subject  was  the 
youngest  of  nine  children,  and  is  the  only  one 
now  living.  The  subscription  schools  of  this 
county  furnished  subject  means  of  education, 
but  after  becoming  grown  he  improved  him- 
self to  some  extent.  He  remained  at  home,  as- 
sisting his  father,  until  the  latter's  death  in 
1845,  and  then  took  charge  of  the  place  for  his 
mother.  At  her  death  in  1864,  he  inherited  the 
whole  of  the  home  farm,  and  there  he  has  since 
resided.  He  now  owns  240  acres  in  Sections 
2  I  and  25,  of  Township  2  south.  Range  7  east, 
and  of  that  has  about  105  acres  in  cultivation, 
lie  also  does  something  in  bee  raising,  having 
about  seventy  hives.  Mr.  Hall  was  married  on 
June  9, 1853,  to  Elizabeth  Ann  Jones,  a  daugh- 
ter of  John  and  Jane  (Clark)  Jones,  natives  of 
Kentucky.  This  lady  was  the  mother  of  six 
children,  two  of  whom  are  now  living — Timer 
Jane  i  wife  of  Archer  Wade,  of  White  County) 
and  Mary  Ann  (wife  of  Tyra  Kinslow,  of  this 
township).  Mrs.  Hall  died  on  November  27, 
1804,  and  subject  was  married  the  second  time 
on  April  20,  1870,  to  Miss  Rebecca  Pykiet,  a 
daughter  of  John  and  Rebecca  (Foster)  Pykiet, 
natives  of  England.  Four  children  have 
blessed  this  union,  of  whom  three  are  now  liv- 
ing—Sarah Elizabeth,  Alice  Adeline  and 
Jenette.  In  politics,  Mr.  Hall  gives  his  sup- 
port to  the  Democratic  part} 

W.  F.  HALL,  farmer,  P.  ().  Boyleston.  The 
gentleman  whose  name  heads  this  sketch  is  de- 
scended from  one  of  the  earliest  families  that 
retired  in  Wayne  County.  Here  subject  was 
born  on  December  6,  1841,  and  is  a  son  of  Da- 
vid  and    Mary   Ann   (Day)   Hall.     The  grand 


90 


BIOGRAPHIC  A  I,: 


parents,  James  and  Jane  (Chum)  Hall,  were 
probably  natives  of  Alabama,  and  settled  af- 
terward in  Murray  County,  Tenn.,  where  the 
father  was  born  November  16,  1818.  When 
the  latter  was  about  eight  years  old,  the  grand- 
father moved  to  Wayne  County  and  settled  on 
the  south  edge  of  Big  Mound  Township.  In 
that  township  he  lived  for  upward  of  thirty 
years.  He  nest  moved  to  Washington  Coun- 
ty, and  settled  near  Nashville.  There  he  re- 
mained two  years,  and  then  returned  to  this 
county  and  settled  in  Four  Mile  Township, 
where  he  lived  until  his  death  on  September  1, 
186-4,  the  grandmother  having  died  some  time 
iu  the  year  1857.  The  father  grew  to  man- 
hood in  this  county,  and  his  schooling  advan- 
tages were  one  month  in  an  old  subscription 
school.  He  remained  on  the  home  farm  until 
about  eighteen,  and  then  commenced  life  on  a 
farm  near  where  his  father  was  then  residing. 
He  afterward  moved  to  his  farm  in  Section  17, 
of  Big  Mound  Township,  where  he  is  now  re- 
siding. On  August  24, 1836.  he  was  married 
in  this  county,  to  Mary  Ann  Day,  a  native  of 
Tennessee,  and  a  daughter  of  Frank  and  Hallie 
Day,  who  were  also  early  settlers  in  this  coun- 
ty. This  union  resulted  in  thirteen  children,  of 
whom  eight  are  now  living,  viz.:  Hallie  Jane 
(wife  of  Jesse  Garrison),  W.  F.  (our  subject), 
J.  S.  C,  Elizabeth  (wife  of  G.  Davis).  Thomas, 
Margaret  (wife  of  S.  Farney),  Rose  (wife  of  C. 
Fankle),  and  Ida  Bell.  Of  this  number,  W.  F. 
received  his  early  education  from  a  subscrip- 
tion school,  but  afterward,  when  the  free  schools 
had  been  established  in  his  township,  he  at- 
tended a  few  terms  there.  He  remained  at 
home  with  his  father  until  about  twenty.  In 
that  time  he  had  learned  partially  the  trade  of 
a  carpenter,  but  did  not  get  to  follow  it  much. 
In  1862,  he  went  to  Idaho,  anil  remained  there 
about  one  year.  He  returned  to  this  county 
and  settled  in  the  north  part  of  Big  Mound 
Township,  and  there  remained  until  1868.  He 
next  came  to  his  present  farm,  where  he  now 


owns  about  180  acres,  100  of  which  are  in  Sec- 
tions 17  and  20,  and  eighty  acres  in  Sections 
21  and  33,  of  Town  2  south,  Range  7  east; 
100  acres  are  in  cultivation,  and  about  three 
acres  in  orchard.  Mr.  Hall  was  married  in 
this  county  on  April  7,  1868,  to  Emma  Nor- 
mon,  a  daughter  of  Richard  and  Mary  (Garri- 
son) Normon.  To  this  couple  have  been  born 
six  children,  three  of  whom  are  now  living — 
Frances  M.,  February  22,  1869;  Nellie  B.,  born 
October  24,  1878;  and  Walter  S.,  born  July 
30,  1881.  Of  the  deceased  ones,  Charles  D., 
born  February  5,  1871,  died  January  5,  1873; 
Mary  Ann,  born  February  14,  1873,  died  Jan- 
uary 1,  1875;  Chalon  S.,  born  May  2,  1871, 
died  October  2,  1879.  Subject  has  served  as 
member  of  the  County  Board  of  Supervisors, 
Township  Collector,  Assessor  and  Highway 
Commissioner.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hall  are  both 
members  of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  iu  politics  Mr.  Hall  is  a  Demo- 
crat. 

H.  F.  HOWARD,  farmer,  P.  0.  Fairfield, 
was  born  in  Trumbull  County,  Ohio,  on  June 
12,  1840,  and  is  a  sou  of  Horace  and  Olive 
(Cleveland)  Howard,  the  father  being  a  native 
of  New  York,  the  mother  of  Connecticut.  Sub- 
ject was  the  younger  of  two  children.  His  ed- 
ucation was  received  in  the  free  schools  of  his 
native  count}-,  and  at  the  age  of  nineteen  he 
commenced  to  learn  the  printer's  trade  at  the 
office  of  the  Western  Reserve  Chronicle,  of  War- 
ren, Ohio.  He,  however,  remained  about  a 
year  and  a  half,  when  his  health  failed  him  and 
he  had  to  leave  the  office.  He  subsequently, 
however,  acted  as  salesman  and  collector  for 
four  years  for  his  father,  who  was  an  extensive 
marl  ile  dealer.  In  1805,  he  came  to  Wayne 
County,  111.,  and  immediately  settled  the  farm 
on  which  he  now  resides,  a  tract  of  100  acres  in 
Section  10,  of  Town  2  south,  Range  7  east.  Be- 
sides farming,  he  pays  some  attention  to  sheep- 
raising,  having  in  stock  a  very  fine  flock  of 
Southdowns.      Mr.    Howard    was    married  in 


Bid  MOUND  TOWNSHIP 


91 


Bristol,  Trumbull  Count}-,  on  February  1, 18(54, 
to  Jennie  McLain.  Tliis  lady  is  the  daughter 
of  L.  B.  and  Mary  (Millet)  McLain  ;  the  father 
was  born  in  this  country,  but  was  of  Scottish 
descent.  Mrs.  Howard  was  born  in  Trumbull 
County,  Ohio,  on  October  28,  1844,  and  is  the 
mother  of  four  children,  all  of  whom  are  now 
living — Frank  H.,  born  June  5,1865;  Nellie 
J.,  born  July  10,  1870;  Gracie  0.,  born  May 
24,  1875;  Sibbie,  born  January  5,1878.  Mr. 
Howard  has  served  as  School  Director  and  Road 
Overseer,  and  in  politics  he  gives  his  support 
to  the  Democratic  party. 

ALBERT  11.  JOHNSON,  farmer,  P.  0.  Fair- 
field. Oneof  the  most  thrifty  and  enterprising 
young  farmers  in  this  county  is  the  gentleman 
whose  name  heads  this  sketch,  and  who  was 
born  in  Meigs  County,  Ohio,  September  18, 
1850.  The  father,  Thomas  Johnson,  was  born 
iu  Ohio,  and  came  to  Wayne  County  in  1852, 
with  his  family,  and  first  settled  in  Lamard 
Township.  He  afterward  moved  to  Bedford 
Township,  where  he  died  in  1859.  The  mother, 
Eliza  (Taylor)  Johnson,  was  also  a  native  of 
Ohio,  and  after  her  husband's  death  she  lived 
for  a  time  in  Bedford  Township,  and  then  in 
1803  she  with  her  family  removed  again  to 
Lamard  Township,  where  she  died  in  1865. 
Subject  was  permitted  to  attend  school  some  in 
early  age,  but  soon  after  his  father's  death  he 
commenced  to  work  around  for  different  farm 
ers,  and  continued  to  do  so  until  1875,  being 
employed  principally  by  those  of  Big  Mound 
and  Lamard  Townships.  In  that  year,  he  start- 
ed out  for  himself,  and  settled  in  Big  Mound 
Township,  where  he  now  owns  a  farm  of  116 
acres,  situated  in  Section  3,  of  Township  2 
south,  Range  7  east.  The  tract  is  nearly  all 
in  cultivation,  and  he  has  about  three  acres  in 
orchard.  Mr.  Johnson  was  married,  in  Big 
Mound  Township,  on  .January  25,  1874,  to  Miss 
Louisa  Book,  a  native  of  this  county,  and  a 
daughter  of  S.  II..  Sr.,  and  Mary  (Book)  Book 
(whose  sketches  appear  elsewhere  in  this  work). 


This  union  has  resulted  in  one  child — Charles, 
born  October  13,  1877.  Both  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Johnson  are  members  of  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church,  and  in  polities  Mr.  Johnson  is  a 
Democrat. 

REV.  G.  II.  MOON,  minister  and  farmer,  P. 
0.  Fairfield.  The  reverend  gentleman  whose 
name  heads  this  sketch  was  born  in  I'eters- 
burgh  Township,  Rensselaer  County,  N.  V.,  on 
July  26,  1814.  He  is  a  son  of  James  and 
Anna  (Dodds)  Moon.  The  father  was  a  native 
of  Rhode  Island,  the  mother  was  born  in  New 
London,  Conn.  Subject  is  the  ninth  of  twelve 
children,  of  whom  only  two  are  now  living. 
When  lie  was  about  six  years  old.  his  father 
moved  to  Somerset  Township.  Windham  Coun- 
ty. Vt.  In  that  county  the  former  was  per- 
mitted to  attend  school  but  eighteen  months; 
his  father  was  a  farmer  and  he  was  compelled 
to  lend  what  assistance  he  could  upon  the  farm. 
Since  his  arrival  to  manhood,  Mr.  Moon  has  ed- 
ucated himself  to  the  extent  of  his  abilities,  and 
is  truly  what  might  lie  called  a  self-made  man. 
On  September,  1832,  he  with  his  elder  brother 
left  the  parental  roof,  and,  starting  out  in  life 
for  themselves,  came  to  Lorain  County,  Ohio, 
and  worked  around  for  the  farmers  for  upward 
of  eight  years.  At  an  early  age,  our  subject 
was  led  to  identity  himself  with  the  Free-Will 
Baptist  Church.  Determining  to  give  his  life 
service  to  the  cause  of  his  Master,  he  began  to 
preach,  and  coming  to  Marion  County  in  Au- 
gust, 1840,  was  ordained  as  a  regular  minister 
in  October  of  the  same  year.  lie  was  immedi- 
ately appointed  as  the  shepherd  over  three 
charges  in  that  locality,  namely,  the  churches 
ofPleasant,  Rig  Island  and  Pawpaw.  For  up- 
ward of  thirty  years  he  preached  in  this  field 
of  labor,  and  then  in  1871  came  to  pastures 
new  in  Wayne  County.  lie.  until  1879. 
preached  in  Bone  Gap  Church,  Edwards  Coun- 
ty,  and  Jeffersonville  and  Rig  Mound  Churches, 
this  county.  He  was  finally,  by  outside  mat 
ters,  compelled  to  retire  from  tin-  active  minis- 


»a 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


try,  and  :it  present  his  mantle  has  fallen  upon 
his  son,  William  R.  Moon,  who  is  at  present 
supplying  the  churches.  So  far,  he  has  been 
engaged  forty-six  years  in  active  ministerial 
work,  and  in  the  prosecution  of  his  labors  he 
has  traveled  some  65,000  miles.  In  Ohio,  a 
part  of  that  travel  was  spent  in  going  to  and 
from  the  different  quarterly  meetings,  to  which 
he  always  would  go  as  a  delegate,  and  since 
his  residence  in  this  State  he  has  traveled  a 
good  deal  in  organizing  the  yearly  meetings  of 
his  denomination.  In  his  ministry  he  has 
probably  baptized  upward  of  300  converts. 
In  the  last  four  or  five  years,  he  and  his  sons 
have  been  engaged  in  farming.  He  at  present 
owns  200  acres  in  Sections  9  and  16,  of  Town- 
ship 2  south,  Range  7  east.  Of  that  there  are 
about  176  acres  in  cultivation,  and  about  three 
and  a  half  in  orchard.  In  Marion  County- 
Ohio,  on  May  6,  1841,  he  was  married  to  Mary 
B.  Smith,  and  in  a  minister's  many  trials  and 
tribulations  she  has  proven  a  loving  and  help- 
ful companion.  She  is  a  daughter  of  Reuben 
and  Judith  (Springer)  Smith,  natives  of  Maine, 
and  was  born  in  Licking  County,  Ohio,  on 
April  18, 1820.  This  union  has  resulted  in  ten 
children,  of  whom  six  are  now  living — Henry 
N.  (wedded  to  Lydia  Hoover,  and  now  living 
in  Marion  County,  Ohio),  Ellen  M.  (wife  of 
San  ford  Hoover,  of  Council  Bluffs,  Iowa), 
Esther  Amanda  (wife  of  John  Irvin, of  Laniard 
Township),  William  R.  (wedded  to  Minnie 
Rinebold),  Flora  B.  and  O.  Dwight.  In  poli- 
tics, Mr.  Moon  is  a  stanch  Republican.  In 
our  subject's  life  we  can  see  a  true  example  of 
what  perseverance  may  do  for  a  man.  Having 
no  educational  advantages,  but  possessed  of 
more  than  ordinary  ability,  and  an  immense 
amount  of  energy,  he  has  given  himself  a  good 
education.  He  is  an  omniverous  reader,  and 
to-day  he  is  possessed  with  one  of  the  finest 
libraries  in  Wayne  County.  In  the  education 
of  his  children  he  shows  an  unflagging  energy, 
placing  in  their  reach  every  advantage  that  is 
within  his  power. 


•G.  F.  SMITH,  farmer,  P.  O.  Boyleston. 
George  Smith,  the  father  of  subject,  was  born 
in  Germany  on  May  14,  1819,  and  was  a  son 
of  Diewault  and  Eva  (Lantz)  Smith.  When  he 
was  four  years  old,  his  parents  emigrated  to 
this  country  and  settled  in  Stark  County,  Ohio. 
There  the  father  grew  to  manhood  and  learned 
the  carpenter's  trade,  which  was  afterward  his 
regular  occupation.  In  that  county,  on  Febru- 
ary 14,  1847,  he  was  united  in  marriage  with 
Elizabeth  Wertenberger.  This  lady  was  born 
in  Stark  County,  Ohio,  and  is  the  daughter  of 
George  and  Christie  Ann  ( Snyder)  Wertenber- 
ger. The  parents  were  natives  of  the  Brush 
Valley.  Penn.,  but  were  descendants  of  German 
emigrants.  After  their  marriage,  the  twain 
came  to  Wabash  County,  Ind.,  and  to  them 
were  born  three  children — Lydia  A.,  born  April 
28,  1847,  now  wife  of  William  R.  Cox  ;  Mary 
E.,  born  September  5,  1850,  and  now  wife  of 
Z.  M.  Cable ;  George  F.,  our  subject,  born 
April  24,  1853.  On  April  20,  1853,  the  father 
died,  and  Mrs.  Smith  turned  her  attention  to 
farming.  She  was  subsequently  married,  on 
May  4,  1859,  to  Christian  Snoke.  In  Septem- 
ber, 1S68,  she  left  her  husband  and  came  to 
Wayne  County,  Ind.,  with  her  children,  where 
she  has  since  resided.  Our  subject's  educa- 
tion was  received  in  the  schools  of  his  native 
county  and  of  this  one  also,  and  he  early  ren- 
dered what  assistance  he  could  on  the  home 
farm.  He  at  present  has  charge  of  the  home 
place,  a  tract  of  120  acres  in  Section  16  of 
Town  2  south.  Range  7  east.  Mrs.  Snoke  is  a 
member  of  the  Lutheran  Church.  Mr.  Smith 
is  an  Independent  in  politics. 

THOMAS  C.  STANLEY,  bee-raiser,  Boyles- 
ton, was  born  in  Botetourt  County,  Va.,  on 
February  8,  1830,  and  is  a  son  of  Joel  and 
Elizabeth  (Combs)  Stanley.  The  father  was 
born  in  Virginia,  and  was  of  English  descent; 
the  mother  was  also  a  native  of  that  State,  and 
of  German  nativity.  Our  subject  fs  the  fourth 
of  nine  children,  of  whom  seven  are  now  living. 


HKi    MOUND  TOWNSHIP. 


93 


When  he  was  about  three  years  old.  his  parents 
moved  t<>  Tennessee  and  settled  in  McNairy 
County.  There  subject  received  a  district 
school  education,  which  has  been  added  to  con- 
siderably by  his  own  ettorts  since  his  accession 
to  manhood's  estate.  At  the  age  of  eighteen, 
he  apprenticed  himself  to  a  maker  of  wagons 
and  buggies  in  that  county,  and  he  afterward 
followed  that  occupation  from  1848  to  1857. 
He  next  commenced  to  farm  and  also  set  up  a 
wool-carding  machine,  which  was  well  patron- 
ized by  the  surrounding  people.  It  was  before 
the  day  of  looms  and  was  the  only  way  of  pre- 
paring the  wool.  In  1S62,  he  came  to  this 
county,  and  at  the  town  of  Jeffersonville  he  set 
up  his  carding  machine  and  run  it  for  a  num- 
ber of  years.  He  also  purchased  the  flouring 
mill  at  that  point,  and  carried  on  a  general 
milling  business.  In  1867,  he  sold  out  his  in- 
terest at  that  point  and  came  to  Fairfield.  At 
this  point  he  worked  for  a  year  at  the  Fairfield 
flouring  mill,  and  then  built  the  Fairfield  Wool- 
en Mills,  at  a  cost  of  about  $10,000.  He  con- 
tinued this  in  operation  until  1872,  when  the 
mill  was  destroyed  by  lire,  and  when  afterward 
the  Fairfield  Woolen  Mill  Company  was  formed 
and  the  structure  rebuilt  he  was  appointed  Su- 
perintendent. In  this  capacity,  he  served  for 
two  years  and  then  returned  to  Jeffersonville. 
There  he  purchased  the  flouring  mill  that  he 
had  formerly  owned,  and  again  embarked  in 
the  milling  business.  In  the  summer  of  1876, 
he  first  turned  his  attention  to  raising  bees, 
lie  started  with  two  stands,  and  that  season 
increased  it  to  about  thirty-live  stands.  In 
1877,  he  removed  his  bees  to  Big  Mound  Town- 
ship, and  settled  on  a  farm  of  thirty  acres  in 
Section  .".it  of  Town  2  south,  Range  7  east. 
There  he  has  extended  his  stock  until  he  now 
controls  upward  of  1,000  stands.  600  of  which 

he  owns.       lie  has  them  at    present    divided    up 

among   five    different    points.     The    stock   is 

mostly  Italian  bees,  but  he  is  at  present  adding 
Syrians  and  Cyprians  toil      The  yield  of  honey 


for  1882  was  upward  of  18,000  pounds,  which 
netted  about  $3,000.  This  yield  of  course  de 
pends  upon  the  season,  in  a  dry  one  the  yield 
not  being  anywhere  near  so  great  as  in  a  wet 
one.  The  honey,  which  is  mostly  in  the  comb, 
is  shipped  to  all  the  States,  and  this  bee  farm 
is  fast  becoming  one  ..|  the  leading  industries 
of  Wayne  County.  Mr.  .Stanley  was  married 
in  McNairy  County.  Tenn..  on  March  29,  1849, 
to  Lucinda  Carter,  a  daughter  of  John  and 
Sophia  (Hill)  Carter.  Mrs.  Stanley  was  born 
on  January  8, 1832,  and  is  the  mother  of  seven 
children,  three  of  whom  are  now  living — James 
R.,  in  the  milling  business  at  Jeffersonville  ; 
Isaac  H,  in  business  with  his  father;  and 
Thomas  J.,  in  the  grocery  business  at  Jeffer- 
sonville. Both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Stanley  are  mem- 
bers of  the  Jeffersonville  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  Mr.  Stanley  is  a  member  of  the  Jef- 
fersonville Lodge  of  A.  F.  &  A.  M.,  and  in  pol- 
ities is  a  Democrat. 

A  WINTER,  farmer,  P.  0.  Boyleston,  was 
born  in  Trumbull  County,  Ohio,  on  September 
2,  1836,  and  is  a  son  of  O.  W.  and  .Mary 
(Evans)  Winter,  the  father  was  a  native  of 
Massachusetts,  the  mother  of  Vermont.  Sub- 
ject was  the  sixth  of  nine  children,  of  whom 
the  following  are  now  living,  viz.,  Mrs.  Harriet 
Blood,  of  Trumbull  County,  Ohio;  Mrs.  Ellen 
Berry,  of  Trumbull  County,  Ohio;  Mrs.  Eliza 
Chat  man.  of  Trumbull  County,  Ohio;  O.  M. 
Winter,  of  Ilinton.  Mich.;  Mrs.  Mary  Sealy,  of 
Trumbull  County,  Ohio,  and  Mrs.  Sarah  Cart- 
wright,  of  Hinton.  Mich.  Subject  attended  the 
schools  of  his  native  county,  and  afterward 
helped  on  the  home  farm  most  of  the  time  un- 
til he  was  twenty-one.  He  was  very  fond  of 
travel  and  spent  upward  of  six  years  in  the 
West.  In  1865,  he,  however,  determined  to 
settle  down  in  life,  and  came  to  Big  Mound 
Township,  Wayne  County.  He  now  owns 
aboul  100  acres  situated  in  Sections  9,  10  and 
15  of  Township  2  south.  Range  7  east,  and  - 
tions  l  audit,  of  Township  3  south,  Range  7  east. 


U4 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


Of  the  whole,  there  are  about  100  acres  in  culti- 
vation. Mr.  Winter  was  married,  in  Trumbull 
County,  Ohio,  on  December  18,  1862.  to  Louisa 
M.  McLain,  a  daughter  of  James  and  Jane 
(McKillip)  McLain,  natives  of  Pennsylvania. 


Two  children  have  blessed  this  union — H.  B., 
born  October  22,  1867,  and  0.  W.,  born  Octo- 
ber 2,  1870.  Mrs.  Winter  is  a  member  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  The  Democratic 
party  receives  Mr.  Winter's  support. 


JASPER    TOWNSHIP. 


LARKIN  P.  BORAH,  son  of  John  C.   and 
Pamelia  (Price)  Borah,  was  born  on  the  place 
where  he  now  lives,  the  southeast  quarter  of 
the  northeast  quarter  of  Section  22,  February 
14,  1851,   and  married,  May  22,  1879,  Miss 
Emma  M.,  daughter  of  Tilghman  and  Mar- 
tha (McKee)  Grice,  and  to  them  was  born, 
August  3,  1881,  a  daughter,  Mary  L.     John 
C,  a  son  of  John  and  Sally  (Wilson)  Borah, 
was  born  June  10,  1820,  in  Jasper  Township, 
where  he  spent  his  life,  except  the  time  spent 
in  the  service  of  his  country  in   the  war  of 
the   great  rebellion.      He  married  Miss  Pa- 
melia. daughter  of  Larkin  end  Sally  (Wassen) 
Price,  to  whom  were  born  seven  children,  five 
of  whom  are  living,  viz. :  Sarah  J.  Bing,  our 
subject   as  above,  Salina  E.    McLin.  Esther 
M.  Carter,  Emma  P.  and  Lulu  M.     A  truly 
useful  man,  for  many  years  an  Elder  in  the 
Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church.      He  died, 
greatly  lamented,  January   25,  1877.     John, 
Sr.,  was  an  early  pioneer    settler  in  the  coun- 
ty.     Pamelia  was  born  in  Indiana  September 
14,  1S25.     Our  subject  had  good  educational 
advantages,  and  has   continued  to    improve 
his    opportunities,    keeping    posted    in    all 
matters  of   common  interest.      Few.  if    any, 
are    more    successful    as  farmers    than    In1, 
and  there  is  certainly  a  bright  future  before 
him.      Being  happily  married,  he  is,   as  he 
ought  to  be,  cheerful,  and  has  much  to  live 
for.     Subject  is  the  owner  of  210  acres  of 


first-class  farming  land,  160  of  which  are  in  a 
good  state  of  cultivation,  producing  as  well 
as  the  very  best  in  the  county.  A  Republi- 
can in  politics;  leans  toward  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  Church,  and  is  an  unqualified 
Prohibitionist. 

JOHN  N.  BOWLDS,  farmer,  P.  O.  Fair- 
field, is  one  of  the  most  quiet,  industrious 
and  honest  of  the  many  worthy  citizens  of 
Jasper  Township.  He  is  the  son  of  John 
and  Jane  (Fulkerson)  Bowlds,  and  was  born 
July  8,  1821,  in  Nelson  County,  Ky.,  where 
he  remained  till  he  was  eighteen  years  of 
age,  and  then  removed  with  his  parents  to 
Daviess  County  in  the  same  State,  where  he 
resided  until  1S61,  when  he  came  to  Wayne 
County,  111.,  and  settled  on  the  southwest  of 
northeast  quarter  of  Section  14,  in  Jasper 
Township,  his  present  home.  John,  son  of 
James  Bowlds,  was  born  in  St.  Mary's  County, 
Md.,  about  1785,  and  died  in  Nelson  County, 
Ky.,  in  1813,  and  was  buried  at  Bardstown. 
James  was  born  in  Maryland,  and  died  near 
Fairfield,  Ky.,  at  the  advanced  age  of  one 
hundred  and  one  years.  The  Fnlkersons 
were  an  old  New  Jersey  family,  and  settled 
at  a  very  early  day  seven  miles  northeast  of 
Bardstown.  With  them  Gen.  Washington 
often  stopped  while  in  New  Jersey  during 
the  Revolutionary  war.  Subject  was  mar- 
ried January  8,  1856,  to  Miss  Winifred  A. 
Bolds,  in  Daviess  County,  Ky.,  and  to  them 


lAM'ER   TOWNSHIP. 


95 


were  born  eleven  children,  seven  of  -whom 
are  living,  viz.,  James  J.,  born  November  23, 
1850  ;  Bertha  A.,  June  26,  1859  ;  John  M., 
March  16,  18G2  ;  William  F.,  May  10,  1867  ; 
Theresa  S.,  October  28,  1870;  Charles  R., 
October  29,  1875,  and  Joseph  P.,  April  10, 
1881.  Subject  obtained  a  common  school 
education  in  Kentucky  during  his  boyhood, 
and  has  been  a  reading  man  ever  since  he 
reached  his  majority.  He  is,  by  occupation, 
a  successful  farmer,  having  155  acres  of  very 
fertile  land,  about  100  of  which  are  highly 
cultivated  ;  producing  in  abundance,  by  care- 
ful tillage,  all  the  crops  raised  in  this  portion 
of  Illinois.  He  also,  in  its  season,  success- 
fully runs  a  factory  for  the  manufacture  of 
sorghum  molasses.  Mr.  Bowlds  was  reared  in 
the  faith  of  the  Catholic  Church,  of  which 
he  has  ever  remained  an  intelligent  and  con- 
sistent member.  He  was  formerly  an  Old- 
Line  Whig,  but  is  now  identified  with  the 
Democratic  party. 

ARTHUR  BRADSHAW.  Among  the 
most  intelligent  and  persevering  of  our 
school  teachers  in  Wayne  County  is  the 
gentleman  whose  name  appears  at  tho  head 
of  this  sketch,  having  been  engaged  in  the 
business  almost  every  year  since  lSf>8,  and  is 
likely  to  follow  the  same  avocation  for  many 
years  to  come.  He  is  the  son  of  Greenup 
and  Mary  A.  (Boze)  Bradshaw.  to  whom  were 
I  «ru  fourteen  children,  eleven  of  whom  are 
now  living,  viz.:  Sarah  A.  Black,  born  1840; 
subject,  1841;  William  P.,  is  15,  who  served 
in  the  Fifty  sixth  Illinois  Infantry,  now  an 
attorney  at  Edwardsville;  .lames  \\  .,  ls46,of 
the  One  Hundred  and  Fifty-sixth  Illinois 
Regiment,  now  cashier  of  the  Harrisburg, 
111.  bank;  Harriet  Blakely,  1848;  Marcos, 
1849,  in  California;  Lida,  1851;  Joseph. 
1853;  Mary  F.  Vernon,  1855;  Greenup  A., 
1859;  John  B.,  1800.  Greenup,  Sr.,  the 
of  Thomas,  came  to  Jasper  with   his  parents 


in  1819;  lived  in  W7ayne  County  until  his 
death,  which  occurred  in  1876,  and  was  bur- 
ied in  the  Bradshaw  Cemetery.  He  was  a 
farmer,  a  lifelong  Methodist,  a  patriot.  He 
served  in  the  Black  Hawk  war,  and  is  well 
remembered  as  a  man  of  sterling  qualities 
and  strict  integrity.  Mary  Boze  was  born  in 
1819,  in  Tennessee,  aud  married  in  1837. 
Subject's  grandmother,  Ann  Bradshaw,  was 
a  daughter  of  Judge  McGahey,  of  Kentucky, 
and  her  brother,  Arthur,  was  a  soldier  in  the 
war  of  1S12.  Subject  entered  Company  D, 
Fortieth  Illinois  Infantry,  as  a  private;  was 
promoted  to  Lieutenant,  and  served  four 
years,  being  engaged  in  all  the  battles  of 
that  famous  regiment,  including  Shiloh,  and 
accompanied  the  army  in  Sherman's  "  march 
to  the  sea."  Subject  attended  McKendree 
College  as  a  student  after  his  discharge  from 
the  army,  and  has  been  a  constant  seeker 
after  knowledge,  adding  continually  to  his 
extensive  store  of  information.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church;  is 
identified  with  Republican  party,  and  is  a 
Prohibitionist. 

BETSEY  CREIGHTON,  daughter  of 
Rev.  Jamesand  Elizabeth  (Owen)  Crews,  was 
born  in  Massillon  Township.  September  23, 
1829,  and  married  to  Daniel  J.  Creigbton 
March  4,  1849.  Scpii re  William  Crews  officiat- 
ing. James,  the  son  of  Andrew,  was  born, 
April  23,  1798,  in  Cocke  County,  Tenn.;  re- 
moved with  his  parents  to  Kentucky,  and 
finally  settle.)  in  what  is  now  Massillon  Town- 
ship, Wayne  Co..  111.,  in  1818.  His  chil- 
dren were  Nathan,  born  September  23,  1825: 
Mary  A.,  July  28,  1827;  our  subject  as 
above;  Martha.  September  21,  1831;  Ritter, 
August  9,  1833;  Nancy,  December  3,  1835; 
Andrew,  December,  1837;  Thurmuti's, 
March.  1840.  Elizabeth,  daogbterof  Walter 
and  Elizabeth  (Martin)  Owen,  was  born 
April  27,  1809,  in  Halifax  County,  Va.,  and 


96 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


her  maternal  uncle,  Joseph  Martin,  built 
the  first  mill  in  "Wayne  County.  Daniel  was 
born  in  White  County,  111.,  April  11,  1820, 
and  settled  on  the  northwest  quarter  of  the 
southwest  quarter  of  Section  26.  Jasper 
Township,  in  1856.  He  was  the  son  of 
Thomas  and  Mary  (Jajers)  Creighton,  son  of 
John,  who  was  born  in  Ireland.  Mary  was 
of  Irish  descent.  Her  brothers  were  James, 
Daniel  and  others.  Daniel  was  a  man  of 
good  English  education,  of  more  than  ordi- 
nary intelligence;  firm  in  his  convictions  of 
right;  faithful  in  all  the  relations  of  life;  a 
steadfast  friend,  an  affectionate  husband  and 
father;  his  place  is  hard  to  fill  in  the  com- 
munity. In  religion,  he  was  a  stanch  Meth- 
odist, serving  as  Class  Leader  for  nearly 
thirty  years.  His  death,  which  occurred, 
April  16,  1S72,  was  regretted  as  an  irrepara- 
ble loss  to  his  neighborhood.  To  Daniel  and 
our  subject  were  born  Emma  J.,  February  25, 
1850  (deceased);  Elizabeth  O.,  January  3, 
1857;  Thomas,  November  29,  1865.  Subject 
has  successfully  carried  on  the  farm  since 
the  death  of  her  husband,  having  eighty 
acres  of  valuable  land  in  a  good  state  of  cul- 
tivation, on  which,  by  industry,  she  has 
been  able  to  secure  a  competency  for  herself 
and  children,  giving  them  every  advantage 
of  education  within  her  reach. 

ALEX.  CREWS,  son  of  Matthew  aud 
Nancy  (Blair)  Crews,  was  born  in  Barren 
County,  Ky.,  November  8,  1824,  aud  removed 
with  his  parents  to  Wayne  County,  111., 
in  1829.  Matthew,  the  first  son  of  Andrew, 
was  born  in  Halifax  County,  Va. ,  January 
13,  1794.  Our  subject's  educational  advan- 
tages were  such  as  the  early  subscription 
schools  afforded,  attending  in  winter  for  a 
few  weeks,  and  laboring  on  the  farm  in  sum- 
mer time,  and  until  the  crops  were  housed; 
but  he  has  greatly  improved  his  opportuni- 
ties,    never    ceasing    to    learn   in    his    more 


mature  years,  keeping  posted  in  the  current 
literature  of  the  day,  not  believing  that  a 
man's  education  is  completed  when  he  ceases 
to  attend  school.  He  is  a  farmer  by  profes- 
sion, raising  such  stock  and  produce  as  are 
profitable,  being  the  owner  of  270  acres  of 
land,  200  of  which  are  in  a  high  state  of 
cultivation,  and  has  his  home  located  in  the 
northwest  quarter  of  the  southwest  quarter  of 
Section  25.  Subject  takes  a  lively  interest  in 
the  public  schools,  always  insisting  on  first- 
class  teachers  as  educators  of  the  rising  gen- 
eration. He  has  held  the  offices  of  Treas- 
urei-,  Trustee  and  Director  for  many  years, 
and  was  the  first  Township  Collector  in  Jas- 
per. Subject  was  married,  March  19,  1850, 
to  Miss  Margaret,  daughter  of  Leven  Lane, 
and  to  them  were  born  Mary  E  (Brown), 
April  3,  1853  (deceased);  Elizabeth  J.,  No- 
vember 18,  1854;  Sarah  J.  (Gregory),  Janu- 
ary 28,  1857;  Arabella,  February  18,  1859; 
Wilbur  C,  January  2,  1861;  Margaret  C, 
June  1:3,  1863;  Matthew  H,  June  6,  1865; 
Rachel  T..  April  28,  1867;  Florence  A, 
August  7,  1871;  Richard  H,  April  26,  1S74. 
Margaret,  wife  of  our  subject,  was  born  in 
Illinois  December  22,  1829,  and  is  an  aunt 
of  Gov.  Henry  C.  Warmouth,  of  Louis- 
iana. Subject  is  a  Methodist,  a  Republi- 
can and  a  Prohibitionist. 

MATTHEW  H.  CREWS,  son  of  William 
and  Matilda  (Shaw)  Crews,  was  burn  March 
8,  1838,  on  the  southeast  quarter  of  the  north- 
west quarter  of  Section  35,  in  Jasper  Town- 
ship. He  attended  the  early  schools  of  the 
neighborhood  in  winter,  farming  in  the  sum- 
mer time,  until  he  arrived  at  man's  estate. 
Subject  was  married,  January  28,  1856,  to 
Miss  Sarah  E.,  daughter  of  David  P.  and 
Agnes  (Wilson)  McLin,  and  to  them  were 
born  ten  children,  six  of  whom  are  living — 
Matilda  C.  (Borah),  October  2,  1857;  David 
L.  December.  1860;   Geneva,  186S;  Matthew 


JASPER   TOWNSHIP 


91 


H  .  Jr..  1870;  Florence  A.,  1872.  and  Esther, 
ls,T>  William,  the  son  of  Andrew,  was  horn 
in  Tennessee  about  1809;  came  with  his 
parents  to  Wayne  County,  and  settled  in 
Bear  Prairie  in  1817,  and  removed  to  Mas 
si  lion  Township  in  IS  IS.  He  served  as  a 
Justice  of  the  Peace  fir  many  years,  ami  died 
in  December.  1876.  His  children  are  Mary 
E.  (Liuthicum).  Delila  I.  (McMacken),  Sarah 
B.  (Liuthicum).  Louisa  (Warmouth),  sub 
ject,  Caleb  W..  Miriam  F.  (Gray),  Matilda 
('  (Mills),  Alice.  Alma  and  William,  Jr. 
Matilda  Shaw  was  born  in  Kentucky,  and 
died  in  Wayne  County  in  1854.  Subject 
I  as  Orderly  Sergeant  in  Company  D, 
Eighty-seventh  Illinois  Infantry,  and  was  in 
all  the  engagements  of  that  justly  celebrated 
regiment,    remaining  in  the  army  till  July  I!. 

1865,  when  he  was  honorably  discharged. 
Since  returning  home,  subject  has  been  en 
gaged  in  farming,  threshing  grain,  and  the 
manufacture  of  hard  lumber.  Twice  elected 
Supervisor  of  the  County  Court;  be  has  also 
been  Assessor,  Collector.  School  Director, 
and  an  active  officer  in  whatever  position  he 
has  been  called  to  serve.  Subject  is  the 
owner  of  130  acres  of  good  farming  land,  of 
which  sixty  are  in  cultivation.  His  polit- 
ical affiliations  are  with  the  Democratic  party, 
and  in  religious  belief  he  is  inclined  toward 
the  Cumberland  Presbyterians. 

CALEB  CREWS.  Few  men  are  more 
irly  or  quiet  in  all  their  bearing  and 
relation  to  society  than  the  gentleman 
whose  name  heads  this  sketch,  The  son  of 
Matthew  and  Elizabeth  (Owen)  Crews,  he 
was  born  near  where  he  now  resides  Noveru- 
l\  iv>s.     He  was  married,  November  I 

1866,  to  Miss  Mary  A.,  daughter  of  Will 

\  and  Kli/a  (Westi  P.orali.  and  to  them  were 
born  six  children,  four  of  whom  are  at  pres- 
ent living,  viz..  William,  born  June  28,  1807; 
Susana,    August     'Jo.    1873;    Frederick    T., 


February  25,  1876;  and  Mary  S.,  August  2, 
1881.  Matthew,  the  son  of  Andrew,  was 
born  in  Halifax  County,  Va.,  January  13, 
1794,  died  September  2,  1861,  and  was 
buried  in  the  cemetery  on  his  own  place  in 
Massillon  Township.  Subject,  in  his  avoca- 
tion, is  a  farmer,  owning  160  acres  of  very 
productive  land,  of  which  125  acres  are  im- 
proved and  in  a  good  state  of  cultivation, 
yielding  as  well  as  the  best,  and  is  unsur- 
passed by  any  other  in  the  community. 
When  the  war  cry  was  raised,  and  his  coun- 
try's flag  was  assailed  by  traitor  hands,  our 
subject  was  early  to  offer  his  services,  and 
entered  Company  D,  Eighty-seventh  Illinois 
Infantry,  where  he  remained  till  the  last  foe 
was  driven  from  the  field.  After  his  dis- 
charge from  the  army,  he  returned  home,  re- 
suming the  quiet  walks  of  life,  and  is 
still  pursuing  his  usual  unassuming  course. 
He  has  been  called  upon  to  fill  various 
positions,  such  as  Highway  Commissioner, 
School  Trustee  and  Director,  and  has 
always  discharged  his  duties  faithfully.  That 
the  rising  generations  might  enjoy  better  ed- 
ucational advantages  than  those  of  the 
meager  past,  he  has  always  taken  a  lively  in- 
terest in  the  common  district  schools  of  the 
neighborhood.  Our  subject,  in  his  religious 
relations  and  belief,  is  a  Methodist,  and  in 
politics  a  Republican    and    Prohibitionist. 

CALEB  W.  CREWS.  It  is  often  the 
case  that  a  worthy  son  perpetuates  the  char- 
acteristics of  a  worthy  father,  and  especially 
is  this  the  case  with  the  subject  before  us. 
Caleb  W  .  the  son  of  William  and  Catherine 
(Shaw)  Crews,  was  born  in  Jasper  Town- 
ship February  20,  1811.  where  he  grew  up 
to  manhood,  and  from  which  he  entered  Com- 
pany D,  Eighty-seventh  Regiment  Illinois 
Infantry,  in  which  he  served  till  the  end  of 
the  war,  participating  all  the  battles  and  hard- 
ships   in    which  his  comrades  were  engaged 


98 


BKNiHArHICAL: 


William,  the  sou  of  Andrew,  was  born  about 
L809,  and  died  in  Jasper  Township  in  1876. 
Our  subject  attended  the  district  schools  of 
the  county,  and  finally  was  a  student  in  Sa- 
lem College,  where  he  greatly  improved  his 
educational  advantages.  He  was  first  mar- 
ried in  1861,  to  Miss  Mary  C.  Porter,  who 
lived  with  him  eight  years  and  died  without 
children.  Our  subject  was  again  married. 
December  26,  1871,  to  Miss  Emma,  daughter 
of  David  and  Elizabeth  (Thatcher)  Owen, 
and  to  them  were  born  Nora  F.,  born  Decem- 
ber 28,  1872;  Delia,  September  10,  1874; 
and  Joseph  A.  David  Owen  lost  his  life  in 
defense  of  his  country  in  the  war  of  the  great 
rebellion.  By  profession,  our  subject  is  a 
farmer,  possessing  eighty  acres  of  good  land, 
and  has  his  home  on  the  northwest  quarter  of 
the  northeast  quarter  of  Section  27.  He  has 
been  three  times  elected  Justice  of  the  Peace, 
once  Assessor,  and  ten  years  School  Direc- 
tor. In  politics,  he  is  a  Republican,  and  is  a 
member  of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Church. 

D.  H.  HOLMAN,  son  of  Joseph  and 
Rebecca  (Given),  was  born  in  Butler 
County,  K.y.,  September  4,  1857,  and  re- 
moved to  Jasper  Township,  AYayne  Co.,  111., 
in  1868.  Joseph,  the  son  of  Griffin  and 
Cynthia  (Carrol)  Holman,  was  born  in  Wil- 
son County,  Tenn.,  about  1832;  was  married 
to  Rebecca  J.  Given  in  1856.  and  died  in 
Kentucky  in  1859.  Rebecca  was  again 
married  to  Edward  W.  Bobitt,  in  1861,  and 
to  them  were  born  Nancy  A.,  Thomas  M., 
Martha  H,  Finley  G..  Frederick  A..  Claudie 
G.  and  Lather  R.  Subject  attended  punctu- 
ally the  district  schools  of  the  neighborhood, 
where  he  lived  until  twenty  years  of  age. 
when  he  became  a  student  in  the  High 
School,  in  Albion.  Edwards  County,  and 
qualified  himself  for  the  profession  of  teach 
ing  school,  which  he  follows   at  the  pn 


time.  He  also  attends  the  Normal  Schools 
in  Fairfield.  Subject  is  Supervisor  of  Jas- 
per Township,  probably  the  youngest  mem- 
ber ever  elected  to  the  county  court.  In  p<  !- 
itics.  he  is  a  Republican,  and  in  religious 
belief  a  Cumberland  Presbyterian. 

ANSLEY  JOHNSON,  son  of  Rev.  Abra- 
ham and  Clarinda  (Eddie)  Johnson,  was 
born  in  Meigs  County.  Ohio.  April  it.  1826 
and  immigrated  with  his  parents  to  Wayne 
County,  111.,  in  1S54,  where  he  has  remained 
to  the  present  time.  Abraham,  son  of  Will- 
iam and  Sarah  (Harmon),  was  born  in 
Washington  County,  Penn.,  in  1793,  and 
died  at  Fairfield,  111.,  September  18.  1863. 
Clarinda  was  born  in  Vermont  in  1795,  and 
to  her  and  Abraham  were  born  Lavina 
(Woodworth),  Amanda  (Wolf),  Ansley.  our 
subject,  Sarah  L.  (Bonhain).  Bascomb  E.. 
Harriet  M.  (Black).  William  E..  died  a  - 
dier,  Eighty-seventh  Illinois  Volunteers,  and 
M.  Dustin.  also  died  in  Thirty-fourth  Illi- 
nois Volunteers.  William  was  born  in  Mary- 
land, and.  with  his  parents,  settled  west  of 
Alleghany  Mountains  in  early  childhood. 
To  them  were  born  Abraham.  Jane  (Bing), 
Thomas,  Rebecca  (Pilcher).  Susan  (Cabled. 
Mary  (Miles),  Nancy  (Smart),  Sarah  (Wolf). 
Adeline  (Ellis)  and  William,  Jr.  Our  sub- 
ject was  married  in  1866  to  Miss  Martha  E. 
Bing,  who  died  June  15.  1869,  and  he 
again  married.  August  2.  ISTl.Miss  Serena, 
daughter  of  David  and  Nancy  (Crews)  Mun- 
roe,  and  to  them  have  been  born  Mary  L., 
August  27.  1S73:  Emma  ('..  November  25, 
1^77:  and  Nellie  A..  November  18.  1880. 
Our  subject  is  a  farmer  by  profession,  pos- 
sessing 2nd  acres  of  very  fertile  land.  13(1  of 
which  are  in  a  high  state  of  cultivation,  pro- 
ducing in  abundance  all  the  cereals,  grasE 
and  fruits  common  to  Southern  Illinois, 
and  on  southwest  quarter  of  northwest  quarter 
of  Section  28   has  one  of  the  very  best  f. 


"*■ 


JASPER  TOWNSHIP. 


98 


dwellings  in  the  county:  also  a  barn  of  great 
convenience  and  capacity.  Great  care  and 
attention  are  devoted  by  Bubjecl  t  i  the  cul- 
tivation and  improvement  of  this  farm,  and 
its  soil  responds  with  a  hearty  good  will  to 
the  labor  bestowed.  Subject  is  a  man  of 
decided  opinions,  thinking  for  himself: 
keeps  posted  on  current  events,  reads  good 
books  and  the  literature  of  the  day:  a  friend 
of  education,  an  advocate  of  law  and  mor- 
ality, and  is  a  useful  and  active  citizen. 
In  politics,  be  is  a  Republican,  and  a 
Prohibitionist. 

JAMES  MONROE,  son  of  David  and 
Nancy  (Crews)  Monroe,  was  born  in  Jasper 
Township  .March  10,  1837,  where  he  has 
had  his  home  to  the  present  time.  Septem- 
ber 25,  1859,  be  was  married  to  Miss  Rachel 
L. .  daughter  of  Tilghinan  and  Martha  (Mc 
Kee)  Grice,  to  whom  was  born,  November  27, 
186c.  Rachel  L.  (Brock),  whose  mother  died 
December  12.  1SC>0.  Subject  was  again  mar- 
ried, October  S,  1873,  to  Miss  Ellen  Read. 
who  died  November  9,  1879.  David,  Sr.,  son 
of  Johnson,  was  born  June  15,  1795,  in  South 
Carolina,  and  died  in  Wayne  County,  111.. 
May  1.  1ST").  He  was  a  worthy  citizen,  hav 
ing  the  respect  of  all  who  knew  him.  Nancy, 
daughter  of  Andrew  Crews,  was  born  March 
15.  1802,  and  died  October  27.  L878.  To 
David  and  Nancy  were  bom  Amelia  l\.  (Oil- 
lison),  Maria  (Fetters),  Andrew  J.,  our  sub- 
jci  I.  a::d  Serena  (Johnson').  Subject  entered 
Company  D,  Eighty- seventh  Regiment  Illi- 
nois Volunteer  Infantry  in  1SP>2,  and  re- 
mained a  soldier  in  the  same  until  the  sup- 
pression of  the  rebellion  in  L865,  Subject 
has  always  followed  the  business  of  farming 
(except  the  time  he  was  in  the  army),  owning 
L60  acre-  of  very  valuable  laud.  L20  of  which 
are  improved  and  in  a  high  state  of  cultiva- 
tion, his  residence,  the  old  family  home- 
stead,  being  situated  on  southwest  quarter  of 


the  northwest  quarter  of  Section  35.  He  is  a 
friend  of  education,  desiring  the  employment 
of  none  but  well  -qualified  teachers  in  the  pub 
lie  schools.  Subject,  politically,  is  a  Re- 
publican, a  Prohibitionist,  and  a  member  of 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

DAVID  C.  MONROE  was  born  January 
1.  1839,  on  the  southwest  quarter  of  the 
northwest  quarter  of  Sect  ion  35,  where  he  has 
had  his  residence  all  his  life.  He  was  mar- 
ried, March  22.  L861,  to  Margaret  Duke,  of 
Ohio,  and  to  them  have  been  born  James  H., 
born  September  5,  1864;  William  M.,  Octo- 
ber30,  L866;  Jane  A.,  December  2\  ISliS; 
Vida  L.,  July  2,  1872;  Maggie  M.,  February 
26,  1875;  Minnie  M..  September  27.  L878; 
David  A.,  August  3,  1881.  Subject's  parents 
were  Rev.  Johnson  and  Jane  A.  (McLenahan) 
Monroe;  Johnson  was  born  in  Virginia  in 
1  790,  lived  in  Kentucky,  where  he  established 
the  first  Methodist  society  at  the  Mammoth 
Cave.  He  was  a  cousin  of  Pre.-ident  Mon- 
roe. Jane  A.  McL.  was  bom  in  Virginia. 
Our  subject  has  one  brother,  James,  of  Ar- 
lington Township,  and  sisters  Martha  (Owen), 
Elizabeth  (Baker),  Emily  (Cisne)  and  Sarah 
(Farmer).  Subject  was  left  an  orphan  in 
infancy  to  struggle  with  the  world,  but  has  im- 
proved his  educational  advantages  to  the  best 
of  his  ability,  securing  a  good  business  educa- 
tion, and  has  become  somewhat  prominent   m 

the  eo ninity  where  he  lives.      He  has  been 

Supervisor  of  his  township.  Trustee  and 
School  Director  for  many  years  He  served 
his  country  as  a  soldier  in  Company  B.  Fifty- 
third  Illinois  Infantry,  in  the  war  of  the 
great  rebellion.  Subject  i^  a  successful 
fanner,  having  130  acres  of  choice  land, 
ninety  of  which  are  improved  and  well  culti- 
vated, producing  everj  variety  of  crops  raised 
in  this  section  of  the  State.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Cnurch,  a 
J   Prohibitionist. 


100 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


REV.  WILLIAM  M.  OWEN,  farmer  and 
local  minister,  P.  O.  Fairtield.  The  subject 
of  this  sketch  is  one  of  our  most  whole- 
souled  and  best  citizens.  He  was  born  No- 
vember 22,  1827,  in  Barren  County,  Ky., 
near  the  Mammoth  Cave.  His  father,  James 
Owen,  was  a  farmer,  and  a  native  of  Vir- 
ginia. He  lived  many  years,  in  Kentucky; 
l^-'i",  he  emigrated  to  Wayne  County,  111., 
where  he  farmed,  and  died  in  1877.  His 
father,  John  Owen  (the  grandfather  of  our 
subject),  was  also  a  farmer,  and  a  soldier  in 
the  war  of  the  Revolution.  Our  subject's 
grandfather  was  David  Owen.  The  Owen 
family  originated  in  Scotland;  from  there 
they  moved  to  England,  and  finally  came  to 
America.  The  mother  of  our  subject  was 
Susannah  (Monroe)  Owen,  a  native  of  South 
Carolina.  She  died  here,  aged  eighty-one 
years.  She  was  the  mother  of  ten  children, 
viz.:  Johnson  M. ,  John,  Elizabeth,  James 
L.,  Jefferson,  David,  Amelia,  Nancy,  Will- 
iam M.  (our  subject)  and  Obediah  H.  All 
the  children,  except  the  subject  of  this  sketch, 
are  now  dead.  His  four  brothers  died  while 
fighting  in  the  army  for  the  defense  of  this 
grand  republic,  and  it  is  no  wonder  that 
William  M.  Owen  is  such  a  warm  supporter 
of  the  Republican  party.  The  names  of  the 
fallen  ■  heroes  are  Johnson  M.,  James  L., 
Obediah  H.  and  David.  The  latter  was 
burned  on  the  "General  Lyon"  while  on 
his  way  hojne,  after  serving  three  years. 
Mr.  Owen  was  mostly  educated  in  Wayne 
County,  to  which  he  came  when  ten  years 
old  with  his  parents.  He  farmed  in  early 
life,  but  after  he  was  married  he  studied  for 
the  ministry,  and  was  ordained  as  a  minister 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  He  was 
connected  with  the  conference  about  twelve 
years,  and  is  now  a  local  minister.  He  has 
280  acres  of  land  in  Jasper  Township.  Our 
subject  was  married,  July  23,  1850,  in  this 


county,  to  Miss  Nancy  C.  Owen,  born  Janu- 
ary 22,  1832,  in  Wayne  County,  111.,  daugh- 
ter of  E.  C.  Owen,  a  native  of  Halifax  Coun- 
ty, Va. ,  and  Charity  (White)  Owen,  a  native 
of  Kentucky  Six  children  have  blessed  this 
union,  viz.:  Abigail  Schell,  Edwin  M.  (de- 
ceased), Loretta  V.,  William  L.,  Charles  F. 
and  Nancy  M.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Owen  and  all 
their  children  are  members  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  which  he  supports  liber- 
ally. Mr.  Owen  has  been  Township  Assessor 
for  two  terms;  he  has  also  filled  school 
offices.      His  life  is  worthy  of  imitation. 

ZADOC  C.  ROBERTS,  son  of  Dr.  Na- 
than E.  and  Mary  (Bovee)  Roberts,  was 
born  August  13,  1832,  in  Jasper  Township, 
and  has  been  a  resident  of  Wayne  County  all 
his  life.  Nathan  E.,  son  of  Archibald,  was 
born  in  Kentucky  in  180S,  and  removed  with 
his  parents  to  Shawneetown,  111.,  about 
1810;  then  to  the  southern  part  of  Wayne 
County  in  1S17,  and  married  Miss  Mary, 
daughter  of  John  and  Phebe  (Gardner) 
Bovee,  March  1,  1827,  to  whom  were  born 
Hester  A.  (Gould),  March  3,  1829;  Phebe  J. 
(Harper),  November  16,  1S30;  our  subject, 
as  above;  John  W.,  June  25,  1834;  Archi- 
bald H,  June  29,  1836;  Sarah,  May  30, 
1838;  Dr.  EbenezerB.,  June  6.  1840;  Man 
E.,  July  31,  1846;  Nathan  E.,  April  26, 
1819;  Daniel  F.,  August  12,  1851.  Mary 
was  born  October  4,  1809,  in  Hanover,  Chau- 
tauqua Co.,  N.  Y.  John  Bovee,  her  father, 
a  soldier  in  the  war  of  1812,  was  the  son  of 
Nicholas,  and  he,  the  son  of  Jacob,  whose 
ancestors  were  Hollanders.  John's  brothers 
were  Nicholas,  Michael  and  Matthias. 
Mary's  brothers,  John,  Aaron,  Wesley  and 
Nelson.  Her  sisters,  Sally  (McMackin), 
Hannah  (Gaston),  Phebe  (Burch  and  Ellis). 
Archibald,  the  son  of  Cornelius  (who  was 
killed  by  the  Indians),  was  born  in  Virginia, 
became    a    very    talented     local     Methodist 


JASPER  TOWNSHIP. 


101 


preacher,  and  is  supposed  to  have  been  the 
first  minister  to  preach  a  sermon  in  Wayne 
County.  His  sons  were  Dr.  Nathan  E.,  a 
soldier  in  the  Black  Hawk  war;  William. 
Archibald  R.  and  Charles.  Daughters, 
Laurana  (Douglas).  (Andrews),  (Eperson); 
Elizabeth  (Kaniepp),  Martha  (Huey).  Our 
subject  was  married.  November  22.  1S53,  to 
Miss  Nancy  E.,  daughter  of  William  and 
Temperance  (Owen)  White,  and  to  them  were 
born  Harriett  N.  (Wilson),  September  4, 
L854:  Mary  E.  (Lane),  February  1,  1857; 
Temperance  E.  (Brown),  August  8,  1859; 
Charity  J.,  January  0,  1862;  Clara  C,  June 
7.  1864;  Edith  E.,  September  17,  1866; 
Sarah  E.,  April  17,  1869;  Edwin  E.,  Decem- 
ber 24,  1871;  Zadoc  C,  May  lit,  1875,  de- 
ceased; Archy  W.,  September  28,  1877;  Ma- 
ble  E..  January  19,1880.  Subject's  wife, 
Nancy  E.,  was  born  in  Jasper  Township 
September  13,  1830.  William,  son  of  Joho 
and  Catherine  (Simons)  White,  was  born  in 
Todd  County.  Ky.,  October  14.  1812,  and 
came  with  liia  parents  to  Wayne  Count}-  in 
an  early  day;  served  in  the  Black  Hawk  war, 
and  was  also  a  soldier  in  the  Fifty-sixth  Illi- 
nois, in  the  late  war.  John,  his  father,  was 
born  in  1785,  and  was  a  soldier  in  the  war  of 
1812.  Our  subject,  a  volunteer  in  Company 
D,  Eighty-seventh  Illinois  Infantry,  was  at 
the  battles  of  Vicksburg,  Pleasant  Hill,  Wil- 
son's Hill.  Sabine  Cross  Roads,  and  numer- 
ous skirmishes.  He  is  a  farmer  by  profes- 
sion, owning  240  acres  of  valuable  land.  1  in 
of  which  are  in  a  good  state  of  cultiva- 
tion, having  his  residence  in  northeast 
quarter  of  the  southeast  quarter  of  Sec- 
tion 27.  Subject  has  been  a  Justice  of 
the  Peace,  Township  Collector,  and  School 
Director,  attending  promptly  to  all  duties 
imposed  upon  him.  In  religion,  a  Methodist, 
in  politics,  a  Republican;  a  Prohibitionist  as 
to  the  liquor  traffic,  and  makes  no  apologies 


for  the  part  he  took  in  the  war  of  the  great 
rebellion.  The  mother  of  subject  died  sud- 
denly the  day  after  the  above  facts  were  ob- 
tained. 

WILLIAM  R.  STANER,  Jasper,  son  of 
Jacob  and  Rachel  (Foster)  Staner,  was  born 
in  Williams  County,  Ohio,  February  16, 
1848,  and  removed  with  his  parents  to  Steu- 
ben County,  Ind.,  when  three  years  old;  then 
to  Marshall  County  in  the  same  State,  where 
he  remained  until  he  came  to  Wayne  County, 
111.,  in  1877.  Jacob  was  born  in  Switzerland 
about  1 798,  and  came  to  the  United  States  in 
1800  with  his  parents,  and  settled  in  York 
County,  Penn. ,  where  he  grew  to  manhood, 
when  he  entered  the  army  as  a  soldier  during 
the  war  of  1812,  and  died  in  1870.  Rachel 
Foster,  the  daughter  of  a  sea  captain,  was 
born  in  New  Jersey.  To  Jacob  and  her  were 
born  John,  Mary,  Sarah  (Wolfgang),  Harvey, 
Jackson,  William  (deceased),  Susan  (Boggs), 
Crawford,  Thomas,  William  R.  and  Joshua. 
Subject  attended  the  common  schools  in  In- 
diana, where  he  obtained  a  good  business 
education,  and  is  a  constant  reader  of  books 
and  the  newspapers  of  the  dayr.  In  his  avo- 
cation as  a  farmer  he  is  very  successful,  and 
is  the  owner  of  120  acres  of  very  fertile  land, 
of  which  seventy-five  acres  are  rendered 
highly  productive,  demonstrating  beyond 
question  that  pluck,  perseverance  and  indus- 
try will  work  wonders,  when  judiciously  ap- 
plied to  the  soil  of  his  adopted  county  and 
State.  Subject,  in  his  political  affiliations, 
has  ever  been  identified  with  the  Democratic 
party,  and  in  his  religious  belief  inclines 
toward  the  Methodists. 

WILLIAM  WHITE,  Jasper,  son  of  John 
and  Catherine  (Simons)  White,  was  born  in 
Logan  County,  Ky.,  October  12,  1812,  and 
removed  with  his  parents,  in  1824,  to  Wayne 
County,  111.,  where  he  has  resided  to  the 
present  time.     John  was  born  in  Virginia  in 


102 


BIOUILS      [ICAL: 


L785)  was  a  ranger  in  the  war  of  1812    die 
in  I860,  and  was  buried  at  the  Buckeyt 
tery.      He  was  the  son  of  Capt.  John  rt 
of  the  Revolutionary  war.      Three 
erine's  brothers  were  in  the    battle  w 

Orleans,  with  Gren.  Andrew  Jackson  two  of 
whom  received  honorable  wounds.  Subject 
was  tirst  married,  December  13,  1834,  to 
Temperance,  daughter  of  Richard  and  Nan- 
cy (Martin)  Owen,  and  to  them  were  born 
Nancy  E.  (Roberts),  Epaphroditus  (an  hon- 
ored Captain  in  the  Fifty-sixth  Illinois  In 
fantry,  who  died  at  Vicksburg),  William  D. 
(of  the  Eighty-seventh  Illinois  Regiment  in 
the  late  war).  Subject  was  again  married, 
February  26,  1859,  to  Mrs.  J.  Maria  Russell, 
to  whom  was  born  Julius  E.,  January  31, 
1860.  Mrs.  White  is  also  the  mother  of  N. 
H.  Russell,  of  Colorado.  She  is  the  daugh- 
ter of  Julius  C.  and  Catherine  (Carrol)  Hart; 
was  born  near  Canton,  Ohio,  March  9,  1827, 
and  came  to  Illinois  in  1855,  where  she  has 


taught  school  many  years  (having  taught 
thirty-six  years  in  all),  being  one  of  the  most 
thorough  and  efficient  teachers,  as  very  many 
can  attest,  that  the  county  has  ever  known. 
At  a  time  when  all  passing  from  the  States 
to  the  army  in  the  held  was  prohibited,  by 
her  indomitable  courage  and  perseverance 
she  passed  through  the  lines,  arriving  at 
Vicksburg  in  time  to  nurse  her  sick  husband 
and  step-son  into  life  again.  Her  father,  an 
old  teacher,  was  born  in  Palmyra,  N.  Y.,  in 
1779.  died  July  29,  1855,  and  was  buried  in 
Bnckeye  Cemetery.  Silas,  his  father,  was 
born  in  Connecticut.  Catherine  Carrol's 
father,  a  soldier  of  the  war  of  1812,  was 
from  Pennsylvania,  and  died  at  Sandusky, 
Ohio.  Our  subject  served  his  country  first  in 
the  Black  Hawk  war  in  1832,  and  was  also  a 
member  of  the  Fifty-sixth  Regiment  Illinois 
Volunteer  Infantry  in  the  late  war.  He  is  a 
farmer,  a  Methodist,  a  Republican  and  Pro- 
hibitionist. 


INDIAN    PRAIRIE    TOWNSHIP. 


N.  N.  BLAKE,  farmer.  P.  O.  Johnsonville, 
was  born  in  Vermont  January  27,  1832,  to 
Samuel  and  Maria  (Wood)  Blake,  natives  of 
Vermont.  The  Blake  family  from  which  our 
subject  sprang  came  from  England  in  1756, 
and  settled  in  Salem,  Mass.  One  branch  of 
the  family  moved  to  New  Hampshire,  and  Sam- 
uel Blake,  our  subject's  grandfather,  moved 
to  Vermont  from  New  Hampshire.  Jasper 
Blake,  the  original  in  the  country,  was  a 
Colonel  in  the  army  during  the  Revolution- 
ary war.  Our  subject's  ancestry  on  his 
mother's  side  were  of  Scotch  descent.  Set- 
tling first  in  Massachusetts,  but  afterward  in 
Vermont,  and  his  grandfather  Wood  was  a 


"minuteman"  in  the  war  of  1812,  ana  was 
at  the  battle  of  Lake  Champlain.  In  1834, 
Samuel  Blake  and  family  moved  from  Ver- 
mont to  Licking  County.  Ohio,  and  it  was 
there  he  and  wife  died.  They  were  the 
parents  of  eleven  children,  seven  of  whom 
yet  survive.  Our  subject  was  reared  and  edu- 
cated in  Ohio,  first  in  the  common  schools, 
then  he  attended  Denison  University,  at  Gran 
ville,  Ohio,  also  Oberlin  College,  of  Oberlin, 
Ohio;  but.  on  account  of  ill  health,  did  not 
complete  the  full  course.  For  a  number  of 
years,  he  made  teaching  his  profession — 
teaching  in  Ohio,  Iowa  and  Illinois.  April 
5,  1860,  ho   was   married,  in  Ohio,   to  Miss 


INDIAN'    PHAI1UK    TOWXSIIIP 


108 


Mary  P.  Gardner,  a  native  of  Pennsylvania, 
and  daughter  of  Aaron  and  Elizabeth  Gard- 
ner, who  came  to  Wayne  County,  111.,  in 
I  367,  and  died  here.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Blake  have 
■hildren.  nine  of  whom  are  living,  viz., 
Lulu  T  ,  Frank  (deceased),  Millie  M.,  Nel- 
lie B.,  Orlando  J.,  Pearl  F.,  Bert,  Stella, 
Clyde  D.  and  Guy.  May  ">,  1864,  he  entered 
the  service  of  his  country  in  Company  H, 
One  Hundred  and  Thirty  sixth  Ohio  Volun- 
teer Infantry,  and  served  till  August  30, 
1864.  He  was  detailed  as  carpenter,  and 
was  engaged  in  the  building  of  Fort  Ells- 
worth, Va.,  and  while  in  the  service  contracted 
disease,  which  has  affected  his  health  since. 
1\  November,  L867,  he  moved  to  Wayne 
County,  111.,  and  settled  on  his  present  farm 
of  120  acres.  He  and  wife  are  members  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  In  politics. 
1  •is  Republican. 

W.  M.  CHURCH,  saw  and  grist  mill  and 
carding  machine  proprietor,  P.  O.  Johnson- 
ville, was  born  in  Meigs  County,  Ohio, 
January  13,  1841,  to  Samuel  and  Lydia 
(Murry)  Church.  The  father  was  born  in 
L798,  and  is  still  a  resident  of  Meigs  County, 
Ohio,  where  the  mother  died.  His  occupa- 
tion has  been  that  of  millwright,  but  he  has 
now  retired  at  an  advanced  age.  Our  subject 
remained  at  the  old  home  till  1859,  when 
he  came  to  this  county,  and  engaged  in  the 
mill  business  here,  having  brought  a 
portable  mill  with  him.  He  only  remained 
in  the  mill  till  the  breaking-out  of  the  war, 
when  he  enlisted  May  28,  1861,  in  Company 
G,  Eighteenth  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry, 
and  was  mustered  in  by  Gen.  Grant.  This 
was  the  first  regiment  mustered  for  three 
years  in  Illinois.  During  this  term  of  service, 
he  was  in  several  of  the  severest  engagements 
— Fort  Douelson.  Corinth,  Shiloh,  etc. ,  and 
finally  to  Little  Rock.  He  served  through 
the  time  of  his  enlistment,  and  after  being 


mustered  out  went  back  to  his  old  home  in 
Ohio,  whore  he  assisted  in  raising  a  company, 
and  was  commissioned  Second  Lieutenant  of 
Company  B,  One  Hundred  and  Eighty-seventh 
Ohio  Volunteer  Infantry.  In  this  company 
he  served  nearly  a  year,  when  the  war  close'd, 
he  then  being  First  Lieutenant  of  the  com- 
pany. During  this  second  term  of  service, 
the  regiment  had  followed  in  the  rear  of 
Sherman,  repairiug,  etc.  After  the  close 
of  the  war,  Mr.  Church  returned  to  this 
county,  where,  on  September  9,  186(3,  he  was 
married  to  Miss  E.  J.  Penningtou,  daughter 
of  • I  esse  Pennington,  an  old  resident  of  this 
county.  Ten  children  have  been  the  result 
of  this  union,  only  four  of  whom  yet  survive, 
viz.,  Etta  R.,  Lillie  E.,  Daisie  W.  and  Elmer 
M.  Most  of  the  time  during  Mr.  Church's 
residence  in  this  county,  he  has  been  en- 
gaged in  the  milling  business,  and  at  present 
gives  his  attention  to  the  saw  and  grist  mill 
and  carding  machine  at  Johnsonville,  he  be- 
ing a  partner  in  the  same.  He  is  a  member 
of  I.  N.  Haynie  Post,  G.  A.  R.,  also  A.,  F  & 
A.  M.  Lodge  of  Johnsonville,  and  of  the 
R.  A.  Chapter  of  Flora.  In  politics,  ho  is  a 
Republican. 

L.  P.  COOK,  farmer,  P.  O.  Rinard,  was  born 
in  Kentucky  May  14,  1824,  to  Joseph  and  Par 
melia  (Morse)  Cook.  The  father  was  a  native 
of  Virginia,  the  mother  of  the  Carolinas.  In 
L840,  they  moved  to  Clay  County,  111.,  and 
settled  on  what  is  now  the  county  farm.  In 
L845,  thej  moved  to  Wayne  County,  near  the 
Clay  County  line,  where  they  died.  They 
were  the  parents  of  twelve  children;  two 
died  in  infancy,  but  the  remainder  were 
brought  to  Illinois.  Only  four  of  the  num- 
ber are  now  living,  viz.,  our  subject,  Susan 
M.  McDauiel,  Elizabeth  W.  Long  and  Ellen 
Sly.  Mr.  Joseph  Cook  for  many  years  was 
a  local  minister  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.      Our  subject  remained  at  hoine  till 


104 


BICXiliAI'IIlC  Al.: 


his  marriage  to  Miss  Louisa  Price,  April  3, 
1851.  She  was  born  in  Indiana,  to  Gillison 
and  Polly  Price.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Cook  have 
seven  children,  viz.,  Mary  E.,  wife  of  John 
Gray;  Joseph  F. ;  Samantha,  wife  of  W. 
Gray;  William  G.,  Louis  R.,  Parmelia  A. 
aud  L.  James.  Soon  after  marriage,  Mr. 
Cook  settled  on  his  present  farm,  and  150 
acres  of  which  he  entered  from  the  Govern- 
ment. Mr.  Cook  has  been  an  energetic,  suc- 
cessful farmer,  and  now  owns  over  600  acres 
of  land.  He  has  seen  the  development  of 
the  county  to  what  it  now  is.  Part  of  the 
time,  since  he  was  married,  they  have  raised 
their  own  cotton  and  flax  and  made  their 
clothing  from  the  raw  material.  He  and 
wife  are  members  of  the  Methodist  Church, 
and  he  has  been  since  he  was  sixteen  years 
of  age.  In  politics,  he  is  Republican,  and 
has  been  since  the  party  started.  He  has 
held  the  office  of  Township  Supervisor. 

F.  M.  GALBRAITH,  farmer,  P.  O.  John- 
sonville,  was  born  in  Marion  County,  111., 
May  5,  1840,  to  Green  B.  and  Nancy  (Mc- 
Gee)  Galbraith.  They  were  both  natives  of 
Tennessee,  but  came  to  Marion  County  before 
marriage,  and  were  residents  of  Marion 
County  till  about  18-46,  when  they  came  to 
Wayne  County,  she  having  died  in  Marion 
County  about  1844.  She  was  the  mother  of 
four  daughters  and  one  son.  Two  of  the 
daughters  and  the  son  yet  survive,  viz.,  El- 
vira A.,  widow  of  J.  C.  Maxey;  Mahulda 
J.,  widow  of  William  Ellis;  and  our  subject. 
The  father  was  afterward  married  to  his  sec- 
ond wife,  by  whom  he  had  children  also. 
Our  subject  has  resided  in  this  county  since 
coming  with  his  father  in  1846.  He  was  ed- 
ucated in  the  schools  of  the  county,  and  till 
he  was  about  sixteen  years  of  age  his  life  had 
been  spent  on  the  farm.  When  at  that  age, 
his  father  engaged  in  the  mercantile  bus- 
iness, and  our  subject  then  assisted  in   the 


store.  January  6,  1859,  he  was  married  in 
this  county  to  Miss  Mahulda  Irwin,  who  was 
born  in  this  counby,  and  daughter  of  William 
and  Jane  (Ellis)  Irwin,  both  residents  of  this 
county  at  present.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Galbraith 
have  six  children  living,  viz.:  Frankie  B., 
Jennie  L.,  Edith  L.,  Henry  M.,  Joseph  B. 
and  Matthew  M.-  September  15,  1861,  he 
enlisted  in  Company  I,  Forty-eighth  Illinois 
Volunteer  Infantry,  Capt.  A.  T.  Galbraith, 
Col.  I.  N.  Haynie.  He  served  till  August 
29,  1865,  when  the  company  was  mustered 
out.  He  had  served  through  all  the  offices 
of  the  company,  and  at  the  time  of  discharge 
was  Captain  of  the  company.  He  passed 
through  the  engagements  of  Fort  Donelson, 
Shiloh,  Vicksburg.  Jackson,  Miss.,  Lookout 
Mountain,  Mission  Ridge,  the  Atlanta  cam- 
paign, the  march  to  the  sea,  and  was  at  the 
grand  review  at  Washington.  After  return- 
ing from  the  service,  he  engaged  for  one 
year  in  the  mercantile  business  at  Johnson- 
ville,  and  in  1866  engaged  in  milling,  hav- 
a  grist  and  saw  mill  and  carding  machine. 
He  continued  in  the  milling  business  till 
1883,  when  he  sold  out,  and  is  now  engaged 
on  his  farm,  which  contains  115  acres,  most 
of  which  are  in  cultivation.  In  politics,  he  is 
a  stanch  Republican.  He  is  a  member  of  I. 
N.  Haynie  Post,  No.  333,  G.  A.  R.,  of  John- 
sonville,  also  of  the  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.  of  the 
same  place,  Lodge  No.  713;  also  to  Royal 
Arch  Chapter  of  Fairfield.  111.,  and  has  repre- 
sented his  lodge  in  the  Grand  Lodge  of  the 
State.  He  and  wife  are  members  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

DR.  WILLIAM  M.  JOHNSON,  physician, 
Johnsonville.  was  born  in  Gallatin  County, 
Tenn..  June  29,  1829,  and  is  the  son  of  W. 
B.  and  Matilda  (Ormand)  Johnson,  both  na- 
tives of  North  Carolina,  but  had  become  res- 
idents of  Tennessee  previous  to  marriage. 
In  1831,  they  emigrated  to  Jefferson  County, 


INDIAN'   PRAIRIE  TOWNSHIP. 


105 


111.,  and  it  was  there  both  died  about  1860. 
They  were  the  parents  of  seven  children,  sis 
of  whom  yet  survive.  Our  subject  was 
reared  on  his  father's  farm,  and  received  his 
common  school  education  in  the  schools  of 
Jefferson  County.  After  having  mastered 
the  common  branches,  he  began  teaching 
school,  and  continued  teaching  winters  and 
farming  during  the  summer  till  1854,  when 
he  commenced  the  study  of  medicine  under 
the  instructions  of  Dr.  J.  Fmst,  of  Jefferson 
County.  He  remained  with  Dr.  Frost  for 
one  year,  and  then  attended  two  courses  of 
lectures  at  the  American  Medical  College,  of 
Cincinnati,  Ohio,  and  has  since  followed  the 
allopathic  school  of  practice.  During  his 
first  vacation  from  medical  school,  he  began 
practicing  medicine  in  Jefferson  County,  and 
after  completing  his  course  continued  prac- 
tice at  the  same  location  till  1861,  when  he 
came  to  Johnsonville,  and  where  he  has  ever 
since  had  a  large  practice,  at  one  time  having 
as  high  as  '200  patients  under  his  care,  and 
has  booked  as  high  as  SI, 800  in  one  month's 
practice.  The  Doctor's  practice  has  been 
very  general,  and  has  extended  over  a  broad 
scope  of  territory,  and  in  his  profession  he 
has  ever  been  very  successful.  March  26, 
1857,  he  was  married  in  Wayno  County  to 
Miss  Mary  A.  Galbraith,  daughter  of  Wiley 
and  Elizabeth  (Harney)  Galbraith.  Dr.  and 
Mrs.  Johnson  have  eight  children — Theodore 
A.,  Laura  L.,  Halleck,  James  J.,  Idella  F., 
Charles  E.,  Lillie  B.  and  Katie  O.  The 
Doctor  is  a  member  of  Blue  Lodge,  A.  F.  & 
A.  M. ,  of  Johnsonville,  and  has  represented 
it  in  the  Grand  Lodge  of  the  State.  He  is 
also  a  member  of  the  Flora  Chapter  and  the 
Commandery  at  Olney,  and  of  the  Mt.  Ver 
non  Lodge,  I.  O.  O.  F.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  Wayne  County  Medical  Society,  and 
was  its  first  President  ;  also  a  member  of  the 
Centennial    Medical     Society    of    Southern 


Illinois,  and  of  the  State  Medical  Society, 
lb'  and  wife  are  members  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  In  political  matters,  he 
is  associated  with  the  Republican  party. 

MOSES  JONES,  fruit  grower,  P.  O.  John. 
sonville,  was  born  in  Letart  Falls,  Mason  Co., 
W.  Va.,  January  26,  1S1U,  a  son  of  Henry 
Jones,  a  native  of  Vermont.  Mr.  Jones  was 
married,  in  Virginia,  February  28,  1841,  to 
Miss  Amelia  A.,  daughter  of  Dr.  Shaug,  a  na- 
tive of  Virginia;  she  was  born  in  Meigs  Coun- 
ty, Ohio,  May  29,  1824.  This  union  has  been 
blessed  with  the  following-named  children: 
Junius  N.,  deceased;  Leonidas,  deceased; 
Alice  K.,  wife  of  J.  A.  Wagner,  of  Johnson- 
ville; Thomas  H. ;  Frances  M.,  deceased,  and 
Charles  S.  Mr.  Jones  also  reared  Mrs.  Abbie 
(Dyke)  Barney,  wife  of  Fletcher  N.  Barney, 
of  Englewood,  111.  Her  parents  had  died 
soon  after  coming  to  the  United  States  from 
England.  Mr.  Jones'  eldest  son,  Junius  N. , 
was  in  the  service  during  the  civil  war  for 
over  three  years,  and  during  the  time  lay 
eighteen  months  in  Southern  prisons.  In 
1880,  he  was  lost  north  of  North  Platte  River, 
Neb.  Supposed  to  have  been  killed  by  the 
Indians.  Junius  N.  was  married  to  Miss  Ab- 
bie Penn.  of  Shelby  County,  111.,  by  whom 
he  had  two  children,  viz. :  Frances  A.  and 
Homer.  Thomas  H,  who  now  has  taken 
charge  oi  the  orchard  for  Mr.  Jones,  was  ed- 
ucated in  Mt.  Union  College,  Ohio,  and  after- 
ward in  McKendree  College,  Lebanon, 
111.,  from  which  he  graduated  in  class  of 
1880,  and  in  1883  received  the  degreo  of  M. 
A.  For  some  years  he  was  a  successful 
teacher.  In  1881,  he  was  Associate  Princi- 
pal cif  the  Wayne  County  Normal,  with  Prof. 
West.  In  1882-83,  was  Principal  of  the 
Odin  Schools.  August  8,  1882,  he  was  mar- 
ried to  Miss  Laura  J.  Johnson,  daughter  of 
Dr.  William  Johnson,  of  Johnsonville.  One 
child  was  the  result  of  this  union,  viz.,  Shel- 


100 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


by.      He,  wife,  mother  and  brother  are  mem- 
bers of    the    Methodist    Episcopal    Church. 
Mr.  Moses  Jones  is  a  member  of  the  A.,  F. 
&  A.  M.     He   and  sons   are  members  of  the 
Republican    party.      Mr.  Jones  moved   from 
Virginia  to   Middleport,  Ohio,  in  1848,  and 
was    there    engaged   in    milling,    mercantile 
business,  and  also  as  a  Captain  of  a  packet 
on  the  Ohio  River.     In   1863,  he  removed  to 
Illinois,    and    bought   his    present    farm   of 
Samuel    Halliday,    father   of    the    Halliday 
Brothers,  of  Cairo.       Mr.   Jones  first    began 
farming,  but   afterward  turned  his  attention 
to  the  nursery  business,  and  then  to   fruit, 
having  at  one  time  2,000  peach  treeB',  but  on 
account    of    frequent    failures    he    gave   up 
peaches  and  began  the  cultivation  of  apples 
very  extensively,  and  now  has  an  orchard  of 
2,300  apple   trees   coming  into  bearing,  the 
yield  in  1883  being  about  5,000  bushels,  and 
this   will   be  very  largely    increased    as   the 
trees  grow  in  size;  and  they  are  also  making 
extensive  additions  to  the  orchard.     He  and 
his  son  have  experimented  on  about  sixty-five 
varieties  of  apples,  and  of  those  about  three 
varieties  of  winter   fruit  receive  their  atten- 
tion,   viz.:    Ben    Davis,    Rome   Beauty    and 
Winesap.      Mr.  Jones  has  done  much  to  de- 
velop the   fruit  industry  in  this  county,  and 
has  been  very  successful  in  his  enterprise. 

WARREN  A.  KARR,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Johnsonville,  was  born  in  Meigs  County, 
Ohio,  April  30,  1838,  to  Alexander  and 
Martha  (Jones)  Karr;  she  was  the  daughter 
of  Phillip  Jones,  the  originator  of  Mid- 
dleport, Ohio.  Tbe  Karr  family  are  of 
Scotch  origin,  and,  as  tradition  hands  it 
down,  the  original  ancestor  married  an 
Irishwoman,  and  came  to  America  pre- 
vious to  1776.  They  were  the  parents  of 
seven  sods,  all  of  whom  took  part  in  the 
Revolutionary  war,  and  were  afterward  front- 
iersmen  in   Ohio  and   Kentucky,   and  many 


by    the    name    were    killed   by  the  Indians. 
Karr's  Run,  in  Ohio,  was  named  in  honor  of  the 
family.     At  the  age  of  two  years,  our  subject 
was   left  an  orphan  through  the  death  of  his 
father;  his  mother   afterward  was  married  to 
the  Rev.    J.  W.  Bradley,  a   minister    in    the 
Christian    Church;    she    was    the   mother  of 
nine  children,  six  by  her  first  husband  and 
three   by  the  second,  only  five  of  the  fam- 
ily now  living.      Our  subject  was  reared  on  a 
farm   in  Ohio,  and  educated  in  the  common 
schools,  and  attended  the  first  free  school  in 
the  State.     April  12,  1860,  he  was  married, 
in  Wayne  County,  III. ,  to   Miss  Sarah  J.  Ir- 
win, a  daughter   of  William  Irwin,  who  has 
been  a  farmer   in  this   county  for  about  fifty 
years.      Mr.  and  Mrs.  Karr  have  three  chil- 
dren— Mattie,    William    A.    and    Cora.      In 
August,  1862,  he  entered  the  army  in  Com- 
pany C,  One  Hundred  and  Eleventh  Illinois 
Volunteer  Infantry,  Capt.  T.  O.  Pierce,  and 
served  till  being  mustered  out  June  17,  1865. 
He  was  in  the  engagements  of  Resaca,  Dal- 
las, Kenesaw    Mountain,    siege    of    Atlanta, 
Sherman's  march  to  the  sea,  charge  of  Fort 
McAllister,   etc.,  etc.      After  returning  from 
the   army,    he    followed    farming    for   three 
years,  and  then   engaged  in  railroading  for 
six  years,  being  car   inspector  and  repairer 
on  the  Mobile  &  Ohio  Railroad,  operating  in 
Tennessee    and  Kentucky.     Since  that  time 
he    has  been    engaged    in  farming;  he  now 
owns  130  acres  of  land,  most  of  which  are  in 
cultivation.       He    is    a    member    of    Xenia 
Lodge,  I.  O.  O.  F.     He  and  family  are  mem- 
bers of  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  in 
politics  he  is  Republican. 

JESSE  PENNINGTON,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Johsonville,  was  born  in  Monroe  County, 
Ky.,  March  18,  1823,  to  Jesse  and  Elizabeth 
(Penley)  Pennington,  natives  of  South  Caro- 
lina. From  Kentucky  they  emigrated  to 
White    County.    111.,    in    1827,   where    they 


INDIAN'    PRAIRIE  TOWNSHIP. 


107 


died.  In  spring  of  1S47,  our  subject  came 
to  Wayne  County,  111.,  and  for  a  few  years 
followed  farming;  he  then  engaged  in  saw- 
milling,  and  followed  that  occupation  for 
about  twenty-two  years.  Iu  INTO,  came  to  | 
his  present  farm,  and  has  made  the  improve- 
ments on  the  same.  November  -'■'>,  IS43,  he 
was  married,  in. White  County,  111.,  to  Eliz- 
abeth Widdows,  a  native  of  this  State,  her 
parents  having  come  from  Kentucky  at  an 
early  date.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Pennington  reared 
six  children  to  maturity,  two  sons  and  four 
daughters — John  W. .  who  died  in  1S63, 
while  a  soldier  in  the  Forty-eighth  Illinois 
Volunteer  Infantry ;  Emma  J.,  Nancy  E.  (de- 
ceased), Matilda  E.,  Jesse  R.  and  Mary  A. 
He  is  a  member  of  Johnsonville  Lodtje,  A., 
F.  &  A.  M.  He  and  wife  are  members  of 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  In  politics, 
he  is  Republican,  and  has  held  various  of- 
is  in  the  township. 

JAMES  H.  WEAVER,  farmer,  P.  O. 
•Johnsonville,  was  born  in  Monroe  County, 
Ohio,  April  14,  1843,  to  George  and  Elizabeth 
(Gauntz)  Weaver.  The  father  was  a  native 
of  Virginia,  born  May  8,  1798,  but  the 
mother  was  born  in  Pennsylvania,  of  Dutch 
origin.  May  28,  1806.  His  occupation  was 
mostly  that  of  farming,  but  by  trade  was  a 
cabinet-maker.  In  1856,  they  came  to 
Wayne  County,  111.,  and  made  their  home 
here  till  time  of  death.  His  death  occurred 
October  6,  1879,  and  hers  May  24,  1880. 
They  were  the  parents  of  nine  children, 
seven  of  whom  yet  survive.  Our  subject  is 
the  youngest  of  the  family,  and  was  brought 
to  this  county  when  about  thirteen  years  of 
age,  and  has  since  made  Wayne  County  his 
home.  His  occupation  has  been  that  of  farm- 
ing, and  in  this,  his  chosen  business,  he  has 
been  very  successful,  as  his  farm  contains 
310 acres  of  land,  most  of  which  are  iu  a  good 
state  of  cultivation,  and  improved  with  good 


farm  buildings,  etc.  He  is  also  engaged  iu 
the  raising  of  fruit.  February  21,  1S67,  he 
was  married,  in  this  county,  to  Miss  Hannah 
A.  Lennell,  who  was  born  in  Muskingum 
County,  Ohio,  daughter  of  John  W.  and 
Martha  (Painter)  Lennell.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Weaver  have  two  children  living,  and  two 
dead  —Ida  Belle,  Charles  K.  ideceased),  Lou 
Ella,  and  Raleigh  T.  (deceased).  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  Lodge  No.  713,  A.,  F.  &  A.  M  ,  of 
Johnsonville,  aud  Xeuia  Lodge  of  I.  O.  O. 
F.     He  votes  the  Republican  ticket. 

COL.  T.  L.  B.  WEEMS,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Johnsonville,  was  born  in  Marion  County, 
111.,  September  13,  1836,  to  Lewis  and  Mary 
(Mabry)  Weems,  both  of  whom  were  natives 
of  Tennessee,  but  their  families  having  come 
from  Maryland  and  Virginia,  and  of  Scotch- 
Irish  origin.  About  1828,  the  parents  of  our 
subject  came  to  Illinois  and  settled  iu  Marion 
County,  where  his  mother  died  about  1840, 
and  then  his  father  moved  to  Wayne  County 
and  died  in  1844,  having  beenmarriod  twice. 
By  the  first  wife,  the  mother  of  our  subject, 
one  son  and  one  daughter  were  born,  and 
by  the  second  marriage  one  son.  Col.  Weems 
is  now  the  only  surviving  member  of  the  fam- 
ily. Since  he  was  about  four  years  of  age, 
he  has  resided  in  this  county,  and  has  made 
farming  his  principal  occupation.  Septem- 
ber 15,  1861,  he  enlisted  in  Company  I, 
Forty  eighth  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,  as 
private.  He  served  four  years,  lacking  a  few 
days,  and  during  that  time  was  promoted  suc- 
cessively till,  at  the  close  of  war,  he  was 
Colonel  of  the  Forty-eighth  Illinois,  having 
received  five  commissions,  the  first  being 
immediately  after  the  battle  of  Shiloh,  and 
the  commission  states  that  it  was  for  merito- 
rious conduct.  July  28,  1864,  he  was 
wounded  while  at  Atlanta,  Ga. ,  and  from  the 
shot,  which  was  in  the  leg,  he  was  unable  to 
walk  for  six  months.      He  received  another 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


gunshot  wound,  in  the  face,  at  Duck  Branch, 
S.  C.  February,  1865.  In  all,  the  Colonel 
was  in  twenty-seven  battles,  besides  numer- 
ous skirmishes,  and  was  with  Sherman  on  the 
march  to  the  sea;  also  at  the  grand  review  at 
Washington.  Since  returning  from  the  serv- 
ice, he  has  been  on  his  present  farm,  where 
he  is  engaged  in  raising  of  fruit,  grass  and 
general  farming.  July  9,  1S65,  he  was  mar- 
ried in  this  county  to  Miss  Lura  Bradley,  who 
was  born  in  Meigs  County,  Ohio,  and  is  the 


daughter  of  Rev.  John  W.  Bradley,  who,  for 
thirtyjyears.  was  a  minister  of  the  Christian 
Church.  He  died  February  13,  1877.  Col. 
and  Mrs.  Weems  have  tliree  children  living 
and  one  dead.  viz..  Harry  L.,  George  M.. 
Bertha  May.  and  Lewis,  deceased.  The 
Colonel  is  member  of  I.  N.  Haynie  Post,  No. 
333,  G.  A.  R..  of  Johnsonville.  He  and  wife 
are  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  In  politics,  he  is  a  stanch  Republi- 
can, and  has  held  various  township  offices. 


LEECH    TOWNSHIP. 


W.  P.  CRAVENS,  farmer,  P.  O.  Burnt 
Prairie,  was  born  January  29.  1847,  in  White 
County,  111.,  son  of  T.  B.  Cravens,  a  native 
of  Kentucky,  and  a  farmer  by  occupation. 
He  came  to  White  County  in  an  early  day, 
and  is  yet  living  in  Liberty.  His  father  was 
Elijah  Cravens.  The  mother  of  our  subject 
was  Jane  (Rhodes)  Cravens,  a  native  of 
K  ntncky.  She  is  yet  living,  and  is  the 
mother  of  eleven  children.  Our  subject 
went  to  school  in  White  County.  In  1871, 
he  went  to  Osage  Mission,  Kan. ,  near  which 
place  he  was  joined  in  matrimony  to  Sue 
Paffenbarger,  a  native  of  Ohio,  born  in  1848. 
She  is  a  daughter  of  George  W.  Paffenbar- 
ger, a  native  of  Pennsylvania.  Mrs.  Cra- 
vens is  the  mother  of  four  children  now  liv- 
ing, viz. :  Leota,  Minnie.  Will  B.  and  Cloyd 
W.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Cravens  are  religiously 
connected  with  the  M.  E.  Church.  He  has 
a  farm  of  eighty  acres,  which  he  keeps  in  a 
high  state  of  cultivation.  He  has  been 
Township  Collector  for  two  terms,  and  Town- 
ship Assessor  one  term.  The  A. ,  F.  A;  A.  M 
and  also  the  A.  O.  TJ.  W.  fraternities  claim 
him   as  one  of   their  active  members.      Mr. 


Cravens  may  be  classed  among  the  most   in- 
telligent citizens  of  Leech  Township. 

JOHN  J.  FUNKHOUSER,  farmer.  P.  O. 
Burnt  Prairie,  was  born  in  this  township  on 
November  5,  1  S4*2.  and  is  a  son  of  Preston 
L.  and  Mary  (Stewart)  Funkhouser.  The 
grandfather  of  our  subject  was  John  Funk- 
houser, who  was  a  native  of  Kentucky,  but 
was  of  Old  Virginia  stock,  and  was  related  to 
the  family  of  Gen.  Lee.  He  married  Eliza- 
beth Newman,  also  a  native  of  that  State, 
and  then  (JSI61  came  to  Wayne  County. 
He  brought  with  him  sixteen  negro  slaves, 
which  he  afterward  freed,  upon  the  admis- 
sion of  Illinois  into  the  Union  as  a  State.* 
He  lived  in  this  county  for  upward  of  twen- 
ty-five years,  and  then  went  to  Effingham 
County,  where  both  he  and  his  wife  died  at 
a  good  old  age.  The  father  of  our  subject 
was  born  near  Bowling  Green,  Ky. .  on  Octo- 
ber 6,  1815,  and  was  not  quite  a  year  old 
when  his  father  moved  to  this  county.  He 
attended  the  old  subscription  schools,  and  in 
early  life  gave  his  attention  to  farming. 
starting  with  twenty  acres.  He  soon  amassed 
a  verv  large  bodv  of  land,  and  at  the  time  of 


LEECH  TOWNSHIP. 


109 


his  death  owned  about  1,400  acres.     He  also 
bought  corn  and  hogs  for  the  New  Orleans 
market,  and  would  ship  his  produce   by  flat- 
boat  to  destination.      He  would  supervise  the 
matter  himself,  and  often  made  the  journey 
himself.      He.  assisted  by  Thomas  McKnight 
and  M.  M.  Wheeler,  made  the  first  flat-boat 
that  ever  deseendel  the  Wabash   from  this 
part  of   the  country.      He  would   make  from 
three  to  four  trips  a  year,  and  made  it  quite 
profitable.      In   1^4",  he   commenced   to  sell 
goods  at   Burnt   Prairie,    and    followed    the 
mercantile    business    until    1S»33.    when    his 
store  was  burned  by  outlaws  from  Kentucky. 
While   in  business   in  this  county,  he  sold 
more  goods  than   any  other   man  in  it     In 
every  way  he  was  in  his  day  one  of  the  fore- 
most   men    of    the    county.       Among    other 
things  worthy  of  note   concerning  him  was 
the  fact  that  he  built  the  first  brick  house  in 
the  county   in   1830.      Starting    from  but  a 
very  small  farm,  he  was   at  one  time  said  to 
be  the  largest  land-owner  in  the  county.    He 
was  a  member  of  the  Republican  party,  but 
was    no    office   seeker   or   holder.      He   was. 
however,  deeply  esteemed  by  his  fellow-citi- 
zens, and  his  demise  was  deeply  mourned  by 
them.      He  breathed  his  last  at   his  home  in 
Burnt   Prairie  on  May  22,  1STT.  and  was  at 
the  time  of  his  death  a  member  of   the  Cum- 
berland Presbyterian  Church.     The  mother 
of  our  subject  was  born  in  Scotland   in  1S16. 
and  was  a   daughter  of  Alexander  and  Mary 
i Steward)  Stewart,  also   natives  of  Scotland. 
She  is  yet  living  in  Burnt  Prairie,  and  is  the 
mother  of  four  living  children,  viz. :  John  J. 
(our   subject  i,   Adeline  Hughey,  Ales.   M.  la 
lawyer  iu  St.  Louis),  and  Alice  G.  Roy.    The 
common  schools  of  this  county  furnished  our 
subject    his    means    of    education,    and    his 
whole  life  here  has  been  devoted  to  the  till- 
ing of  the  soil,    and  at   present    owns    540 
acres  of  land.      Mr.  Funkhouser  was  married 


in  Knoxville,  Tenn.,  to  Hattie  McCraughey. 
This  lady  died  in  IS'jJ.  and  he  was  after- 
ward ruarrie  1  to  Miss  Ella  R.  Skeavington.  a 
daughter  of  Joseph  and  Eliza  i  Walker  I 
Skeavington.  natives  of  Edwards  County. 
111.,  but  of  English  descent.  This  lady  was 
born  in  ISo'J.,  and  is  the  mother  of  five  chil- 
dren,   viz.:     Hattie    A.     Bertha,    Mary    E.. 

■  jn  L.  and  Lucy.     On  Augus: 
our  subject  enlisted   in   Company  A.  of  the 
Ninety-eighth    Illinois   Volunteer    Infantry. 
Capt.    E.    P.  Turner.     Enlisting  as  private, 
after  three  month-' 

to  Adjutant  of  the  regiment,  and  at  the  end 
of  sis  months  was  elected  Captain.  In  June, 
.  the  regiment  was  mounted,  and  he 
served  up  until  January.  1S»35.  when  he  was 
hurt  by  his  horse  falling  on  him,  and  he  was 
honorably  discharged.  Among  the  battles  in 
which  he  participated  were  those  of  Stone 
River,  Chickamau_'i.  Mission  Ridge  and  At- 
lanta campaign,  besides  many  smaller  skir- 
mishes. Both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  F.  are  members 
of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church.  He 
is   a   member   of   Burnt   Prairie  Lodge.  N 

18,  A..  F.  A:  A.  M.  He  is  at  present  serv- 
ing as  Township  Supervisor.  In  politics,  he 
i-  a  Democrat. 

MRS.     ELIZABETH     HARRIS.     Burnt 
Prairie,  was  born  August  16,  1822,  in  Breck- 
inridge County.   Ky.      She  is  a  daughter  of 
Samuel    Shrewsbury,    a  native    of  Virginia. 
He  came  to  Wayne  County.  111..  January  14. 
1M1.  and,  after  raising  one  crop,  mov 
White  County,  where  he  died.      His  father, 
Dabney   Shrewsbury  was  born  and    di 
Virginia.     The  mother  of   our  subject,  Polly 
t  Kurrens  i  Shrewsbury,  was  a  native  of  North 
Carolina.      She  died  in  Wayne  County,  leav- 
ing four  children — Elizabeth  lour  sub. 
Minerva  Palmer.  Sfarj    Meeks  and  Nat.       3 
Harlan.      Our    subject    was    reared   iu 
tacky.      She  came  to  Illinois  with  her  par- 


110 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


ents,  and  was  married  December  15,  1842,  in 
White  County,  to  Mr.  Lemuel  Hatch  Harris, 
youngest  child  of  Isaac  Harris,  one  of  Wayne 
County's  oldest  and  most  worthy  pioneers, 
who  came  here  in  1814.  He  first  settled  in 
the  southern  part  of  Illinois  in  1S12,  but 
when  the  war  broke  out  that  year,  and  to  the 
dangers  of  wild  beasts  who  inhabited  the 
dark  forest  was  added  the  greater  danger 
from  the  still  wilder  men  of  the  woods,  the 
prowling,  treacherous  Indian,  Mr.  Isaac  Har- 
ris deemed  it  beBt  to  move  back  to  Kentucky, 
from  where  he  entered  the  army  as  a  volun- 
teer, and  participated  in  many  thrilling 
scenes  and  famous  battles,  in  what  is  known 
in  history  as  the  war  of  1812.  With  the 
return  of  peace  came  the  longing  for  pioneer 
life  for  which  nature  had  so  well  endowed 
him.  and  having  heard  of  the  fertile  region 
on  the  Wabash,  he  removed  his  family  to 
what  was  afterward  called  Wayne  County. 
Here  he  reared  his  family,  and  finally  passed 
away  to  that  better  land  from  whose  bourn 
no  traveler  returns.  His  son,  L.  H.  Harris, 
who  married  our  subject,  was  a  farmer  by 
occupation,  owning  at  his  death  360  acres  of 
land.  He  is  the  father  of  thirteen  children, 
of  whom  ten  are  now  living — Mary  J.  Mur- 
phy. James  L. ,  Rosan,  Indiana  S.,  Lucy  P., 
Wilson  B.,  Sarah  I.,  Emeline  D.  Simpson, 
Martha  Ida.  Eliza  E.  Mr.  Harris  died  in 
this  county.  His  memory  is  cherished  by  all 
who  came  in  contact  with  him.  The  whole 
family  are  members  of  the  Missionary  Bap- 
tist Church. 

NATHAN  MERITT,  farmer.  P.  O.  Burnt 
Prairie,  was  born  November  6,  1819,  in  An- 
derson County,  S.  C.  He  is  a  son  of  Alfred 
Mcritt.  a  native  of  Granville  County,  N.  C, 
horn  August  7,  1790.  He  died  in  1868  in  this 
county.  He  participated  in  the  war  of  1812, 
being  stationed  almost  three  years  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Savannah  River.      He  farmed 


twenty-three  years  in  Tennessee,  and  followed 
that  vocation  in  this  county,  to  which  he 
came  in  1842  to  claim  his  land  claim  for 
serving  as  a  soldier.  His  father,  Steven 
Meritt,  was  of  Welsh  descent,  a  native  of 
Virginia  and  a  soldier  in  the  Revolutionary 
war,  fighting  mostly  under  Gen.  Greene  in 
South  Carolina.  He  was  wounded  in  the 
battle  at  Cowpens,  but  never  would  draw  a 
pension.  He  died  in  West  Tennessee.  His 
wife's  name  was  Winnie  Rose,  born  in  Gran- 
ville County,  N.  C,  of  Irish  descent.  The 
mother  of  our  subject  was  Susan  How- 
ard, born  May  12,  1799,  in  South  Caro- 
lina. She  died  here  in  1847.  She  was 
a  daughter  of  Jonathan  and  Anna  (Gibbs) 
Howard,  natives  of  North  Carolina.  She 
was  the  mother  of  nine  children.  Our  sub- 
ject went  to  the  old-fashioned  subscription 
schools,  which  were  so  common  in  Tennessee, 
and  who  were  well  known,  even  to  the  pio- 
neers of  Wayne  County.  After  living  twen- 
ty years  in  Tennessee,  Mr.  Meritt  emigrated  j 
to  Illinois  in  1840.  and  on  November  18,  the  < 
following  year,  was  married  to  Mrs.  Ferriba 
McLin,  born  February  12,  1815,  in  Union 
County,  Ky.  She  is  yet  living,  the  mother 
of  seven  children,  of  whom  four  are  now  liv- 
ing, viz.:  William.  Winfield.  Winston,  and 
Savannah,  wife  of  Alex  D.  Stewart.  Mrs 
Ferriba  Meritt  was  a  daughter  of  Ephraim 
Meritt,  one  of  Wayne  County's  oldest  and 
well-known  pioneers,  who  came  here  August 
3,  1816,  a  half-hour  before  sundown,  as  Un- 
cle George  Meritt  says,  who  ought  to  know, 
as  ho  is  Mrs.  Meritt's  oldest  brother,  and  was 
born  January  30,  1799.  and  is  probably  the 
oldest  living  pioneer  in  the  county.  Eph- 
raim Moritt  was  born  in  Granville  County, 
N.  C. .  where  he  married  Elizabeth  Mickle- 
john,  of  English  descent.  Her  father  was 
born  in  England,  and  was  an  officer  of  high 
standing  in  the  Episcopalian  Church.      Our 


LEECH  TOWNSHIP. 


in 


subject  is  a  self-made  man  in  every  respect, 
and  one  of  the  best  read  men  in  this  part  of 
Wayne  County.  In  1841,  he  bought  40 
acres,  at  $3.75  per  acre,  to  which  he  added 
from  time  to  time,  till  he  owned  440  acres 
which  he  divided  among  his  four  children, 
who  are  living  around  him.  He  only  re- 
tained the  old  homestead  of  80  acres.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Meritt  arc  members  of  the  Cum- 
berland Presbyterian  Church.  He  has  been 
in  some  township  or  school  office  pretty  much 
all  his  life;  was  Justice  of  the  Peace  twenty- 
four  years;  was  the  first  Supervisor  in  the 
county  after  it  was  organized,  and  has  filled 
several  terms  since.  Politically,  he  holds 
with  the  Republican  party. 

DR.  N.  P.  MERRIT,  physician,  Wabash, 
was  born  December  20,  L826,  in  Breckin- 
ridge County.  Ky.  His  father  was  the  cele- 
brated Dr.  John  W.  Merrit,  a  native  of  Vir- 
ginia. He  died  in  Sullivan,  Ind.  He  re- 
ceived his  medical  education  in  St.  Louis, 
Mo.,  in  1831,  following  his  profession  in  Il- 
linois, Kentucky,  and  Indianapolis,  Ind.  It 
may  bo  said  with  truth  that  Dr.  John  W. 
Merrit  was  one  of  the  most  noted  physicians 
in  his  day,  making  chronic  diseases  a  special- 
ty. The  grandfather  of  our  subject  was  Na- 
thaniel P.  Merrit,  a  native  of  South  Caroli- 
na, and  a  farmer  by  occupation.  He  died  in 
Seymour.  Jackson  County,  Ind.  The  great 
grandfather  of  Dr.  Merrit  was  Stephen  Mer- 
rit, who  emigrated  from  South  Carolina  to 
Tennessee,  where  he  farmed  with  success. 
Dr.  Merrit's  mother  was  Lucretia  (Pyle) 
Merrit,  a  native  of  Maryland,  She  died  in 
183S,  in  Illinois.  She  was  a  daughter  of 
Col.  William  Pyle,  a  native  of  Scotland,  as 
was  also  his  wife.  Col.  Pyle  was  an  officor 
on  George  Washington's  staff  in  the  Revolu- 
tionary war.  In  one  of  the  many  engage- 
ments in  which  he  participated,  he  had  his 
queue  shot  off,  and  for  many  years  the  lock 


of  hair  was  kept  as  a  relic  in  the  Pyle  family. 
Mrs.  Lucretia  Pvle  was  the  mother  of  eight 
children,  of  whom  our  subject  is  the  only  one 
living.  He  was  educated  in  Shelbyville,  Ky., 
receiving  his  medical  education  in  Indianap 
olis.  Ind.,  and  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  where  he 
graduated  in  1877.  The  Doctor  followed  his 
profession  in  Greene  County,  Ind.,  and  in 
Wayne  County,  to  which  he  came  in  1871, 
enjoying  a  large  practice  and  the  esteem  of 
the  people  in  the  surrounding  counties,  espe 
oially  in  Edwards  County.  In  the  summer 
of  1864,  when  the  war  cloud  was  hanging 
over  this  beautiful  country,  Dr.  Merrit  of- 
fered his  services,  and  was  appointed  Assist 
ant  Surgeon,  by  Gov.  Morton,  to  the  Thirty- 
first  Regiment  of  Indiana  Volunteer  Infantry, 
staying  with  the  regiment  till  December  8, 
1865,  when  it,  was  mustered  out  in  Victoria. 
Texas,  after  which  he  returned  homo  and  re- 
sumed the  practice  of  his  noble  profession, 
having  enriched  his  experience  by  his  army 
service.  The  Doctor  was  married  twice.  His 
first  wife,  Eliza  Cheneoworth,  died,  leavinc 
rive  children,  viz.:  Melville.  Mary,  Susan, 
Robert,  and  Grace,  deceased.  The  Doctor's 
present  wife,  Nellie  (Nicholson)  Merritt,  born 
March  27,  1845,  in  Kentucky,  is  the  daughter 
of  Ludwick  and  Paulina  (Warmouth)  Nich- 
olson,  Three  children  are  the  result  of  this 
hippy  union,  viz.:  James  F.,  Morris  F.  and 
French  L9  Ford.  The  Doctor  is  an  I.  O.  O. 
F.,  Opell  Lodge,  No.  99.  He  is  a  Repub- 
lican, and  served  the  people  in  the  capacity  of 
Township  Supervisor. 

GEORGE  W.  ODELL.  farmer,  P.  O 
Burnt  Prairie.  Aanag  the  wide  awake 
young  farmers  of  Wayne  County  wo  class  him 
whose  name  heads  this  sketch.  He  was  born 
October  1  1  L852,  in  this  county;  his  father, 
Balus  Odell,  was  a  native  of  Kentucky,  where 
he  learned  tho  blacksmith  trade.  It  is  sup- 
posed that  he  made  the  first  steel  plow  in  this 


112 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


county,  which  event  was  the  wonder  of  the 
neighborhood  for  months.  He  came  here  be- 
fore the  Black  Hawk  war,  and  is  yet  living  in 
this  county,  where  he  at  one  time  owned 
several  hundred  acres,  for  a  great  part  of  which 
he  only  paid  12.^  cents  per  acre.  He  has 
some  time  ago  given  the  land  to  his  children. 
He  is  a  good  example  of  a  self-made  man, 
having  carried  on  his  back  all  his  earthly 
possessions  to  his  new  home  at  his  marriage. 
The  mother  of  our  subject  was  Elizabeth 
(Carter)  Odell.  a  native  of  this  county,  where 
she  also  died.  She  is  a  daughter  of  Joseph 
Carter,  and  is  the  mother  of  thirteen  chil- 
dren, of  whom  ten  are  now  living — John  E  , 
Joseph  D.,  George  W.,  Calvin,  Sally  A. 
Funkhouser,  Emeline  Short,  Nancy  E.  Hun- 
singer,  Mary  J.  Colbert,  Maggie  Hunsinger. 
Eliza  Atteberry.  Our  subject  was  educated 
in  the  common  schools  of  this  county.  Hero 
he  farmed,  and  was  also  married,  March  15, 
1ST!,  to  Miss  Alfarata  Hunsinger,  born  No- 
vember 12,  1857.  She  is  a  daughter  of  Jo- 
seph and  Emily  (Kuykendall)  Hunsinger, 
both  natives  of  Illinois.  Joseph  Hunsinger's 
father,  John  Hunsinger,  married  Nancy  Crow- 
der,  a  native  of  Pennsylvania.  Airs.  Emily 
(Kuykendall)  Hunsinger's  father,  named 
Henry  Kuykendall,  married  Karenhappuch 
Greathouse,  a  native  of  Indiana.  She  is  the 
only  one  now  living  of  the  grandparents,  and 
although  aged  threescore  and  ten,  she  car- 
ries her  age  well,  and  is  quite  strong  and 
active  for  a  woman  of  her  age.  She  is  the 
mother  of  three  children — Anna  G.,  born 
April  25,  1875;  Mary  M.,  born  October  31, 
1878;  and  Laura  E.,  bom  November  9,  1881. 
Mr.  Odell  is  a  member  of  the  A.  O.  U.  W. 
fraternity,  Fairfield  Lodge.  No.  65.  He  has 
a  farm  of  120  acres,  which  is  well-improved. 
He  has  been  School  Treasurer  seven  years, 
Tax  Collector  three  terms  and  Township 
Supervisor  two  terms. 


WILLIAM  SCOTT,  blacksmith,  Wabash, 
was  born  August  25,  1826,  in  Albion,  Ed- 
wards County,  111.  He  is  a  son  of  William 
Scott.,  Sr.,  a  native  of  New  York;  he  was  a 
blacksmith  by  occupation,  and  died  in  this 
county.  He  was  one  of  the  first  settlers  of 
Edwards  County,  where  he  lived  a  number  of 
years  before  he  came  to  Wayne  County.  At 
the  age  of  sixteen,  he  offered  his  services  as 
a  soldier  in  the  Revolutionary  war,  and 
fought  gallantly  for  the  cause  of  freedom. 
The  mother  of  our  subject  was  Jane  (Ewing) 
Scott,  a  native  of  Virginia.  She  died  in  this 
county,  being  the  mother  of  fourteen  chil- 
dren, of  whom  our  subject  is  the  only  one 
living.  He  was  educated  in  Albion,  111., 
where  he  also  learned  the  blacksmith  trade, 
partly  with  his  father,  and  partly  with 
George  Johns.  This  occupation  he  has  fol- 
lowed ever  since,  and  became  quite  an  expert 
in  many  branches  of  his  vocation.  He  lived 
a  good  part  of  his  early  life  alternately  in  this 
and  Edwards  County,  but  did  not  settle  here 
permanently  till  1857.  On  the  8th  day  of 
June,  1848,  Mr.  Scott  was  married  to  Miss 
Narcissa  Hunt,  born  September  27,  1832,  in 
Edwards  County,  111.;  her  father,  Thomas 
Hunt,  was  a  native  of  Kentucky,  while  her 
mother,  Mary  (Edmonson)  Hunt,  was  a  native 
of  Indiana.  Five  children  now  living  are  the 
result  of  this  happy  union — Alfred  W.,  born 
October  30,  1849,  is  married  to  Cynthia  Cop- 
land; Laura,  born  February  7,  1851,  is  the 
wife  of  John  Straup;  Emma,  wife  of  Nathan 
Dempsey,  was  born  December  19,  1853;  Mi- 
netta,  wife  of  Henry  T.  Skiner,  was  born 
January  14,  1856;  Francis  E.,  who  married 
Parthenia  Copland,  was  born  March  9,  1858. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Scott  are  religiously  connected 
with  the  Christian  Church,  and  he  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  G.  A.  R.,  to  which  membership  he 
was  entitled  by  his  military  career,  which  is 
as  follows:  In  the  spring  of  1864,   Mr.  Scott 


MASSILLON  TOWNSHIP. 


LIS 


enlisted  in  the  One  Hundred  and  Thirty-sixth 
Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,  Company  H, 
Capt.  W.  H.  Jones.  After  a  six  months'  serv- 
ice, he  returned  home,  having  been  stationed 
mostly  in  Columbus.  Ky..  but  also  partici- 
pating in  different  engagements. 

CAEL  C.  A.  V7INZENBI  RGER,  farmer, 
P.  0.  Burnt  Prairie,  was  born  June  27,  1 82  1 . 
in  Goeppingen,  Wurtemberg,  Germany;  his 
father,  Carl  C.  Winzenburger,  was  also  a 
native  of  Germany,  where  he  died;  he  was 
in  the  employ  of  the  German  Treasury  De- 
partment. The  mother  of  our  subject  was 
Friederika  (Langbeini.  a  native  of  Ger- 
many, where  Bhe  died.  She  was  the  mother 
of  three  children— Catharina.  Friederika  and 
Carl  C.  A.,  our  subject,  who  was  educated 
in  Germany,  where  he  carried  on  a  large 
business,  and  was  also  married,  in  1850,  to 
Margaret:!  Ziegler,  who  died  there,  leaving 
one  son,    Edward  L.     His  second  wife  was 


Susannah  Ziegler,  who  died,  leaving  one 
daughter,  Margareta,  wife  of  Henry  Kieser. 
Our  subject's  present  wife  was  a  Mrs.  Jean- 
nette  A.  Le  Rue,  a  daughter  of  Carl  Xavier 
Forstmayer,  a  native  of  Fortsheim,  Germany. 
She  is  yet  living;  her  first  husband  was  of 
French  descent,  and  she  yet  talks  the  French 
language  very  fluently;  her  father,  Carl 
Xavier  Forstmayer,  was  a  man  of  rare  talents, 
and  an  able  business  man;  he  was  married  to 
Charlotte  L.  Marischsall,  who  was  a  daughter 
of  a  Madame  Violoe,  whose  descendants  are 
heirs  of  a  large  fortune.  Mr.  Winzenburger 
came  to  this  country  in  186-1,  and  in  the 
southeast  corner  of  Leech  Township  bought 
320  acres  of  land,  at  $10  per  acre,  which  he 
mainly  improved,  and  keeps  in  a  high  state 
of  cultivation.  He  is  a  man  of  good,  sound 
sense,  independent  in  political  matters,  and 
believes  to  do  to  others  as  you  wish  to  have 
them  do  to  you. 


MASSILLON  TOWNSHIP. 


CREWS  FAMILY.  No  family  in  Wayne 
County  has  been  more  prominently  identi- 
fied with  the  progress,  prosperity  and  the 
general  welfare  of  the  whole  community, 
from  the  first  settlement  to  the  present  time, 
than  the  one  mentioned  at  he  head  of  this 
sketch.  Very  much  might  be  said  in  praise 
if  it  were  necessary,  but  it  is  sufficient  to 
-ay  that  the  older  members  invariably  cast 
their  influence  on  the  side  of  morality,  right, 
the  laws  i  f  the  land,  and,  in  fact,  all  that 
I  citizens  are  expected  or  required  to  do. 
John  and  Richard  Crews,  two  brothers,  came 
from  England,  and  are  supposed  to  have 
settled  in  Virginia  in  the  "lone,  long  asro." 
Richard  had  sons — Peter,  Richard.  John,  Jo- 


siah  and  William.  Richard,  Jr.,  settled  in 
Kentucky  in  1814.  Peter's  sons  were  An- 
drew, James.  Jesse,  and  one  other  name  un- 
known. Rev.  Hooper  Crews  was  the  son  of 
James.  Andrew  was  born  in  Halifax  Coun- 
ty, Va.;  removed  first  to  the  Cumberland 
River  region  in  Tennessee,  then  to  Ken- 
tucky, and  finally  to  Wayne  County,  III.,  in 
1817,  and  settled  on  Section  31,  in  Massillon 
Township,  in  1818,  where  he  died  about 
L830,  and  was  buried  at  the  Enoch  Reach 
Cemetory.  He  is  described  as  a  most  excel- 
lent man,  affable,  pleasant  and  gentlemanly. 
with  a  keen  and  piercing  black  eye  of 
great  intensity,  with  that  peculiar  magnetism 
about  him    that    would  attract  arid  make  Easl 


114 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


friends  of  all  who  came  in  contact  with  him, 
and  a  grace  and  ease  of  manner  that  would 
make  the  most  timid  feel  comfortable  and  at 
home  in  his  presence.  Being  severely  afflict- 
ed for  many  weary  years  previous  to  his 
death  with  rheumatism,  and  unable  to  move 
about  with  comfort,  he  invited  the  different 
Christian  denominations  to  worship  at  his 
house,  and  in  his  dwelling  was  organized  the 
first  Christian  society,  so  far  as  is  now  known, 
in  the  county.  He  and  his  family  were 
Methodists  when  they  came  to  the  country. 
His  children  were  Matthew,  Peter  and  James 
(twins),  Nancy  (Monroe),  William  and  Jesse 
(twins),  and  Polly  (Farley).  Matthew  Crews 
was  born  in  Halifax  County,  Va.,  January  13, 
1794,  and  came  to  Wayne  County  in  1829. 
He  enlisted  as  a  soldier  in  the  war  of  1812, 
but  was  debarred  from  the  active  field  by 
the  early  termination  of  hostilities.  On  the 
14th  day  of  May,  1817,  he  was  married  to 
Mary  Blair,  in  Kentucky,  to  whom  were 
born  William,  Andrew,  Nancy  (Vandeveer), 
Alexander  and  James.  He  was,  after  the 
death  of  Mary,  again  married,  August  19, 
1828,  to  Elizabeth  Owen,  and  to  them  were 
born  Mary,  Tabitha  (Lane),  Hooper  (who 
died  in  the  army),  Caleb,  Sarah  (Heidinger) 
and  Barton  R.  In  many  respects  Matthew 
Crews  was  a  remarkable  man.  Those  who 
were  favored  with  an  intimate  acquaintance 
with  him  found  him  to  be  gentle,  kind- 
hearted,  affable  and  sincere.  A  true  friend, 
he  could  be  trusted  with  implicit  confidence, 
and  relied  upon  with  a  certainty  that  was 
never  questioned.  His  stern  integrity,  ap- 
plied with  such  unvarying  certainty  to  his 
business  affairs,  was  none  the  less  prominent 
in  his  moral  and  religious  sentiments;  and 
while  fulfilling  the  law  to  the  very  letter 
himself,  he  expected  others  to  do  the  same 
to  the  extent  of  their  ability.  Among  that 
class    of     people    who    consider    themselves 


"  privileged  characters,"  and  who  aim,  as  far 
as  possible,  to  live  off  the  property  of  honest 
and  industrious  citizens  so  long  as  they  can 
escape  the  meshes  of  the  law,  he  was  not 
liked.  How  could  it  be  otherwise?  The 
very  elements  in  the  makeup  of  such  society 
"  beats"  will  forever  preclude  them  from  en- 
tertaining just  views  of  men  who  check  them 
in  their  petty  peculations.  Verily,  Matthew 
Crews  may  be  classed  as  of  the  "  salt  of  the 
earth,"  a  race  of  men  never  popular  with  bad 
men,,  but  who  stand,  indeed,  as  fortresses  to 
our  moral  civilization,  and  without  whom  the 
world  would  grow  worse  every  day.  Very 
characteristic  of  the  man  were  his  transac- 
tions in  corn,  during  the  memorable  year  of 
the  great  drought,  in  18o4.  When  the  wealthy 
came  to  him  for  corn,  he  sent  them  away 
with  the  remark,  "  There  are  enough  poor 
people,  who  cannot  go  to  a  distance,  to  con- 
sume all  the  corn  I  have,  and  you  who  are 
able  to  go  farther  must  do  so. "  After  a  very 
useful  life,  in  which  by  industry  and  econ- 
omy he  had  amassed  a  handsome  property, 
this  good  man  passed  away.  September  2. 
1861,  honored  and  esteemed  by  all  good  men 
and  regretted  as  an  irreparable  loss  to  the 
community. 

ELIZABETH  CREWS.  Among  the  most 
prominent  and  worthy  matrons  with  which 
the  past  generation  has  favored  the  present, 
may  be  justly  mentioned  the  one  of  whom 
we  are  now  writing,  familiarly  known  as 
"  Aunt  Betsey  Crews. ''  Although  more  than 
fourscore  years  have  winged  their  unceasing 
flight  into  the  past  since  her  advent  into  the 
world,  she  is  remarkably  well  preserved  men- 
tally and  physically,  remembering  events  of 
the  past  with  a  certainty  that  is  truly  won- 
derful. Elizabeth,  the  wife  of  Matthew  Crews, 
and  daughter  of  Williain  and  Tabitha 
i(  rews)  Owen,  was  born  January  25,  1801, 
in    Halifax   County,  Va. :  removed  with  her 


MASSILLON   TOWNSHIP. 


;ir> 


parents  to  Barren  County,  Ky.,  in  1807,  and 
was  married  August  19,  1828,  and  came  to 
Massillon  Township,  Wayne  County,  111.,  in 
1829.  William  the  son  of  David  Owen, 
was  born  in  Halifax  County,  Va.,  and  served 
aa  a  soldier  in  the  army  of  the  Revolutionary 
war.  He  married  Tabitha,  daughter  of 
Richard  and  Sarah  (Owen)  Crews,  to  whom 
were  born  Richard,  Sarah  (Nation),  John, 
Nancy,  Polly.  David,  Elizabeth  our  subject, 
Martha  (Chapman),  James  C,  Tabitha 
(Brown).  William's  brothers  were  John, 
Walter,  James  and   Jesse. 

JAMES  E.  LANE,  son  of  James  and  Ta- 
bitha (Crews)  Lane,  was  born  in  Massillon 
Township,  Wayne  County,  111.,  November  14, 
1854,  and  was  married.  March  26,  1N74.  to 
Miss  Mary  E..  daughter  of  Zadoc  C.  and 
Nancy  E.  Roberts.  James.  Sr. .  was  the  son  of 
Leven  Lane,  and  the  uncle  of  Gov.  Henry 
C.  Warmouth.  of  Louisiana.  (For  Robert's 
family  see  sketches  of  Jasper  Township.) 
Subject  has  had  good  educational  advantages 
and  possesses  good  business  qualifications.  He 
is  by  profession  a  farmer,  owning  200  acres 
of  very  fertile,  land  on  the  Little  Wabash 
bluffs  and  bottom.  120  of  which  are  in  tine 
state  of  cultivation.  His  pleasant  home  is 
situated  on  the  southwest  quarter  of  the 
northwest  quarter  of  Section  31,  in  Massil- 
lon Township,  a  place  evidently  noted  in 
aboriginal  times.  Here,  in  the  remote  past,  the 
buffalo  had  his  famous  trail,  traces  of  which 
are  still  discernible,  as  it  starts  on  the  river 
blurt",  bearing  off  in  a  northwesterly  direc- 
tion, along  which  many  bones  lay  bleaching 
at  the  time  the  dominant  race  took  possession 
of  the  country.  Here,  also,  are  evidences  of 
an  Indian  village,  where  interesting  relic,. 
in  considerable  abundance  yet  remain.  In 
addition  to  the  other  natural  advantages  of 
this  choice  farm,  eighteen  gurgling  springs 
offer  up  their  opulence  and  wealth  of  water, 


with  unfailing  certainty  in  the  driest  season 
of  the  driest  year.  This  place  is  so  situated 
adjacent,  to  the  river  bottoms  that  unlimited 
pasturage  for  stock  can  be  had  for  years  to 
come.  Subject  is  a  successful  farmer,  tak- 
ing life  easy,  and  certainly  has  a  bright  future 
before  him. 

CURTIS  A.  McLIN,  farmer,  P.  O.  Fair- 
field, son  of  David  P.  and  Agnes  (Wilson) 
McLin,  was  born  is  Jasper  Township,  De- 
cember 3,  1849,  and  was  married,  December 
16,  1869,  to  Miss  Salina,  daughter  of  John 
and  Pamelia  (Price)  Borah,  and  to  them  were 
born  seven  children,  six  of  whom  were  now 
living,  viz.:  Pamelia,  February  6,  1871; 
Agnes  E.,  January  18,  1873;  Larkin  A.,  No- 
vember 13,  1874;  Eva  E.,  March  13,1877; 
Cara  M.,  March  30,  1879,  and  Thomas  G., 
April  17,  1882.  David  P.,  son  of  William 
A.,  was  born  in  Tennessee,  of  Scotch-Irish 
descent,  December  30,  1*13.  Came  to  Illi- 
nois about  1825.  married,  October  19,  1837, 
and  died  October  12,  1851.  Agnes  M., 
daughter  of  Thomas  Wilson,  was  born  in 
Kentucky  October  20.  1818,  and  married 
David  P.,  as  above,  and  to  them  were  born 
Sarah  E.,  August  9,  1838;  married  M.  H. 
Crews,  in  December,  1856;  Rachel  L.,  No- 
vember 11.  1839,  married  Mr.  Shaw,  Decem- 
ber. 1857,  and  died  November  30,  1858; 
William  F.,  February  13,  1841.  and  died 
February  26,  1842;  Mary  O,  December  'J  1. 
1842,  and  died  September  14.  1851;  Thomas 
J.,  a  soldier  in  the  late  war,  born  Juno  16, 
1844,  and  died  January  17,1866;  Arabella 
J.,  January  17,  1846.  died  December  11, 
1847;  Miriam  F.,  December  19,  1847,  mar- 
ried Rev.  John  Borah  November  1.  1866; 
Curtis  A.,  as  above;  Maria  A.,  February  28, 
L852,  married  Mr.  King  October  8.  1874; 
John  A..  June  11,  1854,  died  March  3,  1855; 
David  Ij..  January  13.  1856,  died  August 
29,    I860;    Agnes    E..    April    6,    1858,  died 


116 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


April  24,  1858;  Jacob  H.,  June  21,  1860, 
and  married  March  10,  1880.  William  A., 
grandfather  of  subject,  was  a  Lieutenant 
under  Jackson  in  the  battle  of  New  Orleans. 
Subject  is  a  farmer  by  occupation,  having  184 
acres  of  good  land,  65  of  which  are  in  a  good 
state  of  cultivation.  He  is  also  successfully 
running  the  largest  apple-butter  factory  in 
Wayne  County,  which  he  rinds  very  profitable, 
and  is  strongly  solicited  to  establish  a  large  fac- 
tory in  the  county  seat,  where  he  can  greatly 
enlarge  his  business,  and  add  to  the  resour- 
ces of  the  community.  Subject  has  been 
Highway  Commissioner,  and  is  at  present 
Constable,  and  a,lso  Collector  for  Massillon 
Township.  In  politics,  he  is  identified  with 
the  Republican  party,  and  in  his  religious 
views  leans  toward  the  Cumberland  Presby- 
terian Church. 

ALRERT  SIMMS,  farmer,  P.  O.  Elery. 
Among  the  most  prominent  and  influential  of 
the  citizens  in  Massillon  Township  may  be 
classed  the  gentleman  whose  name  is  at  the 
head  of  this  sketch.  He  is  the  son  of  James 
and  Mary  A.  P.  (Gill)  Simms,  and  was  born 
in  Edwards  County,  111.,  October  15, 
1837;  removed  with  his  parents  to  Wayne 
County  in  1842,  where  he  has  resided  until 
the  present  time.  His  educational  advan- 
tages were  such  as  the  common  schools  of  the 
country  afforded  in  his  youth,  but  he  has  im- 
proved his  opportunities  to  the  best  of  his 
ability,  reading  many  good  books,  and  keep- 
ing posted  in  the  current  literature  of  the 
day.  Subject  was  married,  November  11, 
1860,  to  Miss  Eliza  J.  Stinet,  and  to  them 
were  born  James  M.,  August  30,  1861 ;  Alice 
(Buntinp),  December  24,  1862;  Emma  J., 
March  4,  1865;  Ulysses  S.,  December  21, 
1869;  Alfred,  October  23,  1872;  and  Will- 
iam H..  September  6,  1878.  May  20,  L880, 
Eliza  died,  and  subject  was  again  married, 
June  8,    1881,  to   Mrs.  Katie   A.  Virgin,   to 


whom  was  born  Clarence  H,  July  16,  1883. 
James,  our  subject's  father,  was  born  in 
Buckinghamshire,  England,  September  25, 
1813;  came  to  United  States,  and  tirst  settled 
in  Edwards  County,  111.  James'  father, 
William  Simms,  settled  in  Wayne  County, 
111.,  in  an  early  day.  Mary  A.  P.  Gill,  the 
first  English  child  born  in  Edwards  County, 
first  saw  the  light  of  day  in  1818,  and  died 
September  19,  1875.  Subject  was  reared  to 
the  occupation  of  a  farmer,  which  profession 
he  is  following  at  the  present  time.  His 
homo  is  on  the  north  half  of  the  northwest 
quarter  of  Section  36,  and  he  is  the  owner  of 
240  acres  of  valuable  land;  115  are  in  a  high 
state  of  cultivation,  producing  abundantly 
the  various  crops  grown  in  Southern  Illinois. 
He  has  always  taken  a  deep  interest  in  edu- 
cation, having  held  school  offices  ever  since 
he.  was  twenty -one  years  old.  In  politics, 
he  is  a  Republican,  and  is  a  member  of  the 
Christian  Church. 

SAMUEL  J.  R.  WILSON.  Few  men  in 
Wayne  County  have  been  more  prominent 
for  many  years  than  Judge  Wilson,  the 
son  of  Thomas  M. ,  an  old  pioneer,  and 
Rachel  (Fulkerson)  Wilson;  he  was  born  in 
Ohio  County,  Ky. ,  September  15,  1816;  re- 
moved with  his  parents  to  Wayne  County, 
111.,  in  1822,  and  was  married  to  Elvira, 
daughter  of  Enoch  and  Martha  (Magaliard) 
Beach,  October  29,  1839,  to  whom  was  born 
Mary  J.  (Crews),  in  1840.  Subject  was  again 
married  in  May,  1S53,  to  Martha,  daughter 
of  Rev.  .Tames  Crews,  and  to  them  were  born 
Martha  (Jessup),  in  1854,  and  Thomas  M., 
on  February,  1857,  when  Martha  died  also. 
Subject  was  again  married,  July  18,  1S.">7.  to 
Ritter,  a  sister  of  Martha,  and  to  them  were 
born  Maria  C,  June  15,  1858;  Charles  B., 
July  5,  1863;  John  W.,  October  15,  1865; 
Botha  B.,  June  15,  1868;  Robert,  March  7, 
1S70;    Nathan    E.,   January    26,    1872,   and 


A  KKI  N<;  TON    TOWNSHIP. 


117 


Lawrence  O..  June  13.  1876.  Thomas  M.. 
Sr.,  the  son  of  George,  was  born  in  Ken- 
tucky November  14.  1791;  served  under 
Gen.  Harrison  in  the  war  of  1812,  and 
died  m  Wayne  County,  111.,  in  April. 
LS55.  George  was  born  in  Virginia,  a  sol- 
dier in  the  Revolution,  an  early  pioneer  in 
Kentucky,  and  died  in  Butler  County,  that 
State,  in  lsiio.  Enoch  Beach  was  born  in 
North  Carolina;  held  a  commission  in  the 
war  of  1812;  was  the  first  settler  in  Mas- 
sillon;  a  prominent  man,  and  died  in  1836. 
Subject's  brothers  wore  Virgil  L.,  George  L. 
and  Curtis.  His  sisters,  Agnes  M.  (McLin). 
Elizabeth  (King).  Martha  J.  (Hooper),  Matil. 
da  (Harris),  and  Maria  B.  (Read).  Subject 
is  a  farmer,  having  200  acres  of  good  laud, 
of  which  170  acres  are  in  cultivation.      He  is 


als.i  a  licensed  lawyer;  acted  four  years  as 
County  Judge;  was  Doputy  Sheriff  sis  years; 
a  Supervisor  of  the  County  Court;  a  Justice 
of  the  Peace,  and  either  School  Trustee  or 
Director  for  nineteen  years.  Subject  was 
a  Lieutenant  in  Col.  Faris  Forman's  regi- 
ment in  tho  Mexican  war,  and  Captain  of 
Company  D.  Fifth  Illinois  Calvary  in  the 
war  of  the  late  rebellion.  Having  lived  in 
the  county  sixty-ono  years,  he  endured  all  the 
hardships  and  privations  of  pioneer  life,  and 
is  much  gratified  at  the  present  advancement. 
He  assisted  the  first  corps  of  engineers  that 
ever  surveyed  a  railroad  line  across  the  State 
of  Illinois.  In  religion,  he  is  a  Cumberland 
Presbyterian;  also  a  Prohibitionist,  and  is 
identified  with  tho  Republican  party  in 
politics. 


AKR1NGTON    TOWNSHIP. 


WILLIAM  L.  BEESON,  farmer.  P.  O. 
Jeffersonville,  was  bom  April  2,  1821,  in 
Greene  County,  Iud.,son  of  Richard  Beeson, 
of  North  Carolina,  who  was  born  November 
4,  1797,  and  moved  to  Greene  County,  Ind., 
in  1821,  and  died  March  17.  1!S72.  He  was 
married  to  Hannah  Coaklin,  of  Orange 
County,  Ind.,  who  died  in  1864,  leaving 
eight  children,  viz.:  William  L.,  Nancy  J. 
Leathers,  Mary  A.  Dernell,  Elizabeth  Van- 
diveer,  Matilda  Wilds.  Hannah  Smith,  Mar- 
gereta  Martin  and  Sarah  Vandiveer.  Our 
subject  was  educated  in  Orange  County,  Ind., 
in  a  pioneer  sehoolhouHe,  and  came  to 
Wayne  County,  111.,  in  the  fall  of  IS  12. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church,  and 
was  County  Judge  of  Wayne  County,  111., 
for  eight  years;  Justice  of  the  Peace  for 
about    thirty  years;    Supervisor  for  four  or 


five  terms;  Collector  for  two  years,  and  Com- 
missioner of  Highways  for  three  or  four 
years.  He  was  married,  December  31,  1843, 
in  Wayne  County,  III.,  to  Elizabeth  M. 
Waumock,  daughter  of  James  and  Elizabeth 
Waumock,  of  Wayne  County,  111.,  by  whom 
he  has  had  nine  children,  seven  living — Mar- 
garet Malone,  Richard,  James  H.,  Susan  J. 
Hale,  William  J.,  Hannah  A.  Pennington, 
and  Nancy  C.  Mr.  Beeson  owns  320  acres 
of  land,  and  is  engaged  in  farming  and 
stock  raising.      Politics,  Democrat. 

N.  N.  BORAH,  farmer,  P.  O.  Casior,  was 
born  September  6,  1816,  in  Butler  County, 
Ky. ,  son  of  George  Borah,  of  Lancaster 
County,  Penn.  Mr.  George  Borah  and  fam- 
ily came  to  Wayne  County,  111.,  in  the  fall 
of  1818,  being  one  of  the  pioneers,  and  also 
a    pioneer  merchant  of  Wayne  County.  111. 


118 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


Our  subject  was  educated  in  Wayne  County, 
111.,  spending  about  sixteen  months  at 
the  Cumberland  College,  Pennsylvania.  He 
read  law  and  medicine  privately,  but  never 
practiced  either.  He  was  married,  March  31, 
1844,  to  Sarah  A.,  daughter  of  Jonathan 
Whitson,  of  Wayne  County,  111.,  formerly  of 
Kentucky,  he  coming  here  in  the  spring  of 
1843.  Our  subject  had  four  children  by  Mrs. 
Sarah  A.,  all  of  whom  are  living,  viz.: 
Adolphus  G.,  Edwin  D.,  George  and  Bailey 
P.  Mr.  Borah  owns  540  acres  of  land  in 
Wayne  County,  111.,  and  is  engaged  in  farm- 
ing and  stock-raising,  paying  considerable 
attention  to  the  raising  of  mules.  Politics, 
Democratic. 

CAPT.  GEORGE  W.  HILL,  farmer,  P. 
O.  Jeffersonville,  was  born  September  22, 
1835,  in  Gallia  County,  Ohio.  He  is  a  son 
of  Edward  W.  Hill,  of  Ohio,  and  was  edu- 
cated in  his  native  county,  Ohio,  attending, 
one  term  at  the  Gallia  Academy.  He  came 
to  Wayne  County,  111.,  in  the  fall  of  1858, 
and  settled  in  Lamard  Township.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  and  a 
member  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Repub- 
lic; also  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church.  He  was  in  the  late  war  from 
December  22,  1861,  to  May  2,  1865,  in  com 
pany  G.  Sixty. second  Illinois  Volunteer  In- 
fantry. He  was  promoted  to  First  Lieuten- 
ant, and  then  to  Captain.  He  was  married, 
May  16,  1858,  in  Meigs  County,  Ohio,  to 
Abigail  Holland,  of  Meigs  County,  Ohio, 
where  she  was  born  in  June,  1835,  by  whom 
our  subject  had  three  children,  viz.:  Fannie 
E.,  and  Mary  T.  and  Sarah  E..  twins.  Capt. 
Hill  owns  410  acres  of  land,  and  is  en- 
gaged in  farming  and  stock-raising.  He 
pays  considerable  attention  to  the  latter  busi- 
ness. He  has  kept  the  post  office  at  Pleas- 
ant Grove  for  the  last  eleven  years,  but  re- 
signed it  last  fall.      Politics,  Republican. 


GEORGE  B.  HILLIARD,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Jeffersonville.  Among  the  oldest  men  of 
Arrington  Township,  Wayne  County,  111., 
yet  living,  is  George  B.  Hilliard,  who  was 
born  on1  a  ship  between  Massachusetts  and 
Connecticut,  March  17,  1794,  and  is  a  son  of 
James  Hilliard,  of  Ireland.  Subject  was 
educated  in  Adams  County,  Penn.,  and  was 
in  the  war  of  1812,  serving  eighteen  months 
in  the  Fifth  Regiment  under  the  command  of 
Capt.  Thompson,  and,  being  in  the  battles  of 
Lundy's  Lane,  Fort  George  and  several  other 
skirmishes,  where  he  was  wounded  in  the  leg 
by  a  riiie  ball.  Our  subject  came  to  Wayne 
County,  111.,  in  the  fall  of  1S53,  where  he 
still  resides  in  good  health,  with  his  son, 
James  W.  He  was  married,  August  29,  18"J  t, 
to  Margaret  Foreacre,  of  Virginia,  by  whom  he 
had  thirteen  children,  three  of  whom  are 
living — James  W.,  George  H.  and  Sarah. 
The  following  are  those  dead,  who  reached 
womanhood  and  manhood — Nancv  J.  Creigr 
Margaret  Winland,  Susannah  Galliager, 
William  A.,  Mary  Gutherty,  Sarah  Jefl'ers, 
Mariah  Broche  and  John,  who  died  in  the 
late  war.     Politics,  Democratic. 

JAMES  W.  HILLIARD,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Jeffersonville,  was  born  November  29.  1826, 
in  Fayette  County,  Penn. ,  son  of  George  B. 
Hilliard,  of  Wayne  County,  111.,  and  was 
educated  in  Noble  and  Belmont  Counties, 
Ohio.  He  came  to  Wayne  County,  111.,  in 
the  spring  of  1858,  and  has  been  County 
Surveyor)  for  twelve  years.  Deputy  for  four 
years,  Supervisor  for  four  years,  Town  Clerk 
for  four  or  live  years,  Highway  Commissioner 
for  nine  years,  and  Justice  of  the  Peace  for 
eight  years.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Catho 
lie  Church,  and  was  married  in  Monroe 
County.  Ohio,  August  22,  1852.  to  Sarah 
Daugherty,  of  the  same  county,  by  whom  he 
had  ten  children,  nine  living — George,  John, 
William,  James,  Thomas,   David,  Sylvester, 


ARRINGTON   TO UN-Ill I". 


119 


Mary  and  Hannah.  Subject  owns  1,011 
acres  of  land  in  Wayne  County.  111.  Politics, 
Democratic. 

JOHN  LOWE,  fanner,  was  born  in  Wash- 
ington County,  Ohio,  September  21,  1822, 
and  is  a  son  of  Jobn  and  Hannah  (Ayles) 
Lowe.  The  grandfather  of  our  subject, 
James  Lowe,  came  from  Scotland  and  settled 
in  Maryland.  He  was  a  soldier  in  the  Revo- 
lution, and  served  for  three  years  as  Secretary 
under  General  Washington;  at  that  time,  it 
was  claimed  that  he  was  the  finest  penman 
in  the  United  States.  In  Maryland  the 
father  was  born,  and  when  he  was  about 
eight  years  old  his  father  moved  to  Ohio. 
The  mother's  people  originally  came  from 
Ireland  and  settled  in  Baltimore,  where  the 
mother  was  born.  Our  subject  was  the  third 
of  nine  children  of  whom  four  are  now  liv- 
ing. His  education  was  but  very  limited,  he 
never  having  attended  a  school  but  a  few 
months  in  his  life,  but  after  he  became  a 
man  he  taught  himself  to  a  great  extent. 
He  worked  on  the  home  place  until  he  was 
about  twenty -two,  and  then  worked  around 
for  himself  some  years.  In  1854,  he  came  to 
Wayne  County,  and  settled  on  the  farm  he 
now  occupies  in  Sections  7  and  8,  of  Town  1 
south,  Range  G  east.  He  owns  291  acres,  of 
which  about  110  are  in  cultivation,  and  about 
three  acres  in  orchard.  Mr.  Lowe  was  mar- 
ried on  April  9,  1850,  to  Ellender  Booth,  a 
daughter  of  John  and  Hannah  (Bearkmore) 
Booth,  who  were  natives  of  England.  Mrs. 
Lowe  is  a  native  of  Ohio,  and  was  born  July, 
29,  1826.  in  Bellefontaine,  that  State.  This 
union  has  resulted  in  sixteen  children,  of 
whom  the  following  survive — Isaac;  Hannah, 
wife  of  Newton  King;  John;  Mary  Ann.  wife 
of  Thomas  Shaffer;  Polly  Ann.  wife  of  Will- 
iam Marple;  Sarah  Jane,  wife  of  Sylvester 
Taylor;  Eli  and  Emma.  Subject  enlisted  in 
the  Forty-eighth  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry, 


Company  I,  in  September,  1861,  and  re- 
mained over  three  years  and  one  month.  Is 
a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church.  In  politics, 
is  a  Republican. 

JACOB  MARTIN  (deceased)  was  born  in 
the  year  180S  in  Virginia,  a  son  of  Peter 
Martin,  of  that  Statu.  Our  subject  came  to 
Wayne  County,  111.,  in  the  spring  of  1869, 
and  died  April  18,  1881,  and  was  buriod  in 
the  Dickey  Cemetery.  He  was  a  member  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  was 
married  first  to  Mary  McVay,  of  Athens 
County,  Ohio,  in  the  year  1840,  by  whom  he 
had  seven  children,  five  living,  viz.:  George, 
Hart zell,  Ira,  Malissa  and  Louisa.  His  wife 
having  died.  Mr.  Martin  was  again  married, 
June  20,  1857,  in  Meigs  County,  Ohio,  to 
Caroline  Lee,  daughter  of  Wills  Lee,  of 
Meigs  County,  Ohio,  by  whom  he  had  seven 
children,  five  of  whom  are  living — William 
T..  Charles  M.,  Ella  A.,  James  E.  and  Delia 
R.  Frank  E.  died  September  14,  1879. 
Our  subject  owned  156  acres  of  land  at  the 
time  of  his  death,  and  was  engaged  in  farm 
ing  and  stock-raising.     Politics,  Republican. 

JOHN  MONTGOMERY,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Pin  Oak,  was  born  September  30,  1823,  in 
Belmont  County,  Ohio,  a  son  of  Daniel  Mont- 
gomery, who  was  born  in  June,  1795,  in 
Greene  County,  Penn.  He  was  married,  in 
June,  1820,  to  Alice  Lappen,  of  Greene  Coun- 
ty, Penn.,  who  was  born  in  the  year  1794. 
They  had  eight  children,  seven  living,  viz. : 
Marian,  John.  William,  Elizabeth,  Ruth  A., 
Rachel  and  Euphema.  Daniel  died  April, 
1842,  in  Vinton  County,  Ohio.  Alice,  wife 
of  Daniel,  died  April,  1856.  Mr.  Mont- 
gomery was  educated  in  Morgan  and  Vinton 
Counties,  Ohio,  and  came  to  Wayne  County, 
111.,  in  the  fall  of  1853.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  Masonic  fraternity,  and  a  member  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church.  He  was  married,  De- 
cember 29,  1859,  in  Lawrence  County,  111., 


120 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


to  Elizabeth  McRill,  who  was  born  July  15, 
1834,  in  Ohio.  They  have  had  four  children, 
viz.:  Alice  C,  Samuel  E.,  Ruth  A.  and  Jo- 
seph M.  Mr.  Montgomery  owns  100  acres 
of  land,  and  is  engaged  in  farming  and  stock- 
raising.     Politics,  Democratic. 

A.  S.  ROBERTSON,  physician,  Pin  Oak, 
was  born  in  Lawrence  County,  Ohio,  July  9, 
1830,  and  is  a  son  of  David  and  Rebecca 
(Clark)  Robertson.  The  father  was  a  native 
of  Virginia,  the  grandfather  coming  to  this 
country  from  Scotland,  and  the  grandmother 
from  Ireland.  The  mother  of  our  subject 
was  born  in  New  Jersey,  and  in  that  State 
her  parents  were  also  born.  Subject  was  the 
fourth  of  nine  children,  of  whom  seven  are 
living.  His  education  was  very  limited,  for 
until  he  was  seventeen  he  spent  his  spare 
time  in  assisting  his  father  on  the  home  farm. 
At  that  age,  he  commenced  reading  medicine 
with  Dr.  L.  McCook,  of  Lawrence  County, 
Ohio.  He  only  read  with  him  about  eighteen 
months,  and  then  commenced  the  active  prac- 
tice of  medicine.  As  he  advanced  in  years, 
he  enlarged  his  fund  of  information,  and 
pursued  his  course  of  study  farther  and  far- 
ther. He  practiced  in  parts  of  Ohio,  Ken- 
tucky, Indiana,  and  finally  came  to  Hardin 
County,  111.  After  a  short  stay  there,  he 
came  to  Macoupin  County.  In  that  county 
he  practiced  for  about  two  years,  and  then  in 
November,  1862,  he  came  to  Wayne  County. 
The  Doctor  first  settled  in  Four-Mile  Town- 
ship. There  he  practiced  some  six  years, 
and  then  came  to  Arrington  Township,  where 
he  has  since  practiced.  Our  subject  is  truly 
what  might  be  called  a  self-made  man.  His 
whole  knowledge  of  medicine  has  been  ob- 
tained by  his  own  exertions,  and  outside  of 
the  walls  of  any  medical  college,  and  he  is 
well  worthy  of  the  extensive  practice  that  he 
enjoys  from  the  people  of  Wayne  County. 
Dr.    Robertson   was   married,    in   December, 


1864,  to  Sarah  A.  Warren.  She  is  a  native 
of  this  county,  being  born  here  October  23, 
1S44.  and  is  a  daughter  of  William  and  Mi- 
nerva (Gaston)  Warren,  who  were  natives  of 
Illinois.  Five  children,  three  girls  and  two 
boys,  have  blessed  tbis  union,  of  whom  three 
are  now  living — Idella,  born  September  30, 
1866;  Athalia,  August  1,  1868;  Amos  T-. 
January  27,  1871.  Rebecca  J.,  born  January 
18,  1874,  died  October  24,.  1879;  William 
D.,  born  September  22,  1880,  died  Septem- 
ber 14,  1882.  Subject  is  a  member  of  Mid- 
dleton  Lodge,  No.  82,  I.  O.  O.  F.  In  poli- 
tics, he  is  a  Republican. 
■-•  WILLIAM  SIMMS  (deceased)  was  born 
January  25,  1814,  in  Buckinghamshire,  En- 
gland, and  came  to  Canada  in  1833,  from 
thence  to  Edwards  County,  111.,  in  1836,  and 
from  there  to  Wayne  County,  111.,  in  the 
spring  of  1840,  where  he  was  united  in  mar- 
riage, in  November  of  that  year,  to  Mary 
Simms,  daughter  of  AVilliam  Simms,  of  En- 
gland. She  came  to  Wayne  County,  111.,  in 
the  spring  of  1830,  having  been  born  May 
16,  1819,  in  England.  They  had  eleven 
children,  seven  living,  viz..  Francis,  John, 
Henry  P.,  Susannah,  Edward,  George  and 
subject.  Mr.  Simms  was  a  member  of  the 
Union  Trade  Society  of  Canada,  and  owned 
at  the  time  of  his  death  520  acres  of  land. 
He  was  a  shoe  maker  by  trade,  but  was  en- 
gaged in  farming  and  stock-raising.  Poli- 
tics, Democratic.  He  died  January  19, 1876, 
in  Wayne  County,  111.,  and  was  buried  in 
the  Bovee  Cemetery. 

GEORGE  SIMMS  (deceased)  was  born 
February  3,  1825,  in  Buckinghamshire,  En- 
gland, but  came  to  Wayne  County,  111.,  in 
1830,  and  settled  where  he  died  August  13, 
1880,  and  was  buried  in  the  Bovee  Cemetery. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  Christian  Church, 
and  was  married,  May  13,  1847,  to  Hannah 
Ades,  of  Wayne  County,  111.,  who  was  born 


LAMARD  TOWNSHIP. 


121 


July  18,  1824,  in  Carroll  County,  Ohio,  by 
whom  the  subject  had  four  children,  viz., 
Cornelius,  Daniel,  Alford  and  James  E.  He 
owned  430  acres  of  land  in  Wayne  County, 
111.,  at  the  time  of  his  death,  and  was  en- 
gaged in  farming  and  stock-raising.  Poli- 
tics, Republican. 

JOHN  F.  THOMAS,  farmer,  P.  O.  Jeffer- 
sonville,  was  born  January  20,  1S30,  in  Cal- 
loway County,  Ky.,  and  is  a  son  of  Henry 
Thomas,  of  Tennessee.  Our  subject  was 
educated  in  Johnson  County,  111.,  and  came 
to  Wayne  County  in  the  fall  of  1871.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Re- 
public, also  a  member  and  a  minister  of  tlw 
Church  of  Jesus  Christ,  L.  D.  S.  He  has 
been  married  the  second  time;  first,  February 
28,  1852,  in  Johnson  County,  111.,  to  Eliza- 
beth M.,  daughter  of  Daniel  Freer,  of  Illi- 
nois. She  was  born  June  1,  1832,  by  whom 
our  subject  had  ten  children,  four  living,  viz., 
Mrs.  Sarah  A.  Simpson,  Francis  M. ,  Cather- 
ine M.  Whitaker  and  Fannie  B.  Mrs.  Eliza- 
bath   M.  Thomas  died   March  3,   1878,  and 


was  buried  in  the  Lappen  Cemetery,  when 
Mr.  Thomas  was  married  the  second  time, 
August  25,  1879,  to  Amanda  E.  Lawrence,  of 
Johnson  County,  111.,  who  was  born  in  July, 
1843,  in  Hopkins  County,  Ky.,  by  whom  the 
subject  had  two  children,  one  living — Alma 
A.  Mr.  Thomas  owns  103  acres  of  land, 
and  is  engaged  in  farming  and  stock-raising. 
Politics,   Republican. 

HENRY  WALKER,  farmer,  P.  O.  Pin 
Oak,  was  born  March  24,  1837,  in  England, 
the  son  of  George  Walker.  Our  subject  was 
educated  in  England,  and  came  to  Wayne 
County,  111.,  in  the  fall  of  1854,  where  he 
still  resides.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Latter  - 
Day  Saints,  and  was  married,  December  '_!">, 
1860,  to  Frances  M.,  daughter  of  William 
and  Mary  Simms,  by  whom  he  has  had  elev- 
en children,  seven  of  whom  are  living,  viz., 
Mary  E.,  Susannah,  Sarah  A..  William  T., 
Lucinda  I.,  Charles  H.  and  Matilda  E.  He 
is  engaged  in  farming  and  stock-raising. 
Politics,  Democratic. 


LAMARD    TOWNSHIP. 


JOHN  C.  BESTOW,  farmer,  P.  O.  Jeffer- 
son ville,  was  born  September  1,  1821,  in 
Berkshire  County,  Mass..  and  is  a  son  of 
Frederick  Bestow  (deceased),  also  a  native  of 
Massachusetts.  Mr.  Bestow  was  brought  up 
on  a  farm,  and  educated  in  the  common 
schools  of  Meigs  County,  when  he  came,  at 
the  age  of  ten  years,  to  live  with  his  uncle, 
John  C.  Bestow,  his  mother  having  formerly 
died  in  Massachusetts.  He  came  to  this 
county  in  1803;  he  was  married,  in  1841,  to 
Phoebe  A.,  daughter  of  Jasper  Branch. 
Thev   have    two    children — Frederick    and 


VValterman.  The  former  married  Julia 
Vertrees.  by  whom  he  had  five  children, 
three  living,  viz. :  John,  Fannie  and  Hattie. 
Walterman  married  Florence  Rinard,  by 
whom  he  had  three  children— Carrie,  Mattie 
1  and  Ada.  Mrs.  Walterman  Bestow  died,  and 
he  married  Martha  A.  Branch,  who  after- 
ward died  also;  he  then  married  Mantie  Karr, 
his  present  wife.  John  C.  Bestow  has  been 
Justice  of  the  Peace  and  Notary  Public  for 
many  years,  and  is  the  present  incumbent. 
He  was  Township  Treasurer  one  term.  Is  a 
member    of   the  Masonic  fraternity,   and  of 


122 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  an  un- 
compromising Prohibitionist.  Mr.  Bestow 
and  his  sons  own  about  400  acres  of  valuable 
land,  besides  property  and  a  store  in  Jeffer- 
sonville. 

WILLIAM  BLACKBURN,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Jeffersonville,  was  born  November  27,  1844, 
in  Brownsville,  Penn. ;  he  is  a  son  of  Isaac 
K.  Blackburn,  of  Pennsylvania,  who  was 
born  April  4,  1812,  in  Washington  County, 
Penn.  Ke  was  married  to  Liddie,  daughter 
of  John  Wood,  of  Fayette  County,  Penn. 
Our  subject  came  to  Wayne  County,  III.,  in 
the  spring  of  1868,  and  settled  where  he  still 
resides;  he  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  of  Jeffersonville,  Wayne 
Co.,  111.  He  served  three  years  in  the  late 
war,  in  Company  K,  Eightieth  Ohio  Volunteer 
Infantry;  he  was  in  the  siege  of  Corinth, 
Vicksburg  and  Atlanta;  he  made  the  march 
to  the  sea,  and  back  as  far  as  Fayetteville,N. 
C,  under  Sherman.  He  was  discharged  on 
the  3d  day  of  March,  1865;  he  has  held  the 
office  of  Highway  Commissioner  for  sixteen 
years  in  this  county.  Our  subject  was  mar- 
ried, March  10,  1868,  in  Stark  County,  Ohio, 
to  Eliza  J.,  daughter  of  Samuel  Klingalan, 
of  Stark  County,  Ohio,  who  was  born  Decem- 
ber 12,  1850.  They  have  five  children,  four 
living,  viz.,  Elba  G.,  Cora  B.,  Ida  G., 
Charles  W.,  and  Mary  E.,  who  died  January 
27,  1878,  and  was  buried  in  the  Jefferson- 
ville Cemetery.  Our  subject  owns  100  acres 
of  good  land,  and  is  engaged  in  farming  and 
stock-raising.     Politics,  Republican. 

GEORGE  EDWIN  BRANCH,  farmer,  P. 
O.  Jeffersonville,  is  a  native  of  this  county, 
and  was  born  July  16,  1857;  is  a  son  of 
James  Branch  (deceased),  a  native  of  Meigs 
County,  Ohio,  who  came  to  this  county  about 
the  year  1856.  Our  subject  was  brought  up 
and  educated  at  Jeffersonville.  His  father 
was  the  agent  at  the  O.  &  M.  depot,  and  our 


subject  took  his  place  after  the  former's  death, 
which  position  he  held  for  seven  years.  He 
was  married,  December  25,  1879,  to  Sally  F. 
Blakeman,  a  daughter  of  Curtis  Blakeman 
(deceased).  They  have  two  children — Mar- 
tha E.  and  Lelia  J.  Mr.  Branch  owns  200 
acres  of  valuable  land  adjoining  Jefferson- 
ville, and  is  engaged  in  farming  and  stock- 
raising.  He  is  turning  his  attention  to  the 
raising  of  Devon  cattle  and  Merino  sheep. 
He  is  Township  Clerk  and  a  member  of  the 
Masonic  fraternity. 

EDWARD  BURROUGHS,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Jeffersonville,  was  born  May  1,  1811,  in 
Meigs  County,  Ohio,  and  is  a  son  of  Joshua 
Burroughs  (deceased),  a  native  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. Our  subject  was  educated  in  the 
common  schools  of  his  native  county.  By 
trade  he  is  a  cooper  and  wagon-maker,  but  is 
now  a  farmer.  He  served  four  years  in  the 
late  war;  enlisted  twice,  first  in  Company  E, 
Fortieth  Regiment  Illinois  Volunteer  Infan- 
try, and  was  wounded  at,  Shiloh,  and  was 
discharged  on  account  of  disability  from  the 
wound.  Six  months  later  he  re- enlisted  in 
Company  K,  One  Hundred  and  Thirteenth 
Regiment  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,  re- 
maining in  the  service  until  the  close  of  the 
war.  Mr.  Burroughs  was  married,  July  4, 
1832,  to  Minerva,  daughter  of  Robert  Hoyt, 
of  Meigs  County,  Ohio.  They  had  eleven 
children,  six  of  whom  are  living,  viz.,  Jarvis, 
Edward,  William,  Harriet,  Hettie  and  Min- 
erva. Mrs.  Burroughs  died  May  1,  1845, 
and  was  buried  in  the  Pleasant  Grove  Ceme- 
tery. Our  subject  was  married  the  second 
time,  to  Miss  Samantha  Smith,  a  daughter  of 
Amos  Smith.  By  her  he  has  had  five  chil- 
dren; three  of  whom  are  living — Mary,  James 
and  David.  Mr.  Burroughs  owns  fifty  acres 
of  land,  and  is  engaged  in  general  farming. 
In  politics,  a  Republican. 

ROBERT    D.   ELLIS,  farmer,  P.  O.   Pin 


LAMARD  TOWNSHIP. 


128 


Oak.  was  barn  November  12,  1831,  in  Wilson 
County,  Tenn.  He  is  a  son  of  Robert  H.  El- 
lis.of  Tennessee.  Our  subject  was  educated  in 
Wayne  County,  111.  He  came  to  Wayne  Coon- 
t\ .  111.,  in  the  fall  of  1811.  He  isauieniber 
and  also  a  local  minister  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  and  has  been  for  twenty- 
two  years.  He  was  mai'ried,  January  1,  1857, 
in  Wayne  County,  111.,  to  Ollie  E.  Martain, 
of  Wayne  County,  111.,  by  whom  he  had  nine 
children,  seven  living. viz.,  Melville  C. Laura 
A.,  Thomas  M.,  John  L.  O,  Robert  N.,  Etta 
J.  and  Eflie  L.  Our  subject  owns  sixty -five 
acres  of  land,  and  is  engaged  in  farming  and 
stock-raising.     Polities.    Republican. 

JACOB  S.  HAWK,  farmer,  P.O.  Jefferson- 
ville,  was  born  January  13,  1828,  in  Vinton 
County, Ohio.  He  is  a  son  of  Samuel  Hawk,  of 
Virginia.  Our  subject  was  educated  in  Vin- 
ton County,  Ohio.  He  left  there  for  Wayne 
County,  111.,  in  the  fall  of  1S52,  where  he 
still  resides  on  his  farm  in  Lamard  Town- 
ship. He  is  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church, 
and  has  been  for  a  number  of  years.  He  is 
Justice  of  the  Peace,  and  has  been  for  twenty- 
four  years.  He  was  married,  March  2,  1851, 
in  Wayne  County,  111.,  to  Mary,  daughter  of 
Kobiuson  Lappen.  of  Morgan  County,  111. 
She  was  born  June  10,  1831,  by  whom  the 
subject  had  nine  children,  four  living,  viz., 
Mrs.  I'hebe  J.  Logan,  Ida,  Rachel  and  Min- 
nie. Our  subject  owns  160  acres  of  land, 
and  is  engaged  in  farming  and  stock  raising. 
Politics,  Republican. 

GEORGE  H.HILLIARD, farmer,  P.O.  Jef- 
fersonville.  Among  the  enterprising  farmers 
of, Lamard  Township  is  George  H.  Hilliard, 
who  was  born  November  7,  1838,  in  Ohio.  He 
is  the  son  of  George  B.  Hilliard,  of  Ohio, 
formerly  >>f  Scotland.  Our  subject  can:.'  to 
Wayne  County,  111.,  with  his  parents  in  the 
fall  of  1853.  His  mother  died  in  Wayne 
County,  111.,  in  1874      Then  George  B.  Hill- 


iard went  to  live  with  his  son,  James  W.,  in 
Wayne  County,  111.  Our  subject  was  married, 
July  23,  1859,  in  Wayne  County,  111.,  to 
Amanda  E.,  daughter  of  Thomas  P.  Green, 
of  Wayne  County,  111.  Subject  had  ten 
children  by  Mrs.  Amanda,  all  living,  viz., 
Mary  F.,  John  W.,  Thomas  J.,  Sarah  B., 
Joseph  M.,  David  A.,  Charles  S.,  Frank  B  , 
Clara  M.  and  James  A.  Mrs.  Amanda  Hill- 
iard was  born  October  21,  1839,  in  Wayne 
County,  111.,  and  died  May  13,  1881.  Mary 
F.,  daughter  of  George  H.  and  Amanda  Hill- 
iard, was  married  to  Dudley  D.  Davis,  June 
6,  1883.  and  moved  to  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  where 
they  still  reside.  Subject  has  been  a  member 
of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ,  Latter  Day 
Saints,  for  sixteen  years,  and  a  minister  of 
the  same  denomination  for  fifteen  years.  He 
is  also  a  member  of  the  Masonic  order.  He 
owns  120  acres  of  good  laud,  and  is  engaged 
in  farming  and  stock -raisjng.  Politics,  Re- 
publican. 

AMBROSE  M.  MARTIN,  carpenter,  Jef- 
fersonville,  was  born  in  Beaver  County, 
Penn.,  March  1(3,  1820,  and  is  a  son  of  Will- 
iam Martin  (deceased),  also  a  native  of 
Pennsylvania.  Mr.  Martin  was  brought  up 
and  educated  in  Ohioville,  Penn.  While 
young, he  learned  the  carpenter  trade,  at  which 
he  has  worked  principally  ever  since.  He 
came  to  Bedford  Township,  this  county,  in 
1855,  and  farmed  in  connection  with  his 
trade  for  seven  years  and  in  1802  removed 
to  Jeffersonville.  On  the  11th  day  of  Octo- 
ber. 1815,  he  married  Mary  R.,  daughter  of 
Charles  Duncan.  They  have  had  eight  chil- 
dren, but  three  of  whom  are  living — Abbie 
J.,  Arthur  B.  N.  and  Delia  A.  Mr.  Martin 
is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity.  He 
owns  forty  live  acres  of  land,  besides  town 
property.  His  daughter,  Abbie  J.,  is  mar- 
ried to  Matthias  ITui. 

ALEXANDER  RICHARDSON,  farmer  in 


124 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


Lamard  Township  and  dealer  in  grain  and 
implements  at  Fairfield,  Wayne  Co.,  111.,  was 
born  in  Midlothian,  Scotland,  January  2, 
1828.  His  parents,  Alexander  Richardson 
and  Mary  Frier,  were  both  born  in  Scotland, 
followed  the  pursuit  of  farming,  and  his 
mother  still  lives  there  and  is  now  in  her 
eighty-third  year.  His  father  died  in  Scot- 
land, in  18S1,  in  his  eighty-seventh  year.  To 
these  parents  were  born  eight  children,  Alex- 
ander being  the  oldest.  He  grew  to  man- 
hood and  was  educated  in  his  native  county, 
and  was  there  married,  June  2,  1851,  toMiss 
Mary  Bruce.  She  was  born  October  16, 
1834,  in  Scotland.  Immediately  after  mar- 
riage, they  embarked  for  America  on  the  sail- 
ing vessel  "  Harmonia,"  landing  in  New 
York  July  10.  1851.  They  located  in  Plain- 
field,  N.  J.,  till  the  fall  of  1852,  when  they 
came  to  Wayne  County,  111.  Since  that  date 
Mr.  Richardson  has  been  a  resident  of  La- 
mard Township,  engaged  in  farming,  and 
owns  eighty  acres  of  land,  with  his  family 
residence,  one  and  a  fourth  miles  northwest  of 
Fairfield.  For  the  past  fifteen  years  he  has 
operated  in  the  grain  market  and  conducted 
the  implement  business  in  Fairfield.  In  pol- 
itics, he  is  Democratic,  and  cast  his  first 
Presidential  vote  for  Stephen  A.  Douglas. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  A.  O.  U.  W.,  and 
both  he  and  wife  are  members  of  the  Cum- 
berland Presbyterian  Church. 

JAMES  ROCHELL.  saw  mill  man,  Jef- 
fersonville,  was  born  in  Franklin  County, 
Ohio.  February  4,  1840.  and  is  a  son  of 
James  Rochell  (deceased),  a  native  of  New 
England.  Our  subject  was  brought  up  on 
the  farm  and  attended  the  common  schools. 
He  came  with  his  parents  to  this  county  in 
1853,  where  he  fhas  resided,  except  from 
1859  to  1864,  which  time  he  spent  in  the 
mines  of  California.  Since  that  time  he  has 
engaged  in  various  avocations;  was  for  some 


time  section  foreman  on  the  O.  &  M.  R.  R. 
He  now  owns  and  runs  a  Brandy  steam  port- 
able saw  mill,  manufactured  at  Zanesville. 
He  was  married,  May  14.  1871,  to  Sarah  J., 
daughter  of  James  Nelson  (deceased),  an 
early  settler  of  this  county.  They  have  three 
children — John  W.,  Clara  N.  and  Ethel  A. 
Mr.  Rochell  held  the  office  of  Township  Clerk 
two  terms,  Village  Clerk  two  years,  and 
School  Trustee  one  term.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Rochell  are  members  of  the  Christian  Church, 
of  which  he  is  a  Trustee. 

WILLIAM  SODDART,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Fairfield,  was  born  May  1,  1826,  in  Scotland. 
He  is  a  son  of  Robert  Soddart,  of  Scotland. 
Our  subject  was  educated  in  Scotland.  He 
came  to  America  August,  1852.  He  remained 
in  New  York  for  about  six  months;  then  he 
came  to  Wayne  County,  111.,  where  he  bought 
a  farm,  and  left  for  the  West  to  travel 
through  California.  Oregon  and  Montana; 
he  then  returned  to  Scotland  on  a  visit  of  six 
months.  He  returned  to  Wayne  County,  111., 
in  the  spring  of  1870,  where  he  still  resides. 
He  was  married,  February  14,  1870,  to 
Euphemia  Tullis,  of  Wayne  County,  111.,  for- 
merly of  Scotland,  by  whom  he  had  two  chil- 
dren, viz. ,  Jessie  and  Robert.  Jessie  was  born 
January  5,  1872.  Robert  was  born  May  23, 
1874.  Our  subject  owns  200  acres  of  land, 
and  is  engaged  in  farming  and  stock-raising. 
Politics,  Republican. 

DANIEL  N.  ULM,  stock  and  grain  dealer, 
P.  O.  Jeffersonville,  was  born  in  Wabash 
County  March  12,  1833,  and  is  a  son  of 
Edward  Ulm  (deceased),  a  native  of  Mary- 
land, who  came  to  Mt.  Carmel,  111.,  in  1818, 
and  built  the  first  mill  in  Wabash  County.  It 
was  an  ox  tread  mill,  situated  in  Mt.  Carmel; 
the  building  was  a  log  structure,  and  stood 
until  18S3.  Our  subject  was  brought  up  and 
educated  in  Mt.  Carmel.  During  the  late 
war,  he  raised  Company  E,  Fortieth  Illinois 


I.AMAKD  TOWNSHIP. 


L25 


Volunteer  Infantry,  and  served  as  Captain  of 
that  company  until  the  fall  of  1863.  For 
gallantry,  the  Captain  was  recommended  for 
Lieutenant  Colonel.  He  participated  in  the 
battles  of  Shiloh,  Vicksburg,  Jackson,  Mis- 
sissippi, Chattanooga  and  others.  He^  re- 
signed soon  after  the  battle  of  Chattanooga, 
December  27,  1S63.  He  settled  in  Jefferson- 
ville  in  1S60,  and  laid  off  Ulm's  Addition  to 
Jeffersonville,  where  he  has  since  been  exten- 
sively engaged  in  the  grain  and  stock  busi- 
ness. He  has  built  up  the  grain  trade  in 
this  locality,  and  shipped  more  grain  last 
year  than  any  other  man  in  Southern  Illinois, 
buying  and  shipping  from  seven  different 
points,  and  shipped  over  400  car-loads  of 
wheat  alone.  In  1881,  Mr.  Ulm  built  a  fine 
flouring  mill  in  Jeffersonville,  which*is  doing 
a  large  custom  business.  The  Captain's 
grandfather,  Matthias  Ulm,  was  a  native  of 
Germany;  came  to  America  when  young,  and 
fought  in  the  Revolutionary  war.  His  grand- 
father, Nicholas  Nathan,  was  a  Hessian  sol- 
dier, sold  to  the  English  Government  for  ten 
guineas,  and  was  sent  to  tight  in  the  Revolu 
tion  for  that  Government,  but  deserted  and 
settled  in  the  Scioto  Valley.  Our  subject 
was  married,  June  30,  1854,  to  Elizabeth  J., 
daughter  of  John  P,  W.  Allen,  of  Hamilton 
County,  111.  They  have  four  children — 
Matthias  B.,  Clara  J.,  Albion  H.  and  Nathan 
A.  Mr.  Ulm  owns  much  property  in  this 
village,  besides  his  elevator  and  mill.  He 
has  held  a  United  States  Government  com- 
mission ever  since  he  entered  the  army,  except 
about  two  years.  He  has  held  the  office  of 
Postmaster  since  1865.  He  has  been  a  mem- 
ber of  the  County  Court  for  the  past  two 
years;  the  last  time  that  he  was  elected  there 
were  but  fourteen  votes  cast  against  him. 
He  has  been  Police  Magistrate  for  the  past 
two  years,  and  is  Post  Commander  of  the 
Martin  Baker  Post,  No.  245,  G.  A.  R. 


EW1NG  YOUNG,  farmer,  P.  O.  Fairfield, 
was  born  in  the  year  1820  in  Wavne  County, 
111.  He  was  a  son  of  John  Young,  of  Wayne 
County,  111.,  formerly  of  Kentucky.  Our 
subject  was  educated  in  a  Wayne  County, 
111.,  pioneer  schoolhouse.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  M.  E.  Church.  He  was  married,  De- 
cember^ 16,  1841,  to  Miss  Emily  Craven, 
daughter  of  Robert  Craven,  of  North  Caro- 
lina, and  by  whom  he  has  had  ten  children, 
seven  living — Johnson,  America,  Sarah  J., 
Robert,  Pruda,  Emily  and  Elmer.  Our  sub- 
ject owns  620  acres  of  land,  and  is  engaged 
in  farming  and  stock-raising.  In  politics 
he  is  Independent. 

CEPHAS  YOUNG,  farmer.  P.  O.  Fairfield, 
was  born  March  22,  1833,  in  Wayne  County, 
111.  He  was  a  son  of  John  Young,  of  Wayne 
County,  111.,  formerly  of  Kentucky,  where  he 
was  born  August,  1789.  He  died  March  26, 
1878,  in  Wayne  County,  111.,  and  was  buried 
in  the  family  cemetery.  He  was  married,  in 
the  year  1808,  to  Susan  Lock,  who  was  born 
in  the  year  1789,  and  who  died  in  the  year 
1835  in  Wayne  County,  111.,  and  was  buried 
in  the  family  cemetery.  They  had  thirteen 
children,  seven  living — Malinda,  Elizabeth, 
Ewing,  Lucinda.  Winnie.  Francis  M.  and 
Cephas.  After  the  death  of  Mrs.  Susan 
Young,  John  Young  was  married  the  second 
time,  in  the  year  1836,  to  Sarah  Reed,  of 
Tennessee,  by  whom  he  had  four  children, 
three  living — Andrew  J.,  Nancy  Galbraith 
and  Mariah  Blague.  Sarah,  wife  of  John 
Young,  died  January  10,  1853.  Our  subject 
was  educated  in  Wayne  County,  111.,  in  a 
pioneer  schoolhouse.  He  carried  the  United 
States  mail  in  their  neighborhood,  when  a 
young  man,  from  1847  to  1851.  He  is  a 
member  and  a  local  preacher  of  the  .U.  E. 
Church,  and  has  been  for  the  past  twenty 
two  years.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the 
United  Workmen.     He  was  married.    July  1, 


126 


BIOGRAPHICAL. 


1852,  in  Wayne  County,  111.,  to  Nancy  J. 
Stinson,  of  Illinois,  who  was  born  July  29, 
1837,  by  whom  the  subject  had  ten  children, 
five    living — Richard  B.,   Edwin  M.,  Emma 


J.,  Dora  E.  and  Adolphus.  Our  subject 
owns  120  acres  of  land,  and  is  engaged  in 
farming  and  stock-raising.  In  politics  he  is 
Independent. 


BEUSH    CREEK    TOWNSHIP. 


DR.  J.  F.  BOYLE,  physician,  Xenia,  was 
born  in  Posey  County,  Ind.,  January  31, 
1839,  to  L.  H.  and  Augusta  (Uhink)  Boyle. 
The  father  was  a  native  of  Kentucky,  the 
mother  of  Bremen,  Germany.  They  are 
both  residents  of  New  Harmony,  Ind.,  where 
he  is  engaged  in  farming.  He  has  resided 
in  Indiana  since  about  1821.  They  are  the 
parents  of  six  children,  three  sons  and  three 
daughters,  all  of  whom  yet  survive.  Our 
subject  was  reared  on  the  farm,  and  received 
most  of  his  education  in  Owensville,  Ind. 
When  starting  in  the  study  of  his  profession, 
it  was  with  Dr.  Stokes,  of  Grayville,  111.,  in 
1861.  He  afterward  attended  medical  lect- 
ures at  the  Cincinnati  College  of  Medicine 
and  Surgery.  In  1863,  the  Doctor  located  in 
Saline  County,  111.,  where  he  continued  in 
the  practice  of  medicine  till  1871,  when  he 
removed  to  Jefferson  County,  111.,  where  he 
remained  till  1878,  and  then  came  to  his 
present  location,  where  he  has  had  an  exten- 
sive and  successful  practice.  April  30,  1863, 
he  was  married,  in  Saline  County,  111.,  to 
Miss  Mary  E.  Cox;  she  was  born  iu  Posey 
County,  Ind.,  May  13,  1846,  and  is  the 
daughter  of  John  L.  Cox.  This  union  has 
been  blessed  with  six  children — IdaU.,Iva 
A.,  Ina  Lulu,  Laura  E.,  Inez  Maud  and  Ju- 
lia Theresa.  In  spring  of  1861,  the  Doctor 
volunteered  in  the  Twenty-first  Indiana  Vol- 
unteer Infantry,  as  Assistant  Surgeon,  but 
on  account    of    ill  health   he  had  to  resign 


after  about  six  months.  In  fall  of  1862,  he 
again  went  out  as  Assistant  Surgeon  in  the 
Fifty-eighth  Regiment  Indiana  Volunteer 
Infantry,  but  after  a  few  .months  again  had 
to  resign.  He  is  identified  with  the  Demo- 
cratic party.  Julius  Uhink,  the  brother  of 
Dr.  Boyle's  mother,  was  the  Prussian  Consul 
to  Mexico  during  the  war  between  the  United 
States  and  Mexico,  and  is  now  a  resident  of 
the  City  of  Mexico. 

WILSON  M.  McKEE,  farmer,  P.  O.  Aid, 
was  born  in  Adams  County,  Ohio,  March  1, 
1831,  to  Joseph  and  Mary  (Akins)  McKee. 
The  father  was  a  native  of  McKeesport, 
Penn. ,  a  place  which  was  named  for  the  great- 
grandfather of  our  subject,  who  came  across 
the  water  from  Germany  to  America,  with 
eighteen  sons,  and  landed  at  the  future  town 
of  McKeesport.  The  father  moved  to  Ken- 
tucky and  was  there  married  to  the  mother 
of  our  subject.  He  died  February  17,  1880, 
at  the  age  of  ninety-one  years.  She  died 
June  14.  1875,  aged  eighty-two  years  four 
months  and  six  days.  They  were  the  parents 
of  thirteen  children,  eight  sons  and  five  girls; 
ten  of  the  family  yet  survive.  Our  subject's 
life  has  been  spent  in  farming.  In  1854,  he 
emigrated  to  McLean  County,  111.,  but  in 
1861  sold  his  farm  and  settled  his  present 
farm  of  120  acres.  In  1853,  he  was  mar- 
ried, in  Ohio,  to  Miss  Sarah  J.  Adams,  born 
in  Adams  County,  Ohio,  and  daughter  of 
James  W.  and   Millie   (MeCormack)   Adams: 


BRUSH  CREEK  TOWNSHIP. 


127 


she  was  the  mother  of  five  children;  three 
died  in  infancy  and  two  are  living — John  L., 
and  Flora  F.,  wife  of  James  Seaman,  of 
Coles  County,  111.  Mr.  McKee  was  married 
to  Mrs.  Caroline  (Feather)  Redburn,  March 
17.  1867;  she  was  born  in  Orange  County, 
Ind.,  August  24,  1S40,  to  Jacob  and  Matilda 
Feather.  The  father^  was  a  native  of  Vir- 
ginia, born  September  12,  11800,  died  Au- 
gust 6,  1883.  The  mother  was  born  Febru- 
ary 12.  1813,  and  still  survives.  Mrs.  McKee 
was  brought  to  this  county  when  an  infant; 
she  was  married,  in  1857,  to  Ellis  Redburn. 
He  died  August,  1864,  in  the  army,  having 
been  in  the  Forty-eighth  Illinois  Volunteer 
Infantry  for  nearly  three  years.  By  him  she 
has  one  child,  living  —Richard  U.  S.  G.  Red- 
burn. By  the  present  marriage  there  are 
four  children — George  W.,  Margaret  M., 
Mary  M.  and  Ida  L.  August  9,  1862,  Mr. 
McKee  enlisted  in  Company  C,  One  Hundred 
and  Eleventh  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry, 
Capt.  T.  O.  Pierce,  Col.  James  Martin,  and 
served  with  his  regiment  till  close  of  war, 
getting  home  July  4,  1865.  He  is  member 
of  G.  A.  R.  In  politics,  be  is  identified  with 
the  Republican  party.  He  has  held  various 
township  offices.  Mrs.  McKee's  father  was 
for  over  fifty  years  a  local  minister  in  the 
Mi'thodist  Church.  First  in  the  Methodist 
Episcopal,  now  of  the  Protestant  Church. 
Of  his  family  of  nine  children,  seven  yet 
survive,  and  all  but  one  son  are  members  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

ISAAC  a.  MORRIS,  farmer,  P.  O.  Xenia, 
was  born  in  Wayne  County,  III.,  August  7. 
1836,  and  is  the  son  of  Nathan  A.  and  Sarah 
A.  (Reid)  Munis,  both  of  whom  were  born  in 
Grayson  County,  Ky.,  he  September  25,  1812, 
she  March  10,  1816.  Our  subject  is  the 
great-grandson  of  Robert  Morris,  who  signed 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  is  the 
grandson  of   Isaac  Morris,  who  died  in  Ken- 


tucky, and  his  widow,  Mary  Morris,  moved 
to  Wayne  County,  111.,  November  10,  1817. 
She  afterward  married  Benjamin  Clark,  who 
served  as  Sheriff  of  Wayne  County,  and  also 
represented  the  districi,  in  the  State  Legisla- 
ture. Our  subject  is  one  of  a  family  of  twelve 
children,  six  of  whom  yet  survive.  His  par- 
ents died  in  this  county,  the  father  July  16, 
1875,  of  small-pox;  the  mother  February  26, 
1881.  Our  subject  was  reared  and  educated 
in  this  county,  and  has  made  farming  his 
principal  occupation:  but  for  about  fifteen 
years  he  has  been  engaged  every  season  in 
the  manufacture  of  sorghum  molasses,  for 
which  business  he  has  a  complete  outfit  of 
crushers,  evaporating  pans,  etc.,  and  has  at 
tained  a  proficiency  in  his  business  not  ex- 
celled by  any.  He  manufactures  annually 
about  2.000  gallons  of  the  sirup.  He  also 
carries  on  his  farm  of  138  acres  of  land,  most 
all  of  which  is  in  cultivation.  July  3,  1859, 
he  was  married  in  this  county  to  Miss  Ruth 
E.  Lear.  She  was  born  in  Ohio  February 
26,  1840,  and  was  the  daughter  of  Henry 
Lear,  who  came  to  Illinois  in  L852,  but  died 
near  Memphis,  Tenn..  while  in  the  service 
of  his  country.  Mrs.  Morris  died  in  Iowa 
August  26.  1866.  April  2,  1868,  Mr.  Morris 
was  again  united  in  marriage,  and  to  Miss 
Samantha  E.  Caudle.  She  was  born  in 
Wayne  County,  111.,  February  22,  1849,  and 
is  the  daughter  of  Samuel  Caudle,  who  has 
resided  in  this  county  about  forty  years.  By 
first  marriage  Mr.  Morris  has  two  children 
living— Joseph  W.,  and  Mary  L  .  wife  of 
Henry  A.  Huffhines;  also  two  children  dead. 
By  the  second  marriage  there  are  eight  chil- 
dren, four  of  whom  survive- -Lucretia  A., 
Francos  A.,  Agnes  M.  and  Isaac  S.  Our 
subject  has  resided  in  Wayne  County  during 
his  life,  except  three  years  in  the  West,  nine 
months  of  that  timo  being  in  Utah  and  the 
remainder  in  Iowa.      He  and  wife  are  mem- 


128 


BIOGKAPHICAL  : 


bers  of  the  Latter-Day  Saints  Church,  and 
Mr.  M.  was  ordained  Elder  in  the  church  in 
1862.  He  is  now  a  local  minister  and  pre- 
sides over  a  congregation  of  about  seventy- 
five  members.  In  political  matters,  he  is 
associated  with  the  Republican  party,  and 
has  served  as  Supervisor  of  the  township. 

MARION  SONGER,  farmer,  P.  O.  Xenia, 
was  born  in  Clay  County,  111.,  October  23, 
1845,  to  Jacob  and  Rebecca  (McGrew)  Song- 
er.  (See  sketch  of  Hiram  Songer,  Xenia 
Township,  Clay  County.)  Our  subject  was 
reared  and  educated  in  Clay  County.  In 
1872,  he  came  to  his  present  farm  in  Wayne 


County,  which  contains  160  acres,  100  being 
in  cultivation  and  well  improved.  March 
28,  1872,  he  was  married  in  Clay  County  to 
Miss  E.  C.  Vickrey,  who  was  born  in  Clay 
County,  a  daughter  of  Alex  Vickrey.  This 
union  has  been  blessed  with  two  children 
— Homer  E.,  born  September  10,  1875,  and 
Minnie  M.,  born  February  23,  1879.  He  is 
a  member  of  I.  O.  O.  F.  of  Zenia,  and  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  South,  and  Mrs. 
Songer  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
In  politics,  he  is  Democratic.  Mr.  Songer 
has  been  quite  successful  in  business,  and 
entirely  through  his  own  energy. 


FOTJE    MILE    TOWNSHIP. 


JOHN  BOSWELL.  miller,  Wayne  City,  was 
born  July  24,  1855,  in  Clay  County,  111. ;  his 
father,  Matthew  Boswell,  is  a  native  of  North 
Carolina.  He  is  yet  living  and  farming  in 
Clay  County,  to  which  he  came  in  1841. 
His  father,  the  grandfather  of  our  subject, 
Edward  Boswell,  was  a  native  of  Virginia, 
also  a  farmer  by  occupation,  and  died  in  Clay 
County.  Lucy  S.  (Moore)  Boswell  is  the 
mother  of  our  subject;  she  is  a  native  of 
North  Carolina,  and  yet  living  in  Clay 
County.  She  is  a  daughter  of  Joshua  and 
Lucy  (Algood)  Moore,  both  natives  of  North 
Carolina.  Our  subject  went  to  school  in 
Clay  County,  111.,  where  he  farmed.  On  the 
10th  day  of  June,  1875,  at  the  age  of  nine- 
teen, he  was  joined  in  matrimony  to  Miss 
Marv  E.  Ellis,  a  native  of  Missouri,  born 
November  15,  1859.  She  is  a  daughter  of 
Charles  and  Nancy  (Carlisle)  Ellis.  Three 
children  came  to  bless  this  happy  union — 
William  N.,  born  March  2,  1876;  he  died  of 


pneumonia,  February  24,  1883;  Viola  E., 
born  January  15,  1878;  and  Charles  M.,  born 
April  7,  1882.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Boswell  are 
esteemed  members  of  society,  also  of  the 
Grange.  He  is  a  member  of  the  A.  F.  &  A. 
M.,  Viola  Lodge,  No.  691.  In  political  mat- 
ters, Mr.  Boswell  is  a  Democrat. 

DR.  J.  M.  BRAMSON,  physician,  Wayne 
City,  was  born  July  3,  1836,  in  Warren 
County,  Ky.  He  is  a  son  of  Hezekiah  Bram- 
son,  a  native  of  Virginia,  and  a  farmer  and 
shoe-maker  by  occupation.  He  came  here  in 
1838,  and  settled  in  Marion  County,  111. 
He  died  at  Tamaroa,  111.  His  father  was 
Briscoe  D.  Bramson,  of  Scotch  descent. 
The  mother  of  our  subject  was  Emeline 
(Baily)  Bramson,  a  native  of  Kentucky' 
where  she  died.  She  was  a  daughter  of  Da- 
vid and  Martha  (Baily)  Baily,  and  is  the 
mother  of  six  children,  two  of  whom  are  now 
living — Martha  W.  Walker  and  James  M., 
our  subject,  who  was  educated  in  New  York 


Fori;   MILE  TOWNSHIP. 


129 


and  Illinois,  but  who  received  his  medical 
education  in  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  and  Cincinnati, 
Ohio.  The  Doctor  has  traveled  and  followed 
his  profession  in  different  States,  as  Iowa, 
Kentucky  and  Illinois.  He  came  to  Wayne 
County,  111.,  in  1S7<),  and  practiced  live  years 
in  Johusonville,  after  which  he  went  to  Ken- 
tucky, but  finally  returned  to  this  State,  and 
in  the  spring  of  18S2  came  to  Wayne  City, 
where  he  now  resides  and  has  succeoded  in 
building  up  an  extensive  and  lucrative  prac- 
tice, enjoying  the  esteem  and  confidence  of 
the  people.  Dr.  Bramson  was  married,  April 
4,  1800.  in  Franklin  County,  111.,  to  Miss 
Sarah  A.  Harper,  born  December  22,  1842, 
in  Tennessee.  She  is  a  daughter  of  Alfred 
and  Mary  A.  Carter  (Harper).  Mrs.  Dr.  Bram- 
son is  the  mother  of  six  children — Marinda 
E.,  born  May  II.  1861;  Lilburn  H..  born 
September  12,  1805;  Bertha  S.,*born  October 
12,  1807;  Laura  A.,  born  November  23, 
1809;  Martha  L.,  born  June  29,  1872;  and 
Clyde  M.,  deceased.  Mrs.  Dr.  Bramson  is 
connected  with  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  Dr.  Bramson  is  a  member  of  the  I. 
O.  O.  F.,  the  Grange  and  the  G.  A.  It.  The 
Doctor  also  served  in  our  late  war.  Ho  en- 
listed iu  the  fall  of  1801,  and  served  thirteen 
months  in  the  Sixth  Illinois  Volunteer  Cav- 
alry, Company  D;  held  the  position  of  Ser- 
geant, and  participated  in  different  cavalry 
engagements. 

DR.  J.  C.  BRISTOW,  physician,  Wayne 
City.  Among  the  experienced  and  trustworthy 
physicians  of  Wayne  County  is  the  gentleman 
whose  name  heads  this  sketch.  He  was  born 
December  22.  1S25,  in  Parke  County,  Ind. 
His  parents,  George  and  Elizabeth  (Collings) 
Bristow,  were  natives  of  Sholby  County.  Ky. . 
and  were  highly  esemed  members  of  society. 
George  Bristow  was  a  farmer  by  occupation 
and  also  an  ordained  minister  of  the  old 
Regular  Baptist  Church;  he  died  in  Shelby 


County,  Ky.  His  father,  Gideon  Bristow, 
was  a  native  of  Virginia,  but  of  Welsh  de 
scent;  he  and  threo  of  his  brothers  fought  in 
the  Revolutionary  war.  Dr.  Bristow's  mother 
was  a  daughter  of  William  Collings.  Our 
subject  was  educated  iu  the  common  schools 
of  Indiana  and  Kentucky,  and  received  his 
medical  education  in  the  Medical  Department 
of  the  University  of  Louisville,  Ky.,  where 
he  received  his  diploma.  In  1855,  he  com- 
menced to  practice  medicine  in  Keokuk 
County,  Iowa,  and  after  two  years  of  suc- 
cessful labor  went  to  Kansas  Territory,  where 
he  practiced  one  year,  and  then  returned  to 
to  Illinois,  settling  in  Crawford  County, 
where  he  followed  his  profession  till  June, 
1879,  when  he  came  to  Wayne  City,  where 
he  now  resides  and  where  he  has  succeeded 
in  establishing  a  line  practice.  The  Doctor 
votes  the  Republican  ticket,  and  is  considered 
one  of  the  best  read  men  in  this  part  of 
Wayne  County. 

J.  R.  CHANDLER,  merchant,  Wayne  City, 
was  born  Feburary  0,  1854,  in  Clay  County. 
111.,  where  he  received  such  an  education  as  his 
part  of  the  county  afforded,  and  here  he  was 
early  in  life  imbued  with  a  spirit  for  a  mer- 
chantile  career  for  which  he  is  so  well  fitted, 
and  in  which  his  many  friends  predict  for  him 
even  greater  success  than  ^he  has  thus  far 
achieved.  He  commenced  by  clerking  for 
his  uncle,  W.  VV.  Brownfield,  of  Xonia, 
acting  as  traveling  salesman  six  years.  In 
January,  1881,  he  came  to  Wayne  City,  111., 
where  he  opened  a  dry  goods  store,  carrying 
also  groceries,  boots,  shoes  and  clothing, 
and  at  present  enjoys  a  very  large  trade, 
owing,  his  success  no  doubt,  to  his  energy, 
and  honesty  in  dealing  with  his  customers. 
Mr.  ('handler  was  married,  March  7.  1878, 
in  Xenia,  111.,  to  Miss  Mollie  Thing,  born 
August  1,  1856,  in  Indiana,  daughter  of 
George  and  America    (Rusher)    Thin-.     He 

9 


130 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


was  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  and  she  of 
Indiana.  Three  children,  now  living,  blessed 
this  happy  union,  viz. :  Maudie,  born  Jan- 
uray  4,  1879;  George,  December  9,  1880; 
and  an  infant  son,  October  16,  1883.  Mr. 
Chandler  is  an  I.  0.  O.  F.,  Wayne  City  Lodge, 
No.  228.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Town  Board, 
and  in  politics  is  a  Republican.  Mrs. 
Chandler  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  The  parents  of  our  sub- 
ject were  Reuben  and  Elizabeth  (Browntield) 
Chandler.  He  was  a  farmer  by  occupation, 
and  died  in  Iuka,  111.  She,  the  mother  of 
our  subject,  is  yet  living  in  Xenia.  111.  She 
is  daughter  of  William  and  C.  \V.  (Cheeley) 
Browntield,  and  is  the  mother  of  four  chil- 
dren now  living,  viz. :  William  W.,  Catharine 
Browntield,  Mary  Jacobson,  John  R.  and 
George  M.  Allen;  the  latter  was  a  child  from 
her  third  husband,  James  Allen. 

CHARLES  R.  ELLIS,  miller,  Wayne 
City,  was  born  January  21,  1832,  in  Wash- 
ington County,  Ind.  He  is  a  son  of  Isaac 
Ellis,  a  native  of  Virginia,  but  reared  in 
Kentucky.  He  farmed  and  merchandized  in 
Indiana,  where  he  died.  His  father,  William 
Ellis,  was  a  native  of  Virginia.  The  mother 
of  our  subject  was  Jane  (Radcliff)  Ellis.  She 
is  yet  living,  and  is  a  daughter  of  David  and 
Betsey  (Brown)  Radcliff.  She,  the  mother 
of  our  subject,  reared  nine  children,  five  of 
whom  are  now  living — William,  Elizabeth 
Holaday,  Catherine  Tinsel,  Mary  Hulgin  and 
Charles  R. ,  our  subject,  who  was  educated 
in  Indiana,  which  State  he  left  at  the  age  of 
twenty-three  and  went  to  Missouri,  in  1855, 
where  he  followed  his  trade,  which  he  had 
learned  in  Indiana.  He  lived  in  Newton 
County,  Mo.,  till  1861,  when  he  came  to 
Wayne  County,  111.,  where  he  milled  till 
1878,  when  he  moved  to  Clay  County,  where 
he  followed  his  trade,  returning  to  this  coun- 
ty in  1882.      He    is   now   residing  in  Wayne 


City,  where  he  built  a  flouring  mill,  which  is 
operated  by  his  children,  he  himself  having 
reserved  an  interest  in  the  mill.  He  has 
built  two  new  mills  and  rebuilt  several  others 
in  this  county  He  has  owned  five  different 
mills  in  this  county.  Such  men  as  Mr.  Ellis 
are  a  valuable  acquisition  to  any  neighbor- 
hood. He  was  joined  in  matrimony,  August 
8,  1854,  in  Orange  County,  Ind.,  to  Miss 
Nancy  Carlisle,  born  February  3,  1840,  in 
Orange  County,  Ind.  She  is  a  daughter  of 
John  and  Hannah  (Smith)  Carlisle.  He  is 
a  native  of  Kentucky,  and  she  a  native  of 
Indiana.  John  Carlisle  was  a  Captain  in 
the  Black  Hawk  war.  Six  children  now 
living  have  come  to  bless  this  happy  union 
— Martha  J.,  wife  of  John  Close;  Mary  E., 
wife  of  John  Boswell:  John  D.,  born  No- 
vember 15,  1860;  he  married  Emma  J.  War- 
sack;  Anna,  B.,  born  October  16,  1872; 
Jesse  T.,  October  20,  1874;  Francis  M.,  born 
October  20,  1879.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ellis  are 
highly  respected  members  of  the  community 
in  which  they  dwell,  and  also  of  the  Christian 
Church.  He  is  also  an  active  member  of  the 
A.  F.  &  A.  M.  fraternity,  Johnsonville  Lodge, 
No.  713.  He  has  lost  an  arinjwhile  follow- 
ing his  vocation. 

DR.  B.  E.  GARRISON,  physician, 
Wayne  City,  may  justly  be  counted  among 
Wayne  County's  rising  young  physicians.  He 
was  born  August  11, 1859,  in  this  county,  in  the 
same  building  in  which  his  father,  George 
Garrison,  was  born.  The  latter  is  a  farmer 
in  Hickory  Hill  Township,  where  he  is  one 
of  the  prominent  and  leading  men.  He  was 
also  a  soldier  in  our  late  war,  serving  three 
years,  and  held  the  office  of  Orderly  Ser- 
geant. His  father,  Samuel  Garrison,  was 
one  of  the  first  settlers  in  Wayne  County. 
He  was  a  native  of  Tennessee,  but  ended  his 
days  in  this  county,  which  he  saw  built  up 
from  a  wilderness  to  a  fertile  and  prospering 


Fori;  milk  township. 


131 


country.  The  mother  of  our  subject  was 
Sarah  (Wells)  Garrison,  a  native  of  Jefferson 
County.  111.  She  is  a  daughter  of  Barney 
I'..  Wells,  an  honored  citizen  and  pioneer  of 
Jefferson  Coimty,  111.  Her  mother  was  Eliz 
abeth  B.  (Alvis)  Wells.  Mrs.  S.  Garrison 
is  the  mother  of  ten  children,  of  whom  six 
are  now  living — Barney  E.,Malissa  J.  (wife  of 
William  Morrison),  Gregg.  Isaac  L.,  Leota 
C,  Minnie  B.  and  Lilly  S.  Our  subject  was 
educated  in  Wayne  County,  111.,  but  received 
his  medical  education  in  the  College  of 
Physicians  and  Surgeons  at  Keokuk,  Iowa. 
where  he  graduated  March  1,  1881.  Dr. 
Garrison  has  practiced  six  months  in  Hamil- 
ton County,  and  since  then  in  Wayne  Coun- 
ty, locating  in  Wayne  City  March  1,  1882, 
where  he  has  succeeded  in  building  up  an 
extensive  practice 

P.  C.  GL ASMAN,  merchant.  Long  Prairie, 
was  born  September  22,  1841,  in  Louis- 
ville, Ky.  His  father,  Peter  Glasman.  was 
a  native  of  Germany.  He  was  a  merchant 
tailor  by  occupation,  and  died  in  Harrison 
County,  Ind.  The  mother  of  our  subject, 
Mary  (Beam)  Glasman.  was  born  in  Saxony, 
and  died  in  St.  Louis,  Mo.  Mr.  Glasman 
went  to  school  in  Clay  and  Jefferson  Counties, 
111.  At  the  age  of  nineteen,  he  enlisted  in 
the  Eleventh  Missouri  Volunteer  Infantry. 
Company  F,  Capt.  Singleton,  on  the  25th 
of  July,  1861,  and  served  till  January  20, 
180(>;  he  tilled  the  rank  of  Sergeant, and  par- 
ticipated in  the  battles  of  Fredericktown, 
Island  No.  10.  Corinth  and  Vicksburg.  and 
the  battles  of  Iuka.  Nashville.  Term., 
and  Spanish  Fort.  After  the  war,  he  re- 
turned to  Xenia,  where  he  farmed  one  year; 
then  removed  to  Jefferson  County,  and  after 
three  years  went  to  Mound  City,  where  he 
worked  six  years  in  the  ax-handle  factory, 
ami  from  there  went  to  Thebes,  111.,  where 
he  worked  one  year  in    a    factory,    and    was 


married  there  to  Mrs.  S.  E.  Brown,  a  native 
of  Louisville,  Ky.  Her  maiden  name  was 
Crittenden.  She  was  educated  in  St.  Louis. 
and  is  now  classed  among  Wayne  County's 
most  efficient  teachers.  Mr.  Glasman  is  an 
I.  O.  O.  F.,  Asbury  Lodge,  No.  248.  From 
Thebes,  where  our  subject  got  married,  he 
removed  to  Mt.  Vernon.  After  teaching 
school  on*>  year,  he  wont  to  St.  Louis,  and 
attended  the  Mound  City  Commercial 
College,  where  he  graduated,  and  then  kept 
books  in  the  Tuscan  Mills  six  months,  and 
then  went  to  Opdyke,  where  he  clerked  for 
J.  C.  Tucker  four  years,  and  then  went  to 
Belleville,  where  he  clerked  in  the  railroad 
office  six  months,  and  then  returned  to 
Opdyke,  where  he  clerked  for  Tucker  & 
Poole  till  May  24,  1883,  when  he  came  to 
Middletown,  where  he  now  keeps  a  general 
store. 

J.  F.  S.  HOPKINS,  merchant,  Long 
Prairie,  was  born  September  13,  182.").  in 
Hamilton  County,  111.,  son  of  John  Hop- 
kins, a  native  of  Kentucky,  who  in  early  life 
followed  the  stone  mason  trade,  and  after- 
ward became  a  merchant  in  McLeansboro, 
111.,  keeping  a  grocery  store  till  1833,  when 
he  came  to  Wayne  County,  near  Maulding's 
Mill,  just  a  little  east  of  where  Wayne  City 
now  stands.  There  he  sold  groceries  and 
dry  goods  about  twelve  months,  and  got  sick, 
and  with  his  whole  family  returned  to  Ham- 
ilton County,  where  he  died  about  1834. 
His  family,  after  his  demise,  returned  to 
their  old  residence,  where  his  widow  mar- 
ried Samuel  Bradford.  Mrs.  Susannah 
(Saltsman)  Hopkins  was  born  in  Kentucky, 
and  died  in  Middletown  in  1S80,  aged  over 
eighty  years.  She  was  a  daughter  of  Peter 
Saltsman, of  German  descent,  he  was  a  physi- 
cian by  occupation,  lived  many  years  in  Ken- 
tucky, and  died  in  Missouri,  aged  over  one 
hundred  years,     She  was  the  mother  of  three 


132 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


children,  viz.:  Clinton  C,  Hester  R. 
Maulding  and  John  F.  S.,  our  subject,  who 
weut  to  school  in  McLeansboro  and  near 
Maulding  Mill.  In  early  life,  he  worked  a 
great  deal  for  other  people  until  1846,  when 
he  married  and  commenced  farming  for  him- 
self, continuing  to  farm  till  the  present  day, 
although  he  sold  goods  near  Maulding's  Mill 
from  1855  to  1859.  In  1862,  he  sold  his 
farm  and  stock  and  enlisted  in  the  United 
States  Army  in  the  Fortieth  Illinois  Regi- 
ment Infantry  Volunteers,  Company  G,Capt. 
C.  C.  Hopkins,  a  brother  of  our  subject. 
Mr.  Hopkins  participated  in  thirteen  battles, 
among  others  that  of  Mission  Ridge,  and 
was  with  Gen.  Sherman  in  his  world-famed 
"march  to  the  sea."  While  at  Savannah, 
he  got  sick  and  stayed  in  the  hospital  till  he 
was  sent  to  Washington,  where  he  was  dis- 
charged, after  which  he  came  home  and  went 
into  the  family  grocery  business,  which  he 
followed  almost  three  years,  and*  agai  n  sold 
out  and  then  went  to  farming,  which  he  yet 
follows,  and  also  keeps  a  general  store,  sit- 
uated on  his  farm  near  Middletown.  Our 
subject  has  been  married  twice.  His  first 
wife,  Nancy  M.  (Garrison)  Hopkins,  died 
leaving  one  child,  named  Elizabeth,  who  is 
the  wife  of  J.  W.  Anderson.  His  second 
wife,  Mrs.  Emeline  Green,  is  a  daughter  of 
Rezira  Johnson  and  Rebecca  (Kane)  Johnson. 
She  is  the  mother  of  five  children,  viz. : 
Malissa  A.  Bell,  Lucinda  A.  Nahm,  Marga- 
ret E.  Craig,  Charles  T.  (deceased)  and 
Laura  C.  Ospring.  Mr.  Hopkins  is  an  A. 
F.  &  A  M.,  and  a  Republican  in  principle. 
Has  filled  the  offices  of  Constable,  Assessor, 
Justice  of  the  Peace  and  Notary  Public. 

CHARLES  M.  JACOBSON,  druggist, 
Wayne  City,  was  born  May  24,  1831,  in 
Saxony,  Germany.  His  father,  Frederick 
Jacobson,  was  also  a  native  of  Germany, 
where  he  learned  and  followed  tbe  cabinet- 


maker's trade.  He  came  to  the  United  States 
about  the  year  1835,  settling  in  New  York; 
from  there  he  went  to  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  then 
to  Belleville,  111.,  where  he  worked  at  his 
trade  for  a  number  of  years,  and  finally 
moved  to  St.  Louis,  where  he  died.  The 
mother  of  our  subject  was  Hannah  Jacobson, 
born  in  Germany.  She  died  in  Louisville, 
Ky.,  while  visiting  her  daughter.  She  was 
the  mother  of  six  children — Frederick,  So- 
phia Shaeffer,  Amanda  Brown,  Charles  M. , 
Albert  and  Aurora  Smith.  Our  subject  spent 
most  of  his  youth  in  Belleville  and  St.  Louis. 
In  the  former  place  he  went  to  school  mostly, 
and  also  learned  the  carpenter  trade,  follow- 
ing it  about  ten  years,  after  which  he  farmed 
about  nine  years  in  Jefferson  County,  and 
then  went  to  Belle  Rive,  where  he  learned  the 
drug  business  with  Dr.  Eaton.  After  two 
years,  he  went  into  partnership  with  S.  C. 
Guthrie,  which  he  continued  two  years.  In 
May,  1882,  he  came  to  Wayne  County,  111., 
where  he  entered  the  drug  business,  which  he 
continues  to  the  present  day,  keeping  also 
groceries,  queensware,  and  all  kinds  of 
liquors.  He  has  two  partners — N.  G.  and  A. 
Jenkins.  Our  subject  was  married,  October 
24,  1850,  in  Belleville,  111.,  to  Miss  Emily 
F.  Skinner,  born  in  1833  in  Belleville,  111. 
She  is  a  daughter  of  William  and  Elizabeth 
(Akens)  Skinner,  an  old  pioneer  of  St.  Clair 
County.  Eight  children  now  living  were  the 
result  of  this  happy  union — Morris  W.,  Ed- 
ward C. ,  Emily,  Alfred  F.,  Alonzo  L.,  Frank- 
lin Q.,  Richard  L.  and  Raymon.  Mr.  Jacob- 
son  is  a  member  of  the  I.  O.  O.  F.  and  the 
Iron  Hall  fraternity.  In  politics,  he  is  a 
Democrat. 

R.  A.  JENKINS,  farmer,  P.  O.  Wayne 
City.  This  gentleman,  who  is  a  resident  of 
that  part  of  Four-Mile  Township  which  is 
known  as  "  Frog  Island,"  was  born  February 
15,  1843,  in  Wayne  County,  111.      His  father, 


FOUH  MILE  TOWNSHIP. 


183 


R.  F.  Jenkins,  was  a  native  of  Pennsylvania 
and  came  to  Wayne  County,  111.,  when  about 
twelve  years  old.  Here-  he  farmed,  and 
finally  died  in  February,  1877.  The  mother 
of  our  subject.  Sarah  (Bothwell)  Jenkins,  is 
a  native  of  Tennessee.  She  is  yet  living, 
and  is  the  mother  of  twelve  children,  of 
whom  eight  are  now  liviug.  She  is  an 
esteemed  lady,  the  daughter  of  James  Both- 
well,  a  farmer  by  occupation.  Our  subject 
received  a  limited  school  education  in  this 
county,  and  was  married  here  September  25, 
1863,  to  Miss  Louisa  Harshberger,  born 
August  27,  1842,  in  Illinois.  She  is  a  daugh- 
ter cf  William  ami  Emily  (Spouse)  Harsh- 
berger. Eight  children  came  to  bless  this 
happy  union —Mara  A.  (wife  of  John  Gra- 
ham), Sarah  Williams,  Richard,  Lilie,  Victo- 
ria, Saratany  and  Gregg.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Jenkins  are  members  of  the  Missionary  Bap- 
tist Church,  and  highly  esteemed  members  of 
society  in  general.  He  has  served  his  town- 
ship in  the  capacity  of  Commissioner  of 
Highways  and  School  Director.  Politically, 
our  subject  is  inclined  to  the  Democratic 
party.  His  line  farm  of  160  acres  is  kept  in 
a  high  state  of  cultivation,  and  from  year  to 
year  ho  adds  a  few  new  improvements,  indi- 
cating the  progressive  farmer. 

JAMES  KEEN,  farmer,  stockman  and 
merchant.  P.  O.  Six  Mile,  was  born  February 
16,  183!),  in  Keenville.  Wayne  Co.,  111.  His 
father,  John  Keen,  Sr. .  was  a  native  of  Sum- 
ner County.  Tenn. ,  born  in  1811.  and  yet 
living  in  this  county.  His  history  will  appear 
moro  complete  in  another  pari  >>f  this  work. 
The  grandfather  of  our  subject,  Ford  Keen, 
was  born  in  Virginia.  Catherine  (Book) 
Keea  was  the  mother  of  eleven  children,  of 
whom  eight  are  now  living.  She  died  in 
November,  1857.  Oar  subject  attended  tho 
old-fashioned  subscription  schools,  only  go- 
ing  about    twelve    months,   and    is   therefore 


mai  nly  self-educated.  In  early  life,  he  farmed 
on  his  father's  farm,  and  stayed  with  him 
until  he  was  thirty-one  years  old.  In  1866, 
at  the  age  of  twenty-five,  he  commenced  to 
deal  in  stock  in  partnership  with  his  father 
and  brother,  but  since  1871  he  has  only  been 
in  partnership  with  his  brother,  Samuel 
Keen,  which  partnership  is  still  existing. 
They  also  keep  a  general  store,  which  is  con- 
ducted by  Harvey  M.  Maxey.  Mr.  Keen  owns 
a  fine  farm  of  360  acres.  He  has  been  School 
Trustee,  Highway  Commissioner,  and  in  the 
fall  of  1880  was  elected  to  the  General  As- 
sembly of  Illinois,  which  position  he  tilled 
with  ability.  Mr.  Keen  was  joined  in  mat- 
rimony twice.  His  first  wife,  Sarah  J.  Ellis, 
born  March  10,  1849,  in  Wayne  County,  111., 
died  July  15,  1876.  His  present  wife,  Ris- 
pah  J.  Whitney,  born  in  1846,  in  Ripley 
County.  Ind.  She  is  a  daughter  of  Nathan 
and  Mary  J.  (Moore) 'Whitney.  He  is  a  na- 
tive of  Maine,  and  she  of  Hamilton  County, 
Ohio.  One  child,  now  living,  came  to  bless 
this  union,  Raab  D.,  born  September  15, 
1882.  Mrs.  Keen  is  connected  with  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  Mr.  Keen  is 
a  Democrat,  and  hoping  to  live  and  die  in 
the  old  party. 

ANTHONY  MATEER,  farmer,  P.  O.  Long 
Prairie,  was  born  August  3,  1834,  in  Ana 
strong  County,  Peon.  He  is  a  son  of  John 
Mateer,  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  a  farmer 
by  occupation,  and  a  descendant  of  the  old 
Mateer  family  well  known  in  the  East.  He 
came  to  this  county  in  L855,  settling  on  the 
Earm  now  owned  by  our  subject.  He  was  a 
successful  farmer,  and  member  of  the  Seceder 
Church,  and  a  quiet  man  of  sterling  quali- 
ties. He  died  in  1866,  aged  eighty-four 
years.  His  father,  Rober I  Mateer,  was  also  a 
native  of  Pennsylvania,  and  a  farmer  by  oc- 
cupation. He  died  east  of  the  Allegheny 
Mountains  in  Pennsylvania.     The  mother  of 


134 


UIOCJKAPIIM'AI.: 


our  subject  was  Margaret  Montgomery,  a 
native  of  Ireland.  Sbe  came  to  the  United 
States  with  her  parents  when  she  was  only 
twelve  years  old.  She  was  the  mother  of 
nine  children,  of  whom  sis  are  now  living. 
She  died  in  Wayne  County.  Our  subject  is 
mainly  self-educated.  Early  in  life,  he 
turned  his  attention  to  his  father's  vocation — 
farming  — and  now  owns  160  acres  of  good 
land,  which  is  kept  in  a  high  state  of' culti- 
vation. He  was  married  in  Hamilton  Coun- 
ty, 111.,  April  26.  I860,  to  Rebecca  Scuda- 
more,  a  native  of  Illinois,  born  October  20, 
1S40.  This  esteemed  lady  is  the  mother  of 
five  children,  viz.:  Minnie  E,  Samuel  M., 
Franklin  J.,  Nettie  E.  and  Nellie  B.  (de- 
ceased). Mr.  and  Mrs.  Mateer  are  honored 
members  in  the  society  in  which  they  move. 
In  politics,  Mr.  Mateer  is  identified  with  the 
Democratic  party. 

O.  P.  NESMITH.  farmer,  P.  O.  Wayne 
City,  was  born  February  25,  1846,  in  Athens 
County,  Ohio.  He  is  a  son  of  Jonathan  Ne- 
sraith,  a  native  of  Maine  and  a  farmer  by  oc- 
cupation. He  came  to  Ohio  in  1820,  and  in 
1873  he  came  to  Jefferson  County,  111.,  where 
he  lived  till  1882,  when  he  moved  to  Labette 
County,  Kan.,  where  he  now  resides.  The 
grandfather  of  our  subject,  Benjamin  Ne~ 
smith,  was  a  native  of  Maine,  his  parents  be- 
ing Scotch  people.  The  mother  of  our  sub- 
ject, Paulina  (Judd)  Nesmith,  is  a  native  of 
New  York.  She  is  yet  living,  and  is  the 
mother  of  the  following  children:  Martha 
Fuller,  Oliver  P.  and  John  F.  Mr.  Nesmith's 
grandparents  on  his  mother's  side  were 
Arunah  and  Laura  (Jeffers)  Judd.  He  was 
a  native  of  New  York,  and  she  of  Connecticut. 
Our  subject  was  educated  in  Athens  County, 
Ohio,  where  he  was  also  joined  in  matrimony 
to  Lavina  Carter,  who  died  in  Jefferson 
County,  111.,  in  1874,  one  year  after  they  had 
come  to  this  county.      She  was  tie-  mother  of 


two  children,  now  living,  viz.,  Charles  H.  and 
Frank  H.  Our  subject  was  married  a  second 
time  to  Theresa  Allen,  born  July  26,  1856, 
in  Franklin  County,  111.  She  is  a  daughter 
of  Joseph  and  Catharine  (Barbee)  Allen, 
natives  of  Tennessee.  Two  children  now 
living  blessed  this  happy  union — Thomas  F. 
and  Carroll  C.  Mr.  Nesmith  is  an  A.,  F.  & 
A.  M.,  Belle  Rive  Lodge,  No.  G96,  and 
I.  O.  O.  F.,  Wayne  City  Lodge,  No.  558,  also 
an  A.  O.  U.  W.,  Fairfield  Lodge,  No.  65. 
He  has  been  elected  twice  to  the  office  of 
Township  Supervisor,  and  at  present  holds 
that  office.  He  is  an  ardent  supporter  of  the 
Republican  party. 

WRIGHT  REID,  general  merchant, 
Wayne  City,  was  born  May  27,  1862,  in  Ed- 
wards County,  111.,  near  Albion.  He  is  a  son 
of  Benjamin  P.  Reid,  a  prominent  citizen  of 
Edwards  County.  He  is  a  native  of  Shelby 
County,  Ky. ,  is  yet  living,  and  follows  farm- 
ing as  his  vocation  in  Edwards  County, 
where  he  married  Hannah  (Willis)  Reid, 
a  native  of  Kentucky.  She  is  yet  living,  and 
with  her  husband  a  member  of  the  Christian 
Church.  She  is  a  daughter  of  Wright  and 
Judith  (Wire)  Willis,  the  former  is  a  native 
of  Maryland  and  the  latter  a  native  of  Vir- 
ginia. Mrs.  Hannah  Reid  is  the  mother  of 
fourteen  children,  thirteen  boys  and  one  girl, 
who  are  all  liviDg  except  one  son,  William 
\V.,  who  sacrificed  his  young  life  in  defense 
of  the  stars  and  stripes  during  our  late  rebell- 
ion. The  names  of  the  children  are  J.  An- 
drew, William  W.,  Benjamin  S.,  Oliver  O., 
Mary  A.  Smith,  Havillah  A.,  Francis  M., 
Horace  W.,  Henry  O,  Richard  T.,  Chris- 
topher O,  Edwin  B. ,  Wright  W.  and  Leigh 
L.  Our  subject  was  educated  in  Edwards 
County,  where  he  was  joined  in  matrimony 
Octobor  10,  1883,  to  Miss  Mattie  Smith, 
born  August  31.  1863.  She  is  a  daughter  of 
Captain    W.    and    Elizabeth    (Montgomery) 


Foil;  MILK  TOWNSHIP. 


135 


Smith.  The  former  is  a  native  of  Edwards 
County,  of  English  descent,  and  the  latter  is 
a  native  of  Virginia.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Reid 
are  members  of  the  Christian  Church.  He 
used  to  till  the  soil  in  the  summer  and  go  to 
school  in  the  winter  till  September,  1881, 
when  he  came  to  Wayne  City,  where  he  is 
now  in  partnership  with  his  brothers,  Chris- 
topher C.  and  Edwin  B..  keeping  a  general 
store.  Our  subject  is  identified  with  the 
Republican  party,  as  also  the  other  members 
of  the  Reid  family. 

J.  B.  SCUDAMORE,  merchant,  Wayne 
City-,  was  born  August  23.  1882,  in  Gallatin 
County,  111.  He  is  a  son  of  George  and  Re- 
becca (Buck)  Scudamore.  George  Scudamore 
was  a  native  of  England,  which  he  left  when 
a  young  man  to  make  his  fortune  in  the  new 
world.  Hh  died  in  Gallatin  County,  111., 
having  followed  farming  and  cattle  dealing 
in  his  life.  Mrs.  Rebecca  Scudamore  is  a 
native  of  Gallatin  County,  111.  She  is  a 
daughter  of  Warner  and  Barbara  (Slushor) 
Buck,  the  former  a  native  of  Germany  and 
the  latter  of  Virginia.  She  was  the  mother 
of  eleven  children,  of  whom  seven  are  now 
living,  viz.:  William,  George,  Thomas, 
Joseph  B.,  James  A.,  Sarah  J.  Maulding 
and  Rebecca  A.  Mateer.  The  mothor  of 
these  children  is  yet  living,  aged  eighty-three 
years.  Our  subject  was  educated  principally 
in  the  common  schools  of  Hamilton  County. 
He  was  a  farmer  till  August,  1862.  when  he 
enlisted  in  the  One  Hundred  and  Tenth  Iowa 
Volunteer  Infantry,  Company  G.  and  held 
commission  as  Second  and  First  Lieutenant 
and  Captain.  In  May.  1863,  his  regiment 
was  consolidated,  and  our  subject  was  mus- 
tered out.  Ho  afterward  volunteered  as  a  pri- 
vate in  the  Sixth  Illinois  Volunteer  Cavalrj . 
Company  L,  ranking  as  Commissary  Sergeant, 
and  serving  till  close  of  war.  participating  in 
the  battle  of  Stone  River  and  other  en: 


ments.  After  the  war,  Mr.  Scudamore  fol- 
lowed farming,  and  in  1S09  he  came  to  (his 
county,  locating  where  Wayne  City  now 
stands.  He  might  bo  called  the  first  settler, 
and  he  built  the  first  store  and  dwelling.  To 
him  more  than  to  any  other  man  belongs  the 
credit  of  getting  a  post  office  in  the  place,  as 
he  got  up  a  petition  and  was  Postmaster  for 
seven  years.  His  wife  is  Postmistress  at 
present.  He  now  holds  the  position  of  No- 
tary Public;  he  has  also  been  Constable, filled 
school  offices,  and  was  Justice  of  the  Peace 
for  four  years,  and  has  also  been  a  member 
of  the  County  Board  for  four  years.  He  is 
an  A.  F.  &  A.  M.  and  I.  O.  O.  F.  Our  sub- 
ject was  married,  January  1,  1856,  in  Hamil- 
ton County,  111.,  to  Miss  Elizabeth  J.  Lewis, 
born  March  28,  1838,  in  Champaign  County, 
111.,  daughter  of  Wilson  and  Mary  A.  (Ro- 
mine)  Lewis,  both  natives  of  Champaign 
County,  111.,  where  he  was  Sheriff  two  terms. 
The  following  eight  children  blessed  this 
union:  Alvin  G.,  Arminda  J.  Jones,  Ada  C. 
Talbert,  Molly,  Eva,  John  W.,  Bertha  S.  and 
Edna  O. 

J.  G.  SMITH,  merchant,  Wayne  City,  was 
born  March  7,  1847,  in  Wisconsin,  son  of 
J.  G.  Smith,  Sr. ,  a  native  of  England, where 
he  received  his  medical  education,  and  after 
graduating  he  emigrated  to  the  United  State,, 
settling  in  Wisconsin,  where  ho  followed  his 
profession.  Our  subject  went  to  school  in 
different  counties  in  Illinois,  but  is  mainly 
self-educated,  having  traveled  a  great  deal  in 
different  parts  of  the  United  States.  Having 
lost  his  mother  when  unite  young,  and  his 
father,  who  it  is  supposed  returned  to  En 
land  and  was  probably  lost  at  sea,  he,  our 
subject,  at  the  age  of  thirteen  commenced  to 
work  for  himself.  His  brother,  William  It. 
Smith,  is  living  in  Kansas;  another  brother, 
Lewis  K.  Smith,  is  living  in  Illinois  at  pres- 
ent, but  up  to  a  late  date  our  subject  had  not 


136 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


heard  from  him  for  eighteen  years.  His  two 
sisters.  Mary  Magdalena  and  Juniana  Smith, 
he  lost  track  of  when  two  years  old.  Our 
subject  came  to  Wayne  City,  Wayne  Co.,  111., 
in  or  about  1869 ;  here  he  farmed  almost  five 
years,  and  learned  the  blacksmith's  trade  him- 
self, and  followed  it  eight  years  with  suc- 
cess, and  finally  entered  the  mercantile 
career,  and  now  keeps  a  general  store.  Mr. 
Smith  was  married  in  Jefferson  County,  111., 
to  Miss  M.  A.  E.  Frazier.  a  native  of  North 
Carolina;  she  died  in  this  county  in  1880. 
She  was  a  daughter  of  William  and  Margaret 
Frazier,  and  left  two  children,  viz. :  Ithamer 
Quay,  born  November  18,  1871,  and  Chloe 
Parthelia,  born  May  8.  1875.  Mr.  Smith  has 
a  farm  of  seventy  acres  of  land  joining  the 
town.  In  politics,  he  is  a  Democrat.  His 
life  so  far  has  had  many  sad  stories,  made 
mainly  by  the  separation  from  those  he  loved 
and  held  dear. 

JOHN  TYLER,  merchant,  Wayne  City 
was  born  December  10,  1852,  in  Barnhill 
Township,  "Wayne  Co.,  111.,  son  of  Henry 
Tyler,  a  native  of  Wayne  County,  111.  He 
is  a  farmer  by  occupation,  and  has  been  con- 
nected with  the  township  offices  of  Barnhill 
Township,  and  at  present  is  Township  Com- 
missioner. He  is  well  known  as  a  successful 
farmer,  and  an  active  member  of  the  General 
Baptist  Church.  His  father,  Henry  Tyler, 
Sr.,  was  of  Irish  descent.  He  came  from 
Virginia,  settling  in  this  county  about  1820, 
and  may  be  classed  among  our  pioneers. 
His  wife,  Betsey  (Miller)  Tyler,  of  Dutch 
descent,  reared  a  large  family,  of  whom  only 
Jahalon  and  Henry  Tyler  are  now  living. 
The  mother  of  our  subject,  Sarah  (O'Neal) 
Tyler,  was  a  native  of  White  County,  111. 
She  was  the  mother  of  eight  children — Alice 
Caudel,  deceased;  John,  Charles,  William, 
Edward  B.,  Samuel,  George  W.  and  Laura 
L..  who  are  twins.     Our  subject,  John  Tyler, 


went  to  school  in  Wayne  County.  In  early 
life,  he  tilled  the  soil  on  his  father's  farm. 
At  the  age  of  twenty-one,  he  went  to  White 
County,  where  he  worked  four  years  for 
George  Hunsinger,  and  one  year  for  Eze 
kiel  Hunsinger,  and  then  went  to  Ellis 
County,  Texas,  where  he  worked  two  years 
on  a  farm  for  Ira  Green,  and  then  went  to 
Southwest  Missouri,  where  he  worked  one 
year  in  a  (louring  mill  for  McDaniel  &  Co., 
in  Carthage.  On  August  19,  1880,  he  once 
more  returned  to  his  native  county,  where  he 
worked  at  the  carpenter  trade  three  years, 
and  then  came  to  Wayne  City,  where  he 
bought  lots  and  built  a  house  himself,  in 
which  he  keeps  a  hardware  store,  supplying  a 
long-felt  want  in  the  town  and  country.  Mr. 
Tyler  is  well  known  for  his  steady  habits  and 
strict  attention  to  business.  He  is  identified 
with  the  Democratic  party  in  politics,  and  is 
a  member  of  the  I.  O.  O.  F.,  Wayne  City 
Lodge,  No.  558. 

DE.  N.  M.  WILLIAMS,  physician,  Six 
Mile,  was  born  November  30,  1834,  in  Gar- 
rard County,  Ky.,  son  of  Andrew  Will- 
iams a  native  of  Virginia,  a  miller  by  occu- 
pation. When  a  young  man,  he  went  to  Ken- 
tucky, where  he  died.  His  father,  Samuel 
Williams,  was  a  native  of  Ireland.  The 
mother  was  Levina  (Wood)  Williams  ;  she 
was  a  native  of  South  Carolina  and  died  in 
Wayne  County,  111.  She  was  a  daughter 
of  Andrew  and  Mary  J.  Wood.  Her  father 
f  ought  in  some  of  the  Indian  wars.  She  was 
the  mother  of  seven  children,  of  whom 
five  are  now  living — Daniel  M.,  Nathan 
M.,  James  A.,  Martha  Melton  and  Mar- 
cena  Wood.  Our  subject  received  his 
education  in  Indiana  and  Wayne  County,  111. 
He  received  his  medical  education  in  Cin- 
cinnati, Ohio,  and  at  Evansville,  Ind. ; 
where  he  graduated  February  27,  1S78,  after 
which   he  has    practiced  in  Wayne    County, 


ELM   BIVEB  TOWNSHIP. 


137 


with  the  exception  of  five  months  which  he 
spent  in  Missouri.  Dr.  Williams  was  joined 
in  matrimony,  May  14,  1859,  in  Jefferson 
County,  111.  to  Miss  Rebecca  Webber, 
born  February  23,  1842,  in  Jefferson  County, 
111.,  daughter  of  Seth  W.  and  Jane  (Craw- 
ford) Webber,  natives  of  Virginia;  four 
children  arose  from  the  union  and  blessed 
her  with  the  name  of  mother — Ollie  S.,  born 
May    21,    18(51;  James   B.,   born    June    18, 


1863;  John  H,  born  June  18,  1867;  and 
Oliver  E.,  born  August  7,, 1880.  Ollie  S.  is 
now  the  wife  of  Silas  Wood.  Mrs.  D. 
Williams  is  connected  with  the  Christian 
Church.  D.  Williams  is  a  member  of 
the  A.  F.  &  A.  M.,  Hickory  Hill  Lodge, 
No.  559.  He  has  filled  the  office  of  Town- 
ship Assessor  five  times.  The  Democratic 
I i.irly  claims  him  as  a  warm  supporter. 


KLM    RIVER    TOWNSHIP 


LOUIS  D.  BARTH,  merchant.  Enterprise, 
came  to  Wayne  County  in  1879,  from  Posey 
County,  Ind. ,  his  native  county,  and  after 
clerking  in  Fairfield  a  year  came  to  Enter- 
prise and  purchased  the  business  interests 
of  Henry  Smith,  and  has  since  conducted  the 
same  with  marked  success,  he  carrying  a 
large  and  varied  line  of  goods,  and  commands 
a  liberal  patronage  throughout  the  surround- 
ing country.  He  was  born  July  28,  1858, 
and  is  the  elder  of  the  two  children  born  to 
Gottlieb  and  Harriet  (Miller)  Barth.  The 
father  is  a  well-to  do  farmer  of  this  town- 
ship. He  is  a  native  of  Germany,  and  is  a 
son  of  Andy  Barth.  Our  subject  obtained  a 
good  schooling  in  his  native  county,  and  pre- 
vious to  coming  to  Wayne  County  was  en- 
gaged principally  in  farming.  He  married 
Lena  Feller,  a  daughter  of  Jacob  Feller,  now 
deceased,  and  has  one  child — Minnie  E.  Mr. 
Barth  has  been  the  Post  Master  at  Enterprise 
for  several  years,  and  has  filled  many  of  the 
township  offices,  and  is  al  present  a  member 
of  the  '  County  Board.  He  is  a  Democrat 
politically. 

JOHN  SPAR,  farmer.  P.  O.  Enterprise, 
is  a  native  of   Westmoreland  County,  Penn., 


born  December  25,  1832,  the  eldest  child  of 
David  and  Mary  (Martin)  Spar,  both  natives 
of  Pennsylvania.  The  father  was  a  farmer 
by  occupation,  and  he  died  when  subject  was 
young.  The  parents  had  throe  children,  two 
of  whom  survive — John  and'Mary  J.  The 
mother  subsequently  married  John  Kelly,  by 
whom  she  had  three  children,  of  whom  Ra- 
chel and  Nancy  are  living.  Our  subject 
learned  the  blacksmith's  trade  in  early  life,and 
worked  at  it  up  to  the  last  few  years.  He 
came  to  Wayne  County  in  1864,  and  has  re- 
sided here  since,  with  the  exception  of  two 
years  which  he  spent  in  Wabash  County,  111. 
He  has  a  well-improved  farm,  and  deyotes 
his  attention  to  farming  in  its  general 
branches.  He  married  Mary  Beasore,  and 
the  union  has  given  eight  children,  of  whom 
there  are  seven  living — John,  Kate,  Frank,  Mc- 
Clellan,  Jemima,  Fraize  and  Isaac.  In 
politics,  Mr.  Spar  is  a  Democrat. 

JAMES  W.  TROTTER,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Knterprise,  was  born  in  Bedford  Town- 
ship, this  county,  April  26,  1830,  a 
son  of  Elisha  B.  and  Amelia  (Watkins) 
Trotter,  both  of  whom  were  natives  of 
Kentucky.      The   father   was  born    in    1801, 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


and  was  by  occupation  a  tiller  of  the  soil. 
He  had  two  brothers  who  served  in  the 
Black  Hawk  war,  and  one,  Shirley,  now  liv- 
ing in  this  county,  who  was  in  both  the  Mex- 
ican and  the  civil  wars.  Elisha  B.  Trotter 
came  to  Wayne  County  at  a  very  early  date 
(about  1827),  and  his  father,  William,  came 
about  the  same  time.  The  latter  served  in 
the  war  of  1812.  Our  subject's  parents  had 
nine  children,  and  there  are  seven  now  liv- 
ing— Nancy,  James  W.,  Sarah,  Martha, 
Samuel  W.,  Mary  and  S.  Jasper.  Our  sub- 
ject has  resided  in  Wayne  County  all  his 
life.  He  possesses  farm  property  to  the  ex- 
tent of  410  acres,  and  for  many  years  past 
has  raised  and  dealt  in  stock  on  a  large 
scale.  He  married  Polly  McCormick,  a 
daughter  of  William  McCormick,  one  of 
Wayne  County's  tirst  settlers,  who  assisted 
in  the  original  surveying  of  it.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Trotter  are  the  parents  of  thirteen 
children,  of  whom  nine  survive — Lucinda  A., 
Martha  A.,  Elisha  W.,  Francis  M. ,  James  A., 
Sarah  J.,  Ollie  A.,  Margaret  E.  and  Sophronia 
A.     Politically,  Mr.    Trotter  is  a  Democrat. 

S.  W.  TROTTER,  farmer,  P.  O.  Enter- 
prise, was  born  in  Elm  River  Township, 
September  25,  1837,  a  son  of  Elisha  B. 
Trotter,  an  old  settler  of  Wayne  County. 
(See  sketch  of  James  W.  Trotter  elsewhere.) 
He  obtained  his  early  schooling  here,  was 
raised  on  the  farm,  and  has  always  lived  in 
the  vicinity  of  his  birthplace.  He  is  now 
one  of  the  most  substantial  farmers  of  the 
township,  having  380  acres  of  land,  a  large 
share  of  which  is  devoted  to  the  raising  of 
stock.  He  was  married,  in  18(34,  to  Rosanna 
Fitch,  a  daughter  of  John  Fitch,  an  old 
resident    of     Elm    River    Township.         This 


union  has  been  blessed  with  eight  children 
— Amelia  J.,  Lewis  M. ,  Terlina  E. ,  Flora 
A.,  John  W.,  Samuel  A.,  Jetty  A.  and 
James  W.  Mr.  Trotter  has  tilled  many 
times  the  offices  of  Assessor  and  Collector, 
besides  other  minor  offices.  Politically,  he 
is  a  Democrat. 

JOSIAH  VANFOSSON,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Mount  Erie,  is  a  native  of  Columbiana  Coun- 
ty, Ohio,  born  October  1,  1835,  to  David  and 
Malinda  (Fishel)  Vanfossen,  both  natives  of 
Ohio,  and  the  parents  of  six  children,  of  whom 
the  following  are  now  living:  Rosa  (the 
wife  of  Jacob  Galbraith),  David,  Alexander, 
and  Josiah,  our  subject,  who  was  the  second 
child.  He  was  reared  on  a  farm  and  educated 
in  the  common  schools.  When  he  was  sixteen 
years  of  age,  he  was  brought  to  Wayne  Coun- 
ty, 111.,  by  his  parents.  He  has  followed 
farming  exclusively,  excepting  a  period  of 
twelve  years,  in  which  he  made  carpentering 
his  occupation,  and  at  that  time  resided  in 
Mount  Erie.  In  August,  1862,  he  enlisted  in 
the  late  civil  war,  serving  in  Company  D,of  the 
Eighty-seventh  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry, 
and  took  part  in  several  engagements.  He 
was  mustered  out  of  the  service  in  July,  1865. 
He  married  Mary  Marvel,  who  has  borne  him 
seven  children,  of  whom  live  are  now  living, 
viz..  Thomas  J.,  Malinda  J.,  Elisha  D.,  Will- 
iam Sherman,  Mary  A.  Mr.  Vanf  ossen  is  one 
of  the  most,  prominent  men  of  his  township, 
having  by  honesty,  industry  and  economy,  se- 
cured a  good  property  and  a  name  and  repu- 
tation that  is  beyoud  reproach.  He  is  an  act- 
ive member  of  the  A.  F.  &  A.  M.  Lodge,  No. 
331,  at  Mount  Erie,  and  he  and  wife  are 
members  of  thp  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Church.      Politically,  he  is  a  Democrat. 


ZIF  TOWNSHIP. 


139 


ZIF    TOWNSHIP. 


JAMES  C.  BOTH  WELL,  farmer.  P.  O. 
Clay  City,  is  one  of  Wayne  County's  most 
prosperous  farmers.  He  has  a  farm  of  360 
acres,  situated  in  both  this  and  Clay  County. 
Blooded  stock,  principally  horses,  claims 
most  of  his  attention,  and  he  is  gradually 
putting  his  farm  into  a  condition  suitable  for 
the  raising  of  stock  upon  an  extensive  scale. 
He  was  born  in  Clay  County,  this  State, 
December  2,  In  15,  and  his  father,  John  T. 
Bothwell,  is  still  living  in  that  county  en- 
gaged in  farming  pursuits.  The  latter  is  a 
son  of  James  Bothwell,  a  Scotchman  by  birth, 
who  came  when  young  with  his  father  to 
America.  John  T.  Bothwell  has  been  mar- 
ried three  times,  his  first  wife — Priscilla  (Pot- 
ter; Bothwell,  bearing  him  five  children,  two 
of  whom  survive — C.  H.  and  J.  C.  Our  sub- 
ject enlisted  September  '24.  lNti-1,  in  Com- 
pany E,  Thirteenth  United  States  Infantry, 
Col.  Beeves,  and  served  three  years.  After 
the  war  they  did  service  in  Kansas  and  Mon- 
tana. Mr.  Bothwell  moved  to  Wayne  County 
in  April,  186'J.  He  married  Helen  Mahan, 
a  daughter  of  "William  Mahan,  now  living  in 
Dubois  County,  hid.  Mrs.  Bothwell' s  grand- 
parents Lived  to  a  remarkable  old  age.     The 

grandfather,  Peter   Mahan,    was  born  .) 

15,  1782,  and  died  June  30,  1878,  and  his 
wife  with  whom  he  had  lived  over  seventy- 
two  years,  died  at  the  age  of  nearly  ninety 
year-..  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bothwell  have  four 
children — Luella,  Marion,  Charles  K.  and 
Isabel.  Mr.  B.  has  given  largely  to  church 
and  school  purposes,  and  gives  due  consider- 
ation to  all  enterprises  which  inure  to  the 
good  of  the  people.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
G.  A.  B.,  Clay  Cit\  Tost,  and  is  a  Republican 
politically. 


JOHN  BOWMAN,  physician  and  surgeon, 
Zif,  is  a  native  of  Clinton  County,  N.  Y., 
born  in  Plattsburg  September  8,  1830,  a  son 
of  James  Mc.  Bowman,  who  was  born  in 
Vermont,  and  died  when  our  subject  was 
small.  The  latter  attended  school  in  Fort 
Covington,  N.  Y.,  and  in  1848,  commenced 
the  study  of  medicine  under  Dr.  Bates,  and 
finished  under  Dr.  Gillis.  In  the  meantime 
he  attended  lectures  at  the  medical  branch  of 
the  University  of  Vermont,  located  at  Wood- 
stock, and  graduated  from  this  institution  in 
1852.  Ho  practiced  about  three  years  in  St. 
Lawrence  County,  N.  Y.,  and  in  the  spring 
of  1855  moved  to  Chicago,  111.,  where  he  re- 
sided for  about  four  years.  Here  he  married 
Ada  B.  Denning,  and  the  union  has  been 
blessed  with  three  children — John  C,  born 
November  13,  1859,  in  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  and 
died  in  Upper  Alton  March  0,  1883;  James 
E.,  born  October  14,  1867,  and  Mary  R., 
born  February  14.  1872.  In  the  spring  of 
L859,  our  subject  removed  to  St.  Louis,  Mo., 
and  practiced  medicine  until  the  commence- 
ment of  the  war  of  the  rebellion.  In  the 
spring  of  1861,  he  assisted  in  the  recruiting 
of  two  regiments,  and  was  appointed  shipping 
clerk  in  the  Medical  Purveyor's  office.  Depart 
ment  of  the  West.  In  August  of  the  same 
year,  he  was  sent  as  Surgeon  pro  tern,  to  the 
nth  Iowa  Volunteers,  then  at  Iron  Mount- 
ain. Mo.  Shortly  afterward,  he  was  ordered 
by  Gen.  Prentiss  to  do  duty  as  Assistant 
Surgeon  to  Buell's  battery  and  the  Cavalry 
attached  to  the  command,  and  he  was  Bubse 
quently  appointed  by  Gen.  Fremont  to  the 
rank  of  Assistant  Surgeon  of  Volunteer  Ar- 
tillery. September  25,  L861,  lie  was  placed 
in  medical  charge  of   all  the  troops  at  Padu- 


140 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


cah,  Ky.,  and  in  the  February  following  by 

order  of  Gen.  Smith,  was  put  in  charge  of 

the  general  hospital  at  that  point.      In  July, 

1862,   he   returned   to    St.    Louis   and   took 

charge  of  a  ward  in  Jefferson  Barracks.    Jan- 
es 

nary  14,  1863,  he  was  commissioned  by 
Gov.  Gamble  as  Assistant  Surgeon  to  the 
Twenty -seventh  Missouri  Volunteer  Infantry, 
and  he  served  with  them  in  the  held  until  the 
close  of  the  war,  after  which  he  removed  to 
Clay  City,  111.,  and  from  thence  to  Wayne 
County,  and  has  since  been  engaged  in  prac- 
tice. He  has  farm  property  to  the  extent  of 
293  acres,  and  has  of  late"years  given  some 
attention  to  farming  pursuits.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Wayne  County  Medical  Society, 
and  in  political  affairs  is  a  Republican. 

JORDAN  C.  PATTERSON,  deceased, 
came  to  Wayne  County  about  1853,  from 
Warrick  County,  Ind.,  whence  he  had  pre- 
viously moved  from  Warren  County,  Ohio. 
He  was  born   in  North  Carolina  January  5, 


1814,  a  son  of  William  Patterson,  who  was 
of  Scotch  descent.  He  was  the  first  Post- 
master at  Zif,  which  latter  name  he  gave  to 
the  office,  and  the  township  afterward  took 
the  same  name.  He  was  a  plasterer  by  trade, 
but  in  later  years,  devoted  his  time  to  farm- 
ing. He  was  an  ordained  preacher  in  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  had  filled 
many  public  offices,  including  that  of  Super- 
visor, both  here  and  in  Indiana.  He  mar- 
ried Cynthia  Harrison,  and  the  union  gave  nine 
children,  of  whom  five  are  living — Ireneus, 
Nicholas  J.,  Leroy  S.  and  Orange  S.  (twins), 
and  Jordan  J.  The  latter  married  Rebecca 
A.  Smith,  a  daughter  of  Jacob  Smith,  now 
deceased,  and  they  have  a  family  of  three 
children,  Cynthia  M.,  Sarah  A.  and  Malinda 
E.  Mi-.  J.  J.  Patterson  has  a  farm  of  eighty 
acres,  and  engages  in  general  farming.  He 
and  wife  are  members  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  and  politically,  he  is  a  Repub- 
lican. 


HICKORY    HILL    TOWNSHIP. 


F.  M.  ATTEBERRY,  farmer,  P.  O.  Keen- 
ville,  was  born  in  Grayson  County,  Ky..  and 
is  a  son  of  Stout  and  Annie  L.  (Crask)  At- 
teberry. The  father  was  born  in  South  Car- 
olina, the  mother  in  Kentucky  (for  more 
facts  concerning  the  parentage  of  our  sub- 
ject see  the  sketch  of  A.  F.  Atteberry) ;  sub- 
ject was  the  seventh  of  nine  living  children, 
and  when  he  was  epiite  young  his  parents 
moved  to  this  county,  and  settled  in  Hickory 
Hill  Township.  He  remained  at  home  unlil 
about  thirty,  and  then  commenced  farming, 
whore  he  now  resides.  He  now  owns  20U 
acres  in  Sections  28  and  33,  of  Town  1  south. 
Range  5  east;  has  about  160  acres   in  cul- 


tivation. Mr.  Atteberry  was  married  Octo- 
ber 14,  1866,  to  Miss  Emma  J.  Dewees,  a 
daughter  of  Stephen  Dewees,  of  Grayson 
County,  Ky;  she  was  born  July  30,  1832,  and 
was  the  mother  of  one  child,  James  F. ,  who 
was  born  March  24,  1868,  and  died  October 
4,  1871.  Mrs.  Atteberry  died  October  27, 
186S.  Subject  was  married  the  second  time, 
September  22,  1S70,  to  Miss  Elizabeth  J. 
Mills,  a  daughter  of  Bradley  and  Rebecca 
(Ellis)  Mills.  Tha  father  was  a  native  of 
New  York,  the  mother  of  Hamilton  County, 
111.,  and  was  of  German  descent.  The  pres- 
ent Mrs.  Atteberry  was  born  December  20, 
1845,  and   is   the  mother  of  seven  children, 


HICKORY  HILL  TOWNSHIP. 


141 


four  of  whom  are  now  living — Albert  S., 
born  September  11,  1871;  Rebecca  F.,  born 
November  25,  1872;  Melissa  A.,  born  May 
18,  1875,  and  Arthur  N.,  born  December  10, 
1882.  Of  the  deceased  ones,  an  infant  son  was 
born  January  19.  1874,  and  died  the  same 
day.  An  infant  son  was  born  October  25, 
1870.  and  died  October  29,  1870,  and  an  in- 
fant daughter  was  born  in  September,  1880, 
and  died  the  same  day.  Mr.  Atteberry  has 
served  as  a  member  of  the  County  Board  of 
Supervisors,  also  as  School  Trustee.  He  is 
identified  with  the  Republican  party. 

ASA  F.  ATTEBERRY,  farmer  and  gen- 
eral  merchant,  P.  O.  Keenville,  was  born  in 
Hickory  Hill  Township,  this  county,  March 
29,  1844,  and  is  a  son  of  Stout  and  Anna 
L.  (Crask)  Atteberry.  The  parents  were  both 
natives  of  Grayson  County,  Ky.  The  father 
came  to  this  county  in  1818,  with  his  broth- 
er. Nathan  F.  Atteberry,  and  settled  in  Barn- 
hill  Township.  He.  however,  only  remained 
in  the  county  a  short  time,  and  then  returned 
to  Kentucky.  There  he  afterward  married 
.Miss  Crask.  who  was  of  Virginia  descent. 
Her  father  died  in  Kentucky  and  the  mother 
in  this  county  in  1855,  aged  eighty-nine 
years  two  months  and  eighteen  days.  In 
1840,  Mr.  AttebeiTy  again  came  to  this  coun- 
ty, and  settled  in  Hickory  Hill  Township,  in 
Section  28.  There  he  resided  until  his 
death.  December   10,  1881.      The  mother  is 


still  living  at  a  good  old  age,  on  the  old 
home  farm.  Our  subject  was  the  youngest 
of  ten  children,  of  whom  the  following  are 
living:  Rebecca,  wife  of  John  M.  Reed; 
Sarah,  wife  of  S.  J.  Branson;  Eleanor,  wife 
of  John  Keen,  Sr.;  Martha  J.,  wife  of  John 
Keen,  Jr.;  Phebe  A.,  wife  of  Samuel  A. 
Keen:  Francis  M..  Ansel  K.  and  A.  F.,  our 
subject.  The  latter's  education  was  received 
in  the  subscription  schools  of  this  county. 
He  remained  at  home  until  twenty-live,  and 
then,  settling  near  his  father,  commenced 
the  life  of  a  farmer.  He  now  owns  eighty- 
eight  acres  in  Section  28,  of  Town  1  south, 
Range  5  east.  He  opened  a  store  on  his 
farm  in  August,  1882,  and  now  supplies  the 
neighborhood  with  general  merchandise,  car- 
rying a  stock  of  about  SI, 500.  He  is  also 
serving  as  Postmaster.  In  this  county,  No- 
vember 10,  1S67.  Mr.  Atteberry  was  married 
to  Melissa  Mills,  a  daughter  of  Bradley  and 
Rebecca  (Ellis)  Mills.  The  father  was  a 
native  of  Ohio,  the  mother  of  Illinois.  Mrs. 
AttebeiTy  was  born  October  25,  1849.  and  is 
the  mother  of  six  children,  four  of  whom  are 
now  living— John  F.,  Edgar  K.,  Fannie  L. 
and  Nettie  M.  Subject  has  server)  as  Town- 
ship Clerk  for  several  years,  also  School  Di- 
rector. Is  a  member  of  Hickory  Hill  Lodge, 
No.  759,  A.  F.  &  A.  M.  In  politics,  Mr. 
Atteberry  is  a  strong  Republican. 


142 


BIOGRAPHICAL. 


BIOGRAPHY  RECEIVED  TOO  LATE  FOR  INSERTION  IN  PROPER  PLACE. 

BEDFOED    TOWNSHIP. 


WILLIAM  H.  CISNE,  grain  and  seed 
merchant,  Cisne.  The  gentleman  whose 
name  heads  this  sketch  belongs  to  that  en- 
terprising class  of  men  to  whose  active  and 
well-directed  efforts  the  material  growth  and 
prosperity  of  a  town  or  community  is  largely 
if  not  wholly  to  be  attributed.  Mr.  Cisne 
was  born  May  13,  1856,  in  Wayne  County, 
and  is  the  eldest  child  of  Levi  M.  and  Jane 
(Ray)  Cisne.  His  youth  was  spent  in  assist- 
ing his  father  upon  the  home  farm,  and  he 
received  what  early  education  the  common 
schools  of  the  time  afforded.  His  early  life 
was  characterized  by  a  desire  for  active  en- 
gagements, and  in  after  years  he  has  dis- 
played the  same  ceaseless  activity  in  all  of 
his  business  undertakings.  He  possesses  a 
general  and  comprehensive  mind,  and  his  so- 
licitation regarding  the  future  of  the  little 
but  lively  town  of  Cisne  has  developed  a  re- 
markable supply  of  untiring  energy,  com- 
mendably  directed  to  the  substantial  promo- 
tion of  the  interests  of  the  people  in  general 
as  well  as  his  own.  In  1880,  he  went  into 
partnership  with  his  brother-in-law,  Mr.  F. 
M.  Brock,  and  purchased  the  building  prop- 
erty   of    Jesse    Milner,    near    the    railroad 


tracks.  The  firm  of  Brock  &  Cisne  is  well 
known,  having  done  a  heavy  business  at  this 
point  for  several  years,  dealing  generally  in 
grain,  seed  and  farm  implements  of  all  kinds. 
January  1 ,  1884,  the  firm  dissolved  partner- 
ship, Mr.  Cisne  being  the  successor.  He 
continues  also  to  have  charge  of  the  railroad 
business  at  this  place,  and  as  tbe  agent  there- 
of, as  well  as  in  his  various  business  capaci- 
ties, he  has  the  respect  and  confidence  of  the 
entire  community.  He  was  married,  Decem- 
ber 21,  1876,  to  Viola  Brock,  a  daughter  of 
J.  C.  Brock,  the  genial  proprietor  of  the 
Cisne  Hotel.  This  union  has  been  blessed 
by  one  child — Fred  Leo,  a  bright  and  mis- 
chievous little  fellow,  who  delights  in  pop 
guns  and  noisy  articles  generally.  Mr.  Cisne 
is  a  member  of  the  A.  O.  II.  W.,  Fairfield 
Lodge,  No.  65,  and  in  political  matters, 
given  his  support  to  the  Republican  cause, 
in  which  he  is  prominently  identified.  His 
original  and  masterly  arguments  in  favor 
thereof,  and  of  political  purity,  are  condu- 
cive of  a  general  breaking  up  of  all  opposi- 
tion, and  place  him  in  the  foremost  rank  of 
those  who    have  at  heart  the  interests  of  the 


PART   IV. 


IOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES, 


CLAY    COUNTY. 


Sf%^S 


PART    IV. 


CLAY    COUNTY 


BIOG-BAPHICAL. 


LOUISVILLE    TOWNSHIP. 


JAMES  M.  ANDREWS,  dealer  in  stoves 
and  tinware,  Louisville,  was  born  in  Ran- 
dolph County,  Ohio,  September  8,  1836.  His 
parents  died  and  loft  him  an  orphan  when 
very  small,  and  he  was  thrown  upon  the  mer- 
cies of  a  cold  world,  and  was  knocked  around 
from  pillar  to  post.  He  molded  and  burned 
brick  for  several  years,  having  burned  the 
brick  of  which  the  Louisville  SchoolhouRe  is 
built.  He  came  to  Knox  County,  Ind. ,  in 
1856,  and  to  Clay  County  in  1875,  and  en- 
gaged in  the  same  business  he  is  now  follow- 
ing, but  sold  out  in  1877,  and  farmed  four 
veins.  Then,  1881,  he  resumed  the  business 
of  tinner  and  dealer  in  stoves.  He  was  mar- 
ried, December  21,  1857,  to  Sarah  Holt,  by 
whom  In-  had  eight  children;  live  of  these  are 
living — Noble,  James,  William,  David  and 
Minnie.  Mrs.  Andrews  died  in  1882,  and  he 
married  Mrs.  Nancy  Lewis  in  1883.  Mr. 
Andrews  owns  the  right  for  Clay  County  to 
manufacture  and  sell  the  Triumph  Washer. 
It  is  a  novelty,  and  is  pronounced  the  best 
washer  that  has  ever  yet  been  offered  to  the 
public.  It  was  patented  in  1882.  Mr.  Andrews 
is  a  member  of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  Mrs.  Andrews  is  a  Methodist. 


JOHN  L.  BLACK,  Treasurer  of  Clay 
County,  was  born  in  Lawrenceburg,  Ind., 
January  10,  1846,  and  is  a  son  of  Dr.  Milo 
Black,  of  Sailor  Springs,  this  county,  who 
removed  with  his  family  to  Madisonville, 
Ohio,  in  1847,  where  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  was  brought  up  and  educated.  They 
removed  to  Clay  County  in  1865.  Mr-.  Black 
was  elected  to  the  present  office  in  November, 
1882,  having  served  as  Deputy  several  years 
previous,  under  Mr.  E.  H.  Hawkins,  whose 
biography  also  appears  in  this  work. 

JOHN  R.  BLACKLIDGE,  deceased,  late 
of  Louisville,  was  born  in  Dayton,  Tippe- 
canoe County,  Ind.,  October  31,  1823,  and 
was  a  son  of  Harvey  Blacklidge.  He 
brought  up  on  the  farm,  and  received  a  com- 
mon school  education;  also  attended  school 
in  La  Fayette,  Ind.  He  enlisted  in  Com- 
pany B.  One  Hundred  and  Fiftieth  Regi- 
meut  Indiana  Volunteer  Infantry,  and  made 
an  efficient  soldier  for  his  country,  and  was 
honorably  discharged.  He  was  granted  a 
pension,  but  did  not  live  to  receive  it.  He 
was  married,  December  9,  1S55,  to  Miss 
Sarah  Demint,  by  whom  he  had  six  children 
— Mary  (now  Mrs.  William  .).  Viok),  Eliza- 


146 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


beth  (now  Mrs.  Addison  Darnell),  Harvey 
(deceased),  Hattie,  Charley  (deceased)  and 
John.  Mr.  Blacklidge  died  November  24, 
1882.  and  the  children  both  followed  in  a 
few  weeks  after.  He  had  been  affected  with 
rheumatism  ever  since  the  war,  a  disease 
contracted  while  in  the  service  of  his  country. 
Mr.  Blacklidge  was  a  member  of  the  United 
Brethren  Church,  a  consistent  Christian,  and 
a  member  of  the  Sons  of  Temperance  while 
in  Indiana.  He  was  an  esteemed  citizen, 
and  in  his  death  the  people  lost  an  honest, 
upright  man,  one  who  was  ever  ready  to  cheer 
and  assist  the  poor,  and  the  family  lost  an 
affectionate  husband  and  considerate  father. 
He  was  one  of  the  few  men  whom  everybody 
seemed  to  love. 

DR.  JAMES  M.  BOYLES,  Louisville,  is 
a  native  of  L'u  Bois  County,  Ind.,  and  was 
born  May  21,  1844.  His  father,  Hugh  H. 
Boyles  (deceased),  was  born  uear  Bowling 
Green,  Ky.  Our  subject  was  brought  up  on 
the  farm,  and  educated  in  the  common 
schools  and  at  Gentryville  (Ind.)  Academy. 
He  attended  one  session  of  medical  lectures 
at  the  St.  Louis  Medical  College,  and  gradu- 
ated from  the  Cincinnati  College  of  Medicine 
and  Surgery  in  1872.  In  1873,  he  began  the 
practice  of  medicine  in  Louisville  (having 
moved  here  in  1879),  and  has  built  up  a 
large  practice.  But  he  is  now  endeavoring 
to  give  up  his  practice.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  Examining  Board  for  Pensions  at  Flora. 
In  1873,  the  Doctor  married  Virginia  E. 
Farris,  by  whom  he  had  four  children,  but 
one  living — Henderson  B.  Mrs.  Boyles 
died  in  1880,  and  in  1881  he  married  Mrs. 
Fannie  Foreman,  widow  of  William  Fore- 
man. The  Doctor  held  the  office  of  Super- 
visor for  two  years,  and  is  a  member  of  the 
Centennial  Medical  Society  of  Southern  Il- 
linois. He  served  in  the  late  war,  in  Com- 
pany E.  Forty-ninth  Regiment  Indiana  Vol- 


unteer Infantry,  and  participated  in  the  bat- 
tles of  Chickasaw  Bluffs,  Fort  Gibson,  Cham- 
pion Hills.  Black  River  Bridge,  siege  of 
Vicksburg,  Jackson,  Miss.,  Arkansas  Post, 
Red  River  and  others.  The  Doctor  is  a  mem- 
ber in  good  standing  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church. 

WILLIAM  BRISSENDEN,  of  the  firm  of 
Brissenden  Brothers,  proprietors  of  the  Ex- 
celsior Flouring  Mills,  Louisville,  was  born 
in  Edwards  County,  111.,  February  7,  1S52, 
and  is  a  son  of  William  Brissenden  (deceased), 
a  native  of  England,  who  came  to  America  in 
1839,  stopping  one  winter  in  New  York 
State.  In  the  spring  of  1840.  he  came  to 
Edwards  Comity,  111.,  and  in  1854  he  brought 
his  family  to  Clay  County,  where  our  subject 
has  since  resided.  Mr.  Brissenden  was  a 
telegraph  operator  for  five  years  at  different 
points  in  Illinois  and  Missouri.  For  the 
past  two  and  a  half  years,  he  has  been  en- 
gaged in  the  milling  business.  The  Excel- 
sior Mills  are  very  fine,  large,  new  mills,  in 
which  the  roller  system  is  used,  with  all  the 
best  and  latest  improvements  in  the  other 
machinery. 

CLARENCE  BRISSENDEN,  miller.  Lou- 
isville, of  the  firm  of  Brissenden  Bros.,  was 
born  in  this  county  December  15,  1856,  and 
is  a  son  of  William  Brissenden  (deceased),  a 
native  of  England,  who  came  to  Edwards 
County,  III.,  in  1830,  and  to  this  county 
about  the  year  1850.  where  he  died,  in  Lou- 
isville, February  4,  1881.  Clarence  attended 
the  schools  of  Clay  City  and  Louisville.  He 
and  his  brother  William  ran  a  saw  mill  at 
this  place  for  two  years,  formerly  the  property 
of  their  father,  when  they  built  their  fine 
flouring  mill.  It  is  30x40  feet,  four  story 
frame  building,  and  is  supplied  with  the 
latest  improved  machinery,  using  the  roller 
s\st(>iu.  They  do  a  good  business  both  in 
custom  and  merchant  work,  running  two  sets 


LOUISVILLE   TOWNSHIP. 


147 


of  stones  and  eight  sets  of  rollers.  This 
machinery  is  propelled  by  steam  power) 
using  a  forty -horse-power  engine.  Mr.  Bris- 
senden  was  married,  May  23,  1883,  to  Miss 
Maggie  Able,  a  daughter  of  George  W. 
Ahle,  of  Louisville  Township.  Our  subject 
is  the  leader  of  the  Louisville  Cornet  Band. 
This  band  is  a  credit  to  Louisville,  and, 
indeed,  to  Clay  County.  They  an-  called 
upon  to  play  for  the  county  fairs  and  for 
various  meetings  throughout  the  country. 

JOHN  T.  BURNS,  Deputy  County  Clerk, 
Louisville,  was  born  in  Nicholas  County, 
l\y.,  September  IS.  1811,  and  is  a  son  of 
John  Burns  (deceased).  Ho  spent  his  youth 
on  the  farm,  and  attended  a  subscription 
school  in  a  log  cabin  with  puncheon  floor, 
split  poles  tor  scats,  and  a  clapboard  roof. 
Mr.  Burns  emigrated  to  Hamilton  County, 
Ind.,  in  1830.  While  there,  he  cleared  at 
one  time  twelve  acres  of  land  in  the  heavy 
timber  (taking  off  all  trees  eighteen  inches 
and  under  in  diameter)  for  the  small  sum  of 
$2.50  per  acre,  making  the  land  ready  for  the 
plow,  with  the  exception  of  rolling  the  logs. 
He  afterward  taught  school  three  months, 
and  then  went  into  the  Circuit  Clerk's  office 
at  Noblesville,  Ind..  as  a  student.  He  served 
in  this  capacity  for  two  years,  when  he  was 
appointed  Deputy  ou  a  salary  of  sis  a  month. 
He  held  that  position  several  years,  when  he 
was  elected  Circuit  Clerk  of  that  county,  and 
served  the  people  in  that  capacity  for  four- 
teen years.  In  1851,  he  engaged  in  the 
mercantile  business  in  Noblesville,  continuing 
in  that  business  until  lsr>r>.  He  then  took 
charge  of  a  hotel  there,  which  he  ran  for 
six  years.  Mr.  Burns  was  married,  Novem- 
ber 3,  1834,  to  Nancy  Schumach,  by  whom  ho 
had  seven  children.  Of  these,  but  two  are 
living — Richard  J.,  of  Louisville,  111.,  and 
John  T.,  of  Dayton.  Washington  Territory. 
The  two  sons  were  soldiers  for  Uncle  Sam  in 


the    late    war.     Our   snbject   came    to 
County  in  August,  1866,  and  settled  iii  Stan 
ford  Township,  where  heengagedin  farming 
until  IS,;!,  when  he  was  appointed   I  >< 
County  Clerk  under  his  sou  Richard  J.,  which 
position  he  siill  holds.      Mr.  Burns  is  als 
attorney,  having  been   admitted  to  the  bar  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  Illinois  in  May.   1882. 
Mr.  Bums  has  won  the  respect  and  esteem  of 
all,  and  his  wise  counsel  is  sought  and  appre- 
ciated alike  by  old  and  young. .    He  is  known 
among  all  circles  by  the  familiar  name  of 
"  Uncle  Johnnie." 

RICHARD  J.  BURNS,  of  the  firm  of 
Burns  &  Hawkins,  real  estate  and 
office,  Louisville,  is  a  native  of  Noblesville, 
Ind.,  and  was  born  September  15,  1840,  He 
is  a  son  of  John  T.  Burns,  whose  biography- 
appears  in  this  work.  He  was  educated  at 
Noblesville  Academy  ami  Greencastle  Col- 
lege, Ind.  He  served  th  irs  in  the  late 
war  in  Company  D,  Seventy  fifth  Indiana 
Volunteer  Infantry,    and  participated  in  the 

les  of  Chickamauga,  Mission  Rid 
Jonesboro.  all  the  battles  around  Atlanta, 
Kenesaw  Mountain.  Peach  Tree  Creek,  Xew 
Hope  Church,  and  others,  and  was  with 
Sherman  on  his  noted  march  to  the  sea.  Mr. 
Burns  came  to  Clay  County  in  1865,  and 
engaged  in  farming  and  teaching  until  1873, 
when  lie  was  elected  County  Clerk  of  ('lav 
County.  He  was  re-elected  to  the  same 
office  in  1S7T,  which  office  he  held  for  nine 
years.  For  the  past  f,  air  years,  he  has  been 
engaged  in  the  real  estate  and  abstract  busi- 
ness. He  was  married.  April  7.  1867,  to 
Ann  E.  Hay,  daughter  of  Francis  Hay 
(deceased).  They  had  live  children,  four 
living— Mary  E.,  Edna,  John  (',.  and  William 
H.  Mrs.  Hum-  died  in  1S7S,  and.  on  the 
17th  day  of  August,  1880,  he  married  Maria 
L.,  daughter  of  Jay  H  Hall.  By  her  he  has 
had   tw..  children,   one  living — Ethel.      Mr. 


148 


BTOGRAI'IIIi  AI,: 


Burns  owns  a  farm  of  200  acres,  besides  a 
half  interest  in  several  other  farms.  He  is  a 
Freemason  in  the  full  acceptance  of  the 
term,  as  he  has  taken  the  entire  thirty-two 
degrees,  and  is  a  member  of  the  following 
lodges:  Louisville  Lodge,  No.  196,  A.,  F.  & 
A.  M.,  Louisville  Chapter,  No.  81,  R.  A.  M., 
Gorin  Commandery,  No.  14,  at  Olney,  111., 
and  of  the  Peoria  Consistory. 

HON.  HIRAM  H.  CHESLEY,  attorney, 
Louisville,  was  born  in  Aroostook  County, 
Maine,  September  8,  1844,  and  is  a  son  of 
Bela  H.  Chesley,  of  Anoka,  Minn.,  a  native 
of  Oxford  County,  Maine.  Mr.  Chesley 
served  in  the  late  war  in  Company  H,  Twen- 
tieth Regiment  Maine  Volunteer  Infantry, 
and  participated  in  the  battles  of  Antietam, 
Fredericksburg,  the  Wilderness,  Gettysburg 
and  others.  He  received  a  gunshot  wound 
through  the  neck  at  Gettysburg,  which  crip- 
pled him  for  life.  He  lay  paralyzed  for 
eighteen  months,  entirely  helpless,  and  has 
suffered  untold  misery  ;  not  an  hour  passes 
until  the  present  time  that  does  not  bring  its 
pains.  He  came  to  Marion  County,  111.,  in 
September,  1865.  He  there  read  law,  and 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1867.  In  April, 
1870,  he  located  in  Louisville,  where  he  still 
remains,  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  pro- 
fession. He  was  married,  January  23,  1868, 
to  Mary  E.  Tubbs,  daughter  of  Alva  Tubbs 
(deceased).  She  was  born  in  Jennings  County, 
Ind.  Mr.  Chesley  is  a  member  of  the  Grand 
Army  of  the  Republic.  He  was  elected  to 
the  Illinois  General  Assembly  in  1876,  and 
served  one  term  to  the  satisfaction  of  his 
constituents. 

WILLIAM  I.  CLIFTON,  County  Clerk, 
Louisville,  was  born  in  Orange  County,  Ind., 
December  3,  1835,  and  is  a  son  of  Henry 
Clifton  (deceased),  a  native  of  Kentucky,  and 
an  early  settler  of  Orange  County.  Our  sub- 
ject was  reared  on  the  farm,  and  received  a 


common  school  education.  He  has  taught 
school  winters  and  farmed  summers  for  the 
most  part  ever  since  he  arrived  at  the  age  of 
seventeen  years.  He  came  to  Clay  County 
iu  1858,  where  he  has  since  resided.  He 
was  elected  County  Clerk  for  Clay  County  in 
November,  1882,  and  has  tilled  with  credit 
to  himself  and  to  the  satisfaction  of  the 
people  the  offices  of  Assessor,  Township 
Clerk,  Constable  and  School  Trustee  in  Songer 
Township  for  several  years.  He  was  married, 
in  March,  1859,  to  Sarah  E.  Hale,  daughter 
of  Levi  Hale  (deceased),  who  settled  in  this 
county  in  1858.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Clifton  had 
seven  children  born  to  them  ;  Bix  of  these  are 
living — Mittis  J.,  John  R.,MaryE.,  Malary 
A.,  William  C.  and  Ottis  S.  Mr.  Clifton  is 
a  member  of  the  MasoDic  fraternity  in  good 
standing,  and  also  of  the  Christian  Church. 
Mr.  Clifton  is  a  man  of  high  social  qualities, 
and  one  whose  opinions  are  regarded  with 
great  respect. 

TUCKER  W.  CULBERTSON,  farmer,  P. 
O.  Louisville,  was  born  in  Lawrence  County, 
Ind.,  November  12,  1846,  and  is  a  son  of 
John  B.  Culbertson  (deceased),  a  native  of 
Lincoln  County,  Ky.  Mr.  Culbertson  was 
brought  up  on  the  farm  and  attended  the 
common  schools.  He  came  with  his  parents 
to  this  county  in  1860,  and  has  since  made 
this  his  home.  He  was  a  soldier  for  Uncle  Sam 
in  the  late  war,  serving  in  Company  B,  Forty- 
eighth  Regiment  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry, 
and  participated  in  the  battles  of  Resaca,  New 
Hope  Church,  Kenesaw  Mountain,  Atlanta, 
Jonesboro  and  others.  He  was  honorably 
discharged  from  the  service  August  15.  1865. 
Our  subject  was  married,  June  16,  1S60,  to 
Miss  Mary  J.  McKnelly,  a  daughter  of  John 
McKnelly  (deceased),  who  died  during  the 
late  war  while  in  the  service  of  his  country. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Culbertson  have  had  nine  chil- 
dren, of  whom  eight  are  living,  viz.,  Luella, 


LOUISVILLE  TOWNSHIP. 


149 


Sarah  1*\.  Mary  J..  Rebecca  E.,  Annie  E., 
Alfred  A.,  John  B.  and  Theodore.  Mr.  Cul- 
bertson  owns  200  acres  of  land,  and  is  en- 
gaged in  farming  and  stock-raising  on  Sec- 
tion 2.  He  is  a  member  of  the  following 
orders:  Masonic,  Odd  Fellows  and  the  ( trand 
Army  of  the  Republic.  He  is  also  a  member 
of  the  Baptist  Church. 

MATTHEW  H.  DAVIS,  farmer, P.O. Iola. 
Among  the  prominent  and  best  farmer.-  of 
Clay  County  is  the  jovial,  hospitable  gentle- 
man whose  name  heads  this  memoir.  He  is 
a  native  of  Wilson  County  Tenn..  ami 
was  born  March  27.  1819.  His  father.  Basil 
Davis  (deceased),  was  a  native  of  Carolina, 
and  removed  with  his  family  to  Clay  County 
in  1834.  Mr.  Davis  did  not  enjoy  the  advan- 
tages of  educational  facilities,  as  do  his  chil- 
dren and  his  neighbors'  children  at  pres- 
ent. His  term  of  school  consisted  of  just  21 
days.  This  school  was  taught  by  Judge  Will- 
iam Erwin,  in  a  log  cabin  in  the  Judge's  own 
door-yard,  and  the  seats  consisted  of  split 
poles  with  pins  in  them  for  legs;  the  floor 
was  of  puncheon,  and  the  window  was  simply 
a  log  cut  out  of  one  side  of  the  cabin,  with 
nothing  over  the  aperture.  They  however 
kept  a  plank  with  which  they  covered  this 
crack  when  the  weather  was  too  cold.  The 
room  was  warmed  by  a  huge  fire-place,  and 
the  chimney  was  made  of  sticks  and  mud. 
Mr.  Davis  killed  many  a  deer  and  other  wild 
animals.  He  saw  at  one  time  sixty  three 
deer  in  one  herd.  When  the  Davis  family 
settled  here,  there  were  fifty -two  voters  in 
Clay  County.  Mr.  Davis  was  all  over  the 
ground  where  Flora  now  stands,  when  there 
was  not  a  rail  or  a  house  in  sight.  Thej 
ground  their  corn  in  a  horse  mill,  and  drove 
their  stock  to  St.  Louis  and  'Evansville  to 
market.  Our  subject  began  life  poor,  with 
no  capital  save  willing  hands  and  an  iron 
constitution,  and  as  a  result  has  provided  a 


competent  fortune  for  his  family.  Although 
he  has  passed  through  many  trials  andtroub 
It's,  yet  ho  is  jovial  and  witty  as  a  person  of 
twenty  Ave  years.  He  owns  over  800  a<  res 
of  valuable  land,  and  is  engaged  in  farming 
and  stock-raising.  Ho  has  been  married  four 
times,  and  is  the  father  of  twelve  children, 
seven  living — Sarah  J.  (Armstrong),  Peter, 
Stephen  A.  D..  William  S.,  Charley,  Victoria 
and  Nevada.  The  names  of  the  deceased 
were  Mary  E.  (Patrick),  John  J.  and  Robert, 
besides  two  that  died  in  infancy.  Mr.  Davis 
was  Deputy  Sheriff  and  Constable  for  Clay 
County  many  years. 

SAMUEL  ENYART,  Circuit  Clerk.  Louis- 
ville, is  a  native  of  Licking  County.  Ohio, 
and  was  born  March  14,  1888.  His  father, 
Jabez  T.  Enyart,  deceased,  was  born  in  New 
Jersey  in  1801,  and  was  brought  by  his  par- 
ents to  Licking  County  in  1805.  Our  sub- 
ject has  spent  his  life  on  the  farm,  or  until 
his  election,  which  occurred  in  1877.  He 
came  to  Macoupin  County,  111.,  in  1864,  and 
to  Clay  County  in  1870.  Ho  was  re-elected 
to  the  office  of  Circuit  Clerk  in  1880.  In 
1860,  he  married  Maria  Vail,  daughter  of 
Moses  Vail  (deceased),  a  native  of  Cincin- 
nati, Ohio.  Mrs.  Enyart  was  born  in  Butler 
County,  Ohio.  They  have  had  sis  children, 
five  of  whom  are  living,  viz.:  Mary  (Moore), 
Edward,  Myrtle,  Cora  and  Elizabeth.  Mr. 
ft  owns  a  farm  of  220  acres  of  valuable 
land  in  Stanford  Township,  his  old  home, 
and  still  carries  on  farming,  stock-raising 
and  fruit-growing.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Masonic  fraternity,  and  holds  the  offi  e  of 
W.  M.  of  his  lodge.  Mr.  Kmart  is  a  genial, 
energetic  man,  and  one  whose  example  is 
worthy  of  imitation. 

JOHN  EEWIN,  hardware  merchant  and 
dealer  in  farm  machinery.  Louisville,  was 
born  in  Hoosier  Township,  Clay  Count}.  No- 
vember 7,  1841,  and  is  a  son  of  Crawford 


L50 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


Erwin,    of    Hoosier  Township.      Mr.  Erwin 
i    all  his  life,  up  to  1S76,  on  the  farm. 
He    received   his  education    in   the  common 
schools  and  at  McKendree  College,  Illinois. 
He  served  in   the  late  war  in   Company   D, 
Eleventh  Missouri  Volunteer  Infantry;    en- 
listed  June  15,  1861,  and  was  discharged  in 
October,  1862,  on  account  of  disability,  but 
after  recruiting  in  health  he  again  enlisted 
iu    L864;  this   time  in   Company  B,   Forty- 
eighth  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry.      He  par- 
ticipated  in   the   battles    of    Fredericktowu, 
Mo.,    New   Madrid,    Island   No.    10,    Point 
Pleasant,     Fort     Pillow,     Farmington    and 
Corinth  during  his  first  term  of  enlistment, 
anil  Snake  Creek  Gap,    Resaca,   New   Hope 
Church,    Big    Shanty,    Kenesaw   Mountain, 
Marietta,    Jonesboro,    East   Point,    Atlanta, 
Fort    McAllister,   Pocataligo,     Duck    Creek, 
Columbia,   Camden    and  others    during  hie 
last    term.     At    Fort  McAllister,  Mr.  Erwin 
was  blown  up  some  distance  by  an  exploding 
torpedo,  but  not  seriously   injured.     At  the 
battle  of  Duck  Creek,  on  tne  4th  day  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1865,  his  regiment  charged  the  rebels 
through  a  swamp  of  mud  and  water  waist 
deep.     In  1870,  Mr.  Erwin  moved  to  Louis- 
ville and  engaged  in  his  present  business  in 
'  January   following,    at   which    he    has  been 
very  successful,  keeping  a.'f ull   line  of  heavy 
and  shelf  hardware,  farm  implements,  stoves, 
tinware,  blacksmith  coal,  lime,  hair,  saddles, 
harness,  chain  and  wood  pumps,  and  is  alsc 
agent  for  the  Buckeye  Reaper.    He  was  mar- 
ried in  1867  to  Amelia  A.,  daughter  of  Henry 
Conley,  deceased.     They  have  had  sis  chil- 
dren, viz.:    Lewella.  Vernon,  Troy  (deceased), 
Keturah,    Mabel    and    an    infant    son.      Mr. 
Erwin  is  a  member  of  the  Grand   Army  of 
the  Republic,  the  Masonic  fraternity  and  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

NICHOLAS  G.  GIBSON,  grocer  and  prod- 
uce  merchant,    Louisville.       This  enterpris- 


ing  young   man   was    born   in  this   county 
April  1,  1859.     He  was  brought  up  and  edu- 
cated   in    Louisville.      In    March,    1881,    he 
engaged  in  the  mercantile  business  in  Noble, 
111.,  and  in  March,  1883,  he  sold  his  entire 
sto/Jk  of  goods   and  returned  to  Louisville, 
and  brought  on  a  new  stock  of  goods  and  en- 
gaged in  business  here.     He  also  carries  a 
line  of  hardware,  having  a  capital  stock  in 
all  of  about  $4,000,  and  is  doing  an  extensive 
business.     He  is  the  most  extensive  produce 
dealer  and  shipper  in  Louisville.      He   was 
married,  July    31,    18S0,   to  Miss  Lizzie  B. 
Ellis,  daughter  of   George   Ellis,    of   Noble, 
111.     They    had   one   child,    deceased.     Mr. 
Gibson  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church.     James  M.  Gibson,  the  father 
of  the  above,  was  born  in  Braxton   County, 
Va.,  August  31,  1833,  and   is  a  son  of  Jacob 
Gibson,  deceased,  born   near  Wheeling,    Va. 
He  was  brought  to  this  county  by  his  parents 
in  1848,  and  has  since  resided  here.     Jacob 
Gibson  died  in  this  county  in  August,  1879. 
James  M.   married  Elizabeth   Engledow    in 
1854.     By  her  he  had  four  children — Jacob 
H.,  William  D.,  Nicholas  G.  and  Alpharetta. 
His  present  wife  was  Miss  Alice  A.  Pierson. 
MATTHEW  GRIFFIN,  deceased,  late  of 
Louisville,    was   born   September  29,   1828. 
He  was  brought  up  on  the  farm,  and  educated 
at  Shurtleff  College,  Upper  Alton,  111.     He 
taught  school  a  few  years,  then  read  law,  and 
was  admitted  to  practice  in  the  Supreme  and 
lower  courts  of  Illinois.      He   was  married 
first   to  Adaline.   daughter  of  Hon.   Dr.   P. 
Green,  deceased.      They   had    two    children, 
one  living— Martha  (Olmsted).      Mrs.  Griffin 
died,    and    Mr.    Griffin    married    Mrs.    Mary 
Finch,    by   whom  he    had    one    child — Effie 
May  (Watson).     Mrs.  Griffin's  first  husband, 
Dr.  James  A.  Finch,  was  a  graduate  of  Rush 
Medical  College.   Chicago.     By  him  she  had 
two  children — Emily  and  James  A.,  both  de- 


LOUISVILLE  TOWNSHIP 


151 


ceased.  The  hitter  was  an  attorney  in  Louis- 
ville. Dr.  Finch  was  born  in  Indiana  Sep- 
tember 20,  1826.  Mrs.  Griffin's  father,  Rev. 
John  M.  Griffith,  deceased,  settle.!  in  Oska- 
loosa  Township,  this  county,  in  1*30  He 
was  a  local  Methodist  preacher,  and  nearly 
all  the  old  pioneers  of  Clay  and  Wayne  Coun- 
ties have  heard  him  preach. 

HON.  DIOS  C.  HAGLE,  attorney,  Louis- 
ville, is  a  native  of  Brown  County,  Ohio,  and 
was  born  September  11,  1839.  His  parents, 
Abraham  and  Mary  (Williams)  Hagle,  were 
natives  of  Virginia,  who  emigrated  from 
Brown  County,  Ohio,  to  Jefferson  County, 
111.,  in  1841.  Mr.  Hagle  was  brought  up  on 
his  father's  farm,  and  attended  the  common 
6chools.  Upon  the  breaking- out  of  the  re- 
bellion, he  endeavored  to  join  an  Illinois 
regiment,  but  finding  that  the  quota  for  this 
State  was  complete,  he  enlisted  in  Company 
1)  of  the  Eleventh  Kegiment  Missouri  Vol- 
unteer Infantry,  and  participated  in  the  bat- 
tles of  Corinth.  Iuka.  siege  of  Vicksburg. 
through  the  Lied  Kiver  campaign  and  others. 
After  the  war,  he  farmed  for  two  years,  when 
he  came  (in  1867)  to  Louisville  and  began 
the  study  of  law,  being  admitted  to  the  bar 
in  1868.  During  the  time  from  1874  to 
1877,  Mr.  Hagle  practiced  law  in  and  near 
Yankton,  Dakota  Territory  While  there  he 
was  a  member  of  tbe  Dakota  Legislature, 
and  was  Speaker  of  the  House  daring  the 
twelfth  session  of  that  assembly.  He  is  now 
State's  Attorney  for  Clay  County,  and  enjoys 
a  large  practice  outside  of  his  official  work. 
Mr.  Hagle  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fra 
ternity. 

EDWARD  H.  HAWKINS,  real  estate 
and  abstract  office,  Louisville,  was  born  in 
Canada  Kasl  August  21.  1839,  and  is  a  son 
of  Henry  Hawkins  (deceased),  a  native 
of  Yorkshire,  England,  born  May  26,  IN01. 
who    came    to    Canada    in    1819.    and    who 


brought  his  family  to  Kane  County,  III., 
in  1844,  and  to  Clay  County  in  1857,  where 
In*  died  Juno  6,  1874.  Our  subject  farmed 
for  the  most  part  until  1878,  when  he  was 
elected  to  till  a  vacancy  in  the  County  Treas- 
urer's office,  and  ,\as  re-elected  to  the  same 
office  in  1879,  serving  until  the  fall  of  1882. 
While  residing  in  Harter  Township,  Mr. 
Hawkins  held  various  offices  of  trust  in  that 
township.  He  is  now  engaged  in  the  ab- 
stract and  real  estate  business  with  It.  J. 
Burns  in  Louisville.  He  was  married,  April 
30,  1871,  to  Miss  Sarah  I.,  daughter  of  Solo- 
mon Chambliss  (deceased).  They  have  had 
three  children — Ida  M.  (deceased),  Edna, 
and  Henry  T.  Mr.  Hawkins'  mother  is  still 
living,  and  is  eighty-one  years  old.  Her 
maiden  name  was  Sarah  Shields,  who  is  a 
cousin  to  Gen.  Shields.  Mr.  Hawkins  is  a 
member  in  good  standing  of  the  Masonic 
fraternity,  and  of  the  Christian  Church. 

GEORGE  A.  HENRY,  attorney,  Louis- 
ville, was  born  in  Madison  County,  Ohio, 
August  21,  1853.  His  father,  Rolla  B.  Henry, 
was  born  in  Clark  County,  Ohio,  emigrated 
to  Clay  County  in  September,  1862,  and  now 
resides  in  Harter  Township.  George  A. 
spent  his  boyhood  days  on  the  farm.  At  the 
age  of  eighteen,  he  entered  the  Butler  Uni- 
versity (then  the  North- Western  Christian 
I  Diversity)  of  Indianapolis,  where  he  re- 
ceived an  education.  In  1874,  he  began  the 
study  of  law,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
Grant  County,  Ind.,  in  the  fall  of  1876,  and 
practiced  in  Marion,  Ind.,  until  the  fall  of 
1878,  when  he  located  in  Louisville,  this 
county,  and  the  following  spring  formed  a 
partnership  with  F.  G.  Cockrell,  which  was 
dissolved  in  1880.  He  then  practiced  alone 
until  the  spring  of  1883,  when  ho  formed  a 
copartnership  with  Judge  Hoff,  of  Flora,  111. 
Mr.  Henry  bought  the  Louisville  Ledger  in 
January.   1881,  and  still  owns  and  edits  this 


152 


BIOCUAI'IIIC  Al. 


spicy  little  sheet.  In  1880,  he  was  appointed 
Public  Administrator,  by  Gov.  Culloni,  for 
Clay  County.  He  was  married  in  May,  1880, 
to  Lillian  Whedon,  a  daughter  of  C.  N. 
Whedon,  of  St.  Louis.  They  have  one  child 
— Frank.      Mr.  Henry  is  a  Royal  Arch  Mason. 

STEPHEN  R.  JONES,  contractor  and 
builder,  Louisville,  was  born  July  7,  1841, 
in  Ripley  County,  Ind.  His  father,  Samuel 
S.  Jones  (deceased),  was  a  native  of  Sussex 
County,  N.  Y.  Mr.  Jones  was  brought  up 
partially  on  a  farm,  and  educated  at  Belle- 
fontaine,  Ohio.  He  came  with  his  parents  to 
Clay  County  in  1859,  where  he  has  since 
resided.  For  the  past  sixteen  years  he  has 
worked  at  the  carpenter  trade.  He  built  the 
Griffin  Hotel,  the  Excelsior  Flouring  Mills, 
and  some  of  the  best  dwellings  in  Louisville. 
He  was  married  in  1867  to  Mary  E.  Martin, 
daughter  of  John  A.  Martin,  of  Burt  County, 
Neb.  They  have  had  six  children,  four  liv- 
ing— Oliver  M.,  Curtis  O,  Zimenia  D.  and 
Charles  F.  Mr.  Jones  was  Constable  one 
term,  Deputy  Sheriff  three  terms,  and  at 
present  Highway  Commissioner  for  Louis- 
ville Township.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Baptist  Church. 

SOLOMON  KUMRE,  miller  at  the  Excel- 
sior Mills,  Louisville,  was  born  in  Edwards 
County,  111.,  September  6,  1851,  and  is  a 
son  of  Jeremiah  Kumre,  a  miller  at  Fair- 
field, 111.  Our  subject  was  "raised  in  a 
mill,"  and  attended  the  common  schools. 
He  came  to  Louisville  in  the  fall  of  1878, 
and  ran  the  Snow  Flake  Mill  (which  was  a 
small  mill  at  this  point  then),  until  the  pres- 
ent one  was  built  He  was  married  in  1876 
to  Elizabeth  Pendleton,  daughter  of  Jonathan 
Pendleton.  She  is  a  native  of  Massac 
County,  111. 

ROBERT  McCOLLUM,  Sheriff,  Louis- 
ville, was  born  in  Washington  County,  Ind., 
November   17,  1830,  and  is  a  son  of  James 


McCollum  (deceased),  a  native  of  Crab  Or- 
chard, Ky.,  and  born  in  the  year  1801. 
James  McCollum' s  father  was  a  soldier  in 
the  war  of  1812.  Our  subject  was  brought 
to  Clay  County  by  his  parents  in  1833.  He 
was  brought  up  on  the  farm  and  attended 
the  common  schools.  In  March.  1853,  he 
married  Mary  E.,  daughter  of  Joseph  Rader, 
a  native  of  Virginia.  Mrs.  McCollum  was 
born  in  East  Tennessee.  They  have  eight 
children- -Jonathan  T.,  Thomas  J.,  Frances 
G,  America,  Gladys,  Minnesota,  George  B. 
and  Tennessee  Ann.  Mr.  McCollum  held  the 
office  of  Supervisor  for  Hoosier  Township  for 
four  years,  and  was  elected  Sheriff  of  Clay 
County  in  November,  1882.  He  owns  a  farm 
of  250  acres  in  Hoosier  Township,  and  is  a 
farmer  by  profession.  When  the  McCollums 
came  to  this  county,  there  were  no  mills  here, 
and  they  were  obliged  to  go  to  Vineennes, 
Ind.,  to  obtain  their  grinding,  a  distance  of 
sixty  miles.  Our  subject  well  remembers 
many  pioneer  incidents.  His  father  took 
him  when  a  boy  to  the  Circuit  Court,  both 
riding  the  same  horse.  They  rode  up  to  the 
door  of  the  court  house  and  sat  there  on  the 
horse  and  witnessed  the  proceedings,  the 
house  being  too  small  to  admit  any  specta- 
tors. He  also  well  remembers  the  first  bridge 
built  across  the  Little  Wabash  at  Louisville. 
Mr.  McColluni  is  a  member  of  the  Baptist 
Church. 

JAMES  C.  McCOLLUM,  Supervisor  for 
Louisville  Township,  furniture  dealer  and 
undertaker,  Louisville,  was  born  in  Clay 
County  August  9,  1844,  and  is  a  son  of  James 
McCollum  (deceased).  He  spent  his  life 
on  the  farm  until  1867,  when  he  came  to 
Louisville  and  engaged  in  business.  He  was 
married,  in  1875,  to  Mary  F.  Long,  daughter 
of  Darling  Long  (deceased).  They  had  two 
children,  one  living,  Harvey,  born  March  13, 
1879.     Mr.   McCollum  owns  a  farm  of   120 


LOUISVILLE  TOWNSHIP. 


ir,;i 


acres  in  Hoosier  Township.      He  is  a  member 
of  the  Odd  Fellow  and  Masonic   fraternities. 

WILLIAM  A.  McNOWN,  physician  and 
druggist,  Louisville,  was  born  in  Brown 
County,  Ohio,  November  1,  1S<YJ.  and  is  a 
son  of  Robert  J.  McNown,  of  Dexter,  Iowa, 
also  a  native  of  Brown  County,  Ohio.  Our 
subject  was  brought  up  on  the  farm  and  re- 
ceived a  common  school  education.  He 
taught  school  for  two  years,  when  he  began 
the  study  of  medicine,  graduating  with  high 
honors  from  the  American  Medical  College 
at  St.  Louis  in  1879,  and  at  once  began  the 
practice  of  his  chosen  profession  in  Louis- 
ville, he  already,  in  1S77,  having  established 
a  drug  store  here.  The  Doctor  is  a  straight- 
forward, energetic' man,  and  has  built  up  a 
large  practice.  His  drug  trade  is  also  very 
good,  his  time  being  about  equally  divided 
between  that  business  and  his  practice.  He 
was  married.  April  11,  1880,  to  Miss  Mattie 
E.  Mahaney,  daughter  of  Stephen  Mahaney, 
of  this  place.  Mr.  McNown  has  held  the 
office  of  School  Director  for  the  town  of  Lou- 
isville since  1878,  and  was  Supervisor  for  this 
township  in  1882. 

PROF.  CLEVELAND  W.  MILLS,  Su- 
perintendent of  Schools  for  Clay  County,  and 
Principal  of  the  Louisville  Schools,  was  born 
in  Youngstown.  Mahoning  County.  Ohio. 
December  '_"_'.  L842,  and  is  a  son  of  Simeon 
H.  Mills,  of  New  London,  Ohio.  He  was 
brought  up  in  Painesville,  Ohio,  and  edu 
cated  in  the  Lake  County  Academy  at  that 
town.  As  an  educator,  the  Professor  has 
been  eminently  successful.  He  uses  the  most 
approved  normal  methods  in  his  work.  The 
writer  had  the  honor  of  visiting  his  well- 
regulated  and  orderly  schools. while  in  Louis- 
ville. In  1882,  he  was  elected  to  the  office 
of  County  Superintendent  of  Schools  for 
Clay  County,  and  has  discharged  his  duties 
faithfullv  and  with  entire  satisfaction  to  the 


people  of  the  county.  On  the  19th  day  of 
October,  1807,  he  married  Miss  Arena  Oliver, 
of  Mt.  Vernon,  Ind..  a  daughter  of  William 
Oliver.  This  union  has  been  blessed  with 
two  children,  one  living,  'William  H.  Mr. 
Mills  taught  eight  years  in  the  district  schools 
of  Posey  County,  Ind.  He  then  took  charge 
of  the  New  Harmony  Schools,  Ind.,  and 
in  1S75  came  to  Mt.  Carmel,  111.,  where  he 
was  Principal  of  the  schools  for  three  years. 
In  1878,  he  took  charge  of  the  Louisville 
Schools,  in  which  capacity  he  is  still  em- 
ployed. He  was  a  soldier  for  three  years  in 
the  late  war,  in  Company  K,  Tenth  Indiana 
Cavalry,  and  participated  in  the  battles  of 
Pulaski,  Tenn.,  Franklin,  Nashville  and 
others.  He  was  taken  prisoner  at  Nashville, 
and  confined  at  Andersonville  three  and  one- 
half  months,  when  he  was  paroled.  He  re- 
turned on  the  steamer  Sultana,  which  ex- 
ploded near  Memphis,  at  which  time  over 
1,300  lives  were  lost.  Our  subject  clung  to 
an  empty  barrel,  on  which  he  floatod  for  four 
hours,  when  he  was  picked  up  thirteen  miles 
below  where  the  disaster  occurred.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  G.  A.  R.  and  of  the  Masonic 
fraternity  at  Louisville,  and  of  the  Chapter 
at  Mt.  Carmel.  111. 

COL.  HENRY  R.  NEFF,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Louisville,  was  born  in  Montgomery  County, 
Ohio,  March  31,  1812,  and  is  a  son  of  Adam 
and  Elizabeth  (Reel)  Neff,  natives  of  Vir- 
ginia, who  were  both  brought  to  Ohio  when 
quite  small.  Henry  R.  went  into  a  saw  and 
flouring  mill  when  fifteen  years  old,  in  Put- 
nam County,  Ind.,  his  parents  having  lo- 
cated there  in  1826.  He  followed  this  busi- 
ners  for  seven  years,  when  he  returned  to  the 
farm.  He  came  to  Clay  County  in  1848,  and 
lived  one  year  in  Blair  Township.  He  then 
located  near  Louisville,  and  engaged  in  the 
mercantile  business  for  several  years.  He 
also  engaged  in  the  milling  business  here  a 


154 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


few  years.  He  entered  his  present  farm  in 
L849,  but  did  not  locate  upon  it  until  1873. 
He  was  married,  September  26,  1803,  to 
Mary  A.  Monical,  daughter  of  George  Moni- 
cal  (deceased).  They  had  fourteen  children, 
viz  :  John,  killed  at  the  battle  of  Kenesaw 
Mountain,  while  fighting  for  his  country  dur- 
ing the  rebellion,  and  a  member  of  the  Fif  - 
ty-iirst  Illinois  Regiment  Volunteer  Infantry; 
Hannah;  Simeon,  killed  at  Columbia,  S.  C, 
also  while  in  defense  of  his  country  (he  was 
Lieutenant  of  Company  B,  Forty-eighth  Regi- 
ment Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry);  Adam,  who 
was  also  a  soldier  for  the  Union  during  the 
late  war  (he  died  January  23,  18S3);  Eliza- 
beth, George,  Mary,  Martha,  Henry  C.  (de- 
ceased), Benjamin,  Sarah,  David,  Christopher 
and  Peter.  Mrs.  Neff  died  January  4,  1873. 
Mr.  Neff  was  Sheriff  of  Clay  County  from 
1855  to  1857,  and  has  also  held  the  offices  of 
Supervisor,  School  Trustee  and  Collector  for 
several  years.  In  religious  views,  he  is  a 
Cumberland  Presbyterian.  At  one  time  he 
was  Colonel  of  a  militia  regiment,  hence  his 
title. 

JOHN  J.  PHILLIPS,  Deputy  Sheriff  of 
Clay  County,  Louisville,  was  born  in  Davie 
County,  N.  C.  Augusl  31,  1831,  and  is  a  son 
of  James  Phillips,  of  Oskaloosa  Township, 
this  county,  and  also  a  native  of  North  Car- 
olina. Our  subject  has  spent  most  of  his  life 
on  the  farm,  and  received  a  common  school 
education.  He  came  to  Marion  County,  111., 
in  1859,  and  to  Clay  County  in  1861,  not  lo- 
cating here  permanently,  however,  until 
1805;  and  from  1873  to  1S76  he  again  re- 
sided in  Marion  County.  He  also  owns  a  farm 
there  of  200  acres.  He  also  owns  a  farm  of 
eighty-five  acres  in  Clay  County,  situated  in 
Oskaloosa  Township.  He  was  married,  March 
1,  1863,  to  Nancy  Bouseman,  a  daughter  of 
Andrew  J.  Bouseman,  deceased.  They  have 
four  children — Benjamin,   Amanda.  Charley 


and  James.  Mr.  Phillips  was  appointed 
Deputy  Sheriff  in  1878,  which  position  he 
still  holds.  He  is  also  Constable.  He  is  a 
member  in  good  standing  of  the  Masonic 
fraternity. 

WILLIAM  B.   PIERSON,  farmer,   P.   O. 
Iola,    was  born,    April  7,  .1842,   in    Orange 
County,    Ind.,    and    is    a    son    of   Benjamin 
Pierson  (deceased),  also  h  native  of  Orange 
County.     Mr.  Pierson  came  to  this  county  in 
1858,  which  has  since   been  his  home.     He 
was  brought  up  on  the  farm,  and  attended  the 
common  schools.     Upon  the  breaking-out  of 
the  great  rebellion,  Mr.  Pierson  felt  that  his 
country  needed  his  services,   and  he  enlisted 
in  Company  B,  Thirty-eighth  Regiment  Illi- 
nois Infantry,  and   while  in  the  service  par- 
ticipated   in    the  battles    of    Fredericktown. 
Mo.,  Stone  River,  Liberty  Gap,  Perryville, 
Chickamauga  and  others.      He  was  wounded 
and  taken  prisoner  at  Chickamauga,  but  was 
exchanged  two  weeks  later.       He  came  near 
dying  from  the  effects  of  his  wound,  but  par- 
tially recovered,  and  on  the  25th  day  of  Feb- 
ruary,   1804,    was   honorably   discharged    at 
Quincy,    111.,    on    which    occasion    Dr.    M. 
Nicholson  said  his   descriptive  roll   was  the 
best  among  10,000  that  had  been  given  at 
Quincy,  which  is  a  very  great  honor.   He  now 
draws    a    pension    of    812  per  month.     Mr. 
Pierson   was   married,    October   9,    1864,    to 
Nancy  A.  Roberts,  daughter  of  John   Rob- 
erts (deceased),  an  early  settler  of  Clay  Coun 
ty.     They  have  had  eleven  children,  of  whom 
seven  are  living,  viz.,  Lou.  John  H,  Mahal- 
da  J.,  David  M.   C,  Mary  A.,   Isaac  E.  and 
Charlen  F.    Mr.  Pierson  is  a  member  in  good 
standing  of  the  Odd   Fellows   society.      He 
owns  ninety  acres  of  land  in  Sections  5  and  6. 
CLOVER    O.     REYNOLDS,    Postmaster 
and  merchant,  Louisville,  was  born  in  Louis- 
ville.  111.,  March   16.  1854,  and  is  a  son  of 
Benjamin  Reynolds,  of  this  place.    Our  sub 


LOUISVILLE  TOWNSHIP. 


155 


jeot  was  appointed  Postmaster  in  1881.     In 

l^T'.t,  be  engaged  in  the  grocery  and  provis 
ion  business,  and  in  May.  1883,  took  a  part- 
ner in  tbo  person  of  John  W.  Wheeler.  Tbey 
also  keep  a  full  line  of  glass  and  queens 
ware,  notions,  stationery  and  school  books, 
and  are  doing  a  thriving  business.  On  the 
10th  day  of  May.  1883,  Mr.  Reynolds  took 
another  partner  in  the  person  of  -Miss  Anna 
Burton,  daughter  of  Anderson  Burton.  This 
partner  is  for  life. 

GEORGE  W.  ROUSH,  merchant,  Louis- 
ville, was  born  in  Richland  County,  Ohio, 
July  4,  1838,  and  is  a  sod  of  Henry  Roush 
i  diseased),  a  native  of  Pennsylvania.  Mr. 
Run-.!)  was  brought  up  on  the  farm,  and  ed- 
ucated in  a  subscription  school  in  a  small 
log  cabin,  and  sat.  upon  a  split  pole  and 
wrote  on  a  board  supported  on  pins  in  the 
wall.  He  came  with  his  parents  to  Richland 
County,  111.,  in  1845,  where  he  farmed  until 
the  breaking-out  of  the  war.  and  for  some 
time  after  its  close.  He  was  a  soldier  for 
Onole  Sam  in  the  late  war  in  Company  E, 
Eleventh  Regiment  Missouri  Volunteers  for 
over  three  years,  and  participated  in  the  bat- 
tle of  luka,  Corinth,  siege  and  capture  of 
Vioksburg,  Jackson  and  others.  He  came 
to  Louisville  in  1S74,  and  engaged  in  gen 
eral  merchandising,  and  is  doing  a  good  bus- 
iness. Mr.  Roush  was  married,  September 
14.  1805,  to  Eli/a  Ratcliff,  a  daughter  of 
John  Ratcliff,  of  Texas,  and  a  native  of  Eng- 
land. They  have  had  three  children,  two 
living,  Lizzie  and  Ida  E. 

JAMES  J.  SPRIGGS,  farmer,  P.  O.  Louis- 
ville, was  born  in  Pendleton  District,  S.  C, 
April  (5,  1818,  and  is  a  son  of  Elijah  Spriggs, 
who  died  in  the  regular  army  when  the  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch  was  an  infant.  His 
mother,  Lucy  (Sullivan)  Spriggs.  removed 
with  her  family  to.  Warren  County.  Term., 
when  James  J.  was  a  small  child.      She  there 


married,  and  James  went  to  live  with  his 
grandmother.  Elizabeth  Sullivan,  who  re- 
moved with  him  to  Warrick  County,  Ind.,  in 
L828,  and  to  Clay  County,  111.,*  in  1829 
His  mother  and  step-father  came  to  Wayne 
County  about  the  year  1830,  where  the  lat- 
ter died  about  1832.  His  mother  then  re- 
sided with  him  and  grandmother  until  her 
death,  which  occurred  September  11,  1834. 
She  lies  buried  near  Larkinsburg  in  this 
county.  Mr.  Spriggs  attended  school  in  a 
round-log  cabin,  10x1  I  feet,  with  dirt  floor, 
clapboard  roof,  split-pole  seats,  and  greased 
paper  over  a  crack  in  the  wall  for  a  window. 
His  first  teacher  was  Mr.  Wylio  Walker,  who 
taught  a  subscription  school  in  1831.  Mr. 
Spriggs  has  killed  many  a  deer,  wild  cat, 
wolf,  and  other  wild  animals.  At  one  time 
he  stood  in  his  door  and  shot  a  deer.  He 
frequently  hunted  with  the  Kaskaskia  Indi- 
ans, who  painted  him  before  engaging  iu  the 
exciting  pastime.  He  was  married,  Novem- 
ber 12,  1844,  to  Aly  Evans,  by  whom  he  had 
five  children,  two  living — Augustus  C.  F., 
and  Martha  E.  (now  Mrs.  M.  C.  Wilson). 
Mrs.  Spriggs  died  October  5,  1853,  and  he 
again  married,  April  23,  1858,  this  time  to 
Miss  Lucinda  Worthy,  by  whom  he  had 
seven  children;  of  this  number  four  are  liv- 
ing, viz.:  James,  Mary  E. ,  Ulyssus  and 
William  T.  Mrs.  Spriggs  No.  2  died  March 
4,  1ST-!,  and  he  married  the  third  time. 
November  4,  1873,  Miss  Nancy  Warren;  by 
her  he  has  three  children — Ora,  John  and 
Orlando.  Mr.  Spriggs  owns  400  acres  of 
d,  and  is  engaged  in  farming  and  stock- 
raising.  He  is  a  natural  genius,  and  makes 
most  all  his  household  furniture,  and  many 
other  useful  things  about  the  farm  and  home. 
In  religion,  he  is  a  Baptist. 

CHRISTIANA.  STKIXi;i;rCK.farmor,P. 
O.  Louisville,  was  born  in  Saxony,  Ger- 
many,   September    'JO.    1840,    and    is    a   son 


156 


BIOGRAPHICAL 


of  John  H.  C.  Steinbruck,  also  a  native 
of  Saxony,  and  the  second  son  of  John 
Christopher  Steinbruck.  Our  subject's 
mother's  maiden  name  was  Louise  Henrietta 
Christiane  Schauroth.  She  was  born  in 
Saxony,  and  is  a  daughter  of  Henry  Freder- 
ick William  Von  Schauroth.  Mr.  Steinbruck 
emigrated  to  Marion  County,  111.,  in  1860, 
and  in  the  spring  of  1801  he  went  to  Mis- 
souri. In  1869,  he  went  to  Wisconsin,  and 
in  1870  he  returned  to  Indiana,  and  to  Clay 
County  the  same  year.  In  the  fall  of  1874, 
he  went  to  California,  but  returned  after  a 
Btay  of  four  months.  He  is  a  saddle  and 
harness  maker  by  trade,  but  is  now  engaged 
in  farming  and  stock-raising  and  fruit-grow- 
ing on  Section  22,  and  owns  215  acres  of 
land.  He  was  married,  August  12,  1864,  to 
Mary  Bogard,  a  daughter  of  David  Bogard. 
They  had  three  children,  two  living — Sarah 
L.  and  Laura  J.  Mrs.  Steinbruck  died  No- 
vember 10,  1872,  and  on  the  30th  day  of 
January,  1873,  he  married  Mrs.  Eunice  M. 
Thaker,  a  daughter  of  James  Bilyeu.  Mr. 
Steinbruck  held  the  offices  of  Collector  and 
Assessor  one  term  each.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Masonic  fraternity. 

JAMES  M.  TANNER,  Louisville,  was 
born  in  Warrick  County,  Ind.,  June  8,  1839, 
and  is  a  brother  of  Hon.  John  R.  Tanner, 
of  Louisville.  He  spent  most  of  his  life  on 
the  farm,  and  attended  the  common  schools 
in  the  Hoosier  State.  He  came  to  Clay 
County  in  September,  1866,  which  has  since 
been  his  home.  In  1881.  he  quit  the  farm 
and  engaged  in  the  saw  mill  business,  and  is 
well  he  did,  for  in  thus  doing  he  gave  em- 
ployment to  many  whose  crops  entirely  failed 
that  year,  and  thus  kept  them  above  want. 
He  does  a  very  extensive  business,  and  is 
prospering  finely.  Mr.  Tanner  was  married, 
December  25,  1860,  to  Mary  J.  Tanner,  a 
daughter  of   John  B.  Tanner  (of  the  same 


name  but  no  relation).  They  had  five  chil- 
dren, but  one  of  whom  is  living — Viola. 
Mrs.  Tanner  died  in  September,  1869,  and  he 
married  Mrs.  Matilda  J.  Missenhimmer,  a 
daughter  of  Matthias  Sappingfield  (deceased), 
and  the  widow  of  David  Missenhimmer;  she 
had  three  children  by  Mr.  Missenhimmer, 
but  one  of  whom  is  living — Hiram  K.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Tanner  have  had  five  children;  but 
two  of  these  are  living — Loretta  M.  and  Lib 
lie  IT.  Mr.  Tanner  was  a  soldier  in  the  late 
war  in  Company  I,  Thirteenth  Regiment  Illi- 
nois Cavalry,  and  participated  in  the  battles 
of  Helena,  siege  and  taking  of  Vicksburg, 
and  others.  He  is  now  a  member  of  the 
Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  and  also  of  the 
Christian  Church. 

HON.  JOHN  R.  TANNER,  State  Senator 
from  this  district,  was  born  in  Warrick 
County,  Ind.,  April  4,  1844,  and  is  a  son  of 
John  Tanner  (deceased),  who  was  born  on 
June  6,  1814.  In  1862,  our  subject  came  to 
Clay  County,  locating  at  Flora.  His  edu- 
cation was  acquired  in  the  common  schools 
of  his  native  State,  his  experiences  with  the 
Hoosier  schoolmaster  having  been  more  lim- 
ited, however,  than  he  desired.  Mr.  Tanner 
followed  the  noble  example  of  his  father  in 
selecting  his  occupation,  and  is  an  esteemed 
and  popular  farmer.  His  farm  consists  of 
about  400  acres  of  valuable  land.  In  1863, 
he  enlisted  as  a  private  in  the  Ninety-eighth 
Regiment  Illinois  Volunteers;  served  until 
June,  1S65,  when  he  was  transferred  to  the 
Sixty-first  Illinois,  being  mustered  out  of 
service  at  Springfield  in  September  of  the 
same  year.  He  is  an  Odd  Fellow,  and  a 
member  of  the  Ancient  Order  of  United 
Workmen.  In  politics,  he  is  a  firm,  promi- 
nent and  active  Republican.  In  1870,  he 
was  elected  to  the  office  of  Sheriff  of  Clay 
County,  and  at  the  expiration  of  his  term  of 
office  was  chosen  Circuit  Clerk.     In  1876, 


LOUISVILLE  TOWNSHIP. 


157 


he  was  appointed  Master  in  Chancery,  and  in 
1NS0  elected  to  the  State  Senate  over  Dr. 
Shirley,  of  Xenia,  whom  be  defeated  by  a 
majority  of  nearly  400  votes,  in  a  very  close 
district.  He  was  appointed  a  member  of  the 
State  Central  Committee  of  the  Republican 
party  in  1874,  and  has  been  retainod  in  that 
capacity  ever  since.  Mr.  Tanner  was  mar- 
ried, December  25,  1806,  to  Miss  Lauretta, 
daughter  of  Barton  B.  Ingraham,  of  this 
county.  Two  children  aro  the  fruits  of  this 
union — Lucinda  J.  and  James  M. 

ODELL  TOLBERT.  farmer,  P.  O.  Louis- 
ville, was  born  in  Orange  County,  Iud. , 
June  15,  1S43,  and  is  a  son  of  Thomas  Tol- 
bert  (deceased),  a  native  of  Orange  County, 
also.  Mr.  Tolbert  was  brought  up  on  the 
farm,  and,  being  obliged  to  work  almost  con- 
stantly, enjoyed  but  meager  educational  ad- 
vantages. He  went  barefoot,  winter  and 
summer,  until  ho  was  twelve  years  old.  He 
served  in  the  late  war  in  Company  F,  Sev- 
enteenth Regiment  Indiana  Volunteer  Infan- 
try, and  participated  in  the  battles  of  Green 
River  Bridge  (where  ho  was  captured,  but 
exchanged),  Hoover's  Gap,  Chickamauga, 
Atlanta.  Jonesboro,  Mission  Ridge,  Dalton, 
Kenesaw  Mountain,  Nashville,  Columbus 
Ga.,  Selma,  Ala.,  Macon,  Ga..  and  others.  I 
Mr.  Tolbert  came  to  this  county  in  1866, 
where  he  has  since  resided.  He  was  married 
in  1867  to  Sarah  A.,  daughter  of  Isaac  Cor- 
der  (deceased).  They  have  had  six  children, 
four  living — Thomas,  Otto,  John  and  George. 
Our  subject  owns  eighty  acres  of  land,  and 
is  engaged  in  general  farming.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic, 
and  of  the  Christian  Church. 

ELI  AS  D.VICKREY, the  genial  liveryman 
(stables  located  just  back  of  John  Erwin's 
hardware  store),  Louisville,  was  born  in  Bible 
Grove  Township,  this  county,  Juno  17,  1^17 
His  father,  Nelson   Vickrey   (deceased),  was 


an  early  settler  of  this  county.  Our  subject 
spent  his  boyhood  days  on  the  farm,  and  at- 
tended the  common  schools  and  the  Xenia 
schools  in  this  county.  He  then  traveled  ten 
years  in  the  marble  business,  when,  in  1878, 
he  was  elected  Sheriff  of  Clay  County,  and 
was  re-electod  in  1880,  the  only  Sheriff  that 
ever  succeeded  himself  in  that  office  in  Clay 
County.  He  engaged  in  the  livery  business, 
in  Louisville,  in  partnership  with  J.  J.  Phil- 
lips, in  1881,  and  bought  the  latter's  interest 
in  March,  1883,  and  is  doing  a  good  business. 
His  honest  and  upright  dealings  are  meeting 
with  the  hearty  approval  of  the  people,  and 
he  is  securing  a  large  patronage.  Mr.  Vick- 
rey also  sells  buggies,  wagons  and  farm  ma- 
chinery. He  was  married,  in  January,  1881, 
to  Mrs.  Kate  Brown,  widow  of  the  late  P.  P. 
Brown,  by  whom  she  has  one  child  -  Cora 
Brown.  Our  subject  is  a  Mason,  being  a 
member  of  the  Louisville  Blue  Lodge,  and 
of  the  Gorin  Commandery,  No.  14,  at  Olney. 
WILLIAM  R.  WHITMAN,  Deputy  Cir- 
cuit Clerk  of  Clay  County,  Louisville.  The 
subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  in  Fulton 
County,  111.,  February  18,  1844,  and  is  a  son 
of  John  T.  Whitman  (deceased),  a  native  of 
Harrison  County,  Ind.,  who  emigrated  to 
Fulton  County,  111.,  in  1842,  and  to  Clay 
County,  1S52,  where  ho  died  April  12,  1883. 
Mr.  'Whitman  was  brought  up  on  the  farm, 
and  attended  the  common  schools  of  Songer 
Township.  He  farmed  until  1ST'.',  when  he 
was  appointed  Deputy  Circuit  Clerk,  which 
position  he  still  occupies.  He  held  the  of 
ficea  of  Justice  of  the  Peace  and  Tax  Col 
lector  while  in  Songer  Township.  On  the 
16th  day  of  January,  L870,  he  married  Mi-- 
Mary  A.,  daughter  of  James  Songer  (de- 
ceased). They  have  had  live  chileren,  three 
living — Maud,  Clyde  and  Jessie.  Mr.  Whit- 
man holds  the  office  or  S.  W.  in  the  Louis- 
ville  Lodge,    No     IHC.   A.    P.   .V  A.  M. 


158 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


JAMES  WILDERS,  merchant,  Louis- 
ville, was  born  in  Center  County,  Penn., 
February  27,  1820.  His  father,  Jeremiah 
Wilders  (deceased),  was  a  foundryman  in  a 
blast  furnace,  and  our  subject  worked  at  the 
business  about  ten  years.  He  located  in  Clay 
County  in  1856.  He  farmed  several  years, 
then  followed  the  blacksmith  trade,  and  after- 
ward engaged  in  the  mercantile  business,  es- 
tablishing the  first  grocery  store  kept  in 
Louisville.  From  1871  to  1873.  he  ran  a 
warehouse  at  the  depot,  then  returned  to  the 
grocery  business.  He  keeps  a  full  line  of 
groceries,  provisions,  etc.,  and  is  doing  a 
good  business.  Mr.  "Wilders  was  married  in 
the  winter  of  1843-4-4  to  Miss  Elizabeth 
Bratton.  She  died,  and  in  1846  he  married 
Miss  Elizabeth  Seaburn.  Mr.  Wilders  was 
Tax  Collector  for  twelve  years,  and  for  the 
past  twelve  years  has  held  the  office  of  School 
Treasurer  for  Louisville  Township.  He  is  a 
member  in  good  standing  of  the  Masonic 
fraternity. 

DR.  WILSON  C.  WINANS,  druggist, 
Louisville,  is  a  native  of  Greene  County, 
Ohio,  and  was  born  April  9,  1822.  His 
father,  Matthias  Winans,  was  a  physician 
and  a  preacher,  and  was  born  near  Maysville, 
Ky.  Our  subject  attended  the  com- 
mon school  in  Jamestown,  in  his  Dative 
county.  When  yet  a  boy,  he  read  medicine 
under  his  father  and  his  brotber-in-law,  Dr. 
John  Dawson,  afterward  Professor  of  Anat- 
omy in  Starling  Medical  College  of  Colum- 
bus, Ohio.  Mr.  Winans  afterward  attended 
the  Medical  Department  of  the  University  of 
Louisville,  Ky.  He  practiced  a  short  time 
in  Marysville,Obio,  after  which  he  purchased 
a  drug  store  in  Cincinnati,  remaining  in  the 
drug  store  business  there  about  four  years. 
He  then  removed  to  Houston,  Ohio,  where 
he  practiced  and  taught  school   a   few  years. 


He  afterward    went    to    Hartford,    in    Allen 
County,  Ohio,   where    he    built   up    a    large 
practice,  remaining  there  for  four  years.     In 
1857,    he   removed  to    Valparaiso,  Ind.      He 
came  to  Alma,  111.,  in   the  spring  of    1859, 
and  to  Louisville  in  the   fall  of  1860.     He 
was  commissioned  Assistant  Surgeon   in  the 
late  war,  but  had  just  bought  a  drug  store 
and  did  not  serve.      He  still  runs  a  drug,  gro- 
cery and  notion  store.      He  was  married,    in 
1847,  to  Amanda  F.  Carlin,  by  whom  he  has 
had  four  children,  two  living,  Mary  (Apper- 
son)  and  Isa.     The  Doctor  owns  fifteen  acres 
in  orchard  adjoining    Louisville.     He    owns 
sixty-five  acres  of   land  one   mile    west     of 
Louisville,  and   five    or  six  houses   and   lots 
in  Louisville.      The  Doctor  is  quite    a  relig- 
ious controversialist;  he  had  a  newspaper  con- 
troversy   with    Rev.    R.    B.    Henry,    of    the 
Christain    order,  on   the   subject   of    creeds. 
He    held     another     anonymous     controversy 
with  a    gentleman   in  Georgetown;  and   an- 
other through  the  papers  with  a  lady  (deist) 
of  Flora.      Ho  was  then   a  Methodist.     The 
Doctor  has  always  been  a  strong  Union  man, 
and  a  supporter  of   the  Government  during 
the    war,     for     which     he    was     frequently 
threatened    with    violence.      He    had    three 
brothers — Hon.    James  J.   (deceased,  once   a 
member  of  Congress,    from   Greene  County, 
Ohio,    and  for  several  years  Judge  of  that 
county).    Dr.  Henry  C,  of  Muncie,  Ind..  and 
Samuel    J.  (killed  at  Mission  Ridge  in  the 
war).    He  also  has  four  sisters — Adelia  (widow 
of  Dr.  John  Dawson,  late  of  Columbus.  Ohio), 
Zerelda  (widow  of  Dr.  D.  K.  Green,  late  of 
Salem.Ill.),  Clarissa  (wife  of  Dr.  W.  H.  Har- 
per, of  Lima,  Ohio),  and  Fannie   (widow  of 
Asa   Syfers).     The  Doctor's  orchard  spoken 
of    above  is  a  young   orchard,    and  just  be- 
ginning to  bear.     In  1SS2,  it  yielded  a  crop 
which  sold  for  $400. 


XENIA    TOWNSHIP. 


159 


XENIA   TOWNSHIP. 


GEORGE  BAITY,  deceased,  was  born  in 
Rowan  County,  N.  C,  October  7,  1797.  His 
occupation  was  that  of  a  farmer.  He  was 
married  in  North  Carolina  to  Rebecca  Allgood. 
She  was  born  May  3,  1789,  in  Moeklinburg 
County,  Va.,  but  was  mostly  reared  in  North 
Carolina.  November  5,  L83  I,  they  started 
from  North  Carolina  to  Clay  County,  111.,  in 
a  one-horse  wagon,  with  all  their  worldly 
goods  and  a  family  of  ton  children.  Most  of 
the  children  walked  behind,  and  pushed 
when  it  was  necessary  to  cross  a  bad  place  or 
go  up  a  steep  hill.  The  winter  of  1830-31 
they  wore  in  Indiana,  but  in  1S31  settled  in 
Clay  County,  where  they  died — he  December 
1.  1847,  she  December  26,  1881.  Of  the 
family  of  ten  children,  four  sons  and  one 
daughter  yet  survive,  viz. :  James,  Isaac. 
Giles.  Alexander  and    Mrs.  Susan    Holeman. 

JAMES  BAITY,  farmer.  P.  O.  Xenia,  was 
born  in  Rowan  County,  N  C,  October  6, 
1816.  He  is  the  son  of  George  Baity  (de- 
ceased), whose  sketch  appears,  His  early 
life  was  such  as  is  incident  (o  the  early  set- 
tler. Angus!  20,  L837,  he  was  married  to 
Kaehael  Holeman,  who  was  born  in  Indiana, 
and  a  daughter  of  William  Holeman.  a  na- 
tive of  Kentucky.  She  died  October  13, 
1860,  and  was  the  mother  of  the  following 
children:  William  G.,  John,  Sarah.  Enos, 
Henry  (deceased),  Alexander,  Giles,  Matilda, 
Rebecca  deceased).  Malinda.  Susan  (de- 
ceased) and  Jackson.  March  6,  1861,  Mr. 
Baity  was  married  to  Mrs.  Barbara  J.  (Smith) 
Akes,  a  daughter  of  Joseph  Smith,  and 
widow  of  Daniel  Akes,  by  whom  she  had 
one  child.  This  latter  marriage  has  been 
blest    with    the    following-named    children: 


Joseph  F.,  Margaret,  Albert,  Adam  (de- 
ceased), James  (deceased),  Effie  J.  (deceased), 
Lillie  May,  Simon,  Annie,  Noah  and  Aman 
da.  When  Mr.  Baity  was  first  married,  he 
settled  on  his  present  farm,  which  now  con- 
tains 120  aires,  but  he  has  given  his  chil- 
dren assistance  in  starting.  His  occupation 
has  always  been  that  of  farming.  In  poli- 
tics, he  is  a  firm  Democrat. 

ISAAC  BAITY,  farmer,  P.  O.  Xenia,  was 
born  in  Rowan  County,  N.  C,  November  5, 
1819,  and  is  the  son  of  George  Baity,  de- 
ceased (see  sketch).  Our  subject  has  lived  in 
this  county  since  1831,  when  he  first  came 
with  his  parents.  He  remained  at  homo  till 
his  marriage,  April  9,  1846.  His  wife, 
Lydia  Margaret  Martin,  was  born  in  Ken- 
tucky May  24.  1820,  a  daughter  of  William 
and  Mary  (Jones)  Martin,  both  natives  of 
Kentucky,  but  both  died  in  this  county. 
Mrs.  Baity  died  April  21,  1882,  and  was  the 
mother  of  the  following  living  children: 
Mary  Ann,  Helena,  America  E.,  Rachael  A. 
and  Vienna.  Two  sons  died  in  infancy. 
Mr.  Baity' s  occupation  has  been  that  of  a 
farmer.  He  now  owns  about  100  acres  of 
land,  200  of  which  are  in  cultivation.  In 
politics,  ho  is  a  Democrat.  For  over  thirty 
years  he  has  hold  the  office  of  Justice  of  the 
Peace,  and  has  been  Township  'Treasurer  of 
Schools  since  1849. 

G.  W.  CAMPBELL,  undertaker.  Xenia, 
was  born  in  West  Virginia  August  18,  1847, 
and  is  the  son  of  George  and  Letitia  (Wil- 
cox) Campbell.  Our  subject's  opportunities 
for  an  education  in  early  life  were  very  lim- 
ited. It  is  since  he  reached  manhood  that 
he  has  obtained  a  good  business  education  by 


160 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


being  his  own  teacber.  His  has  been  a  life 
which  but  few  experience.  In  1S61,  be  left 
home,  and  tried  to  join  the  Federal  army, 
but  on  account  of  his  youth  wan  not  accepted 
till  in  1S62,  when  he  was  sworn  into  the 
service  of  his  country  to  fight  against  father 
and  nearest  relatives,  who  had  followed  the 
fortunes  of  their  old  State,  Virginia,  and 
were  officers  in  its  army.  Our  subject  served 
till  the  close  of  the  war,  and  was  mustered 
out  with  his  company,  Company  F,  First 
Virginia  United  States  Volunteer  Infantry. 
During  his  service,  be  was  in  thirty-three 
battles,  and  received  two  shots  and  a  saber 
cut,  and  was  also  prisoner  at  Belle  Island 
for  three  months.  He  belonged  to  Dick 
Blacer's  body  of  scouts,  till  all  but  twelve  out 
of  110  men  had  been  killed,  when  they  re- 
turned to  their  regiment.  The  last  year  of  the 
service,  he  was  in  the  command  of  Gen.  Phil 
Sheridan.  During  his  service,  be  was  at  the 
capture  of  bis  father,  and  was  allowed  to  of- 
fer him  his  freedom,  only  requiring  the  oath 
of  allegiance,  which  his  father  refused  to 
take,  so  was  sent  to  Rock  Island,  111.,  and 
died  there.  In  1860,  or  early  in  1867,  our 
subject  came  to  Xenia,  and  began  learning 
the  carpenter's  trade,  which  occupation  he 
followed  in  the  capacity  of  contractor  and 
builder  till  1SS1,  when  he  gave  up  the  build 
ing,  and  bas  since  given  his  attention  to  the 
undertaking  business.  He  carries  a  complete 
stock  of  everything  required  in  his  line — 
coffins,  caskets,  robes,  etc.  His  business 
house  is  22x36  feet,  two  stories  high.  Be- 
sides this,  he  also  has  a  neat  residence,  and  a 
farm  of  120  acres  near  Xenia.  September  6, 
1874,  he  was  married  in  Xenia  to  Miss  Addie 
Morris,  daughter  of  R.  S.  and  Jane  (Smith) 
Morris.  He  by  trade. is  a  carpenter,  and  is 
engaged  on  the  building  of  the  O.  &  M.  de- 
pot at  Springfield,  111.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Camp- 
bell have  one  son,  Willie  Walter,  born  Sep- 


tember 26,  1875.     Mr.  Campbell  is  a  member 
of  the  Lodges  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.  and  I.  O.  O 
F.  of  Xenia,  111.     In  politics,   he    is  Demo- 
cratic, but  takes  no  part  in  political  life. 

DR.  J.  R.  CHATHAM,  physician  and  sur- 
geon, Xenia,  was  born  in  Maury  County, 
Tenn.,  October  13,  1842,  and  is  the  son  of 
Robert  and  Mahala  (Hood)  Chatham,  now 
residents  of  Union  County,  111.,  and  who  are 
the  parents  of  four  children,  two  of  whom  are 
now  living,  viz.,  Dr.  J.  R.,  and  Jennie,  wife 
of  Luther  Robinson,  of  Union  County,  111. 
When  about  seven  years  of  age,  our  subject 
was  brought  from  Tennessee  by  bis  parents 
to  Fayette  County,  111.,  and  there  he  was 
reared  on  a  farm  and  received  his  common 
school  education.  He  afterward  attended 
Shurtleff  College  at  Alton,  111.  When  be- 
ginning the  study  of  medicine,  it  was  under 
the  instruction  of  Dr.  Sumner  Clark,  of  Ram- 
say, 111.,  but  now  of  Effingham.  Our  subject 
then  attended  the  St.  Louis  Medical  College, 
graduating  from  the  same  in  the  spring  of 
1873.  For  one  year  he  then  practiced  at 
Ramsay,  in  partnership  with  Dr.  Clark,  but 
in  1874  located  at  Xenia,  and  has  since  prac- 
ticed successfully  here,  with  a  steadily  in- 
creasing business.  The  Doctor  has  one  of 
the  best  medical  libraries  in  the  county.  He 
makes  a  special  study  of  surgery,  and  conse- 
quently gets  most  of  the  practice  in  that  line 
of  his  profession.  April  29,  1877,  be  was 
married  in  Xenia  to  Miss  Ophelia  Thomas,  a 
daughter  of  Benjamin  Thomas,  who  was  the 
chief  engineer  on  the  O.  &  M.  R.  R.  when  it 
was  located.  He  resided  at  Xenia,  and  died 
in  May,  1880.  His  wife,  Mrs.  Chatham's 
mother,  was  a  member  of  the  Talliafero  fam- 
ily, one  of  the  earliest  families  to  settle  in 
Clay  County.  Mrs.  Thomas  died  when  her 
daughter  was  small.  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Chatham 
have  three  children,  viz.,  Charles  F.,  Benja- 
min R.  and  Dora  Mav.     He  is  a  member  of 


XENIA    TOWN  si  [IP. 


101 


Xenia  Lodge,  I.  O.  O.  F.,  and  is  associated 
with  the  Republican  party  in  political  belief. 
He  and  wife  are  members  of  the  Baptist 
Church. 

JOSEPH  D.  COPE,  farmer,  P.  O.  Xenia, 
was  born  in  Stark  County,  Ohio,  January  30, 
1835,  to  Samuel  and  Hannah  D.  (Chamberlain) 
Cone.  The  father  was  born  in  Ohio  March 
10,  1810.  His  occupation  was  various. 
While  living  in  Ohio,  he  was  engaged  in  the 
mercantile  and  tavern  business.  After  mov- 
ing from  Ohio  to  "Wayne  County,  111.,  in 
1853,  his  business  was  that  of  farmer  and  in 
saw  mill.  He  died  in  1859  in  Washington, 
D.  C. ,  while  on  business  there.  The  mother 
was  born  near  Wilmington,  Del.,  February 
25,  1810,  and  is  still  living,  and  with  her 
son  in  Clay  County.  She  is  the  mother  of 
three  children,  viz.,  Eliza  J.  (deceased),  and, 
dying  in  1854,  was  twenty-four  years  of  age  ; 
ph  D.,  our  subject,  and  Louisa  L.,  who 
died  while  small.  Our  subject  was  reared 
and  educated  in  Ohio,  and  began  learning 
the  blacksmith  trade  before  moving  to  Wayne 
County,  111.,  in  1853.  Since  coming  to  Illi- 
nois, his  principal  occupation  has  been  farm- 
ing. In  the  fall  of  1864,  he  came  to  his 
•lit  farm  in  Clay  County,  which  contains 
160  acres  of  land,  about  ninety  being  in  cul- 
tivation. September  12.  1859,  he  was  mar- 
ried in  Wayne  County,  111.,  to  -Miss  Maria  J. 
W  ickersham.  She  was  born  in  Ohio,  a  daugh 
ter  of  Sampson  and  Antha  ( Whitaker)  Wick- 
er-ham. who  came  to  Wayne  County  at  an 
early  daie.  Mrs.  Cope  died  February  6, 
1880,  and  was  the  mother  of  nine  children, 
sis  of  whom  are  now  living — Samuel,  Lorena, 
Joseph  H,  William  L.,  Franklin  E.  and 
Carson.  (Charles  D.,  Effie  J.  and  Antha, 
deceased.)  Mr.  Cope  is  a  member  of  John 
D.  Moody  Lodge,  No.  510,  A.,  F.  &  A.  .\I., 
of  Iuka.  Ho  is  a  member  of  the  Greenback 
party  in  politics. 


ISAAC  ELLIOTT.  A  sketch  of  this  old 
pioneer  will  be  found  in  the  history  of  Xenia 
Township. 

A.  R.  JONES,  merchant,  Xenia,  was  born 
in  Salem.  Marion  Co,  III.,  December  16, 
1851,  and  is  the  son  of  D.  G.  and  Rebecca 
(Farris)  Jones.  Sho  was  born  in  Indiana, 
but  came  to  Clay  County,  111.,  with  her  par- 
ents,  when  she  was  small.  He  was  born  in 
Tennessee,  and  was  brought  to  Marion 
County,  111.,  by  his  parents,  when  about 
eight  years  of  age,  and  has  resided  in  that 
county  ever  since,  except  about  seven  years 
spent  in  Clay  County.  His  occupation  is 
that  of  a  farmer.  They  are  the  parents  of 
eleven  childi-en,  all  of  whom  are  living,  ex- 
cept the  youngest.  Our  subject  is  the  old- 
est of  the  family,  and  his  early  life  was 
spent  assisting  on  the  farm  and  in  attending 
the  schools  of  the  county.  When  twenty 
years  of  age,  he  began  teaching  school,  and 
continued  teaching  in  the  winter,  and  farm- 
ing at  home  in  the  summer  till  he  was 
twenty- four  years  of  age.  He  continued 
teaching  till  in  the  summer  of  18S0,  when 
he  went  into  the  store  of  J.  W.  Westcott,  at 
Xenia  in  the  summer  of  1880,  where  he 
remained  for  two  years.  In  the  winter  of 
1S82-83,  he  again  was  engaged  in  teaching. 
In  spring  of  1883,  he  engaged  in  business 
for  himself  in  the  firm  of  A.  R.  Jones  &  Co. 
The  firm  carries  a  complete  general  stock  of 
goods,  averaging  about  *:!,[)(•(),  and  with  a 
good  trade.  December  26,  1882,  he  was 
married  to  Miss  Ada  M.  McNeil.  She  was 
born  in  Jersey  County,  111.,  and  is  the 
daughter  of  Lewis  C.  McNeil,  deceased. 
Mr.  Jones  is  a  member  of  the  Xenia  Lodges, 
I.  O  O.  F.  andK.  of  H.  Ho  is  a  member  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  South, 
while  his  wife  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  He  is  an  active  Demo- 
crat in  polities. 

1 1 


102 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


B.    M.    MAXEY,   merchant,    Xenia,  was 
born   in  Johnsonville,   Wayne  Co.,  111.,  No- 
vember 25,  1856,  and  is  a  son  of    Joshua  C. 
and  Elvira  A.  (Galbraith)  Maxey.   The  father 
was  born  in  Jefferson  County,  111.,  where  the 
Maxey  family   was    one   of    the    earliest   to 
settle.       His  occupation  was  that  of  a  farm- 
er.    At   the  breaking-out   of  the  civil    war, 
he  was  one   of  the   first   to    answer   to   his 
country's   call,   and  enlisted  in  Company  I, 
Forty-eighth  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,  and 
served    for  three   years.      March    11,    1864, 
after  he  had  re-enlisted  and  was  on  his  return 
to  his  regiment,  he  was  killed  at  Louisville, 
Ky.,  through   the  mistake  of  a  guard.     His 
widow,    our   subject's    mother,   was  born  in 
Marion   County,   111.,  and  is  now  a  resident 
of    Xenia,  111.      She  is   the  mother  of  three 
children  living,   viz.,    Belle,  wife  of    W.  T. 
Sanders,     of    DuQuoin,     111.;     B.    M    and 
Mattie  C.      Our  subject's  life,  till  he  reached 
the   age    of   seventeen  years,  was  spent   at 
Johnsonville,    111.       He    then    removed    to 
Xenia   with  his   mother.     He    attended   the 
common    schools    of    the   country,  and  then 
the  normal  and  business    college   at   Valpa- 
raiso, Ind.,  completing  the  teachers'  course  in 
1^78.       DuriDg   his    life,  he    has    been    en- 
gaged  in  teaching  for  seven    years;  but  in 
the  spring  of  1881  he  engaged  in  the  drug 
business  in  Xenia,  and  has  since  added  gen- 
eral merchandise,  and  now  carries  a  stock  of 
goods  averaging  about  $3,500,  with  annual 
sales  of  about  $15,000.     September  7,  1879, 
he  was  married  in  Xenia,  111.,  to  Miss  Rose 
Tully,  daughter  of  John  and  Sarah  (Ehton) 
Tully.     The   father   is  of  an  old  and  promi- 
nent family  of  Marion  County,  111. ,  and  the 
mother  is  the  daughter  of  Thomas  Elston, 
an   Englishman  by  birth,   but  who  was    an 
early  and  prominent  settler  in  Albion,  111., 
and  also   a  resident  in  later  years  of  Salem 
and  Xenia.     Mr.    and  Mrs.  Maxey  are  mem- 


bers of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Xenia  Lodge  of  I.  O 
O.  F.  In  politics,  he  is  an  active  Republican, 
and  has  held  different  offices  of  trust  in  the 
township  and  village. 

J.  M.  MAYFIELD,  merchant,  Xenia,   was 
born  in  Abbeville,  S.  C,  in  1837,  to  George 
and  Maria  (James)  Mav field,  who  were  na- 
tives of  Virginia      Our  subject  was  reared 
on  a  farm  and  educated  at  Greenville  College, 
Greenville,  S.  C.     In  1856,  he  emigrated  to 
Georgia,   and  the  year  following,  in    1875, 
was  married  to  Amanda  E.  Kemp,  a  native 
of  .Georgia    and  a  daughter  of    Wiley  and 
Parthenia  (Tippen)    Kemp.      Mr.    and   Mrs. 
Mayfield  have  four  children — George,  Nellie, 
Hattie  and  Maud.     After  going  to   Georgia, 
Mr.  Mayfield  learned  the  trade  of  millwright, 
and  followed  his  trade  as  a  business  for  some 
time,  and  at  intervals  ever  since.      In  1864, 
he  was   running  a  furnace  in  Georgia,  but 
his  place  of  business  lay  in.  the  line  of  Sher- 
man's march,  and  was  destroyed  by  fire,  and 
Mr.  Mayfield  lost  all.     The  same  year,  1864, 
he  came  to  St.  Louis  and  started  anew,  work- 
ing for  some  time  at  his  trade  of  millwright. 
In  the  latter  part  of  1864,  he  came  to  Xenia, 
111.,  and  has  made  this  his  home  since.     In 
1866,  he  commenced  selling  lumber  at  this 
point,  and  has  continued  in  the  same  since, 
but  has  gradually  added  to  his  business,  first 
the  hardware,  etc.,  till  now  he  carries  a  com- 
plete   general    stock,    including  ready-made 
clothing,    hats,  caps,  boots,  shoes,  etc.,  etc., 
having  a  stock  invoicing  about  $8,000.     In 
politics,  he  is  connected  with  the  Democratic 
party.      Although  he  has  been  an  active  and 
successful   business  man,    yet    Mr.  Mayfield 
!  has  still  found  time  to  read  and  study  many 
subjects,  and  has  included  law  in  his  studies 
also. 

MAJOR    JOHN     ONSTOTT    (deceased). 
Among  the  early  settlers  of  Xenia  Township 


XKNIA   TOWNSHIP. 


1C.8 


who  took  an  active  part  in  developing  the 
county,  and  who  were  widely  known,  was  the 
gentleman  whoso  name  heads  this  sketch. 
He  was  born  in  North  Carolina  July  20, 
170'J.  For  many  years  in  his  youth  he  fol- 
lowed teaming  in  his  native  State,  and  in 
Kentucky,  Indiana  and  even  Illinois.  He 
took  an  active  part  in  the  war  of  1S12,  and 
during  the  Black  Hawk  war  was  a  Major  in 
the  army.  He  was  married  three  times,  first 
to  Miss  Elizabeth  White,  who  was  the  moth- 
three  children  who  lived  to  maturity, 
only  two  of  whom  now  survive  —Mrs.  Sophia 
Edwards,  of  Carlyle,  111.,  and  Levi  Onstott, 
whose  sketch  appears.  His  second  wife  was 
Miss  Elizabeth  Patton,  who  died  childless. 
His  last  marriage  was  in  1857,  in  Sedalia, 
Mo.,  to  Miss  Cecelia  Fergeson  By  this 
marriage  there  were  two  sons,  only  one  of 
whom  now  survives.  J.  D.  Maj.  Onstott 
moved  to  this  county  in  1828,  and  lived  here 
mo-t  of  the  time  till  his  death,  which  oc- 
curred May  11),  1870.  His  occupation  while 
living  in  this  county  was  mostly  that  of 
fanning  and  stock-dealing,  and  he  was  very 
successful.  At  his  death,  he  left  a  landed 
property  of  about  700  acres,  480  lying  in 
uid  280  in  Marion  County. 
LEVI  ONSTOTT,  farmer,  P.  0.  Xenia, 
was  born  in  Washington  County,  Ind.,  June 
1.  1817,  and  is  the  son  of  Maj.  John  Onstott 
by  his  first  wife.  Our  subject  was  brought 
to  this  county  in  1828,  and  has  since 
resided  here.  When  first  coming,  the  In- 
dians were  camped  on  his  present  farm,  and 
he  often  played  with  the  Indian  boys,  and 
they  would  stay  all  night  with  him  at  his 
father's,  but  he  was  afraid  to  return  the 
visits  in  like  manner.  His  was  the  experi- 
ence of  a  frontier  boy,  going  alone  to  Saline. 
111.,  for  salt,  when  there  was  only  a  trail  to 
follow,  and  when  the  wolves  would  howl 
arouud   him,    and  when    they  had  to   go   to 


Lebanon,    111.,  to  mill,  a  distance  of   about 
sixty-five  miles,  etc.     He  attended  the  tirsl 
Circuit  Court  held  in   the  county,  at    M 
ville,  when  it  took  all  to  form  the  jury. 
He  was  first  married   in   1838  to  Miss  Eliza- 
beth   Holtsclaw,    of    Jefferson    County,    111. 
Soon  after  this,    he    settled  on   his   pree    i 
farm,  which  now  contains  about  200  aci. 
land.      By  this  marriage  he  had  eleven  chil- 
dren,   eight  of  whom  are  now  living,    viz., 
Martha  A.,  Margaret  E.,  Maria  D.,  Rhoda  S., 
Malinda  C,  Mary  A.,  John  J.  and  Henry  J. 
Mrs.   Onstott  died   December  L'i),    IN73,    and 
he  was  married,  November  18,  1875,  to  Miss 
Martha    King,    a  native  of   Indiana,   and  a 
daughter  of    William  H.   and  Susan    King. 
They   had    moved   to    this    county   in    |S,Y_!, 
when  Mrs.    Onstott  was  but  two  years  old. 
They  are  now  residents  of  Oskaloosa  Town 
ship,  Clay  County.     By  this  marriage,   Mr. 
Onstott  has  two   children,   viz.,  William  H 
and  Susan.      In  politics,  he  is  Demon 

J.  L\  ONSTOTT,  farmer,  F.  O.  Xenia, 
was  born  in  Clay  County,  111.,  July  28,  1859, 
and  is  the  son  of  Maj.  John  Onstott  by  his 
third  wife.  Our  subject  was  reared  in  this 
township,  and  has  always  lived  ai  his  present 
home,  except  for  about  thirty  months,  when 
living  in  Xenia.  where  he  was  attending 
1,  and  in  the  store  of  J.  W.  Westcott 
When  starting  in  life  for  himself,  it  was  as 
a  farmer,  on  the  6ld  homestead,  which  he 
,  having  a  body  of  land  containing 
400  acres,  300  of  which  are  in  cultivation. 
February  10,  1880,  he  was  married  in  Clay 
County,  to  Miss  Celestial  Morris,  born  in 
Middle  Tennessee  August  12,  1858,  aod  a 
daughter  of  William  H.  Morris.  This  mar 
riage  has  been  blessed  with  two  children, 
viz.,  Clara  (born  March  23,  18S1)  and  Oscar 
R,  (born  May  17,  lss:S.)  In  politics,  Mr. 
Onstott  is  a  firm  Democrat. 

SAMUEL  E.   PAINE,  Postmaster,  Xenia, 


164 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


was  born  in  Brookfield,  Orange  Co.,  Vt.,  Oc-  j 
tober  1,  1824,  to  Elijah  and  Cynthia  (Ester- 
brook)  Pai  ne.     The  father  was  born  in  Orange 
County,  Vt.,  and  died  there.     The  mother  is 
a  native   of  the   same  county,  and   is  now  a 
resident  of  Parsons,  Kan.,  at  the  age  of  sev- 
enty-seven years.    Our  subject's  early  life  was 
spent  on  the  farm,  and  he  was  educated  in 
the   common  schools.      At  the  age  of  seven- 
teen years,  he  wont  to  New  Bedford,  Mass., 
where  for  four  years  he  clerked  in  a  store, 
but  then  engaged  in  the  mercantile  business 
for  himself.     In  November,    1849,    he   was 
married,  in  New  Bedford,  to  Miss  Mercy  C. 
Kirby,  a  native  of  Dartmouth,  Mass.,  and  a 
daughter  of  Capt.  Nicholas  Kirby,  a  sailor. 
She  is  the  mother  of    six    children,   live  of 
whom   are  now  living,  viz. :  Louisa  B.,  wife 
of  A.  L.  Evans,  of  Fla. ;  Fannie  M.,  wife  of 
Joseph  E.  Tully,of  Xenia;  Carrie  K.,  wife  of 
Clyde  Alexander,   of  Terryville,  Dak.    Ter. ; 
Albert  B.,  an  artist,  and  also  a  paid  contribu- 
tor for  several  Eastern  papers — Waverly,  New 
York    Weekly,  Saturday  Night,   etc.— which 
papers  publish  his  poems;  Frank  L.,  at  home, 
and  Albert  B.,  deceased.     In  1854,  Mr.  Paine 
removed  to  Benton's  Port,  Iowa,  and  engaged 
in  the  mercantile  business.      He  raised  Com- 
pany I.  Nineteenth  Iowa  Volunteer  Infantry, 
and  was  mustered   in  as  Captain  August  6, 
1862.     At  the  battle  of  Prairie  Grove,  Ark., 
he  received    a  gunshot  wound  in  the  thigh, 
which  disabled  him   for  service,  and  on  ac- 
count of  this  disability  he  was  discharged  in 
April,  1863.     In  1865,  he  sold  out  his  busi- 
ness in  Iowa,  and    came   to   Xenia,  III.,  and 
for  about  six  years  was  engaged  in  farming, 
but    again    entered    the    mercantile    life    in 
Xenia,  in  which  he  continued  for  about  three 
years,  when  he  sold   out  and  again  gave  his 
attention   to   farming.     His   farm,   which   is 
near  town,  contains  130  acres  of  land  in  cul- 
tivation.    August,  1882,   he   was  appointed 


to  take  charge  of  the  post   office   at  Xenia, 
which  office  he  still  holds.      He  is  a  member 
of  the  Xenia  Lodges,  A.  F.  &  A.   M.,  I.  O. 
O.  F.  and  G.   A.  R.     In   politics,  he  was  a 
"Whig,  till  the  Republican  party  was  organ- 
ized,  and  since  has  been  Republican.      He 
has  held  various   offices  in  the  village  and 
township,  and  wa6  the   first  Republican  on 
the  County  Board  of  Supervisors  elected  from 
this  township,  which  is  strongly  Democratic. 
JOHN  PEIRCE,  retired,  Xenia.     In  1696, 
one  Thomas  Peirce  came  from  England  and 
settled  in  Portsmouth,  N.  H,  where  his  de- 
scendants continued  to  reside  for    140  years 
without  straying  away  from  the  native  State. 
The  old  mansion  built  by  Thomas  Peirce  soon 
after  his   arrival   yet  remains  and  in  an  ex- 
cellant    state    of    preservation,   and   had  re- 
mained in  the  family  till  1863,  when  it  passed 
into  the  hands  of  John  R.  Holbrook,  a  gen- 
tleman who  was  reared  in  the  family.      The 
Peirce  family,  from  as  far  back  as  their  his- 
tory is  known  to  the  present  date,  has  had  a 
John    and    a    Thomas    in    the    family,    and 
Thomas   Peirce,   the   father  of  our    subject, 
was   born  in    Portsmouth,  N.  H.,  April  19, 
1777,  and  was  married,  in   1802,  to  Abigail 
Moulton,   bom  in  Portsmouth    January  29, 
1773,  and  was  a  descendant  of  Joseph  Moul- 
ton.    The  Moulton  history  in  New  Hampshire 
dates  back  to  1680.     This  union  was  blessed 
with  the  following  children:  Sarah,  Nathan- 
iel,  Thomas,   John  and  Abigail.     Only  the 
two  youngest  now  survive,  viz.:  Our  subject 
and  his  maiden    sister    Abigail,  she  being  a 
resident   of    Portsmouth,    N.    H.       Thomas 
Peirce  died  October  24,  1838,  and  his  wife 
July  13,  1826.     Our   subject   was    born  De- 
cember 4,  1811,  and  in  1835  came  West  and 
settled   in  Iowa,  and   was   clerk  of  the  first 
election  ever  held  in  the  Territory  after  it 
was   struck  off  from    Wisconsin.     By  trade, 
our   subject  is  a  printer,  and   had    followed 


\F.XIA  TOWNSHIP. 


105 


printing  till  coming   West,  when  he  began 
farming.     June  21,   1837,  he  was  married  to 
Miss  Jane  C.  Davenport,  a  descendant  of  the 
Davenports  of  Virginia.     She  was  the  mother 
of     the     three     following-named    children: 
Thomas  O.,  born  July  8,  1838;  John  A.,  born 
March  12,   L843;  and  Laura,  born  December 
26,  INK',,  died  October  23,  1875.     These  two 
sons  and  Mrs.  Lewis  G.  Davis,  of  Portsmouth, 
N.  H.,  a  daughter  of  Nathaniel    Pierce,  are 
the  only  grandchildren  of  Thomas  and  Abi- 
gail (Moulton)  Peirce  now  living.     In  1837, 
Mr.  Pierce  moved  to  Clay  County,  111.,  and 
has  continued  to  reside  here  since,  and  from 
December,   184(3.  to    the    present   time,   has 
lived  on  hi>  present  place.    October  22, 1855, 
his    wife   died,   at    the    age   of   thirty-seven 
years  seven  months  nine  days.     January  1, 
1857,  he  was  united  in  marriage  to  Mrs.  Bar- 
bara (Shelley)  Bond,  a  native  of  Ponnsylva 
•      nia,    and    widow    of    Nichodemus    Bond,   of 
Clinton  County.  111.     Mr.  Peirce  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Orphan's  Hope  Lodge,  I.  O.  O.  F., 
No.  213,  at  Xenia.     He  and  wife  are  mem- 
bers   of    the    Methodist    Episcopal    Church. 
In  politics,  he  is  Republican.     He  is  one  of 
the    oldest  settlers  in  Xenia  Township,  and 
has  done  much  to  advance  the  interests  of  the 
township  and  village.      The  depot  at  Xenia 
was  laid  out  on  his  land,  and  for   about  two 
and  a  half  years  he  was  station  agent.      He 
has  an  heirloom  which  has  been  handed  down 
for  several  generations.      It  is  a  Bible  which 
was  printed  in  1608,  and  brought  to  America 
in  1696  by  Thomas  Peirce. 

T.  0.  PEIRCE,  merchant,  Xenia,  was 
born  in  Clay  Comity,  111.,  July  8,  1838,  and 
is  a  son  of  John  Peirce.  Our  subject  was 
reared  on  a  farm,  and  educated  in  the  schools 
of  the  county,  first  attending,  in  IS  15,  in  an 
old  log  schoolhouse  in  the  old  part  of  Xenia. 
In  1860,  he  engaged  in  the  furniture  and 
lumber   business    in   Xenia,    in    partnership 


with  George  Kenower.     In    1802,  he  turned 
the  business  over  to  his  partner,  and  enlisted 
in  Company  C,  One   Hundred   and  Eleventh 
Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry.  August  9,  1862, 
cinder  command  of  Col.  Martin.     He  enlisted 
as  a  private,  but  was  elected  the  first  Captain 
of    his  company.     The    history  of   the  Ooe 
Hundred  and  Eleventh  Illinois  is  well  known, 
from  the  time  it  marched  from  camp  at  Salem 
iu    November,     1862;    its   marches    in    Ken- 
tucky, and  up  the  Tennessee  River,  the  gar- 
rison duty  at  Paducah,  Ky. ,  etc.,  the  joining 
of  Gen.   Logan's  command    March   15,  L864. 
It  also  participated  in  the  Atlanta  campaign, 
the  chase  of   Hood  afterward,  and  then  the 
march  to  the  sea,  and   the  capture  of   Fort 
McAllister,     etc.       Up    to    this   time,    Capt. 
Peirce  had  remained  with  his   company,   but 
December    IS.    1864,  was   appointed    Acting 
Assistant   Inspector   General,    in   the    place 
made  vacant  through  the  fall  of  Capt.  J.    H. 
Groce    at    the    charge  on    Fort    McAllister. 
Capt.  Peirce  served  in  this   office  till  June 
1,  1865.    when   he  was  relioved   from  duty, 
with  the  personal  thanks  of  his  General.     He 
then  returned  to  his  company,  and  was  mus- 
tered out  June  23,  1865.     July  l:i.   L865,  he 
was   married    at   Shullsburgh,    Wis.,  to  Miss 
Maria  C.  Songer.      She  was  the  daughter  of 
John  Songer,  an  early  settler  of  Clay  County, 
and  her  mother  was  a  daughter  of   Dr.  John 
Davenport.    Mrs.  Peirce. lied  February,  L867. 
Mr.  Peirce   was    afterward   married    to   Miss 
Eliza  Cox,  of   Wayne  County,  111.      She  was 
left  an  orphan    in  early  life,  and  was  reared 
by   Mr.  H.  11.    B  echer,   now  of   Springfield, 
111.     This   union    has   been   blest  with   four 
children,  only  two  of  whom  are   now  living, 
viz.  :      Nathaniel  T.  and  Laurena.      In  the  fall 
of  1865,  he  engaged  in   the  mercantile  busi- 
ness, lirst  in  groceries,  but  gradually  chart   >  1 
into  the  hardware  business,  but  also  keeps  a 
general    stock    of    goods,    including   almost 


16-5 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


everything  except  ready-made  clothing. 
,  Peiree  has  been  very  successful  inbusi- 
StartiE^  with  only  about  $1,500.  he 
has  steadily  increased,  till  now  he  carries  a 
stock  of  about  $5,000,  besides  dealing  in 
grain  and  agricultural  implements,  and  has 
a  farm  near  Xenia  of  243  acres,  large  brick 
business  house,  residence,  etc.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  Xenia  Lodge.  L  O.  O.  F..  and  has 
served  in  all  the  chairs  of  the  lodge,  and  has 
represented  it  in  the  Grand  Lodge  of  the 
State.     He  is  a  stanch  Republican. 

JOHN    A.     PEIECE,    machinist,    Xenia. 
was   born    in    Clay  County.   111..  March    12, 
.  and  is  the  son  of  John  Peiree,  whose 
sketch  appears.      His  early  life  was  spent  on 
the  farm,  and  as  soon  as  the  civil  war  broke 
out  he  entered  the  service,  first  of  the  State, 
in  May,  1S61,  but  June  13,  1861,  was  mus- 
tered  into  the  Cnited   States  service.  Com- 
pany G.  Twenty-first   Illinois  Volunteer  In- 
fantry, Col.  U.  S.  Grant.      This  was  the  first 
regiment  to  march  from  the  State,  and  Octo- 
ber 21,  1861.  they  were  in  their  first  engage- 
ment   at    Fredericktown,    Mo.       When    Mr. 
Peiree  first  applied  to  be  admitted  into  the 
rviee.    the   enrolling  officer  refused 
him  because  he  was  so  short;  but  he  made 
k'„  iwn  his  grievance  to  Col.  S.  S.  Good,  and 
the  Colonel  told  him  that  he  would  soon  grow 
up.  and  for  him  to  take  his  place  in  the  rear 
rank,  and  when  his  name  was  called  in  the 
muster-roll    to    answer  up.     This   advice  he 
followed,  and  so  got  into  the  service.     In  Oc- 
tober.   1861,  Mr.  Peiree  was  taken  into  the 
Adjutant's  office,  as  Orderly  at  head- quarters. 
Heserved  in  this  capacity  till  March  12,1865, 
when  he  was  promoted  to  the  office  of  Ser- 
geant Mayor,  and  September   6,  1865,   was 
mustered  in  by  special  order  as  Extra  Lieu- 
tenant and  Adjutant,  which  office  he  contin- 
ued to  hold  till  close  of  service.      December 
16,  1865,  they  were  discharged  at  San  Anto- 


nio, Tex.      He  had  all  the  experience  of  the 
soldier  in  his  marches  and  counter-marches, 
in  tent  life  and  on  the  field  of  battle.     They 
were  in  the  siege  of   Corinth,  at  Perryville. 
Ey..    Stone  Eiver,  on  the  Chickamauga  cam- 
paign, etc. ;  and  when  the  first  three  years  of 
enlistment  were  out,  he  re-enlisted  at  Oolte- 
wah.  Tenn.,  for  another  three  years,  and  then 
took   a  veteran's   furlough   for  thirty  da;  - 
after  which  he  returned  to  the  regiment  at 
Big  Shanty,   and  was  on  the  Atlanta  cam- 
paign,  and  in    the  rights  at    Franklin    and 
Nashville,  Tenn.     After  returning  from  the 
service,  his  occupation  has  been  various,  be 
ing  engineer  at   the  woolen  mills  for  some 
time,  then  painting,  and  afterward  into  the 
tin  business:  but  in  1S7S  he  started  into  his 
present   business    of   machinist,  and  is  now 
prepared  to  do  all  kinds  of  work  in  repairing 
of  all  kinds  of  machinery,  etc.     January  12, 
186S,    he   was    married   in    Xenia    to   Miss 
Fidelia  "Westmoreland,  a  native  of  this  State. 
and  daughter  of  John  Westmoreland,  now  a 
resident  of  Texas.     Mrs.  Peiree  is  the  mother 
of  five  daughters,  three   of  whom  are  living, 
viz. :     Nellie,  Araminta  J.  and  Mary.      He  is 
a  member  of  Xenia  Lodge,  I.  O.  O.F.     He 
and  wife  are  members  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church.     In  politics,  he  is  Republican. 
GILBERT  PRITCHETT,   farmer.   P.   O. 
Xenia.    was    born    in    Montgomery    County. 
Ev..  October  9,  1819,  and  is  the  son  of  Lewis 
and  Elizabeth  (Grooms)  Pritchett,  natives  of 
Virginia.      When  our  subject  was  but  a  small 
bov.  his  parents  moved  to  Illinois  and  lirst 
settled  in  St.  Clair  County,  where  his  mother 
died.     In  later  years,  the  father  removed  to 
Marion  Count}'  and  remained  till  death.  Mr. 
Pritchett  is  one  of  a  family  of  thirteen  chil- 
dren,   only  five  of  whom  reached  maturity, 
and  four  of  that  number  are   all   that   now 
survive— Mrs.  Anna  Tate,  Gilbert,  John,  and 
Mrs.    Elizabeth   Patten,    of   Chicago.      Both 


XENIA    TOWN-HIP 


167 


the  sisters  are  widow  ladies.  Before  our 
subject  had  reached  his  majority,  he  bad 
worked  at  S'J  per  month,  and  made  money 
with  which  he  entered  eighty  acres  of  Gov- 
ernment land  in  Marion  County.  In  the 
spring  of  1843,  -Mr.  P.  came  to  Clay  County 
and  settled  in  this  township,  and  has  since 
made  this  his  home.  Soon  after  coming 
here,  he  sold  his  land  in  Marion  County  and 
invested  the  money  in  land  here.  His  occu- 
pation has  always  been  that  of  farming,  and 
has  met  with  success  in  his  chosen  occupa- 
tion. He  now  owns  about  300  acres  of  land, 
all  of  which  is  near  the  village  of  Xenia.  In 
connection  with  his  farming,  he  also  ran  a 
carding  machiue  for  seven  years  at  this  place. 
January  11.  1844,  he  was  united  in  marriage 
to  Miss  Maria  W.  Davenport,  daughter  of 
Dr.  John  Davenport,  one  of  the  earliest  set- 
tlers of  this  county.  The  following  children 
now  living  have  blessed  this  union — Emily 
(wife  of  Willis  Friend),  John  L..  Nellie  B. 
and  Charles.  In  politics,  Mr.  Pritchett  is 
•iated  with  the  Democratic  party,  but 
takes  no  active  part  in  political  life.  Mr. 
Pritchett  came  to  this  township  when  it  was 
but  thinly  Bettled,  when  one  could  for  miles 
ride  through  the  prairie  grass  and  see  no 
sign  of  human  habitation,  but  he  has  lived 
to  see  the  county's  development. 

DK.  W.  H.  SHIRLEY,  physician.  Xenia. 
was  born  in  Union  County.  Ky..  to  S. 
P.  and  Clarissa  (Sigler)  Shirley.  The 
father  was  a  native  of  Caldwell  County. 
Ky..  born  about  1S26.  For  years  he  was 
a  member  of  the  firm  of  Blackwell  &  Shir- 
ley, who  carried  on  a  large  tobacco  house 
in  Louisville.  Kentucky.  During  the  civil 
war.  it  was  all  destroyed  by  fire.  In  1875, 
Mr.  Shirley  went  to  Texas,  where  he  is 
now  engaged  in  farming  and  stock-raising. 
The  mother  died  in  Webster  County .  Ky..  in 
1864,  and  soon  after  her  death  onr  si 


came  to  Xenia,  and  was  reared  by  his  uncle. 
Dr.  E.  S.  Shirley,  whose  sketch  appears. 
His  early  life  was  spent  in  attending  school 
and  assisting  in  his  uncle's  drug  store.  He 
continued  in  the  store,  and  in  the  study  of 
medicine  under  the  instruction  of  his  uncle 
till  1ST",  when  he  went  to  the  St.  Lonis 
Medical  College,  and  for  two  years  attended 
lectures,  graduating  in  March,  1879,  when 
he  went  into  partnership  with  his  nncle  in 
the  practice  of  medicine,  this  partnership 
lasting  for  three  years,  when,  in  September, 
IH82,  he  went  to  Texas,  where  he  practiced 
his  profession  for  eight  months  at  Mineral 
Springs,  Palo  Pinto  County,  and  Henrietta. 
Texas.  On  the  last  day  of  March,  1883.  he 
returned  to  Xenia,  111.,  and  has  had  a  suc- 
cessful practice  since.  May  14.  1883.  he 
was  married  in  this  county  to  Miss  Honora 
Finty.  She  was  born  in  Ireland,  but  came 
with  her  parents  to  America  in  1868.  She  is 
the  daughter  of  John  Finty,  a  merchant  of 
Xenia.  In  politics,  Dr.  Shirley  is  an  active 
working  Democrat.. 

ELIJAH  S.  SHIRLEY.  M.  D.  physician 
and  surgeon,  Xenia,  was  born  in  Cald- 
well County.  Ky.,  February  10,  1828,  and 
is  the  son  of  Samuel  and  Phcebe  (Cook) 
Shirley.  The  father  was  a  native  of 
Virginia.  He  served  an  apprenticeship  at 
Harper's  Fern-  in  the  United  States  Armory, 
and  then  was  Inspector  and  Trier  of 
Anus  in  the  United  States  Army.  He  con- 
tinued in  this  business  for  a  number  of  years, 
and  made  quite  an  amount  of  money.  He 
then  emigrated  to  Tennessee  with  Dr.  Hugh 
Barton,  his  brother-in-law.  He  was  married 
at  Blountsville.  Tenn..  to  the  mother  of  our 
subj<  •  was  a  native  of  New  York,  but 

had  removed  to  Tennessee  with  her  parents, 
r  marriage,  they  removed  to  Kentucky, 
going  down  the  Tennessee  River  in  a  keel- 
bnat   to   Caldwell   Conntv,    Kv..    where    thev 


168 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


settled  and  died.  Our  subject's  grandfa- 
thers were  both  born  in  the  old  country,  his 
grandfather  Shirley  in  Edinburgh,  Scotland, 
and  grandfather  Cook  in  the  city  of  Dublin. 
At  about  the  age  of  fourteen  years,  our  sub- 
ject was  left  an  orphan.  He  then  went  to 
Northern  Alabama,  and  was  placed  in  school 
at  Cherokee,  Ala.,  by  his  cousin,  Armstead 
Barton.  He  remained  at  school  at  Cherokee 
for  about  live  years,  and  then  began  the  study 
of  his  profession  under  Dr.  J.  C.  P.  Bond,  a 
graduate  of  Jefferson  Medical  College,  Phil- 
adelphia, Penn.  He  remained  with  Dr. 
Bond  for  about  fifteen  months,  and  then 
went  to  Casey ville,  Ky.,  into  the  office  of 
Dr.  Enoch  R.  Ashbey.  After  remaining 
there  for  some  months,  he  went  to  Louis- 
ville, Ky.,  and  attended  medical  lectures, 
after  which  he  practiced  with  Dr.  Ashbey 
for  two  years,  and  had  made  a  good 
start,  but  in  1851  tried  speculating,  and 
lost  all  that  he  had  made,  so  began  over. 
In  1853,  he  came  to  Wayne  County,  111.,  and 
for  two  years  did  a  large  practice  at  Johnson  - 
ville.  Health  then  failed,  and  he  lay  sick  at 
Xenia  for  six  months;  and  since  that  time 
has  been  in  the  practice  of  his  profession 
here  and  has  been  very  successful.  The 
Doctor  is  also  engaged  in  farming,  having  a 
farm  of  120  acres  near  town,  which  is  in 
a  high  state  of  cultivation.  In  1857,  he  was 
married  in  Jefferson  County,  111.,  to  Miss 
Martha  Casey,  youngest  daughter  of  Abram 
Casey,  an  early  settler  of  that  county.  She 
died  in  1858,  and  in  1859  the  Doctor  was 
married  to  Miss  Mary  Graves.  She  was 
born  in  Chagrin  Falls,  Ohio,  a  town  which 
her  father  had  helped  to  lay  out,  also  lay- 
ing out  Graves'  Addition  to  Xenia.  Dr. 
Shirley  is  a  member  of  the  Centennial  Med- 
ical Society  of  Southern  Illinois.  Also  a 
member  of  the  Alumni  Association  of  St. 
Louis  Medical    College,  from  which  college 


he  is  a  graduate.  He  is  a  Royal  Arch  Mason, 
belonging  to  the  Richland  Chaptei-,  No.  38, 
and  is  a  member  of  the  Council  Lodge,  No. 
55,  at  Olney.  In  politics,  he  has  always 
been  a  faithful  worker  in  the  Democratic 
party.  In  1880,  he  was  the  Democratic 
nominee  for  the  State  Senate  from  the  Forty  - 
fourth  Senatorial  District,  but  on  account  of 
the  perfidy  of  some  fellow-Democrats,  he 
was  defeated,  although  carrying  four  town- 
ships, where  he  is  best  known,  by  the  largest 
majority  ever  received  by  any  candidate. 

ABRAM  SONGER,  retired  farmer,  P.  O. 
Xenia,  was  born  in  Virginia  December  25, 
1806,  to  Abram  and  Catherine  (Sawyers) 
Songer.  The  father  was  a  native  of  Penn- 
sylvania, but  had  moved  with  his  parents  to 
Virginia  when  small  The  mother  was  born 
in  Maryland,  but  was  also  reared  in  Virgin- 
ia. They  were  married  in  Virginia,  and  in 
about  1817  moved  to  Indiana,  where  he  died. 
In  about  1830,  she  and  her  family  moved  to 
this.  Clay,  county,  where  some  years  later 
she  died.  She  was  the  mother  of  nine  chil- 
dren, of  whom  our  subject  is  the  only  sur- 
viving one.  Our  subject  came  to  Clay 
County  in  1828,  and  has  made  Xenia  Town- 
ship his  home  ever  since.  He  is  one  of  the 
few  remaining  soldiers  of  the  Black  Hawk 
war  of  1832.  In  1834,  he  was  married,  in 
this  county,  to  Miss  Mary  McGrew,  who  was 
born  in  Kentucky,  but  reared  in  Indiana,  and 
a  daughter  of  James  McGrew.  After  mar- 
riage the}  settled  on  their  present  farm, 
which  contains  210  acres  of  land,  all  of 
which  Mr.  Songer  entered  from  the  Govern- 
ment. Besides  being  a  farmer,  Mr.  Songer 
is  also  a  mechanic,  and  has  done  considera- 
ble blacksmith  and  carpenter  work.  During 
the  civil  war,  while  the  settlers  were  raising 
cotton  in  Illinois,  he  made  a  cotton-gin  and 
ran  it  with  profit.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Songer 
have    been    connected    with    the    Methodist 


XENIA  TOWNSHIP. 


169 


Episcopal  Church  for  about  fifty  years. 
Their  connection,  however,  for  some  years 
has  been  with  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  South.  He  has  always  voted  the 
Democratic  ticket.  For  some  time  Mrs. 
Songer  has  been  seriously  afflicted  with  blind- 
ness. She  is  the  mother  of  nine  children, 
six  of  whom  lived  to  be  grown,  viz. :  Cynthia 
A.,  Rebecca  J.,  Abigail,  Moses,  Aaron  and 
Mary.  Cynthia  died  without  having  a  fami- 
ly. Abigail  and  Mary  both  left  families  at 
their  death.  Of  the  living,  Aaron  is  a  resi- 
dent of  Kansas;  Moses  is  a  farmer  in  this 
township;  Rebecca  J.  and  her  husband, 
William  Bradley,  are  living  on  the  old  home- 
stead, and  lightening  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Songer's 
burden  in  their  declining  years. 

CHARLES  W.  SONGER,  farmer,  P.  0. 
Xenia,  was  born  in  Clay  County,  111.,  July 
24,  1830,  and  is  the  son  of  Frederick  and 
Jane  (Helm)  Songer.  They  were  both  na- 
tives of  Virginia,  but  were  married  in 
Indiana,  and  in  the  fall  of  1828,  came  to 
Clay  County,  111.  He  was  born  August,  1797, 
and  died  in  1873.  She  was  born  December, 
1805,  and  is  still  living  at  Kinmundy,  111. 
He  gave  most  of  his  attention  to  farming, 
but  about  1838  built  a  mill  in  Marion 
County  on  Skillet  Fork;  this  was  one  of  the 
first  mills  built  in  this  part  of  the  State.  At 
his  death,  he  left  a  farm  of  275  acres,  part 
of  which  lies  in  Clay  and  part  in  Marion 
County.  They  were  the  parents  of  eleven 
children,  six  sons  and  five  daughters.  One 
of  the  sons  and  two  of  the  daughters  are 
now  dead.  Of  the  sons  now  living,  two, 
Giles  and  Abram,  are  the  proprietors  of  the 
Songer  Bros.  Mills  of  Kinmundy.  Samuel 
T.  is  a  practicing  physican  in  Fairfield,  111. 
William  F.  Songer,  of  Oregon,  was  a  member 
of  the  Oregon  State  Legislation  about  1S5G. 
Our  subject,  Charles  W.,  after  he  was  six 
years   of  age,  was  reared  in  Marion  County, 


111.,  and  it  was  there  he  was  educated,  and 
most  of  his  life  has  been  devoted  to  farming; 
yet  previous  to  1873,  he  had  studied  medicine, 
and  for  some  time  practiced  it  very  success- 
fully. At  that  date,  however,  on  account  of 
ill-health  of  his  family,  he  removed  to  this 
county,  where  he  has  given  his  attention 
again  to  farming.  Two  years  in  his  early 
life  he  spent  in  ^Minnesota  and  in  Macon 
County,  111.,  going  to  Minnesota  in  1856. 
His  present  farm  contains  127  acres  of  land. 
March  20,  1851,  he  was  married  to  Miss 
Samantha  E.  Lewis.  She  was  born  in  Marion 
County,  111.,  to  Sterling  and  Polly  (Hamilton) 
Lewis,  deceased.  This  union  has  been  blest 
with  the  following  children:  Isaac,  Frederick, 
Wayne,  Samuel,  Walter,  Jane,  Cora.  Rosela 
and  Nora,  living;  WiUiarn,  Harriet  and 
Andrew,  deceased.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Songer  are 
members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
In  politics,  he  votes  the  Greenback  ticket. 
HIRAM  SONGER,  farmer,  P.  O.  Xenia, 
was  born  in  Clay  County,  111.,  August  21, 
1837,  and  is  the  son  of  Jacob  and  Rebecca 
Songer.  The  father  was  a  native  of  Virgin- 
ia, born  January  11.  1802.  The  mother  was 
born  in  Kentucky  February  29,  1811,  but  in 
early  life  was  taken  to  Indiana  by  her  par- 
ents. Mr.  and  Mrs.  Jacob  Songer  came  to 
Clay  County,  111.,  in  1830,  and  died  in  this 
State — she  in  Clay  County  November  27, 
1S75,  and  he  at  the  residence  of  his  son  in 
Wayne  County  August  7,  1881.  They  were 
the  parents  of  the  following-named  children: 
James,  Mary  O,  Abram,  Elizabeth,  Hiram, 
Angeline,  Eliza  J.,  Marion,  Nancy  and  Abi- 
gail. Of  these,  Mary  O,  Abram  and  Ange- 
line are  dead.  Our  subject  was  reared  and 
educated  >n  Clay  County,  and  has  made  this 
county  his  home,  except  a  few  years  he  lived 
in  WTayne  County.  His  occupation  has  al- 
ways been  that  of  farmer,  and  he  now  owns 
140  acres  of   land,  100  being  in  cultivation. 


170 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


November  6,  1862,  be  was  united  in  mar- 
riage to  Miss  Priscilla  Lovelace,  a  native  of 
Washington  County,  Ind. ,  born  July  16, 
1841,  a  daughter  of  Caleb  and  Polly  (Carr) 
Lovelace.  The  mother  was  born  in  Indiana 
and  the  father  probably  in  Kentucky.  Both 
are  now  residents  of  Clay  County,  111.,  com- 
ing  here  in  1843.  They  are  the  parents  of 
four  children,  three  of  whom  are  living,  viz.: 
Louisa,  Priscilla  and  Sarah.  Soon  after 
marriage,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Songer  settled  on 
their  present  farm,  where  they  have  since  re- 
sided. They  have  one  son,  Leo  B.,  born 
August  31,  1863.  He  and  wife  are  members 
of  the  M.  E.  Church  South.  He  votes  the 
Democratic  ticket. 

D.  F.  STRAIN,  merchant,  Xenia,  was 
born  in  Xenia,  Ohio,  March  22.  1845,  to 
William  and  Jane  (Jolly)  Strain,  deceased. 
They  were  natives  of  Highland  County, 
Ohio.  He  was  born  in  1816,  died  in  1870. 
She  was  born  in  the  same  year  as  her  hus- 
band, and  died  in  1SS0  in  Xenia,  111.  They 
were  the  parents  of  ten  children,  six  of 
whom  yet  survive.  His  occupation  in  life 
was  that  of  a  carpenter.  Our  subject  was 
educated  in  the  schools  of  Xenia,  Ohio. 
In  August,  1863,  he  enlisted  in  Company  C, 
Fifth  Battalion  Cavalry  of  Ohio,  commanded 
by  Maj.  Ijams.  He  served  in  that  regiment 
for  six  months,  and  was  discharged  on  ac- 
count of  expiration  of  term  of  enlistment. 
In  July,  1864,  he  re-enlisted  in  Company  I, 
Ninth  Indiana  Infantry,  and  served  until 
close  of  war,  being  discharged  near  San  An- 
tonio, Tex.,  in  October,  1865.  During  his 
service  in  the  cavalry,  he  was  mostly  on  scout- 
ing duty,  but  while  in  the  infantry  was  en- 
gaged in  the  battles  at  Columbia,  Franklin, 
and  Nashville,  Tenn.,  etc.  Since  coming 
from  the  service,  he  has  been  principally  en- 
gaged in  the  mercantile  and  grain  business 
and  farming,  all  of  which  he  now  carries  on. 


He  first  engaged  at  milling  in  Chester,  Ind., 
in  1866,  and  then  went  to  Xenia,  Ohio,  in 
the  grain  business.  In  1877,  he  came  to 
Xenia,  111.,  where  he  has  since  been  engaged 
in  his  present  business  occupations.  His 
stock  of  merchandise  invoices  about  §4,000. 
At  Cedarville,  Ohio,  in  December,  1863,  he 
was  married  to  Miss  Mary  E.  Taylor,  a 
daughter  of  William  and  Martha  (Michener) 
Taylor.  Mrs.  Taylor  is  a  member  of  the 
Stanton  family,  being  a  cousin  to  Benjamin 
Stanton.  Mr.  Taylor  having  died,  his  widow 
married  Allen  Williams,  and  now  resides  in 
Lawrence,  Kan.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Strain  have 
eight  children,  viz.,  Chester,  Minnie,  Fred, 
May,  Lillie,  Maud,  Lois  and  Lulu.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  I.  O.  O.  F.  of  Xenia,  111.,  but 
was  made  an  Odd  Fellow  in  Xenia,  Ohio. 
He  is  also  a  member  of  the  G.  A.  R.  Post  of 
Xenia.  In  politics,  he  is  strongly  Republic- 
an, and  at  present  is  serving  on  the  County 
Board,  being  Supervisor  of  this  township, 
elected  on  Republican  ticket. 

HON.  J.  W.  WESTCOTT,  merchant, 
etc.,  Xenia,  was  born  in  Hamilton  Coun- 
ty, Ohio,  March  1,  1828,  and  is  the  son 
of  John  D.  and  Margaret  (Willes)  Westcott. 
John  D.  Westcott  was  born  in  New  Jersey 
September  12,  1803.  February  22,  1823, 
he  was  married  to  Margaret  E.  Willes,  who 
was  born  in  Worcester  County,  Md.,  in 
1840.  In  1837,  they  removed  to  Illinois, 
and  settled  in  Rushville,  Schuyler  County, 
then  to  Pike  County  soon  afterward.  In 
1840,  they  settled  in  Jefferson  County,  111., 
where  he  died  September  29,  1850.  She 
was  united  in  marriage,  March  1,  1852,  to 
James  E.  Fergerson,  of  Mt.  Vernon,  and 
died  November  30,  1858.  Our  subject  had 
made  the  various  moves  of  his  parents  till 
reaching  Jefferson  County,  where,  Septem- 
ber 1,  1850,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Martha 
Holtsclaw,    of    Jefferson    County.     He   then 


XENIA  TOWNSHIP 


171 


followed  farming  and  school  teaching  till 
1S54,  when  he  came  to  Xenia.  In  spring 
of  1855,  he  commenced  the  mercantile  busi- 
ness, and  has  ever  since  been  interested  in 
that  pursuit,  and  is  now  the  oldest  merchant 
of  Xenia.  The  first,  goods  ever  shipped 
over  the  O.  &  M.  E.  U.,  to  this  station,  was 
the  stock  with  which  he  began  business.  Till 
a  recent  date,  he  kept  a  general  stock;  now, 
however,  he  gives  his  attention  mostly  to 
clothing,  boots  and  shoes  and  gents'  furnish- 
ing goods,  but  also  has  agricultural  imple- 
ments. He  carries  a  stock  of  goods  averag- 
ing about  §10,000.  His  attention,  however,  j 
has  not  been  confined  alone  to  the  mercan-  j 
tile  business,  as  he  is  also  engaged  in  the 
buying  of  grain,  fruit,  etc.,  and  in  the  mill- 
ing business,  and  also  farming.  Mr.  West- 
cott's  life  as  a  business  man  has  been  an 
active  one,  but  that  has  not  occupied  all  of 
his  attention.  In  1857,  he  was  licensed  as  a 
minister  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
In  1864,  he  was  the  leader  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  South  in  this  section  of 
the  State,  as  it  separated  from  the  opposite 
branch  of  the  church;  and  so  prominent  was 
the  part  which  he  took  that  for  some  years 
it  was  known  as  "Westcott's"  Church  in  this 


part  of  Illinois.  He  has  continually  been 
connected  with  the  conference  since  1857, 
and  for  twelve  years  of  the  time  waa  Presid- 
ing Elder.  In  1862,  he  was  elected  to  the 
State  Legislature  from  the  counties  of  Clay 
and  Richland,  and  served  for  two  years.  In 
1 864,  he  was  elected  to  the  State  Senate  from 
his  Senatorial  district,  and  served  his  term 
through  with  credit;  then  voluntarily  retired 
from  political  life.  On  three  different  occa- 
sions, however,  the  delegates  of  Clay  County 
were  unanimously  instructed  to  vote  in  the 
convention  for  his  nomination  for  Congress. 
In  1880,  he  was  Democratic  Elector  for  this 
district,  and  has  always  taken  an  active  part 
in  every  leading  political  campaign.  His 
wife  died  January  6,  1870,  and  January  10, 
1871,  he  was  married  to  Maria  D.  Onstott, 
grand-daughter  of  Maj.  John  Onstott,  one  of 
the  first  and  most  prominent  settlers  in  Clay 
County.  This  marriage  has  been  blessed 
with  the  following-named  children:  John  AY. , 
Flora  E.,  Estella  May.  Freddie  H.,  Clela 
Orpha,  and  William  F.,  deceased.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  A.  F.  &  A.  M.  of  Xenia,  and 
is  Master  of  the  lodge.  He  has  been  a  Mas- 
ter Mason  for  twenty-eight  years,  having 
been  made  a  Mason  in  Mt.  Vernon,  111. 


CLAY    CITY    TOWNSHIP. 


J.  D.  ALLENDEB,  merchant,  Clay 
City,  was  born  in  Eichland  County,  111., 
August  4,  1837,  and  is  a  son  of  L.  L.  and 
Mary  Ann  (McCawley)  Allender.  The  father 
was  a  native  of  Shepherdsville,  Ky. , 
and  came  to  the  State  about  1830.  He  was 
a  farmer  by  occupation,  and  his  death  oc- 
curred in  February,  1847.  The  mother  was 
a  daughter   of  John  McCawley,  a  sketch  of 


whose  life  appears  in  the  history  of  Clay 
City  Township.  Subject  was  the  second  of 
seven  children,  four  of  whom  are  living,  viz., 
John  D.  (our  subject),  Martha  (wife  of  M. 
Crackles,  of  Pixley  Township),  Margaret 
(wife  of  Scott  Moats, of  Mt.  Erie  Township) 
and  Elizabeth  (wife  of  James  Bradshaw,  of 
the  same  township).  The  father  died  when 
subject   was    about    eight    years    old.       The 


173 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


latter,  however,  remained  at  home  with  his 
mother  until  fifteen.  He  then  came  to  Mays- 
ville,  this  township,  and  here  he  worked  on  a 
farm  for  about  three  years.  He  then  went 
to  McDonough  County,  this  State,  where  he 
worked  for  about  fifteen  months.  He  came 
to  Clay  City  about  1857,  and  began  life  here 
by  teaming.  He  only  worked  at  that  one 
year  and  then  opened  a  saloon.  He  carried 
on  this  business  until  1866,  and  then  em- 
barked in  the  provision  business.  In  1868, 
he  formed  a  partnership  with  Richard  F. 
Duff,  under  the  firm  name  of  Allender  & 
Duff.  This  firm  continued  in  the  provision 
business  for  about  seven  years,  and  then 
opened  a  general  store,  in  which  business 
they  have  been  engaged  ever  since.  The 
firm  erected  their  present  brick  block  in  1 872, 
at  a  cost  of  about  §4,500.  At  present  the 
firm  cany  a  stock  of  about  $6,000.  They 
also  handle  considerable  produce  of  all  kinds, 
making  a  specialty  of  game,  pelts  and  hides. 
Mr.  Allender  was  married  in  Clay  City,  111., 
December  23,  1875,  to  Miss  Fannie  Sage,  a 
daughter  of  Mrs.  Caroline  TJllurn.  Mrs.  Al- 
lender was  born  in  Ross  County,  Ohio,  and 
is  the  mother  of  three  children,  viz.,  John 
Scott,  Daniel  Beecher  and  Jessie  Mell.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Allender  are  both  members  of  the 
Methodist  Church  South.  Mr.  Allender  is  a 
member  of  Clay  City  Lodge,  No.  -488,  A.  F. 
&  A.  M.  In  politics,  he  has  given  his  sup- 
port to  the  Democratic  party.  He  has  served 
as  one  of  the  members  of  the  Town  Board. 

J.  K.  BOTHWELL,  merchant,  Clay  City, 
was  born  in  what  is  now  Vinton,  then  Athens, 
County,  Ohio,  April  20,  1815,  and  is  a  son 
of  James  and  Charlotte  (Potter)  Bothwell. 
The  father  was  born  in  Ireland,  his  parents 
being  of  Scotch-Irish  descent,  and  came  to 
this  country  in  1792.  The  mother  was  a 
native  of  Pennsylvania.  Subject  was  the 
fifth  of  nine  children,  of   whom  six  are  now 


living.  The  subscription  schools  of  his  na- 
tive county  furnished  subject  his  means  of 
education.  He  helped  on  the  home  farm 
until  twenty-two  years  of  age,  and  then  in 
1840  he  came  to  Clay  County,  settling  in  the 
old  town  of  Maysville,  on  Section  19.  Here 
he  first  turned  his  attention  to  farming,  but 
in  1846  he  embarked  in  business  with  Morris 
Brissenden.  In  1862,  he  came  to  Clay  City, 
and  began  business  for  himself.  In  1880, 
he  associated  with  him  his  son  N.  C.  Both- 
well.  The  firm  now  carry  a  stock  of  about 
$8,000.  In  this  county,  February  22,  1846, 
Mr.  Bothwell  was  married  to  Miss  Mary  Ann 
Brissenden,  a  daughter  of  John  and  Elizabeth 
Brissenden.  Both  parents  were  natives  of 
England  and  early  settlers  in  this  county. 
Mrs.  Bothwell  was  born  in  August,  1820, 
and  is  the  mother  of  seven  children,  of 
whom  four  are  now  living — H.  O,  J.  H. ,  J. 
K.  and  Florence.  In  politics,  he  gives  his 
support  to  the  Republican  party. 

DR.  E.  W.  BOYLES,  physician,  Clay 
City,  was  born  in  Du  Bois  County,  Ind.  .May 
16,  1836,  and  is  a  son  of  James  C.  and 
Catherine  (Goodman)  Boyles.  John  Boyles, 
the  grandfather  of  our  subject,  was  born  in 
North  Carolina,  his  father  having  come  from 
Ireland  in  a  very  early  day,  and  was  a  sol- 
dier in  the  Revolution.  The  grandfather 
came  to  Kentucky  and  settled  in  Logan 
County,  where  he  married.  In  that  county 
the  father  was  born  November  21,  1813. 
About  1820,  the  grandfather  emigrated  to 
Indiana  with  his  family  and  settled  in  Du 
Bois  County,  where  he  died  in  1856  at  the 
age  of  seventy  five.  The  father  grew  to 
manhood  in  that  county,  and  at  an  early 
period  of  his  life  turned  his  attention  to  the 
practice  of  law,  and  made  that  the  vocation 
of  his  life.  He,  however,  found  time  for 
farming,  and  engaged  in  that  quite  exten- 
sively.     He  was  married,  March  28,  1833,  to 


CLAY  CITY    TOWNSHIP. 


173 


Miss  Catherine  Goodman.  This  lady  was 
born  in  Kentucky  in  IS  15,  and  came  from 
that  State  to  Indiana  with  her  parents, 
William  and  Tearby  (Jones)  Goodman,  when 
quite  young.  The  father  died  September 
27,  1859.  The  mother  is  still  living  with 
her  son.  To  her  were  born  eleven  children, 
of  whom  seven  are  now  living,  viz.,  E.  W., 
our  subject;  S.  A.,  in  Nebraska;  Mary  E., 
wife  of  T.  A.  Chaney,  of  Rinard,  Wayne 
County;  M.  M.,  in  Dakota;  J.  C,  in  same 
State;  Eva,  widow  of  J.  C.  Kennedy,  deceased; 
Amy  J.,  wife  of  C.  C.Valentine,  of  Yankton, 
Dakota.  The  education  of  our  subject  was 
received  in  the  pioneer  schools  of  his  native 
county.  In  1854,  he  commenced  to  study 
medicine  with  Dr.  Pi.  M.  Williams,  of  Jas- 
per, Ind.  He  read  with  him  for  about 
two  years,  and  then,  in  January,  1857,  he 
removed  to  Georgetown,  Clay  Co.,  111. 
There  he  began  the  practice  of  medicine. 
In  September,  1861,  he  went  to  Chicago  and 
attended  lectures  at  the  Hush  Medical  Col- 
lege. From  that  institution  he  graduated 
February  4,  1862.  From  there  he  came  di- 
rectly to  Clay  City,  where  he  has  since  re- 
sided. He  has  a  very  extensive  practice 
extending  over  considerable  portions  of 
Wayne,  Clay  and  Richland  Counties.  The 
Doctor  is  a  member  of  the  Centennial  Medi- 
cal Society  of  Southeastern  Illinois,  also  of 
the  Tri-State  Medical  Society.  In  1880,  he 
took  a  subsequent  course  of  lectures  at 
Chicago,  and  at  that  time  he  6pent  most  of 
his  time  in  hospital  worli.  At  present  he  is 
also  serving  as  United  States  Pension  Ex- 
aminer, and  has  held  that  office  since  1867. 
Dr.  Boyles  was  married  in  Du  Bois  County, 
Ind.,  March  14,  1859,  to  Miss  Mary  Ann 
Mahin,  a  daughter  of  William  and  Eveline 
(Johnson)  Mahin,  natives  of  Orange  County, 
Ind.  Mrs.  Boyles  was  the  mother  of  five 
children, of  whom  three  are  now  living,  viz., 


Herbert  H.,  born  January  12,  1863;  James 
W.,  born  September  26,  1866,  and  Horace 
B.,  born  May  9,  1S68.  Mrs.  Boyles  died 
July  11,  1874,  and  the  Doctor  was  married 
the  second  time,  September  20,  1875,  in 
Olney  111.,  to  Mrs.  C.C.  Reaugh,  nee  Cambly, 
a  daughter  of  Judge  R.  S.  Cambly,  of  Olney, 
111.  Two  children  have  been  the  result  of 
this  union,  one  of  whom  is  now  living. 
Vivian  W.,  born  December  5, 1881.  In  poli- 
tics, subject  has  always  been  connected  with 
the  Republican  party.  Since  his  advent  in 
this  county,  he  has  held  many  offices  of  trust 
and  profit,  among  which  are  Township 
Clerk,  Township  Collector  and  School  Di- 
rector. He  is  a  member  of  Clay  City  Lodge, 
No.  488,  A.  F.  &  A.  M 

JOHN  W.  CULTER,  druggist,  Clay  City, 
was  born  in  Brown  County,  Ohio,  January  19, 
1841,  and  is  a  son  of  Irwin  and  Cordelia 
(Williams)  Culter.  Both  parents  were  na- 
tives of  Ohio.  Subject  was  the  third  of  five 
children,  and  of  that  number  three  are  now 
living — Milton  11,  in  Daviess  County,  Ind.; 
John  W.  (subject),  and  William  H.  (in 
Marion  County,  111.).  The  free  schools  of 
his  native  county  furnished  subject  his  means 
of  education.  At  the  age  of  seventeen,  he 
commenced  farming,  and  followed  that  until 
October,  1860,  when  he  came  West.  The  first 
year  of  his  residence  here  he  taught  school 
in  Wayne  County,  but  afterward  settling 
in  Stanford  Township  ;  then  taught  school 
until  1875.  He  then  came  to  Clay  City 
and  purchased  a  stock  of  drugs  belonging  to 
C.  D.  Pennybacker,  and  has  since  been  en- 
gaged in  that  business.  In  the  sjjring  of 
1881,  he  sold  an  interest  in  the  store  to  Dr. 
Block,  but  in  the  fall  of  that  year  Mr.  A. 
Doherty  bought  out  Dr.  Block's  interest  and 
the  business  has  since  been  continued  under 
the  firm  name  of  Culter  &  Doherty.  Mr. 
Culter  was  married,  September  14,  1865,  to 


174 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


Miss  Lizzie  Hawkins,  a  daughter  of  Henry 
and  Sarah  (Shields)  Hawkins.  The  father 
was  born  in  Yorkshire,  England,  May  26, 
1801,  and  came  to  Canada  with  his  parents 
in  1827.  The  mother  was  born  in  County 
Tyrone,  Ireland,  August  15,  1803,  and  was 
of  Scotch  parentage  ;  she  came  to  Canada 
with  her  parents  in  1825.  They  were  mar- 
ried in  Canada  December  27,  1832,  and 
emigrated  to  Illinois  in  1846,  and  after  a 
number  of  years  came  to  this  county, 
where  the  father  died  October  15,  1859, 
aged  eighty  years.  The  mother  is  still 
living  with  her  son-in-law  at  an  advanced 
age.  Mrs.  Culter  was  born  in  Canada 
March  27,  3843,  and  is  the  mother  of 
four  children — Henry  E.,  born  November 
23,  1866  ;  Edith  M.,  born  May  14,  1868  ; 
Mary  C,  born  February  20,  1870;  Mattie, 
born  April  14,  1872.  Mr.  Culter  has  been  a 
strong  Republican  all  his  life  ;  he  has  held 
some  offices  of  importance,  among  which  are 
Collector  and  Assessor  of  Stanford  Township, 
and  Justice  of  the  Peace  of  this  township 
6ince  1880.  Is  a  member  of  Clay  City 
Lodge,  No.  488,  A.  F.  &  A.  M.,  and  is  con- 
nected with  the  Christian  Church.  In  the 
time  of  the  war,  he  was  a  member  of  the  Union 
League,  and  served  as  Secretary  of  the  Clay 
County  organization. 

WILLIAM  DAVIS,  merchant,  Clay  City, 
was  born  in  Roane  County,  Tenn.,  on  July 
26,  1826,  and  is  a  son  of  John  and  Nancy 
(Jenkins)  Davis.  The  father  was  a  native  of 
East  Tennessee,  and  his  father,  George  Da- 
vis, came  to  this  country  from  Wales  when  a 
young  man.  The  mother  was  born  in  Vir- 
ginia. Subject  was  the  eldest  of  ten  chil- 
dren, five  of  whom  are  now  living,  viz.:  Will- 
iam (our  subject),  Sherwell  (in  Sheridan 
County,  Mo.),  Thomas  (in  Sedalia,  Mo.), 
Mrs.  A.  J.  Miller  (in  Kenton,  Greenwood  Co., 
Kan.),  and  Mrs.  Rebecca  Summers  (of  Green- 


wood Co.,  Kan.).  When  subject  was  about 
two  years  old,  his  parents  came  to  Illinois 
and  first  settled  in  Shelby  County,  but 
after  living  there  a  short  time  they  came  to 
Lawrence  County,  where  the  mother  died  in 
1862.  The  father  then  moved  to  Kansas, 
where  he  died  in  1865.  Subject's  education 
was  received  in  the  subscription  schools  of 
Lawrence  County.  At  the  age  of  fifteen,  he 
commenced  to  learn  the  trade  of  a  wagon- 
maker,  but  remained  at  home  until  about 
twenty-one,  and  then  worked  as  a  journey- 
man at  bis  trade  in  a  shop  near  Sumner, 
Lawrence  County,  for  about  five  years.  He 
then  purchased  a  farm  in  that  county,  and 
farmed,  and  worked  at  his  trade  occasionally, 
until  November,  1865,  when  he  came  to  this 
county.  He  settled  in  Stanford  Township, 
where  he  now  owns  164  acres  in  Sections  2 
and  3  of  Township  2  north,  Range  7  east. 
He  resided  there  until  18S2,  and  then  came 
to  Clay  City.  Here  he  first  embarked  in  the 
implemenf.business,  and  followed  that  until 
March;  1883,  when  he  began  merchandising. 
He  now  carries  a  stock  of  about  $1,200  of 
general  provisions.  Mr.  Davis  was  married, 
on  October  16,  1851,  in  Richland  County, 
to  Miss  Mary  Jane  Bunn,  a  daughter  of  See- 
ley  and  Densey  Bunn.  This  lady  was  born  in 
Richland  County  on  November  3,  1831,  and 
is  the  mother  of  five  living  children,  viz.: 
Densey  J.  (wife  of  B.  L.  Marshall,  of  Coles 
County,  Til.),  Seeley  B.  (in  Stanford  Town- 
ship), Emma  J.  (wife  of  Henry  C.  Evans,  of 
Clay  City),  H.  L.  (in  business  with  his 
father),  and  Ida  E.  Mr.  Davis  was  a  soldier  in 
the  late  war,  enlisting  in  Richland  County 
on  February  4,  1864,  and  was  discharged  on 
September  4  following.  Mr.  Davis  is  a 
member  of  the  Clay  City  Christian  Church, 
and  Mrs.  Davis  is  connected  with  the  Method 
ist  Episcopal  Church.  In  politics,  our  sub 
ject    gives   his   support   to    the    Republican 


CLAY   CITY  TOWNSHIP. 


17  5 


party,  and  while  a  resident  of  Stanford 
Township  served  as  Collector  for  three 
terms.  He  is  a  member  of  the  CJay  City 
Lodge,  No.  488,  A.  F.  &  A.  M.,  and  Clay 
City  Post,  No.  262,  G.  A.  E. 

R.  F.  DUFF,  merchant,  Clay  City.  The 
gentleman  whose  name  heads  this  sketch  is 
a  native  of  this  county,  and  is  descended 
from  one  of  its  pioneer  families.  The  great- 
grandfather of  our  subject,  Samuel  Duff, 
came  to  this  country  some  time  prior  to  the 
Revolution.  Ho  brought  with  him  his  wife 
Barbara,  and  the  twain  settled  in  Pennsyl- 
vania. To  them  were  born  two  sons,  John 
and  William.  When  John  was  but  a  youth, 
his  parents  moved  to  Washington  County, 
Va.,  where  the  father  died  in  1818,  the 
mother  in  1812.  John  grew  to  manhood  in 
Washington  County,  and  there  married  a 
Miss  Mary  Dryden,  a  daughter  of  David  and 
Barbara  Dryden,  who  had  come  from  En- 
gland in  an  early  day.  Nine  children  blessed 
this  union — Samuel  (who  remained  in  Vir- 
ginia), David  (came  to  this  county,  and  set- 
tled in  Maysville,  in  1829,  and  afterward  be- 
came one  of  the  leading  merchants  of  that 
place),  Jane  (married  a  Mr.  Hopper,  and 
moved  to  Ohio,  where  she  died),  Barbara 
(married  John  McConnell,  and  settled  and 
died  in  that  county),  John  N.  (is  yet  living  in 
Washington  County,  Va.,  at  the  hale  old  age 
of  seventy- eight),  Nathaniel  H.  (our  sub- 
ject's father),  Mary  (still  living  in  Virginia), 
Stephen  B.  (settled  and  died  in  that  county), 
and  Alexander  (who  died  when  a  boy). 
Judge  N.  H.  Duff's  education  was  but  meager, 
and  was  received  in  the  subscription  schools 
of  bis  native  county.  He  learned  the  trade 
of  a  blacksmith,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty-one 
helped  his  brother  David  move  to  this  county. 
After  arriving  here,  he  helped  on  the  latter's 
farm  for  a  short  time,  and  after  spending  a 
year  here  he  again  returned  to  his  home  in 


Virginia,  where  he  worked  on  his  father's 
farm.  In  1831,  he  again  came  back  here, 
this  time  accompanied  by  James  Lethco  and 
William  T.  Duff,  a  cousin,  who  made  one  of 
the  first  settlements  in  Stanford  Township. 
This  time  Judge  Duff  settled  in  Maysville, 
and,  buying  a  small  farm,  tilled  that,  and 
worked  at  his  trade  of  blacksmithing,  but  his 
health  failing  him  he  was  compelled  to  give 
up  the  latter  occupation.  After  about  two 
years'  residence  in  Maysville,  he  moved  into 
what  is  now  Stanford  Township  and  settled 
on  the  farm  now  owned  by  J.  M.  Chaffin;  he 
first  entered  eighty  acres,  and  afterward  in- 
creased the  tract  to  120  acres.  He  remained 
on  that  farm  until  1843.  and  then  selling  out 
to  John  L.  Apperson,  moved  to  another  farm 
about  two  miles  northwest  of  his  former 
place.  (It  is  now  owned  by  subject.)  In 
1848,  he  again  returned  to  Maysville,  and 
purchased  David  Duff's  store,  who  went  from 
there  to  Tennessee.  The  Judge  continued  in 
business  there  until  the  laying-out  of  Clay 
City.  He  then  came  to  the  latter  point  and 
embarked  in  business  with  Robert  E.  Duff. 
This  partnership  continued  for  some  years, 
and  the  former  turned  his  attention  to  stock- 
raising.  For  the  last  few  years,  he  has  lived 
a  quiet  and  retired  life,  making  his  home 
with  his  daughter,  Mrs.  Naomi  Figg.  Judge 
Duff  has  been  much  before  the  people  of  this 
county,  in  one  way  or  another.  In  1851,  he 
was  first  elected  to  the  office  of  Associate 
Justice.  These  officers  were  elected  for  the 
purpose  of  attending  to  the  county  business. 
His  Associates  were  J.  W.  P.  Davis  and  a 
Mr.  Loofboro.  He  held  this  office  until 
1862,  when  the  plan  of  township  organiza- 
tion was  adopted.  He  was  then  elected  the 
first  Justice  of  the  Peace  of  Clay  City 
Township,  and  served  in  that  capacity 
for  a  number  of  years.  He  also  served 
as    Township    Supervisor    for   one    or    two 


170 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


terms.  Judge  Duff  has  been  twice  married. 
The  first  time  in  old  Maysville  Precinct,  on 
September  25,  1832,  to  Miss  Margaret  Apper- 
son,  a  daughter  of  Richard  and  Mary  (Aikin) 
Apperson.  The  parents  were  among  the  very 
earliest  settlers  of  Stanford  Township.  Mrs. 
Duff  was  born  in  September,  1S09,  and  was 
the  mother  of  nine  children,  but  two  of 
whom  are  now  living — Richard  F.  (our  sub- 
ject), and  Mrs.  Naomi  C.  Figg.  This  lady 
died  on  April  2,  1857,  and  the  Judge  was 
married  the  second  time,  on  October  20, 1872, 
to  Miss  Sarah  Babbs,  a  daughter  of  Alexan- 
der Babbs.  But  one  child  resulted  from  this 
union — Albert  H.  (now  at  home  with  his 
father).  This  lady  died  in  the  winter  of  1877. 
The  schools  of  this  and  Stanford  Township 
furnished  our  subject  his  means  of  educa- 
tion, and  he  assisted  his  father  on  the  home 
farm  until  about  twenty -one.  He  began 
learning  telegraphy  under  W.  C.  Roach,  who 
was  station  agent  at  this  point.  From  here 
he  went  to  Cincinnati,  where  he  worked  for 
three  months,  and  then  for  two  years  acted 
as  operator  in  different  points  on  the  Ohio 
&  Mississippi  Railroad.  He  then  went  to 
Xenia,  and  was  appointed  station  agent  and 
operator.  After  serving  at  different  stations 
in  this  capacity  for  three  years  along  the  line 
of  the  O.  &  M.,  he  accepted  a  similar  posi- 
tion on  the  Indianapolis  &  St.  Louis  Rail- 
road, and  worked  at  both  Bunker  Hill  and 
Hillsboro.  In  1S67,  he  returned  to  ("lay 
City  and  embarked  with  J.  D.  Allender  in 
the  provision  business.  The  firm  afterward 
opened  a  general  store,  and  have  since  been 
one  of  the  leading  houses  of  Clay  City.  Mr. 
Duff  was  married  October  28,  1868,  to  Miss 
Mary  E.  Manker,  a  daughter  of  Jenkins  and 
Sarah  (Rogers)  Manker,  of  Clay  City.  Three 
children  have  blessed  this  union — Charles 
L.,  Effie  M.  and  Carey  E.  Mr.  Duff  is  a 
strong  Democrat,  and  is  at  present   serving 


as  Township  Supervisor.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Duff  are  both  members  of  the  Clay  City 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  Mr.  Duff 
is  a  member  of  Clay  City  Lodge,  No.  488,  A. 
F.  &  A.  M. 

J.  T.  EVANS,  merchant,  Clay  City,  was 
born  in  Johnson  County,  Ind.,  Jan.  7,  1835. 
He  is  a  son  of  Joseph  and  Matilda  (Driscoll) 
Evans.  The  father  was  a  native  of  Brown 
County,  Ohio.  Edward  Evans,  the  grandfather, 
was  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  and  was  a 
solider  in  the  Revolution.  Among  the  battles 
in  that  conflict  in  which  he  participated  was 
the  battle  of  Brandywine.  His  people  were 
of  Welsh  decent.  The  father  is  still  living 
in  Johnson  County,  Ind.,  at  the  age  of 
eighty-eight,  on  the  same  farm  he  entered  fifty- 
four  years  ago,  and  he  still  has  in  his 
possession  the  letters  patent  for  the  land, 
bearing  the  signature  of  Andrew  Jackson. 
The  mother  was  born  in  Mason  County,  Ky., 
her  father  being  a  native  of  Maryland,  and 
of  Scotch  descent.  Our  subject  was  the  sixth 
of  seven  children,  and  of  this  number  three 
are  now  living,  viz.:  Mrs.  Julia  Ann  Jolliffe, 
of  Johnson  County,  Ind.;  J.  T.,  subject,  and 
J.  E.,  in  Clay  City  Township.  The  common 
schools  of  his  native  county  furnished  Mr. 
Evans  his  means  of  education.  At  the  age 
of  eighteen,  he  commenced  teaching,  but  fol- 
lowed that  profession  only  two  years.  He 
then  commenced  reading  medicine  with  Drs. 
Marshall  &  Ream,  of  Williamsburg,  Ind. 
After  studying  with  them  two  years,  he  came 
to  Clay  City,  111.,  arriving  herein  April,  1859, 
and  began  the  practice  of  medicine.  Not 
liking  the  profession  however,  he  gave  it  up 
after  about  two  years.  In  December,  1860, 
he  turned  his  attention  to  merchandising,  and 
opened  a  general  store.  In  this  business,  he 
has  been  engaged  ever  since,  and  now  carries 
a  stock  of  about  $S,000.  He  also  does  a 
great  deal  in  the  grain  and  commission  busi- 


CLAY   CITY   TOWNSHIP. 


177 


ness,  having  built  a  large  warehouse,  and 
now  handles  on  an  average  about  50,000 
bushels  of  grain  a  year,  besides  considerable 
flax  and  grass  seed.  In  the  old  town  of 
Maysville,  Clay  County,  Mr.  Evans  was  mar- 
ried, November  17,  1859,  to  Miss  Amanda  E. 
Bagwell,  a  daughter  of  Thomas  J.  and  Cina 
E.  ( Whiteman)  Bagwell.  The  father  was  a 
native  of  Kentucky,  and  came  to  the  old  town 
of  Maysville  in  IS42,  where  he  ran  a  hotel 
for  many  years.  He  died  in  1877.  The 
mother  was  a  native  of  Tennessee,  and  is 
still  living  in  Clay  City,  at  the  advanced  age 
of  seventy-two.  Mrs.  Evans  was  born  in 
March,  1842,  and  is  the  mother  of  four  chil- 
dren, three  of  whom  are  now  living:  Henry, 
born  November  18,  18(30;  Ella,  October  2. 
1863,  and  now  the  wife  of  Charles  D.  Duff; 
and  Charles,  February  19,  1874.  Subject  is 
a  member  of  the  Clay  City  Christian  Church. 
He  has  been  identified  with  that  denomina- 
tion since  March,  1868,  and  is  at  present  one 
of  the  Elders  and  Sunday  School  Superin- 
tendent of  the  church  at  this  point.  Mr. 
Evans  is  a  member  of  the  Clay  City  Lodge, 
No.  488,  A.  F.  &  A.  M.,  and  Gorin  Command- 
ery,  No.  14,  Knights  Templar.  Casting  his 
first  vote  for  John  C.  Fremont,  Mr.  Evans 
has  ever  since  been  a  strong  Republican. 

SAMUEL  HOLMAN,  merchant,  Clay 
City,  was  born  in  Ross  County,  Ohio,  Janu- 
ary 22,  1839,  and  is  a  son  of  John  and  Mary 
(Hussleton)  Holman,  natives  of  Pennsylva- 
nia. Subject  vvas  the  eighth  of  ten  children, 
of  whom  seven  are  now  living,  viz. :  John,  in 
Clay  County.  111.;  Mrs.  Barbara  Tilly,  in 
Clay  County;  Jacob,  and  Mrs.  Mary  Davis, 
in  Columbia,  111. ;  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Erghen- 
bright,  in  Coffeyville,  Kan. ;  Mrs.  Sarah 
Wallor,  in  Rich  Hill,  Mo. ;  and  Samuel,  our 
subject.  When  the  latter  was  about  six 
months  old,  his  parents  moved  to  this'  coun- 
ty and  settled  about  six  miles  south  of  Clay 


City,  on  the  farm  now  occupied  by  John 
Holman.  Here  the  father  resided  until  his 
death,  in  1850.  That  of  the  mother  occurred 
in  1853.  The  free  schools  of  this  township 
furnished  Samuel  his  means  of  education. 
He  remained  at  home  until  about  fifteen, 
and  then  came  to  the  old  town  of  Maysville. 
Here  he  began  life  for  himself  by  clerking 
for  George  Earheubright,  who  was  then  in 
business  at  that  point.  He  remained  in  the 
latter's  employ  for  about  rive  years.  In 
1865,  he  began  merchandising  for  himself, 
in  the  town  of  Clay  City,  and  has  ever  since 
been  engaged  in  business  at  this  point. 
Starting  first  in  the  saloon  business  with 
Thomas  Viskniski,  he  has,  by  hie  indomita- 
ble push  and  energy,  kept  on,  until  now,  in 
connection  with  Jabez  Cogan,  owns  the 
largest  general  store  in  the  city.  The  firm 
now  carries  a  stock  of  about  $8, 000,  and  has  a 
fair  share  of  the  trade  in  this  section  of  Clay 
County.  In  1882,  he,  in  connection  with 
William  Markle.  embarked  in  the  milling 
business,  having  leased  the  Clay  City  Mills 
of  Daniel  McCawley.  In  Clay  City,  Febru- 
ary 21.  1867,  Mr.  Holman  was  married  to 
Miss  Clemence  West,  a  daughter  of  Joseph 
and  Mary  C.  (Cannon)  West,  natives  of  Al- 
bion, Edwards  County.  Mrs.  Holman  was 
born  October  10,  1850,  in  the  same  county, 
and  is  the  mother  of  eight  children,  seven  of 
whom  are  now  living,  viz.:  John  L.,  born 
July  10,  1809;  Maggie,  bnrn  June  3,  1871; 
Hattie,  born  February  18,  1873;  Charles  L., 
born  October  14,  1877;  Willie  L.,  born  May 
17,  1879;  George,  born  May  27,  1881;  May 
E.,  born  May  29,  1883.  January  1.  1862, 
Mr.  Holman  enlisted  in  Company  I,  of  the 
Sixty-third  Regiment  Illinois  Volunteer  In- 
fautry,  and  served  until  the  close  of  the  war. 
having  re-enlisted  in  the  veteran  service  in 
1863.  Among  the  battles  in  which  he  served 
were    Vicksburg.     Sherman's    Atlanta     cam 


178 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


paign,  and  the  famous  march  to  the  sea.  In 
his  political  views,  he  has  always  been  a 
strong  Republican.  He  is  a  member  of  Clay 
City  Lodge,  No.  384,  I.  O.  O.  F. 

DK.  T.  N.  LOWNSDALE,  physician,  Clay 
City,  was  born  in  Pike  County,  Ind.,  August 
12,  1841;  son  of  John  and  Nancy  (Thomas) 
Lownsdale  James  Lownsdale,  the  grand- 
father of  our  subject,  came  from  England 
and  settled  in  Louisiana.  In  1816,  he  started 
for  Indiana,  but  stopping  over  in  Kentucky 
for  a  short  time,  the  father  was  born.  After 
a  short  stay  in  that  State,  the  grandfather 
came  directly  to  Pike  County,  Ind.  In  that 
county  the  father  grew  to  manhood  and  fol- 
lowed the  trade  of  a  blacksmith  there  until 
his  death,  February  22,  1852.  The  mother 
was  a  native  of  Pike  County,  and  was  a 
daughter  of  Lewis  and  Sallie  (Alexander) 
Thomas.  The  father  was  a  native  of  Vir- 
ginia, the  mother  of  Georgia.  Subject  was 
the  eldest  of  four  children,  three  of  whom 
are  now  living — Thomas  N.  (our  subject), 
Mary  (wife  of  Ed  "Williams,  of  Arthur, 
Ind.),  and  William,  in  Franklin  County,  111. 
Thomas'  education  was  received  principally 
in  the  subscription  schools  of  his  native 
county,  but  he,  however,  attended  some  free 
schools.  At  the  age  of  nineteen,  he  com- 
menced reading  medicine  at  the  office  of  Dr. 
Z.  G.  Martin,  of  Otwell,  Ind.  He  had  only 
read  with  him  one  year,  when,  the  war 
breaking  out,  he  enlisted  in  the  Fourteenth 
Indiana  Volunteer  Infantry.  He  remained 
out  until  honorably  discharged  on  June  16, 
1864.  Returning  to  Pike  County,  Ind.,  he 
began  clerking  in  a  store  at  Otwell.  He 
only  remained  at  that  place  a  short  time,  and 
then  began  reading  medicine  with  Dr.  Zemus 
Kelso,  of  Ireland,  Ind.  He  studied  with 
this  preceptor  for  about  two  years,  and  then 
went  to  Cincinnati,  where  he  attended  lect- 
ures.    Graduating  from  the  Cincinnati  Col 


lege  of  Medicine  in  1875,  he  immediately 
returned,  and  began  the  practice  of  his  pro- 
fession at  Washington,  Ind.  He,  however, 
only  remained  in  that  place  about  sis  months, 
and  then  came  to  Clay  City,  III,  where  he 
has  since  remained.  At  present  he  has  quite 
an  extensive  practice  over  a  territory  of 
about  twenty-five  square  miles.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Centennial  Medical  Society  of 
Southeastern  Illinois.  Dr.  Lownsdale  was 
married,  January  3,  1877,  in  Stanford  Town- 
ship, Clay  County,  to  Miss  Alice  Bothwell,  a 
daughter  of  Thompson  and  Indiana  (Mabry) 
Bothwell.  The  father  was  a  native  of  Ohio, 
the  mother  of  Tennessee.  Mrs.  Lownsdale 
was  born  in  Stanford  Township,  this  county, 
March  8,  1852,  and  is  the  mother  of  four 
children,  of  whom  three  are  now  living — 
Agnes,  born  June  1,  1878;  Mary,  February 
18,  1883,  and  St.  Claire.  Dr.  Lownsdale  is 
identified  with  the  Democratic  party  in  poli- 
tics. He  is  a  member  of  the  G.  A.  R.,  Clay 
City,  Post  No.  269. 

J.  W.  MANKER,  station  agent.  Clay  City, 
was  born  in  Hillsboro.  Highland  County. 
Ohio,  February  20,  1S41,  and  is  a  son  of 
Jenkins  and  Sarah  (Rogers)  Manker,  natives 
of  the  same  county.  Our  subject  was  the 
second  of  seven  children  of  whom  but 
three  are  now  living — J.  W.  (our  subject), 
Mary  E.  (wife  of  R.  F.  Duff)  and  E.  P.  (now 
with  Allender  &  Duff).  Our  subject's  educa- 
tion was  received  mainly  in  the  common 
schools  of  his  native  town.  When  sixteen 
his  father  moved  to  Clay  County  and  settled 
on  a  farm  south  of  Maysville.  The  father 
resided  there  a  short  time  and  then  came  to 
Clay  City  and  purchased  the  Mound  House, 
which  he  ran  for  about  six  years.  He  next 
embarked  in  the  grain  business  and  con- 
tinued in  that  until  his  health  failed  him. 
since  then  he  has  been  living  a  retired  life. 
In    1S62,    our    subject  commenced    learning 


(LAY   CITY    TOWNSHIP. 


178 


telegraphy  under  W.  C.  Roach,  who  was  then 
station  agent  at  Clay  City.  In  the  fall  of 
1863,  he  was  appointed  to  succeed  Mr.  Roach 
as  agent,  and  has  since  held  that  position 
acceptably  to  both  himself  and  the  company. 
Mr.  Manker  was  married  in  Flora,  111.,  Feb- 
ruary 7,  I860,  to  Miss  Callie  Peak,  a 
daughter  of  William  L.  and  CynthaPeak,  of 
Flora.  One  child  has  blessed  this  union — 
Willie,  who  is  now  in  the  office  with  his 
father  and  acts  as  operator.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Manker  are  both  members  of  the  Clay  City 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  Mr.  Manker 
is  also  a  member  of  Clay  City  Lodge,  No. 
488,  A.  F.  &  A.  M.  In  politics,  he  is  iden- 
tified with  the  Republican  party. 

DANIEL  McCAWLEY,  merchant,  Clay 
City,  is  probably  the  oldest  native  born  resi- 
dent in  this  township.  He  was  born  about  two 
miles  southeast  of  Clay  City,  on  January 
28,  1826,  and  is  a  son  of  John  and  Martha 
(Lacy)  McCawley.  The  parents  are  noticed 
in  the  sketch  of  J.  I.  McCawley  (a  brother 
of  subject),  which  appears  elsewhere  in  this 
work.  His  education  was  received  mostly  in 
the  schools  of  this  county,  but  in  1837  he 
went  to  Jefferson  County,  Ky.,  and  there  re- 
mained with  his  uncle  until  1841,  and  while 
there  he  attended  school  some.  From  Ken 
tucky  he  came  back  to  this  county,  and  as- 
sisted his  father  on  the  farm  until  about 
twenty-five.  Commencing  life  for  himself 
he  first  opened  a  saloon  in  the  old  town  of 
Maysville.  In  1850,  he  began  selling  gro- 
ceries and  dry  goods  at  the  same  point,  and 
carried  on  business  there  until  1857.  The 
town  of  Clay  City  having  been  started  the 
year  before  he  came  to  that  place,  and  has 
since  been  engaged  in  business  there  almost 
ever  since.  His  first  venture  here  was  a  gen- 
eral 9tore,  in  which  he  did  business  until 
1861.  He  then  made  a  contract  with  the 
Commissioners    of    W7ayne   County    to    erect 


some  bridges  iu  that  county.  After  working 
a  few  years  in  that  capacity,  he  began  deal- 
ing in  stock  and  farming  at  Clay  City.  This 
he  has  carried  on  quite  extensively  ever  since, 
and  dow  owns  1,200  acres  is  this  township, 
of  which  there  are  about  500  acres  under  cul- 
tivation. In  1863,  he  began  running  a  saw- 
mill at  Clay  City,  and  afterward  added  a 
grist  mill,  and  has  since  had  an  interest  in 
the  Clay  City  Mills.  Part  of  the  time  the 
premises  have  been  leased  by  other  parties, 
Holman  &  Markle  now  having  it  in  charge. 
In  1878,  he  begau  merchandising  in  Clay 
City,  opening  a  large  hardware  and  imple- 
ment store.  In  this  business  he  is  still  en- 
gaged, and  now  carries  a  stock  of  about 
$3,000.  Mr.  McCawley  was  married  in  this 
county,  February  14.  1856,  to  Mary  F.  Slo- 
cnmb,  a  daughter  of  R.  B.  and  Elizabeth 
(Leech)  Slocumb.  The  father  was  a  native  of 
South  Carolina,  and  settled  in  Wayne  Coun- 
ty in  an  early  day.  He  was  one  of  the  fore- 
most men  in  the  early  history  of  that  county. 
Among  the  offices  to  which  he  was  elected 
were  those  of  Circuit  Judge,  County  Clerk, 
Member  of  Legislature,  and  was  at  one  time 
Lieutenant  Governor.  His  death  occurred  in 
1875.  and  his  loss  was  severely  felt  by  the 
people  in  this  section  of  the  State.  The 
mother  was  a  daughter  of  Mr.  Leech,  who 
was  one  of  the  early  pioneers  of  Wayne 
County,  and  from  whom  Leech  Township  in 
that  county  received  its  name.  Mrs.  Mc- 
Cawley was  born  in  Wayne  County,  Novem- 
ber 15,  1836.  To  her  were  born  six  children, 
four  of  whom  are  now  living,  viz. :  Mary  E., 
born  October  13,  1858,  and  now  the  wife  of 
J.  D.  Kadler,  of  St.  Louis;  John  R.,  born 
December  5,  1860;  Helen  L.,  May  6,  1865; 
Daniel  L.,  April  1,  1868.  This  lady  died  on 
December  24,  187U.  Mr.  McCawley  has  been 
a  strong  Democrat  all  of  his  life,  and  has 
taken  quite  an  active  part   in  politics.     He 


180 


BIOGRAPHIC  A  J.: 


has  served  in  quite  a  number  of  offices.  Was 
Postmaster  from  1852  to  1856,  and  after- 
ward served  as  Deputy  for  a  number  of 
years.  Has  also  been  Justice  of  the  Peace, 
Township  Supervisor  and  Assessor,  member 
of  County  Board  of  Supervisors,  and  has  also 
been  on  the  State  Board  of  Equalization. 
He  is  a  member  of  Olney  Lodge,  No.  140, 
A.,  F.  &  A.  M. 

J.  I.  McCAWLEY,  claim  agent  for  O.  & 
M.  Railroad.  The  gentleman  whose  name 
heads  this  sketch  is  to-day  one  of  the  most 
prominent  men  of  this  part  of  Illinois.  He 
is  a  native  of  this  county,  being  born  about 
two  miles  southeast  of  the  present  village  of 
Clay  City  August  20,  1829.  He  is  a  son  of 
John  L.  and  Martha  (Lacy)  McCawley.  The 
grandfather  of  our  subject,  James  McCawley, 
was  born  in  Scotland.  When  a  young  man, 
he  moved  to  the  North  of  Ireland,  and  there 
married  Sarah  Gilmore.  Soon  after  his  mar- 
riage, he  emigrated  to  the  United  States 
with  two  of  his  brothers.  William,  one  of 
the  brothers,  settled  in  Charleston,  S.  C,  the 
other  in  Virginia.  The  grandfather  came 
West  and  settled  in  Jefferson  County,  Ky. 
There  the  father  was  born  December  24, 
1782.  He  was  one  of  seven  children,  all  of 
whom  are  now  dead.  The  father  remained 
in  Kentucky  until  1810,  and  then  deciding 
to  begin  life  for  himself,  he  started  for 
St.  Louis,  and  had  made  his  way  as  far  north 
as  Clay  County,  when  one  of  his  horses  took 
sick.  The  place  where  he  stopped  was  on 
the  Little  Wabash,  near  the  eastern  edge  of 
the  county.  He  sent  back  to  Kentucky  for 
a  horse,  and  having  to  wait  for  about  ten 
days,  he  fell  in  love  with  the  country.  He 
accordingly  decided  to  locate  where  he  was, 
and  built  a  cabin.  He  thus  made  the  first 
settlement  in  this  part  of  the  State,  there  be- 
ing no  other  white  man  within  about  sixty 
miles.      Here   he   remained    for  some    little 


time,  his  only  companions  being  the  wild 
men  of  the  forest.  In  the  early  part  of  1811, 
he  returned  again  to  civilization,  and  Febru- 
ary 14,  of  that  year,  he  was  united  in  mar- 
riage to  Miss  Martha  Lacy.  This  lady  was 
born  in  Jefferson  County,  Ky. ,  February  14, 
1791.  Her  father  was  a  native  of  Denmark, 
her  mother  of  Pennsylvania.  Not  wishing 
as  yet  to  bring  his  wife  West  until  affairs 
were  a  little  more  civilized,  he  bade  her  good- 
bye, and  again  returned  to  his  lonely  cabin 
on  the  banks  of  the  Wabash.  Here  he  made 
good  friends  with  the  Indians,  and  their 
friendship  for  him  stood  him  to  good  pur- 
pose afterward;  for  at  the  breaking  out  of 
the  war  of  1812,  the  famous  War  Chief 
Tecumseh  marched  down  through  this  part 
of  the  country  on  his  way  to  the  campaign 
in  Indiana;  he  accordingly  sent  forth  a  com- 
mand that  every  white  man  this  side  of  Vin- 
cennes  should  be  murdered.  The  night  be- 
fore the  time  appointed  for  the  massacre,  the 
Indians  came  to  McCawley  and  told  him  of 
it.  They  advised  him  to  start  for  Vincennes, 
where  there  was  a  fort,  and  offered  to  follow 
him,  to  see  that  no  other  Indians  bothered 
him.  He  decided  to  act  upon  their  advice, 
and  the  next  morning  as  soon  as  it  was  day 
he  started  on  his  homeward  journey.  He 
saw  no  one,  neither  friend  nor  foe,  until  he 
was  just  entering  the  fort  at  Vincennes,  when 
he  heard  a  war  whoop.  Turning  around  he 
saw  the  same  Indians  who  had  given  him  the 
warning  the  night  before  ride  out  from  the 
brush,  wave  their  hands,  and  then  turning 
their  horses  toward  the  setting  sun  they  dis- 
appeared. Having  been  protected  thus  far, 
he  made  his  way  as  fast  as  possible  to  his 
home  in  Kentucky.  In  that  State  he  re- 
mained until  1816,  when,  accompanied  by  his 
family,  he  again  came  to  Clay  County,  and 
settled  in  his  former  cabin.  He  immediately 
pre-empted  160  acres  of  land,  afterward  pay- 


CLAY    CITY    TOWNSHIP. 


181 


ing  $2.50  per  acre  for  it.  This  he  finally 
increased  to  about  1,500  acres.  Besides 
farming,  he  carried  on  a  little  store  for  a 
number  of  years,  and  made  a  good  deal  of 
money  trading  with  the  Indians.  In  early 
days,  he  was  a  Henry  Clay  Whig,  but  after 
ward  became  a  stanch  Democrat.  He  was 
never  much  of  a  politician,  and  the  only 
office  he  ever  held  was  that  of  County  Com- 
missioner in  the  early  days.  His  death  oc- 
curred May  25,  1854,  that  of  his  wife  October 
14,  1844,  and  thus  passed  away  the  earliest 
pioneers  of  this  county.  Subject  was  the 
next  to  the  youngest  of  a  family  of  ten  chil- 
dren, of  whom  but  three  are  now  living — 
Arthur  (now  in  Texas),  Daniel  L.  (in  this 
county,  and  whose  sketch  appears  elsewhere 
in  this  book)  and  J.  I.  (our  subject).  The 
latter' s  education  was  received  in  the  sub- 
scription schools  of  this  county.  He  re- 
mained at  home  with  his  father  until  1853, 
when  he  came  to  the  old  town  of  Maysville 
and  commenced  business  for  himself.  His 
first  venture  was  that  of  a  grocery  store, 
which  he  ran  until  1856.  In  that  year  the 
Ohio  &  Mississippi  Eailroad  having  been 
surveyed  through  this  county,  about  a  mile 
north  of  the  old  town  of  Maysville,  he  came 
to  the  new  town  of  Clay  City,  which  was 
then  in  its  infancy,  and  opened  a  general 
store.  He  also  accepted  the  position  of  the 
first  station  agent  at  this  point,  for  the  O.  & 
M.  Eailroad,  and  in  this  connection  we  might 
say  that  ever  since  Mr.  McCawley  has  been 
in  the  employ  of  the  road  in  some  capacity 
or  another.  He,  however,  followed  merchan- 
dising in  Clay  City  until  1876,  and  then 
accepted  the  position  of  general  claim  agent 
for  the  railroad;  this  position  he  has  held 
ever  since,  and  the  administration  of  the  of- 
fice has  been  both  acceptable  to  the  com- 
pany and  to  the  general  public.  He  also 
owns  about  200  acres  of  land  and  has  farm- 


ing carried  on  quite  extensively.  In  the  old 
town  of  Maysville,  May  17,  1856,  Mr.  Mc- 
Cawley was  married  to  Miss  Maria  L.  Moore. 
This  lady  was*  the  daughter  of  Green  and 
Sarah  (Shannon)  Moore;  the  parents  were  born 
in  North  Carolina,  and  are  still  living  in  that 
State.  For  a  number  of  years,  however,  they 
were  residents  of  East  Tennessee,  and  there 
Mrs.  McCawley  was  born  February  9.  1840. 
To  her  have  been  born  seven  children,  all  of 
whom  are  now  living — Arthur  H.,  born  May 
19,  1857;  Sarah  L.,  born  December  7,  1858, 
now  the  wife  of  John  T.  Baird,  of  Olney, 
111.;  Martha  M.,  born  July  31,  1863,  now  the 
wife  of  Dr.  T.  J.  Eads,  of  Washington,  Ind. ; 
Mina  J.,  born  June  25,  1865;  John  G.,  born 
March  15,  1871;  Mary  E.,  born  September 
9.  1873;  Lewis  W..  February  24,  1876.  Mr. 
McCawley  is  a  strong  Democrat,  but  owing 
to  his  official  position  he  does  not  take  an 
active  part  in  politics.  He  is  a  member  of 
Clay  City  Lodge,  No.  488,  A.  F.  &  A.  M. 
Mrs.  McCawley  and  her  three  older  children 
are  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  South. 

E.  McGILTON.  lawyer,  Clay  City,  was  born 
in  Belmont  County.  Ohio.  January  6,  1838, 
and  is  a  son  of  Philip  and  Hannah  (Perkins) 
McGilton.  The  father  was  born  in  Ohio,  and 
died  when  subject  was  but  four  years  of  age. 
The  mother  was  a  native  of  Belmont  County, 
that  State,  her  father  having  come  from 
Scotland  in  an  early  day.  To  her  were  born 
three  children,  of  whom  subject  was  the 
second,  and  the  only  one  now  living.  Jehu, 
one  of  the  children,  died  in  Anderson vi  He 
Prison  in  1864.  Mr.  McGilton's  education 
was  obtained  in  both  the  free  and  subscrip- 
tion schools  of  his  native  county.  At  the 
age  of  fifteen,  he  commenced  to  learn  the 
shoe-maker's  trade,  and  followed  it  until 
1859.  In  that  year  he  commenced  to  read 
law  with  Mr.  Eli  Headlay,  of  Cameron,  Mon- 


182 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


roe  Co.,  Ohio.  He  studied  with  that  gentle- 
man until  October,  1861,  when  he  was  ad- 
milted  to  practice  in  the  courts  of  Ohio.  He 
soon  after  came  to  Clay  City,  111.,  where  he 
has  since  resided.  He  is  the  only  resident 
attorney  at  this  point,  and  practices  in  Jus- 
tices', County  and  State  Courts.  Mr.  McGil- 
tou  has  been  married  three  times.  The  first 
marriage  took  place  in  Monroe  County,  Ohio, 
in  January,  1860.  The  bride  was  Miss  Mary 
Jane  Cathell,  a  daughter  of  Putnam  Cathell, 
a  native  of  New  Jersey.  To  this  lady  were 
born  three  children,  two  of  whom  are  now 
living — Charles  A.  and  Laura  B.  She  died 
in  November,  1870.  On  December  15,  1872, 
he  was  married  the  second  time  to  Miss 
Rachel  Brummet,  a  daughter  of  Lewis  Brum- 
met,  of  Indiana.  This  union  resulted  in  two 
children,  both  of  whom  are  now  dead,  and  the 
mother  also  died  in  the  fall  of  1876.  Mr. 
McOilton  was  married  the  third  time,  in  Clay 
City  Township,  on  August  10,  1878,  to  Miss 
Ph«be  Chaney,  a  daughter  of  Abel  and 
Christina  Chaney.  Both  parents  were  natives 
of  Pennsylvania.  Two  children  blessed  this 
marriage,  one  of  whom,  Leonidas  L. ,  is  now 
living.  This  child  was  born  on  August  20, 
1882.  Subject  has  been  identified  with  the 
Democratic  party  through  life.  He  has  not 
been  a  seeker  for  office,  but  has  given  his  at- 
tention principally  to  his  own  affairs.  He  has 
however  served  a  number  of  terms  as  Town 
Clerk  and  is  also  Notary  Public.  He  is  con- 
nected with  the  Southern  Methodist  Church, 
and  is  also  a  member  of  Clay  City  Lodge, 
No.  384,  I.  O.  O.  F. ;  is  at  present  serving 
as  Noble  Grand  of  the  lodge. 

ISRAEL  MILLS,  stock  dealer,  Clay  City, 
was  born  in  Tuscarawas  County,  Ohio,  April 
18,  1843,  a  son  of  Jonathan  and  Sarah 
(Downing)  Mills.  The  parents  were  both 
natives  of  Ohio.  On  the  father's  side  the 
ancestors  were  natives  of  Pennsylvania;  those 


of  the  mother  were  natives  of  Virginia.  Both 
families  emigrated  to  Ohio  in  an  early  day. 
Subject  was  the  sixth  of  twelve  children,  and 
of  this  number  six  are  now  living.  The 
father  is  dead;  the  mother  is  still  living 
on  the  old  homestead  in  Ohio.  The 
free  schools  of  Ohio  furnished  subject 
his  means  of  education,  and  he  rendered 
what  assistance  he  could  on  his  father's 
farm  until  his  majority.  In  October,  1865, 
he  came  to  Clay  City,  111.,  where  he  has  since 
resided.  In  this  town  his  first  business  was 
that  of  a  stock  trader  and  dealer.  At  present 
he  handles  about  2,500  head  of  hogs,  1,500 
head  of  cattle,  and  about  2,000  head  of 
sheep  per  year.  In  1872,  he  commenced 
merchandising  with  the  firm  of  Bagwell, 
Evans  &  Co.,  and  remained  in  that  establish- 
ment until  1S79.  Mr.  Mills  also  farms  quite 
extensively,  owning  about  740  acres  of  land, 
of  which  580  acres  are  in  Clay  City  Town- 
ship, the  rest  in  Stanford  Township.  Of  the 
whole,  there  are  about  700  acres  in  cultiva- 
tion. Mr.  Mills  was  married  in  this  county, 
September  10,  1867,  to  Miss  Elizabeth  Bag- 
well, a  daughter  of  Thomas  and  Cina  (White- 
man)  Bagwell,  who  were  very  early  settlers  of 
this  county.  Mrs.  Mills  was  born  August  24, 
1848,  in  Clay  City  Township,  and  is  the 
mother  of  two  children — Edna,  born  July  2, 
1870;  James  B.,  born  October  22,  1881. 
Subject  enlisted  June  3,  1862,  in  Company 
K  of  the  Eighty-seventh  Regiment  Ohio 
Volunteer  Infantry,  and  served  until  taken 
prisoner  at  the  battle  of  Harper's  Ferry. 
Was  afterward  paroled,  and  discharged  Octo- 
ber 3,  1862.  June  29,  1863,  he  re-enlisted 
in  Company  B  of  the  One  Hundred  and 
Twenty-  ninth  Regiment  Ohio  Volunteer  In- 
fantry, and  served  in  that  company  until  the 
expiration  of  time,  March  5,  1864.  He 
re  enlisted  the  third  time,  September  2,  1864, 
in  Company  H  of  the  One  Hundred  and  Sev- 


CLAY  CITY  TOWNSHIP. 


183 


enty- eighth  Regiment  Ohio  Volunteer  In- 
fantry, and  served  until  the  close  of  the  war, 
being  honorably  discharged  June  29,  1865. 
Mis.  Mills  is  a  member  of  Clay  City  Chris- 
tian Church.  Mr.  Mills  is  a  member  of 
Clay  City  Lodge,  N  o.  488,  A.,  F.  &  A.  M. 
He  has  been  a  life-long  Republican,  and  has 
held  numerous  offices  of  trust  and  profit,  hav- 
ing served  as  member  of  Board  of  Supervis- 
ors, School  Trustee  and  Collector. 

ROBERT  MOSELEY,  farmer,  R  O.  Clay 
City.  The  gentleman  whose  name  heads 
this  sketch  was  born  in  Buckingham  County, 
Ya..  about  thirty  miles  from  where  Gen.  Lee 
surrendered,  on  March  23,  1813.  He  is  a 
son  of  Arthur  and  Nancy  (Watkins)  Moseley. 
The  grandfather  of  our  subject  was  of  En- 
glish descent,  and  came  to  the  country  in  an 
early  day.  Our  subject  was  the  fifth  of 
eight  children,  of  whom  but  three  are  now 
living,  viz.:  Arthur,  in  Virginia;  Edward, 
in  Missouri,  and  Robert  (our  subject).  The 
subscription  schools  of  his  native  county  fur- 
nished his  education.  His  father  died  when 
he  was  quite  young,  but  he  remained  at  home 
with  his  mother  until  about  twenty-two.  In 
1836,  he  came  West,  and  first  went  to  St. 
Louis,  where  his  brother  was  then  living. 
In  1837,  he  came  to  this  county,  and  worked 
as  a  carpenter  on  the  bridges  that  were  then 
being  built  across  the  Little  Wabash  and 
Big  Muddy.  From  this  he  worked  at  his 
trade  in  and  around  Maysville  for  a  number 
of  years.  In  1841,  he  settled  on  a  farm, 
about  two  miles  south  of  Maysville.  There 
he  resided  until  1847,  and  then  again  came 
to  Maysville,  and  turned  his  attention  to 
farming.  The  next,  however,  he  settled  on 
a  farm  in  what  is  now  Stanford  Township; 
he  resided  on  different  farms  in  that  town- 
ship until  1857,  when  he  came  to  his  pres- 
ent farm.  He  now  owns  200  acres,  situated 
in  Sections   11,    13  and  15,    of  Township  2 


north.  Range  8  east.  Has  about  120  acres  in 
cultivation.  Mr.  Moseley  was  married,  Julj 
10,  1841,  in  this  township,  to  Miss  Elizabeth 
Test,  a  daughter  of  Benjamin  and  Mary 
(Schooley)  Test,  natives  of  Ohio.  She  was 
the  mother  of  three  children  (none  of  whom 
are  now  living),  and  her  death  occurred  on 
March  17,  1847.  In  this  township,  on  April 
18,  1848,  subject  was  married  the  second 
time  to  Miss  Susan  Davis.  This  lady  was 
the  daughter  of  John  Davis,  a  native  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  to  her  was  born  five  chil- 
dren, one  of  whom  only  is  now  living,  John 
A.,  in  Kansas.  Her  death  took  place  on 
January  24,  1857.  Mr.  Moseley  was  married 
the  third  time  on  November  12,  1857,  to 
Mrs.  Judith  E.  Dark,  a  daughter  of  Jeremiah 
and  Judith  (Biby)  Webb.  Mrs.  Moseley  was 
born  in  Shelby  County,  Ky.,  on  August  31, 
1824,  and  is  the  mother  of  four  children  (by 
her  present  husband),  but  two  of  whom  are 
now  living — Cloyd  B.  (at  home),  and  Lloyd  P. 
in  Kansas.  Mr.  Moseley  was  a  soldier  in  the 
late  war,  enlisting  from  this  county  in  De- 
cember, 1863,  in  Company  D,  of  the  Fifth 
Illinois  Cavalry.  After  but  nine  months' 
campaign,  he  was  wounded  at  the  battle  of 
CantoQ,  Miss.,  being  shot  in  the  leg,  and  was 
honorably  discharged.  Our  subject  has  held 
many  offices  of  trust  and  profit  since  he  has 
been  a  resident  of  this  county.  He  is  now 
serving  on  his  fourth  term  as  Justice  of  the 
Peace,  and  has  also  served  as  Supervisor,  Dep- 
uty Sheriff,  Constable,  etc.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Moseley  are  both  members  of  the  Clay  City 
Christian  Church.  In  politics,  Mr.  Moseley 
is  a  strong  Republican. 

JOHN  SUNDAY,  farmer,  P.  O.  Clay  City, 
was  born  in  Dover  County,  Penn.,  March  5, 
1824,  and  is  a  son  of  Peter  and  Catherine 
(Stover)  Sunday.  The  great-grandfather  of 
our  subject  came  from  Germany  and  settled 
in  Pennsylvania,  where   the  grandfather  and 


184 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


father  were  both  born.  Subject  was  the  fifth 
of  nine  children,  of  whom  seven  are  now  liv- 
ing. When  subject  was  about  twelve  years 
old,  his  father  moved  to  York  County,  where 
the  former  i-eceived  his  education.  He  re- 
mained at  home  with  his  father  until  about 
eighteen,  and  then  worked  out  for  different 
farmers  until  1852,  when  he  moved  to  Cham- 
paign County,  Ohio.  There  he  followed  car- 
pentering for  some  years,  and  then  turned  his 
attention  to  farming.  In  1872,  he  came  to 
Clay  County,  111.,  and  settled  on  his  present 
farm.  He  now  owns  about  285  acres  in  Sec- 
tion 5,  of  Township  2   north,  Range  7  east. 


Has  about  240  acres  in  cultivation  Mr. 
Sunday  was  married  in  York  County,  Penn., 
December  15.  1847,  to  Miss  Ann  Harmon. 
This  lady  is  the  daughter  of  Samuel  and 
Mary  (Prowl)  Harmon,  and  was  born  in  1831. 
This  union  has  resulted  in  ten  ohildren, 
eight  of  whom  are  now  living,  viz  :  Will- 
iam (in  Champaign  County,  Ohio),  Clayton, 
Joseph,  Molly  (wife  of  John  Hussleton.  of 
Stanford  Township),  Franklin,  Sarah,  Mis- 
souri and  George.  Mr.  Sunday  has  been  a 
life-long  Democrat.  He  has  been  no  office 
seeker,  but  has  served  in  one  or  two  positions, 
among  which  we  mention  Road  Overseer. 


HOOSIER  TOWNSHIP 


GEORGE  C.  BARLOW,  farmer  and  stock- 
raiser,  P.  0.  Sailor  Springs.  This  enterprising 
young  man  is  a  native  of  Crawford  County, 
111.,  and  was  born  November  8,  1850.  His 
father, William  Barlow  (deceased),  was  also  born 
in  Crawford  County,  November  28,  1821,  and 
died  there  October  12,  1867.  Mr.  Barlow  was 
brought  up  on  his  father's  farm,  and  received  a 
common  school  education  in  his  native  county. 
He  came  to  Clay  County  in  December,  1880, 
and  settled  on  his  present  beautiful  farm  of  160 
acres  on  Section  12.  He  was  married,  March, 
24,  1874,  to  Miss  Ursula  Eaton,  daughter  of 
James  H.  Eaton,  of  Crawford  County,  111.  She 
was  also  born  in  Crawford  County*,  and  was  a 
schoolmate  of  her  husband  in  childhood. 

ALEXANDERS.  BOWEN,  physician,  Sailor 
Springs,  is  a  native  of  Shakertown,  Knox  Co., 
Ind.,  and  was  born  July  12,  1849.  His  father, 
William  R.  Bowen  (deceased),  was  a  native  of 
Middle  Tennessee,  and  settled  in  Shakertown 
in  1848.  Our  subject  was  educated  in  the 
University  at  Vincennes,  Ind.    He  obtained  his 


medical  education  at  Bellevue  Medical  Col- 
lege, graduating  from  that  place  in  1877.  He 
came  to  Clark  County,  111.,  the  same  year,  and 
in  1880  came  to  Sailor  Springs,  where  he  prac- 
tices successfully  in  the  summer  seasons,  spend-, 
ing  his  winters  as  Assistant  Physician  in 
Charity  Hospital,  New  Orleans.  The  Doctor  is 
a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity. 

WILLIAM  P.  BYRNE,  farmer,  P.  0.  Ingra- 
ham,  was  born  in  Braxton  County,  W.  Va., 
March  16,  1838,  and  is  the  son  of  Samuel 
Byrne  (deceased),  a  native  of  Virginia  also. 
Mr.  Byrne  has  spent  the  most  of  his  life  on  the 
farm.  In  his  boyhood  he  had  no  educational 
advantages,  save  those  afforded  by  a  subscrip- 
tion school.  He  went  to  Kentucky  with  his 
widowed  mother  about  the  year  1850,  where 
he  remained  until  1852,  and  came  to  Clay 
County  and  has  since  made  this  his  home, 
except  five  years  in  Missouri  and  one  year  in 
Kansas.  He  was  a  soldier  for  the  Union  in  the 
late  war,  in  Company  E,  Sixth  Regiment  111- 
nois  Cavalry.       He  resides  on  Section  1,  where 


H00S1ER   TOWNSHIP 


185 


he  now  owns  96  acres  of  valuable  land.  In 
1854,  he  married  Eveline  Burns,  by  whom  he 
had  eleven  children,  ten  living,  viz.,  James 
Mac,  Samuel  P.,  David  W.,  Miranda  J.,  Ada 
E.,  Olive  E.,  Mollie,  Sarah  0.,  William  H.  and 
Joseph  B.  Mrs.  Byrne  died  in  1877,  and  he 
again  married  in  1881;  this  time  to  Mrs.  Han- 
nah Jenner,  by-  whom  he  has  one  child,  viz., 
Rolla.  Mrs.  Byrne  had  five  children  by  her 
first  husband,  viz.,  Lula,  Effle,  Herbert,  Allen 
and  Harry  Jenner. 

ALFRED  CAMBRON,  farmer,  P.  0.  Ingra- 
ham,  is  a  native  of  Lawrence  County,  Ind.,  and 
was  born  in  May,  1842.  His  father,  Charles 
Cambron  (deceased ),  was  a  native  of  Kentucky. 
Mr.  Cambron  spent  his  early  life  on  the  farm, 
and  attended  the  common  schools.  At  the 
breaking-out  of  the  late  war,  he  felt  that  his 
country  needed  his  services,  and  he  therefore 
enlisted  May  13,  1861,  in  Company  A,  Twenty- 
fourth  Regiment  Indiana  Volunteer  Infantry. 
He  served  through  the  entire  struggle,  not  hav- 
ing been  discharged  until  the  15th  day  of  No- 
vember, 1865.  He  was  on  detached  duty  all 
the  time,  serving  most  of  the  time  as  wagon 
master.  The  Government  officers  were  loath  to 
let  him  go  when  discharged,  and  he  served  in 
that  capacity  for  four  months  as  an  employe 
after  receiving  his  discharge.  Mr.  Cambron  is 
a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity.  He  was 
married,  May  20,  1873,  to  Mary  Neugent.  a 
daughter  of  Benedict  Neugent  They  have 
four  children — Laura,  Charley,  Lula  and  John. 

ALFRED  CONLEY,  farmer,  P.  0.  Hoosier 
Prairie,  was  born  in  Hoosier  Township,  this 
county,  April  23,  1841,  and  is  a  son  of  Henry 
Conley  (deceased),  a  native  of  Ashe  County,  N. 
C.,  who  came  to  Clay  County  as  early  as  1837. 
Mr.  Conley  was  brought  up  on  the  old  home- 
stead, and  attended  the  common  schools  and 
the  Mitchell  (Ind.)  Seminary.  He  was  a  soldier 
for  Uncle  Sam  in  the  late  war,  in  Company  A, 
Ninety-eighth  Regiment  Illinois  Volunteer  In- 
fantry ;     was    a    member  of   the   noted    Gen. 


Wilder's  brigade,  and  participated  in  the  bat- 
tles of  Buzzard  Roost,  Chickamauga,  all  of  the 
Atlanta  campaign,  and  even  on  Wilson's  raid 
through  Alabama  and  Georgia.  It  was  a  part 
of  his  division  that  captured  Jeff  Davis,  and 
Mr.  Conley  was  present  at  Macon,  Ga.,  when 
the  rebel  chieftain  was  brought  in.     Our  sub- 

:  ject  owns  160  acres  of  land,  and  is  engaged 
in  farming  and  stock-raising.  He  also  owns 
and  runs  successfully  a  steam-power  vibrator 
thresher.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Ancient 
Order  of  United  Workmen,  and  of  the  Baptist 
Church.  He  was  married,  December  26,  1865, 
to  Mary  A.,  daughter  of  Isom  Toliver  (de- 
ceased).    She  is  a  native  of  Lawrence  County, 

!  Ind. 

ELI  G.  EDWARDS,  farmer,  P.  O.  Louis- 
ville, was  born  in  Lawrence  County,  Ind., 
December  26,  1842.  His  father,  William 
Edwards,  of  Lawrence  Count}-,  Ind.,  is 
a  native  of  Kentucky.  Our  subject  was 
brought  up  on  his  father's  farm,  and  attended 
the  common  schools  of  his  native  county.  He 
was  a  soldier  for  Uncle  Sam  in  the  late  war, 
in  Company  H,  Sixty- seventh  Regiment  In- 
diana Volunteer  Infantry,  and  participated  in 
the  battles  of  Mumfordsville,  Ky.,  Vicksburg, 
Arkansas  Post,  Grand  Gulf,  Port  Gibson, 
Champion  Hill  and  others.  He  received  a  gun- 
shot wound  in  the  arm  and  one  in  the  neck  at 
Champion  Hill.  Miss.,  for  which  he  now  draws 
a  pension.  He  came  to  this  county  in  Septem- 
ber. 1864.  He  was  married  March  7,  1865,  to 
Emma,  daughter  of  Alexander  Wilson  (de- 
ceased). They  had  two  children — Melodia 
(deceased)  and  Lottie.  Mr.  Edwards  held  the 
office  of  Township  Collector  for  Hoosier  Town- 
ship for  one  terra.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Grand  Army  of  the  Republic. 

CRAWFORD  ERWIN,  farmer.  P.  0.  Louis- 
ville.    The  subject  of  this   memoir  is  one  of 
Hoosier  Township's  best  and  most  prominent 
farmers.      He  is  a  native  of  Lawrence  County, 
Ind.,  and  was  born,  April  19,  1818.    His  father. 


180 


BIOGRAPHICAL. 


William    Erwin    (deceased),  was    a    native  of 
North  Carolina,  and  brought  his  family  to  Clay 
County  in  October,    1832,  where  he  died  Au- 
gust 4,1837,  and  was  the  first  person  buried  in 
the  Erwin  Cemetery.       The  land  occupied  by 
this  cemetery  was  once  selected  by  him  for  a 
building  site,  bat  he  afterward  changed  his  mind 
in  regard  to  it,  and  upon  his  death  his  friends 
buried  him  there.     Mr.  Erwin  was  brought  up 
among  the  deer  and  other  wild  animals,  and 
hence  early  learned  the  use  of  fire-arms.     He 
has  killed  many  a  deer  and  other  wild  game. 
At  one  time,  upon  returning  home  from  taking 
his  grandmother  to  his  aunt's,  he  saw  a  herd 
of  seven  deer.      He  at  once  brought  his  gun  to 
his    shoulder   (for  they    always   carried   guns 
then),  and  fired  without  getting  off  the  horse. 
The  ball  passed  entirely  through  the  deer  he 
had  shot  at,  and  entered  another  one  just  in  the 
rear,  killing  both  of  them.     This  was  a  wonder- 
ful feat  for  a  boy.     In  1837,  Mr.  Erwin  married 
Eliza  A.  Craig,  daughter  of  Adam   Craig  (de- 
ceased), an  early  settler  of  this  county.     They 
had  seven  children,  of  whom  but  three  are  liv- 
ing,   viz.,    John,  Lafayette  and   Elizabeth  A. 
Their  eldest  son,  Capt.  William  Erwin,  Captain 
of  Company  D,  Eleventh  Regiment  Missouri 
Volunteer  Infantry,  during  the  war,  was  killed 
in  front  of  Spanish  Fort,  Ala.,  while  heroically 
leading  his   men  on   to  victory.     Mrs.   Erwin 
died  in  February.  1855,  and  Mr.  Erwin  again 
married,  July  3  of  the  same  year  ;    this  time 
to  Mrs.  Rachel  Milligau.       By  her  he  has  had 
five  children,  two  of  whom  are  living — Auge- 
line   and  Edward   Everett.     Mr.    Erwin  owns 
347  acres  of  land  and  resides  on  Section  4.  He 
is    a    member    of    the  Methodist     Protestant 
Church,  and  of  the  Masonic  order.      For  ten 
years  he  held  the  office  of  Justice  of  the  Peace, 
and  also  has  held  other  offices  of  trust. 

ELIJAH  P.  GIBSON,  physician,  Hoosier 
Prairie,  was  born  in  Floyd  County,  Ind.,  June 
10,  1850.  His  father,  Jesse  Gibson  (deceased), 
was  also  a  native  of  Floyd  County.  He  was 
brought  up  on  the  farm,  and  educated  in  the 


graded  schools  of  Mitchell,  Ind.  In  1878,  he 
graduated  from  the  Louisville  Hospital  Medical 
College,  at  Louisville,  Ky.  He  was  Assistant 
Surgeon  in  the  Indiana  State  Hospital  at  Jef- 
fersonville,  Ind.,  for  one  year,  when  he  re- 
moved to  Mitchell,  Ind.,  and  practiced  there 
two  years,  and  in  the  spring  of  1 8S1  came  to 
Hoosier  Prairie,  where  he  has  built  up  a  large 
practice.  He  has  built  a  neat  brick  office,  and 
also  has  been  appointed  Postmaster  and  keeps 
the  post  office  in  this  office.  The  Doctor  is  a 
member  of  the  Indiana,  Illinois  and  Kentucky 
Tri-State  Medical  Society,  of  the  Indiana  State 
Medical  Society,  and  of  the  Lawrence  (Ind.) 
District  Medical  Society. 

DEMPSY  HARRISON,  farmer,  P.  0.  Clay 
City,   was    bom    in    North    Carolina,    March 
26,  1826,   and   is  a   son   of  John  G.  Harrison 
(deceased),  who  removed  with    his    family  to 
East  Tennessee  when  our  subject  was  an  in- 
fant.    They  afterward  resided  in  West  Tennes- 
see, Kentucky,  and  in  Illinois,  near  Shawnee- 
town.     While  residing  at  the  latter  place,  the 
mother  died,  and  the  family  returned  to  Ken- 
tucky, where  the  father  died,  near  Paducah, 
about   the  year  1835.     Dempsy  then  went  to 
live  with  his  half-brother,  Henry  Hill,  in  Da- 
viess County,  Ind.     He  had  but  limited  educa- 
tional advantages,   which  consisted  of   a  few 
terms  taught  by   subscription    in    a  rude  log 
house  with  split    pole   seats,   and  a    chimney 
built  (from  the  joists  to  the  roof)  of  sticks  and 
clay.      The  tire-place    consisted    of   a   square 
place   cut  in  the  floor  and  filled  with  dirt,  on 
which  a  heap  of  logs  were  piled,  and  the  ur- 
chins stood  all  round  it  to  warm  themselves- 
Mr.  Harrison  has  been   successful  as  a  farmer 
and  stock-raiser,  and   now  owns  240  acres  of 
land.     He  was  married.  November  13,  1845,  to 
Elizabeth  Megehee,  by  whom  he  has  had  seven 
children,  riv<-  living — John  G.,  Martha  A.,  Mary 
E.,  William  H.  and  James  M.     Mr.  Harrison 
came  to  t.his  county  in  1872.     He  is  a  member 
of  the  Baptist  Church. 

JOHN  M.  JONES,  farmer,  stock-raiser  and 


HOOSIER  TOWNSHIP. 


187 


sorghum  manufacturer,  Sec.  21,  P.  0.  Hoosier 
Prairie,  was  born  in  Clinton  County,  Ky..  No- 
vember 22, 1832.  His  father,  Wilson  L.  Jones, 
resides  in  Clinton  County,  Ky.  Mr.  Jones  at- 
tended a  subscription  school  a  short  time,  but 
received  his  early  education  mostly  between 
tlie  plow  handles.  He  was  for  the  Union  dur- 
ing the  war,  and  a  member  of  the  Kentucky 
Home  Guards,  but  was  compelled  to  leave  his 
home.  The  United  States  Government  gave 
him  a  free  pass  to  Gosport,  Ind.,  in  August, 
1 8 1 '. 4 .  He  there  made  a  crop  in  1865,  and  the 
following  fall  came  to  Christian  County,  111., 
where  he  farmed  until  October,  1878,  when  he 
came  to  this  township,  and  settled  on  the  old 
Henry  Conley  place,  where  he  is  paying  con- 
siderable attention  to  raising  good  hogs,  gen- 
eral farming,  and  the  manufacture  of  sorghum 
molasses.  His  molasses  is  pronounced  extra 
good  by  competent  judges.  He  is  also  a  black- 
smith by  trade,  and  still  does  something  in 
that  line.  He  has  built  a  nice  new  house,  and 
is  making  other  substantial  improvements, 
which  speak  well  for  his  enterprise.  He  owns 
128  acres  of  land.  Mr.  Jones  is  a  Deacon  in 
the  Baptist  Church.  He  was  married,  Decem- 
ber 9,  1855,  to  Nancy  J.  Kelsey,  a  daughter  of 
William  Kelsey.  They  have  had  fourteen  chil- 
dren, eleven  living — William  W.,  Ollie  A.,  John 
G.,  Abner  W.,  Bennett  N..  Exonea  B.,  Minnie 
M.,  Charley  M.,  Lillie  J.,  Delia  M.  and  Ida  A. 
JOHN  C.  LOUGH,  farmer.  P.  O.  Sailor 
Springs,  was  born  in  Braxton  County.  Va.,  May 
8,  1836,  and  is  a  son  of  Peter  Lough  (deceased), 
a  native  of  Virginia,  who  brought  his  family  to 
Clay  County  in  1839,  and  settled  in  Pixley 
Township,  where  he  died  in  1860.  Our  sub- 
ject was  a  soldier  in  the  late  war,  in  Company 
H,  Twenty-sixth  Regiment  Illinois  Volunteer 
Infantry,  and  participated  in  the  battles  of 
Savannah,  Atlanta,  Island  No.  10,  Corinth, 
Vicksburg,  Jackson,  and  was  with  "Sherman 
to  the  sea."  He  was  taken  prisoner  at  Col- 
liersville,    Tenn.,    while    on    picket   duty.     In 


1872,  Mr.  Lough  went  to  Jewell  County,  Kan., 
and  returned  in  1876  ;  and  since  that  time  has 
resided  in  Hoosier  Township,  having  lived 
prior  to  that  in  Pixie}'.  He  owns  120  acres  of 
laud,  and  is  engaged  in  farming,  carpentering 
and  bridge-building.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Methodist  Church.  He  married  Elizabeth 
West  in  September,  1856.  They  have  had  five 
children,  two  living,  Ezra  and  Edward.  A 
daughter  and  son,  Alice  and  Andrew,  died  at 
the  ages  of  twenty  and  thirteen  years  respect- 
ively. 

WILSON  H.  MAHON,  physician,  Sailor 
Springs,  was  born  in  Fayette  County,  111.,  June 
26,  1853.  and  is  a  son  of  Jeduthan  Mahon,  of 
Fayette  County,  and  a  native  of  Virginia.  Our 
subject  spent  his  boyhood  days  on  the  farm, 
and  received  an  education  at  the  towns  of 
Westfield  and  Carthage,  111.  He  graduated 
from  the  American  Medical  College  at  St.  Louis, 
Mo.,  in  the  spring  of  1880.  He  practiced  one 
year  in  St.  Louis,  then  went  to  New  Mexico 
and  practiced  a  year,  when  he  came  to  Kin- 
mundy.  111.,  and  formed  a  partnership  with  Dr. 
W.  O.  Smith  in  the  practice  of  medicine,  re- 
maining there  until  the  spring  of  1883.  He 
then  located  permanently  at  Sailor  Springs  (by 
request  of  the  proprietors  of  the  Springs), 
where  he  is  building  up  a  good  practice.  He 
built  a  large  drug  store  and  hall  at  this  place 
in  the  fall  of  1883. 

CALVIN  MOORE,  farmer,  P.  O.  Hoosier 
Prairie,  was  born  in  Hawkins  County,  Tenn., 
September  12,  1821,  and  is  a  son  of  William 
Moore  (deceased),  a  native  of  Botetourt  County, 
Va.  Our  subject  has  spent  his  life  on  the 
farm.  His  education  was  obtained  in  a  sub- 
scription school,  taught  in  a  log  cabin,  with 
split  pole  seats,  puncheon  floor,  clapboard  roof, 
and  a  stick  and  clay  chimney  at  each  end.  In 
1864,  he  came  to  Clay  County,  where  he  has 
since  resided.  He  owns  275  acres  of  land,  re- 
sides on  Section  14.  and  is  engaged  in  farming 
and   stock-raising.     Mr.   Moore   has  filled  the 


188 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


offices  of  Collector,  Assessor  and  School  Trus- 
tee to  the  satisfaction  of  the  people.  In  relig- 
ion, he  is  a  Methodist.  He  was  married  in 
1847  to  Catharine  Jenkins,  a  daughter  of 
Matthew  Jenkins  (deceased).  They  have  had 
twelve  children  born  to  them,  eight  of  whom 
are  living — William  H.,  Mary  E.,  Louisa  M., 
Sarah  J.,  James  A.,  John  C,  Andrew  A.  and 
Rosella  S.  One  son,  Elbert  M.,  died  at  the  age 
of  twenty-six  years,  leaving  a  wife  and  one 
child. 

WILLIAM  NICHOLS,  farmer,  P.  O.  Ingra- 
ham,  was  born  in  Posey  Count}',  Ind.,  October 
7,  1827,  and  is  a  son  of  William  Nichols  (de- 
ceased ),  a  native  of  Bristol,  England,  who  came 
with  a  colony  that  located  in  Edwards  Count}', 
111.,  about  the  year  1820.  He  afterward  re- 
moved to  Posey  County,  Ind.  Mr.  Nichols 
came  to  this  county  in  1866,  where  he  now  lives; 
owns  140  acres  of  laud,  and  is  engaged  in  gen- 
eral farming.  He  was  married,  January  25, 
1857,  to  Miss  Sarah  Byrne,  a  daughter  of  Sam- 
uel Byrne  (deceased),  and  a  sister  of  William 
P.  Byrne,  of  this  township,  of  whom  we  make 
further  mention  elsewhere  in  this  work.  Mrs. 
Nichols  is  a  faithful  housewife  and  true  help- 
meet to  her  husband.  She  has  done  her  part 
in  securing  and  beautifying  their  neat  home. 
They  have  two  children — Alfred  L.  and  Will- 
iam A.  Alfred  is  a  prominent  school  teacher 
in  northern  Claj-  County,  and  resides  on  a  part 
of  the  homestead. 

CALEB  ODELL,  farmer  and  stock-raiser,  P. 
0.  Hoosier  Prairie,  was  born  September  29, 
1827,  in  Lawrence  County,  Ind.  His  father. 
Joseph  Odell  (deceased),  was  a  native  of  Ran- 
dolph County,  N.  C.  Mr.  Odell  was  brought 
up  on  the  farm,  and  attended  a  subscription 
school.  In  the  fall  of  1852,  he  came  to  this 
county  to  improve  his  200  acres  of  land,  which 
he  had  previously  entered.  This  constitutes  a 
portion  of  his  present  beautiful  farm  on  Le- 
vitt's Prairie,  in  Hoosier  Township.  He  did 
not  settle  on  his  land,  however,  until  earl}'  in 


1853,  when  he  built  a  rude  log  hut  and  began 
making  other  improvements.  Like  other  pio- 
neers, Mr.  Odell  became  much  disheartened  by 
sickness,  and  used  every  possible  effort  to  sell 
his  possessions  and  leave  the  country;  at  one 
time  he  proposed  to  Henry  Conley  to  trade 
him  his  200  acres  of  land  for  a  team  and 
wagon  and  8200  in  money,  but  it  seemed  out 
of  the  question  to  sell,  and  as  he  had  nothing 
with  which  to  go  away  he  was  compelled  to  re- 
main. When  he  began  life,  he  had  a  wagon  and 
two  ponies,  and  $115  in  money.  He  has  been 
eminently  successful,  and  now  owns  340  acres 
of  valuable  land,  well  stocked  and  improved, 
and  has  the  finest  brick  residence  in  Hoosier 
Township.  He  had  three  brothers,  all  of  whom 
were  soldiers  for  the  Union  in  the  late  war, 
In  1862,  he  held  the  office  of  Assessor  for 
Hoosier  Township.  In  religion,  he  is  a  Bap- 
tist. Mr.  Odell  was  married  the  first  time  on 
the  9th  of  November,  184S,  to  Nancy  J.  Hig- 
ginbotham,  by  whom  he  had  ten  children;  of 
these  eight  are  living,  viz.,  Joseph,  Rebecca, 
Martha  J.,  Sidney,  Hugh,  Caleb,  Elizabeth  and 
Frederick.  Mrs.  Odell  died  March  2, 1877,  and 
on  the  2d  day  of  the  following  June  he  mar- 
ried Mrs.  Nancy  A.  Maxwell,  who  had  been 
twice  married  before.  By  her  he  has  had 
four  children,  three  of  whom  are  living,  viz., 
Valentine,  Perley  and  Bertha.  This  last  wife 
had  two  children  by  her  first  husband,  viz., 
Lurinda  and  Ella  Herley.  We  should  have 
mentioned  that  Mr.  Odell  owns  a  very  fine 
traction  engine  and  thresher,  which  he  oper- 
ates each  season. 

DANIEL  RODGERS,  farmer,  P.  O.  Clay 
City,  was  born  in  this  county  December  11, 
1831,  and  is  one  of  Hoosier  Township's  best 
farmers.  His  father,  Thomas  Rodgers  (de- 
ceased), was  a  native  of  Nelson  County.  Ky., 
who  came  to  Indiana  when  a  young  man,  and 
soon  after  to  White  County,  111.,  and  in  1822  to 
Clay  County.  Daniel  was  brought  up  on  the 
farm  and    educated  in   the   pioneer  log  cabin 


HOOSIEK  TOWNSHIP. 


189 


schoolhouse.  Mr.  Rodgers  has  killed  man}-  a 
deer  and  other  wild  animals.  He  still  has  in 
his  possession  the  gun  that  his  grandfather, 
Joseph  Rodgers.  used  in  hunting  many  3-ears 
ago  in  the  Carolinas.  This  gun  was  manufact- 
ured, it  is  supposed,  by  one  A.  MeBride,  but 
the  place  or  date  are  not  given  on  the  gun,  just 
the  name  above  mentioned  is  engraved  on  the 
barrel.  It  was  formerly  an  old-fashioned  flint- 
lock gun,  with  a  walnut  stock;  but  Mr.  Rod- 
gers has  had  it  restocked  with  maple,  and 
changed  to  a  cap-lock.  Mr.  Rodgers  was  mar- 
ried, March  26,  1857,  to  Mary  C,  daughter  of 
John  Nelson  (deceased).  They  have  had  seven 
children,  four  of  whom  are  living,  viz.,  Alice 
(Williams),  James  A.,  Margaret  A.  (Renfro), 
and  Joseph  M.  One  son,  John  D.,  was  killed 
by  the  cars  at  Clay  City  October  15,  1880,  at 
the  age  of  nineteen  years.  Mr.  Rodgers  is  a 
member  of  the  Baptist  Church. 

THOMAS  M.  SAILOR ,  of  Sailor  Springs 
Hoosier  Township,  was  born  in  Clark  County, 
Ohio,  November  1,  1825,  and  is  a  son  of  Will- 
iam Sailor  (deceased),  a  native  of  Virginia. 
His  mother,  Hannah  (Sewell)  Sailor,  was  born 
on  the  farm  famous  for  the  site  of  the  hanging 
of  John  Brown,  near  Harper's  Ferry,  Va. 
Mr.  Sailor's  father  was  a  tanner  and  currier  by 
trade,  and  he  also  worked  at  that  business 
until  he  was  twenty-six  years  old.  He  then 
engaged  in  the  stock  trade  in  Central  Ohio,^and 
did  much  business  there  for  twenty-two  years. 
During  six  weeks  one  season  he  shipped  20,000 
head  of  hogs.  Then,  in  1866,  he  engaged  very 
extensively  in  the  lumbering  and  building 
business  in  Michigan  and  Ohio,  which  he  fol- 
lowed successfully  until  1869.  He  lost  all 
by  the  great  forest  fires.  He  then  came  to 
Clay  County,  and  carried  on  farming  a  few 
years  with  but  small  returns.  But  he  has 
spent  his  time  for  the  most  part  in  developing 
the  merits  of  the  wonderful  medical  springs 
situated  on  Mrs.  Sailor's  land  on  Section  25. 
At  first,  and  for  several  years,  he  met  with  the 


sternest  opposition.  The  people  laughed  him 
to  scorn,  and  some  thought  he  was  insane. 
But  among  all  the  jeers  and  scoffs  of  his  neigh- 
bors, he  toiled  on.  as  also  did  his  noble  wife, 
faithfully,  until  the  fact  had  been  demonstrated 
beyond  a  doubt  that  these  springs  are  magnet- 
ic and  wonderful  in  their  healing  virtues  (see 
the  chapter  on  Sailor  Springs).  The  springs 
were  opened  to  the  public  in  1877,  and  Mr. 
Sailor  with  his  family,  in  1878,  removed  from 
the  farm  on  the  prairie  to  the  beautiful  site  of 
these  springs.  On  the  3d  day  of  June,  1850. 
Mr.  Sailor  married  Miss  Rebecca  J.  Wilson, 
daughter  of  John  Wilson,  deceased.  She  was 
born,  April  23,  1832,  in  Champaign  County, 
Ohio.  The  fruits  of  this  union  are  four  chil- 
dren— William  W.,  the  enterprising  liveryman 
of  Sailor  Springs  ;  Maria  B.,  now  Mrs.  Manliff 
M.  Coggan,  residing  on  the  homestead  ;  Sarah 
J.  and  Eva  D. 

DANIEL  T.  SHORT,  proprietor  of  the  Glen 
House,  Sailor  Springs,  Hoosier  Township,  is  a 
native  of  Middle  Tennessee,  and  was  born 
April  2,  1828.  His  father,  Alexander  Short 
(deceased),  was  born  in  Franklin  Count}-,  Va., 
in  the  year  1800.  Mr.  Short  was  brought  up 
on  the  farm,  and  received  a  liberal  education. 
He  graduated  from  the  Arcadia  College  at  Arca- 
dia, Mo.,  with  high  honors  in  1852;  and  in  1863 
he  graduated  from  the  Great  Western  Business 
College  at  Mount  Pleasant,  Iowa.  He  engaged 
in  the  drug  business  in  Nashville,  111.,  in  1867, 
and  followed  it  for  six  years.  He  then  ran  a 
hotel  in  the  same  town  for  three  years.  He 
then  went  to  Ashley,  111.,  and  ran  a  hotel  three 
years  ;  then  went  to  Fairfield,  111.,  and  ran  a 
hotel  there  for  the  same  period.  In  1879,  he 
came  to  Sailor  Springs  as  a  patieut,  and  was  so 
readily  healed  by  the  wonderful  magnetic 
waters  that  he  saw  at  once  the  necessity  for  a 
first-class  hotel  at  this  place.  He  at  once  en- 
tered into  negotiations  with  the  proprietors,  who 
built  another  large  hotel,  and  leased  it  (the 
Glen  House)  to  him  for  ten  years.     He  keeps  a 


11(0 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


first-class  bouse  in  ever}*  respect,  and  is  doing 
a  large  business.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Ma- 
sonic order,  having  passed  the  seventh  degree, 
which  makes  him  a  Knight  of  Honor.  Mr. 
Short  was  married,  January  22,  1857,  to  Mag- 
gie Garvin,  daughter  of  William  A.  Garvin,  of 
Topeka,  Kan.  They  have  four  children — Al- 
lie  E.  (now  Mrs.  William  M.  Folger,  an  attorney 
of  Vandalia,  111.),  John  A.,  Maggie  E.  and 
Delia  B.  Mrs.  Short  is  the  proprietress  of  the 
East  Lynn  Hotel,  at  Sailor  Springs,  which  is 
open  only  in  summer. 

FRANK  SMITH,  Postmaster,  Sailor  Springs, 
was  born  in  Lewis  County,  N.  Y.,  Decem- 
ber 14,  1822,  and  is  a  son  of  John  Smith,  a 
native  of  the  same  county.  He  received  his  ed- 
ucation in  Lowville,  the  county-seat  of  his 
native  county.  At  the  age  of  eighteen,  he 
learned  the  carpenter  and  joiner's  trade,  which 
he  followed  a  few  years.  In  1845,  he  came  to 
Sanduskj-  County,  Ohio,  and  kept  hotel  for 
eighteen  months  ;  he  then  came  to  Paris,  111., 
and^  kept  the  old  Paris  Hotel  for  two  years. 
From  there  he  went  to  Galena,  111.,  where  he 
engaged  in  the  mercantile  business  for  twenty 
years.  In  1876,  he  removed  to  Clark  County, 
111.,  where  he  built  a  store,  which  he  ran  until 
1880.  He  then  came  to  Sailor  Springs,  where 
he  established  a  general  store.  He  keeps  a  full 
line  of  everything  usually  kept  in  a  first-class 
general  store,  and  does  an  annual  business  of 
$11,000.  It  was  through  his  efforts  that  the 
post  office  and  mail  route  were  established  at 
this  place.  They  now  have  a  daily  mail.  In 
1843,  Mr.  Smith  married  Jane  Kirby,  by  whom 
he  has  four  children — Helen  M.  (now  Mrs.  M. 
M.  Wheeler,  of  Galena,  111.),  Mary  (now  Mrs. 
Charley  Link,  formerly  of  Paris,  111.,  now  of 
Denver,  Colo.),  Charles  E.  (married  to  Mary  A. 


Worshing,  and  resides  in   Denver,  Colo.),  and 
Belle  (at  home). 

WILLIAM  E.  SMITH,  farmer  and  stock- 
raiser,  P.  O.  Ingraham.  The  subject  of  this 
sketch — commonl}*  known  as  Uncle  Eddie — is 
a  native  of  Winchester,  Frederick  County,  Va., 
and  was  born  March  7.  1823.  His  father, 
James  E.  Smith,  was  a  native  of  the  same 
county,  and  brought  his  family  to  Clay  County 
in  October,  1838,  settling  in  Hoosier  Township, 
where  he  died  on  the  5th  day  of  February, 
1843.  When  the  Smith  famil}-  located  here, 
the  wild  animals  were  running  at  large  through 
the  woods  and  across  the  prairies  of  Hoosier 
Township.  Mr.  Smith  attended  the  old-fash- 
ioned subscription  school,  and  sat  on  a  slab  or 
split-pole  bench.  He  has  always  resided  in 
Hoosier  Township,  and  now  resides  on  the 
northeast  quarter  of  Section  1.  As  a  farmer 
and  stock-raiser,  he  has  been  very  successful, 
and  now  owns  320  acres  in  his  own  right.  He 
knows  all  about  pioneer  life,  and  has  grated 
corn  many  a  time  for  meal  to  make  bread,  and 
gone  forty  miles  to  mill.  He  has  always  been 
an  esteemed  citizen,  and  many  persons,  both 
old  and  young,  frequently  go  to  him  for  coun- 
sel and  advice.  Uncle  Eddie's  advice  on  all 
moral  and  financial  questions  is  considered  the 
standard  for  his  neighborhood.  For  twelve 
3-ears  he  was  Justice  of  the  Peace,  and  eight 
yeai-s  of  this  time  before  the  township  organiza- 
tion. Mr.  Smith  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  He  was  married,  March  1, 
1846,  to  Clarinda,  daughter  of  Robert  Bene- 
field,  who  settled  in  Clay  County  in  1837, 
This  union  has  been  blessed  with  nine  children, 
viz.,  George  W..  John  W.,  James  R.,  David  D., 
Catharine  E.,  Josiah  L.,  Finley  H.,  Amanda  E. 
and  Marietta. 


CITY  OF  FLORA. 


191 


CITY    OF    FLORA. 


THOMAS  BLANCHARD.  The  ancestors 
of  Thomas  Blanchard  came  from  Kentucky 
to  Illinois,  and  settled  in  what  was  then 
Lawrence  County,  in  1825.  "Willis  Blanch- 
ard, the  grandfather  of  Thomas,  was  a  na- 
tive of  North  Carolina,  and  resided  iD  Ken- 
tuck)'  several  years  previous  to  coming  to 
Illinois,  as  above  indicated.  He  had  a  fam- 
ily of  four  children — Thomas,  Mary,  Eliza- 
beth and  Henry  Blanchard.  The  latter  was 
Thomas  Blanchard' s  father,  and  was  born  in 
Kentucky  in  1814,  and  was  consequently 
eleven  years  old  when  his  parents  removed  to 
Illinois.  He  attained  to  manhood  in  Rich- 
land County,  and  there  was  married  to 
Martha  A.  Bunch,  a  native  of  Kentucky. 
Their  union  was  blessed  with  four  children, 
Thomas  being  the  eldest;  Sarah  J.  is  the 
wife  of  P.  J.  Jenkins,  of  Richland  County; 
Huldah  E.  died  unmarried,  and  Josiah  W. 
Blanchard  is  a  farmer  of  Richland  County. 
The  parents  died  in  that  county,  the  mother 
in  September,  1851,  and  the  father  in  Sep- 
tember. 1876.  Thomas  was  born  in  Rich- 
land County,  III.,  October  21,  1837,  and 
was  reared  on  the  farm,  attending  the  public 
schools  of  the  county.  He  prepared  himself 
for  teaching,  in  which  he  engaged  for  a 
time.  In  June,  1861,  he  enlisted  in  Com- 
pany K,  of  the  One  Hundred  and  Twenty - 
tirst  Illinois  Regiment,  and  went  forth  to 
bear  his  part  in  the  struggle  for  national 
freedom.  During  the  early  part  of  his  mili- 
tary service,  he  participated  in  some  warmly 
contested  engagements,  among  which  were 
Fredericktown,  Mo.,  Perry ville,  Ky.,  and 
Stone  River,  where  he  received  a  gunshot 
wound.     Later  he  participated  in  the  battle 


of  Chickamauga,  where  he  was  made  a  pris- 
oner. He  was  held  in  the  various  prison  pens 
of  the  South,  principally  at  Richmond  and 
Danville,  from  which  latter  prison  he,  in 
company  with  eight  comrades,  made  a  very 
daring  escape  on  the  night  of  the  8th  of 
May,  1864,  having  been  in  the  prisbn  six 
months.  But  one,  however,  of  the  nine  suc- 
ceeded in  reaching  the  Union  lines,  the 
others  being  recaptured.  Mr.  Blanchard 
was  caught  after  an  absence  of  fifteen  days, 
and  was  taken  to  Andersonville  Prison, 
where  he  spent  three  months  of  hard  treat- 
ment. He  was  afterward  transferred  to 
Charleston,  later  to  Florence,  S.  C,  and 
finally  to  Wilmington,  from  where  he  made 
a  successful  escape  on  the  20th  of  February, 
1865.  He  was  discharged  from  the  service 
at  Springfield,  111.,  in  June,  1S65,  and 
opened  a  book  store  in  Flor&,  Clay  County, 
in  the  fall  of  the  following  year.  In  1S69, 
he  was  appointed  Postmaster  at  Flora,  by  U. 
S.  Grant,  and  has  held  the  position  contin- 
uously since.  He  married  EllaE.  Ingraham 
November  8,  1868,  who  was  born  in  Ohio. 
Their  children  are  Hugh  (deceased)  and 
Walter  Blanchard,  who  was  born  October, 
1871. 

PEARLY  P.  BROWN.  In  common 
with  many  others  of  the  settlers  of  Clay 
County,  who  deserve  especial  mention  in 
this  history,  and  who  occupy  an  enviable 
place  in  the  hearts  of  the  most  honored  cit- 
izens, is  P.  P.  Brown,  the  subject  of  these 
lines.  He  came  to  Clay  County,  111.,  in 
1855,  from  Vinton  County,  Ohio,  where  he 
was  born  June  13,  1835.  His  father, 
Pearly   Brown,  and   his  mother,  Eliza  Hul- 


192 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


bert,  were  both  natives  of  Connecticut,  who 
settled  in  Ohio  in  the  early  history  of  Vin- 
ton County.  Pearly  P.  Brown  is  the  tenth 
child  of  a  family  of  thirteen  children  born 
to  these  parents.  His  father  was  a  trader 
and  stock-dealer  of  some  note,  and  young 
Pearly  has  followed  in  his  footsteps  in  this 
particular,  receiving  his  first  lessons  while 
a  lad  of  less  than  ten  years,  at  which  time 
he  crossed  the  Alleghany  Mountains  on 
foot,  leading  the  foremost  ox  of  his  father's 
drove.  This  experience  was  often  repeated 
in  his  boyhood  days,  crossing  the  mountains 
no  less  than  eighteen  times.  In  1855,  he 
settled  on  a  farm  in  Stanford  Township,  five 
miles  east  from  Flora,  where  he  resided  about 
eight  years,  moving  then  to  Flora.  In  1873, 
he  purchased  a  farm  in  Harter  Township, 
living  upon  it  two  years.  In  1875,  he  was 
the  choice  of  the  county  for  the  office  of 
Treasurer,  and  filled  that  position  with  ac- 
ceptance for  one  term,  since  the  expiration  of 
which  he  has  been  a  resident  of  Flora.  In 
politics,  he  is  Republican,  and  has  represented 
Harter  Township  three  terms  as  Supervisor, 
and  four  years  as  Assessor.  He  is  regarded 
as  an  energetic  and  honorable  stock-dealer, 
in  which  he  is  still  actively  engaged.  He 
was  married  in  Vinton  County,  Ohio,  in 
'  185-4,  to  Miss  Clarissa  Dunkle,  a  daughter  of 
Eli  Dunkle  and  Linnissia  Pilcher.  She  was 
born  November  21,  1837,  in  Vinton  County, 
Ohio.  They  are  blessed  with  seven  children 
— Mary  E.,  wife  of  JohnT.  Eansdell,  of  Clay 
County;  Linnissia,  wife  of  C.  C.  Ripley,  of 
Clay  County;  Harriet  L.,  Clarissa  N., 
Charles  F.,  Sarah  and  William  L.  Brown. 
Mr.  Brown  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic 
order,  and  both  he  and  wife  are  honored 
members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
of  Flora. 

JOSEPH  O.  BURTON,  lawyer,  Flora,  111., 
is  a  native  of  Lawrence  County,  Ind.,  born  Sep- 


tember 15,  1844  The  father,  Alexander  J. 
Burton,  was  a  native  of  Virginia,  and  in 
early  manhood  went  to  Lawrence  County, 
Ind.,  where  he  was  married  to  Sarah  Odell, 
a  native  of  North  Carolina.  To  them  were 
born  eight  children,  Joseph  O.  being  the 
second,  and  of  whom  three  are  deceased. 
The  mother  died  in  1857,  in  Clay  County, 
III.,  the  family  having  removed  here  in  1852. 
The  father  then  settled  in  Hoosier  Township, 
where  he  engaged  in  farming.  He  now  is  a 
resident  of  Pixley  Township  in  Clay  County. 
Of  the  five  children  living,  one,  Melcurt  H. , 
is  a  resident  of  Dakota  Territory;  J.  O.  and 
Fannie  O.,  of  Flora  111. ;  Caswell  R.,  of  Pix- 
ley Township,  Clay  County;  and  Rebecca, 
wife  of  J.  W.  Edwards,  of  Indiana.  Joseph 
O.  attended  the  common  schools  in  boyhood, 
and  when  seventeen  years  old  enlisted  in 
Company  D,  Forty-eighth  Illinois  Regiment, 
under  Col.  Hayne.  He  was  in  the  ranks 
just  three  months  when  he  sustained  the  loss 
of  the  right  leg,  being  struck  with  a  shell  in 
the  battle  of  Fort  Donelson.  He  was  dis- 
charged, returned  home,  and  as  soon  as  he 
was  able,  he  entered  the  academy  at  Mitch- 
ell, Ind.,  entering  that  institution  in  the 
winter  of  1862,  and  completed  the  course  in 
the  spring  of  1866.  Daring  the  school 
course,  he  devoted  considerable  time  to  the 
study  of  law,  and  for  two  years  following 
prosecuted  this  study  principally  under  the 
Hon.  B.  J.  Rotan,  of  Louisville,  111.,  and 
Hon.  G.  W.  Henry,  then  of  Louisville,  111. 
Mr.  Burton  was  admitted  to  practice  in  the 
courts  of  Illinois  in  1868,  since  which  time 
he  has  been  a  member  of  the  Clay  County 
bar,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  months.  In 
1876,  he  received  the  nomination,  on  the 
Republican  tickot,  for  State's  Attorney,  but, 
in  common  with  the  entire  county  ticket, 
sustained  a  defeat.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
A.  O.  U.  W.,  G.  A.    R,    and  of  the  Baptist 


CITY  OF  FLORA. 


193 


Church.  He  was  married  to  Miss  Elizabeth 
J.  Blair,  on  the  2Sth  of  March,  1867,  at 
Louisville,  Clay  County.  She  was  born  in 
Indiana  on  the  11th  of  April,  1847,  and  is  a 
daughter  of  Jonathan  and  Lettie  (Brown) 
Blair.  The  father  died  in  1S62,  while  in 
military  service,  and  the  mother  is  still  a 
resident  of  Louisville,  111.  Their  union  has 
been  blest  with  the  birth  of  four  children — 
Alva  A.,  born  April  1,  1868;  Stephen  H., 
born  October  17,  1872;  Joseph,  born  May 
10,  1876;  and  Sarah  C.  Burton,  born  Sep- 
tember 25,  1878. 

GABRIEL  CLARK,  harness  dealer,  Flora, 
111.,  was  born  in  Preble  County,  Ohio,  in 
1831,  and  when  eight  years  of  age  came  with 
his  parents,  George  W.  and  Mary  Clark,  to 
Lawrence  County,  111.  There  he  grew  to 
manhood,  and  was  married  in  1861  to  Lavi- 
na  Ann  Underwood.  She  was  a  native  of 
Lawrence  County,  and  died  in  Flora  in  1871, 
leaving  three  children — George  M.,  Henri - 
etta  and  John  G.  Clark.  Mr.  Clark  remained 
in  Lawrence  County  until  coming  to  Flora 
in  1866,  where  he  has  resided  principally 
since,  and  until  recently  has  been  engaged  at 
the  trade  of  gunsmith.  He  was  married  to 
his  second  wife,  Mary  F.  Leonard,  in  1873. 
She  was  born  in  Martin  County.  Ind. ,  in 
!  8 19.  She,  too,  died  in  Flora,  in  April,  1881. 
This  marriage  resulted  in  the  birth  of  two 
children — Charles  L.  Clark,  deceased,  and 
William  H.  Clark.  Mr.  Clark  is  a  member 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  of  Flora, 
and  is  doing  a  very  successful  business  as  a 
harness-maker,  which  he  has  conducted  since 
1881.  His  father  died  in  Lawrence  County, 
111.,  in  1881,  and  the  mother  at  the  residence 
of  her  son  Gabriel,  in  Flora,  1878,  while  on 
a  visit  to  that  place. 

ISAAC  K.  CLARK,  dealer  in  groceries 
and  provisions,  and  member  of  the  City 
Council  for  the  First  Ward,  Flora,   111.,  was 


born  October  30,   18-40,   in    Vinton   County, 
Ohio,  where  he  grew  to  manhood.      He  is  a 
son  of  Robert  and  Nancy  (Fee)   Clark,  both 
of  whom  were  natives  of  Ohio.      His  father 
was  born  about  1818,  and  is  still  a  resident 
of  the  Buckeye  State.     The  mother  was  born 
in  1811,  and  died  in  July,  1879.     She  was 
the  mother  of  six  children,  two  of  whom  are 
dead— Henry,  Esther,  Isaac  K.,  Abram,  Rob- 
ert and  Hannah  Clark.     Both  of  the  daugh- 
ters are  deceased.     On  the  31st  of  May,  1862, 
Isaac    K,    enlisted  in  Company  G,    Eighty- 
eighth   Ohio  Regiment,  from  which  he  was 
discharged  in  September  of  the  same  year, 
in  consequence  of  the  expiration  of  the  term 
of  enlistment.      He  subsequently  assisted  to 
organize  the  Second  Regiment  of  Ohio  Mili- 
tia, and  was  commissioned  Second  Lieuten- 
ant of  Company  A.  which  ho  held  until  the 
expiration  of  five  years,  when   the  organiza- 
tion was  disbanded.     They  were   frequently 
called  into  active  service,  and  assisted  in  the 
capture    of  the  rebel  raider,   John  Morgan. 
Mr.  Clark  came  to  Flora,  Clay   Co.,   111.,  in 
1868,  and  in  November  of  the  following  year 
engaged   in  mercantile  business  with  Allen 
Hanks,   under  the    firm    name   of  Hanks    & 
Clark.      In  April,  1870,  Mr.  Hanks   sold  his 
interest  in  the  business  to  Mr.    G.    W.   Ar- 
buthnot,  with  whom  Mr.  Clark  did  business 
until    October,    1871,    when    Mr.    C.   retired 
from  the  firm.      Since  January,  1872,  he  has 
been  associated  for  a   time  with   Mr.  Black, 
and  later  with    M.    L.    Deal.      In    January, 
1881,  he  opened  his  present  business,  which 
he  has  successfully  conducted  since.      He  is 
a  man  of»good    business  qualifications    and 
unquestioned  integrity,  and  served   the  city 
as  Treasurer    in   1879.     He  was  married  in 
Clay  County,  111.,  June  4,  1872,    to  Alwilda 
M.    Free,   daughter    of    AVilliam    and    Mary 
(Elson)   Free.      Alwilda  M.   was  born  Janu- 
ary 8,  1844.      Their  family  consists  of  Dora 

13 


:04 


BIOUKAPHK'AL: 


May,  born  September  25,  1873,  died  August 
4.  1875;  Cora  Bell,  born  February  21,  1876; 
Isaac  Newton,  born  January  4,  1879,  and 
Maggie  Clark:  born  April  21,  1882.  Will- 
iam Free  was  born  in  Pennsylvania,  and 
Mary,  his  wife,  was  born  in  Virginia. 

JAMES  ELY,  merchant,  Flora,  111.,  was 
born  in  West  Springfield,  Mass.,  March  16, 
1833,  and  is  a  son  of  George  and  Maria 
(Cummings)  Ely.  His  father  was  born  in 
the  town  of  Leverett,  Mass.,  and  descended 
from  French  parentage.  His  father,  whose 
name  was  Nathaniel,  came  from  France  in 
the  colonial  days  of  Massachusetts,  and  was 
subsequently  killed  by  Indians.  George  Ely 
married  Maria  Cummings  in  Massachusetts, 
where  they  resided  until  about  1845,  when 
they  removed  to  the  State  of  New  York, 
where  they  remained  until  the  time  of  their 
death  They  had  a  family  of  seven  children, 
of  whom  James  is  the  oldest — Ann  M.  is  the 
wife  of  Wallace  Grace,  of  Troy,  Penn. ; 
William,  George,  Harriet  and  Benjamin  are 
residents  of  New  York,  and  Abbie,  the 
youngest,  is  deceased.  James  Ely  was  edu- 
cated in  the  State  of  New  York,  and  has  de- 
voted hie  life  to  mercantile  pursuits.  After 
a  brief  business  career  in  Chicago  and  at 
Michigan  City,  he  settled  in  1859  at  New 
Albany,  Ind.,  where  he  engaged  for  several 
years  in  merchandising,  coming  from  there 
to  Flora,  111.,  in  1881.  He  is  a  man  of  un- 
questioned integrity,  and  possessing  as  he 
does  an  experience  embracing  thirty  years  of 
mercantile  life,  he  was  the  man  needed  to 
bring  about  a  desirable  reform  in  the  business 
of  Flora.  He  carries  a  complete  stock  of 
goods  of  a  general  character,  and  is  deserv- 
ing of  the  substantial  patronage  which  he  is 
receiving.  He  was  married,  in  Indiana  in 
1861,  to  Victoria  J.  Sackett,  who  was  born 
in  1841.  Their  only  child  is  a  son,  Henry 
Ely,    born    in     Indiana    October    19,    1864. 


Their  family  residence  is  on  the  north  side 
of  North  avenue,  and  the  business  house  on 
corner  of  Main  street  and  North  avenue. 

GEORGE  A.  GILLASPY,  real  estate  and 
insurance  agent  at  Flora,  111.,  was  born  in 
Shelby  County,  Mo.,  April  13,  1840.  His 
parents  were  James  H.  and  Hester  M.  (Gray) 
Gillaspy,  the  former  a  native  of  Henry 
County,  Ky.,  and  the  latter  of  Maryland. 
His  father  died  in  1841,  and  his  mother  in 
1845.  He  was  thus  early  left  an  orphan,  but 
was  reared  by  a  relative  who  gave  him  the 
advantages  of  a  liberal  private  education. 
In  June,  1861,  he  enlisted  as  a  private  in  the 
Eleventh  Missouri  Regiment,  under  Gen. Har- 
ris. He  was  promoted  to  the  office  of  Captain 
in  August,  1862,  which  position  he  held  dur- 
ing the  remainder  of  his  term  of  service. 
From  1864  until  1867,  he  was  on  the  Western 
frontier,  at  the  latter  date  locating  at  St. 
Louis,  where  he  studied  as  a  specialist  in  the 
treatment  of  the  diseases  of  the  eye.  He 
came  to  Flora  in  1871,  and  for  two  years 
practiced  as  an  oculist.  He  afterward 
abandoned  this  profession  and  adopted  that 
of  teaching  which  he  followed  in  Clay 
County  for  several  years.  In  1882,  he  opened 
an  office  in  Flora  for  the  prosecution  of  his 
present  business.  In  politics,  he  is  a  Dem- 
ocrat and  present  Chairman  of  the  Central 
Committee  of  Clay  County.  The  Gillaspy 
family  are  of  Scotch-IriBh  origin,  and  were 
early  represented  in  the  colony  of  Virginia, 
his  great-grandfather  being  a  soldier  in  the 
Revolution.  The  mother,  Hester  Gray,  was 
of  English  ancestry,  who  came  with  Lord 
Baltimore  to  the  settlement  of  Maryland  as 
early  as  1620. 

ROBERT  GRAY,  special  insurance  agent 
for  the  American  Central  Company  of  St. 
Louis,  is  a  resident  of  Flora,  and  a  native  of 
Switzerland  County,  Ind.,  where  he  was  born 
May  25,  1843.     He  is  the  youngest  of  a  fain- 


CITY   OF  FLOW  A. 


195 


ily  of  thirteen  children  born  to  Peter  and 
Nancy  (Wright)  Gray.  His  father,  who  was 
born  in  Virginia  in  1791,  served  as  a  soldier 
in  the  war  of  1812,  completing  a  term  of  five 
years  in  the  regular  army.  He  was  reared 
in  Kentucky,  to  where  he  returned  at  the 
close  of  his  service,  and  was  there  married  to 
Nancy  Wright.  They  remained  in  Kentucky 
several  years,  during  which  time  four  chil- 
dren were  born  to  them.  They  emigrated  to 
Indiana  and  settled  near  Vevay,  in  Switzer- 
land County,  and  there  made  a  residence  of 
several  years,  and  where  the  rest  of  their 
large  family  were  born.  In  1852.  they  re- 
moved to  Tipton  County,  Ind.,  where  the 
parents  died,  the  mother  April  1 1,  1S66,  and 
the  father  in  1S77.  Robert  received  a  very 
limited  education  in  his  youth,  his  total  at- 
tendance in  public  schools  not  aggregating 
more  than  one  year.  In  1S62.  August  11, 
he  enlisted  in  Company  C,  of  the  One  Hun- 
dred and  First  Indiana  Regiment,  and  was 
wounded  and  made  a  prisoner  on  the  l'Jth  of 
September,  1863,  at  the  battle  of  Chickamau- 
ga,  having  participated  in  the  fights  at 
Stone  River,  Milton  and  Tullahoma.  He  was 
retained  a  prisoner  but  a  short  time,  after 
which  he  was  attached  to  the  United  States 
Reserve  Corps  at  Washington  City.  He  was 
discharged  April  14,  1S04.  He  then  returned 
to  Tipton  County.  Ind. .  where  for  two  years 
he  engaged  in  the  lumber  and  milling  busi- 
ness. He  was  there  married.  March  11,1866, 
and  in  March  of  the  following  year  came  to 
Illinois,  and  located  at  Iola,  in  Clay  County. 
In  1872,  he  was  elected  to  the  office  of 
Sheriff  of  Clay  County,  as  a  Republican,  and 
served  acceptably  for  the  term  of  two  years. 
In  1875,  he  removed  to  Flora,  and  formed 
a  partnership  with  Mr.  M.  H.  Presley  in 
local  insurance  business,  aud  in  1876,  became 
the  traveling  agent  for  the  American  Central 
Company,    having    the    supervision    of    the 


States  of  Illinois.  Indiana.  Kentucky  and 
Tennessee.  His  wife,  whose  maiden  name 
was  Clara  Lee,  is  a  daughter  of  John  and 
Parmelia  Lee.  She  was  born  February  25, 
1848,  in  Switzerland  County,  Ind.  They  are 
both  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  of  Flora,  and  he  of  the  Masonic-  fra. 
ternity.      They  have  two  children. 

ALBERT  GRIFFITH,  contractor  and 
builder.  Flora,  111.,  was  born  October  8, 
1822,  in  Columbiana  County,  Ohio.  His 
father,  William  Griffith,  was  born  in  1793 
in  Pennsylvania.  The  mother,  whose  maiden 
name  was  Mary  Votaw,  was  born  in  1803.  in 
Virginia,  and  is  of  French  ancestry.  She 
came  to  Ohio  when  but  three  years  old,  and 
is  still  living  on  the  homestead  in  Columbi- 
ana County,  Ohio,  where  the  father,  William 
Griffith,  died  about  1S71.  Albert,  who  is  the 
oldest  of  a  family  of  ten  children,  grew  to 
manhood  in  Ohio,  learning  the  trade  of  house 
carpenter  while  working  with  his  father,  who 
was  also  ,i  builder.  Ha  was  first  married,  to 
Eliza  Kronne,  who  was  born  in  Pennsylvania, 
but  reared  in  Ohio.  She  died  in  Wayne 
County,  111.,  in  February,  1855.  leaving  five 
children  —  Laura  M. .  wife  of  Arthur  M. 
Baker,  of  Michigan;  Frances  A.,  wife  of 
Jacob  Portmess,  of  Indiana;  William  Henry 
Griffith,  Oliver  M.,  and  Jonas  S.  Griffith. 
Pauline  Gibbs,  hi.-,  second  wife,  was  bom  in 
Cincinnati,  Ohio,  and  died  in  Flora,  111.,  De- 
cember 5,  1876.  She  was  the  mother  of 
seven  children,  four  of  whom  are  now  living 
— Luella  E.,  wife  of  Lafayette  Nickell,  of 
Flora;  Lena  R.,  wife  of  T.  Davis;  Minnie 
A.  and  Ada  P.  Griffith.  Mr.  Griffith  was 
next  married  to  Elizabeth  Morgan,  who  died 
in  Flora.  August  22,  18S1.  He  came  to  Illi- 
nois in  1854,  and  made  a  settlement  in 
i  Bedford  Township,  of  Wayne  County,  but 
the  year  following  came  to  Flora,  Clay  Coun- 
ty, where  he  continued  his  residence  until  the 


19G 


BIOGRAPHICAL 


breaking-out  of  the  late  war,  when  he  re- 
moved with  his  family  to  Wayne  County,  that 
they  might  have  the  near  association  of  rel- 
atives during  his  absence  in  military  service. 
He  was  enlisted  in  July,  1861,  and  was  an 
officer,  with  the  rank  of  Captain.  He  has 
been  a  resident  of  Flora,  111.,  since  1872,  and 
constantly  employed  at  his  chosen  trade,  and 
though  past  sixty-one  years  old,  enjoys  good 
health,  and  pursues  his  work  with  apparently 
youthful  vigor. 

LEONARD  R.  HAYWARD,  miller  and 
lumber  dealer,  Flora,  is  a  son  of  Thomas  E. 
and  Catherine  Hayward,  and  was  born,  July 
13,  1852,  in  Clinton  County,  Ohio.  In  1860, 
the  family  came  to  Illinois,  and  located  in 
Clay  County,  where  they  engaged  in  the  pur- 
suits of  the  farm.  Leonard  R.  came  to  the 
village  of  Flora  in  1866,  where  he  engaged  to 
work  as  an  engineer,  receiving  25  cents  per 
day.  He  continued  in  this  work  until  at  the 
end  of  a  very  few  years  he  was  able  to  com- 
mand a  salary  of  $900  per  year.  He  has 
thus  risen  by  honest  industry  from  a  poor 
boy  to  a  place  among  the  most  enterprising 
business  men  of  Flora.  While  he  has  thus 
been  achieving  success  for  himself,  he  has 
given  very  liberally  to  the  support  of  the 
ministry,  annually  giving  $100  for  this  pur- 
pose. He  and  his  wife  are  honored  members 
of  the  Christian  Church.  He  was  married  in 
Flora,  111.,  May,  1876,  to  Miss  Carrie  How- 
ard, daughter  of  H.  P.  Howard,  formerly  of 
Flora,  now  of  Evansville,  Ind.  She  was 
born  in  Evansville  in  1855,  and  was  there 
reared,  graduating  from  the  high  school  of 
that  city.  They  have  a  family  of  four  chil- 
dren, viz.,  Blanche,  born  October  14,  1877; 
Mabel,  July  4,  1879;  Edith,  February  28, 
1881;  and  Howard  Hayward,  May  8,  1883. 
Mr.  Hayward  is  a  member  of  the  Flora  Lodge, 
No.  204,  A.  F.  &A.  M.,  and  Flora  Chapter 
No.  154,  R.  A.  M. 


JUDGE  GERSHOM  A.  HOFF,  lawyer, 
Flora,  111.,  was  born  in  Livingston  County, 
N.  Y.,May  16,  1839.  His  father,  Jonathan 
Hoff,  was  born  in  Freehold,  N.  J.,  in  1796. 
He  was  reared  to  manhood  in  New  York,  and 
served  as  a  soldier  in  the  war  of  1812,  and  in 
1816  was  married  to  Euphemia  Pullis.  She 
was  born  in  the  year  1800  in  the  city  of  New 
York.  They  emigrated  to  Illinois  in  1843, 
settling  that  year  in  Washington  County 
near  Nashville,  on  what  is  known  as  the  Dry 
Arm  of  the  Looking  Glass  Prairie.  There, 
in  1846,  Mrs.  Hoff  died,  leaving  five  children 
who  grew  to  maturity,  viz. :  Peter,  Jane 
(wife  of  J.  Van  Emburg,  of  New  Jersey), 
Ann  P.  (wife  of  Capt.  J.  G.  Owens,  of  Si 
Louis,  Mo.),  Gershom  A.  and  Frank  Hoff. 
From  Washington  County,  the  father  removed 
to  Clinton  County  in  1846,  settling  at  Avis- 
ton,  where  he  subsequently  was  married  to  a 
Widow  Clark,  and  where,  in  1853,  he  died, 
having  devoted  his  life  to  the  pursuit  of  farm- 
ing. After  the  death  of  his  mother,  G.  A. 
Hoff  became  a  member  of  the  family  of  his 
uncle,  C.  Pullis,  of  St.  Louis,  where  he  re- 
mained until  he  was  fourteen  years  old,  when 
he  went  to  the  city  of  New  York.  He  re- 
mained there  five  years,  in  the  meantime 
adopting  the  trade  of  brick-mason.  In  1861, 
he  went  to  Nevada,  and  until  the  close  of 
1863  was  successfully  engaged  in  the  mining 
interest.  He  then  went  East,  and  in  March, 
1864,  came  to  Clay  County,  111.,  and  pur- 
chased a  tract  of  land  of  380  acres  in  Oska- 
loosa  Township,  returning  the  same  year  to 
New  Jersey,  where,  in  July,  he  married  Miss 
Cornelia  Van  Ness.  She  was  born  June  14, 
1 847,  in  New  Jersey.  They  then  moved  upon 
the  farm  in  this  county,  where  they  remained 
until  1869,  when  Mr.  Hoff  exchanged  his 
farm  for  a  stock  of  merchant  goods  in  Xenia, 
where  he  was  in  business  until  1873.  He 
began  the  study  of  law  in  1868,   doing  the 


CITY  OF  FLORA. 


!97 


preparatory  reading  under  the  Hon.  G.  \V. 
Henry,  of  Louisville,  111.  He  was  admitted  to 
practice  in  January,  1872,  since  which  time  he 
has  been  a  member  of  the  Clay  County  bar. 
He  was  originally  a  Pro-Slavery  Dernoerat,but 
supported  the  administration  during  the  war 
and  until  1872,  when  he  used  his  influence  in 
support  of  Horace  Greeley,  and  that  year  re- 
ceived the  unanimous  nomination  of  the 
Fusion  ticket  for  the  office  of  County  Clerk. 
In  1875,  he  was  elected  to  the  office  of 
State's  Attorney,  serving  two  years,  and  then 
in  1875  received  a  unanimous  nomination 
for  the  office  of  County  Judge  at  the  hands  of 
the  Democratic  party.  The  ability  with 
which  he  performed  the  functions  of  this  im- 
portant office  is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that 
after  an  incumbency  of  five  years,  he  was 
again  nominated  by  a  unanimous  vote  of  the 
convention  to  the  same  office,  which  he  is  now 
tilling  to  acceptance,  in  connection  with 
which  he  still  engages  in  the  active  practice 
of  his  profession.  He  is  a  member  of  the  In- 
dependent Order  of  Odd  Fellows.  His  fam- 
ily consists  of  Cora  L.,  born  April  5,  1865; 
Alonzo  G.,  April  23,  1869;  and  Cornelia 
G.  Hoff,  July  3,  1880. 

EDMUND  L.  HOWITT,  lawyer,  Flora, 
111.,  is  a  native  of  Ithaca,  Tompkins  Co.,  N. 
Y.,  and  was  born  May  23,  1820.  He  was 
reared  to  manhood  in  Steuben  County  of  the 
same  State,  and  educated  in  the  college  of 
Lima,  N.  Y.  He  studied  law  at  West  Men- 
den,  afterward  at  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  and  was 
admitted  to  practice  in  1846,  and  the  same 
year  came  West  and  settled  in  Illinois.  He 
practiced  one  year  in  Champaign  County,  one 
year  in  Newton,  Jasper  County,  and  came  in 
1850  to  Louisville,  Clay  Co.,  111.  Mr.  Howitt 
was  originally  a  Jackson  Democrat,  but  in 
1854  he  championed  the  cause  of  the  Know- 
Nothing  or  American  party,  and  was  its  pro- 
nounced  leader    in   this  county.     Believing 


that  his    party  could  not  become  of  national 
importance,  he  in  1856  voted  for  Fremont, 
and  has  acted  with  the  Republican  party  ever 
since.      In  1869,  he  received  the  appointment 
of    Prosecuting    Attorney    for  the  Southern 
District  of  Mississippi,  and  remained  in  that 
State  until  1872,  when  he  returned  to  Flora, 
111.,   having  removed   to  the  latter  place  in 
1863.      He  was  first  married  in  1849,  to  Miss 
Clarissa    Price,    daughter  of    Dr.   Price,   of 
Columbus,  Ohio.      She  was   born  April   25, 
1823,  and  died  in   Louisville,  111.,  April  20, 
1859,     leaving    five    children — Marion    C, 
widow  of  Samuel  Whittlesey,  of  Vincennes, 
Ind. ;  Ruth  Adella,  now  deceased;   and  Ed- 
ward L. ,  a  teacher  at  Flora.     The  other  two 
died   in   infancy.     The  second  marriage  oc- 
curred in  Lawrence  County,  111.,  in  1860,  to 
Sarah  Carrie,  daughter  of  Andrew  Carrie,  of 
that    county.     She  was    born  April  5,  1S35, 
and  died   in  Flora,   February  8,    1881,   the 
mother  of  seven  children,  of  whom  four  are 
now  living — William  A.,  a  lawyer  at  Hills- 
boro,  111. ;  Agnes,  Nellie  and  Alice  Howitt, 
of  Flora.      His  present  wife,  Mary  A.  Howitt, 
was   born    in    Wayne   County,  111.,   June  4, 
1855,  and  is  a  daughter  of  James  McLin  and 
M.     I.     (Fitzgerel)     McLin.        Clarissa    A. 
Howitt  was  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church, 
and  an   influential  Good  Templar;  Sarah  E. 
Howitt  was  a  faithful  member  of  the  Presby- 
terian  Church,  as   is  also  his  present  wife. 
CRIDLETON    T.  JOHNSON,    proprietor 
of  the  Clay  County  Mills,   Flora,  111.,  was 
born  October  9,  1837,  in  Lawrence  County, 
111.,    where    he   grew    to     manhood.     When 
eighteen  years  old,  he  was  apprenticed  to  J. 
L.  Spencer,  of  Sumner,  111.,  with  whom   he 
learned  the    trade   of    blacksmith.      At  this 
trade  he  worked  during  his  residence  in  Law- 
rence County,  which  terminated   in  1873.  at 
which  time  he  came  to  Flora,  Clay  County. 
On  the  20th  of   July,  1861,  he  enlisted   in 


198 


BIOGRAPHIC  AL 


Company  A,  Eleventh  Missouri  Regiment,  in 
which  organization  he  served  two  and  a  half 
years,  when  he  was  transferred  to  the  Fifth 
United  States  Heavy  Artillery,  from  which  he 
was  discharged  May  20,  1866.  He  held  the 
positions  of  Corporal  and  Orderly  in  the  first 
organization,  and  was  mustered  out  with  the 
commission  of  Second  Lieutenant,  having 
served  for  several  months  as  regimental  drill- 
master.  Mr.  Johnson  participated  in  many 
engagements,  among  which  were  Fredericks. 
town.  Mo.,  Iuka  and  Corinth,  Miss.,  and  the 
siege  of  Vicksburg,  including  the  battle  of 
Jackson,  Miss.  He  was  married,  October  29, 
1865,  in  Orleans,  Ind.,  to  Miss  Clara  Ingra- 
hain,  who  was  born  in  Pennsylvania  May  22, 
1840.  They  have  two  children — Cora,  born 
in  Flora,  October  10,  1876,  and  Lolu  John- 
son, born  June  5,  1879.  C.  T.  Johnson  is  a 
son  of  George  W.  Johnson,  and  grandson  of 
James  Johnson,  who  came  from  Knox  County, 
Ind.,  where  George  W.  was  born  April  17, 
1809;  to  Lawrence  County,  111.,  in  1818. 
In  the  latter  county  George  W.  was  mar- 
ried to  Nancy  A.  Turner;  she  was  born 
October  6,  1811,  and  is  a  daughter  of  Robert 
Turner,  who  came  from  North  Carolina  to 
Lawrence  County,  111.,  in  an  early  day.  Mr. 
C  T.  Johnson  came  to  Flora  as  above  stated 
in  1873,  since  which  time  he  has  been  en- 
gaged in  the  milling  business,  and  now  owns 
a  substantial  mill  furnished  with  the  most 
modern  machinery. 

JAY  KENNER,  merchant,  Flora,  111.,  is 
a  son  of  Alvin  R.  Kenner  and  Mary  (Willis) 
Kenner,  and  was  born  in  Albion,  Edwards 
Co..  111.,  April  1,  1844.  He  came  to  Flora, 
Clay  County,  with  his  father's  family  in 
1858.  In  the  latter  part  of  1863,  he  en- 
listed as  a  private  soldier  in  Company  K, 
Forty-eighth  Illinois  Regiment,  from  which 
he  was  discharged  at  Springfield,  September, 
1865.      He  was  mustered  out  with  the  com 


mission  of  First  Lieutentaut  of  his  company, 
having  proven  himself  a  good  soldier  and  a 
competent  and  faithful  officer.  He  partici 
pated  in  a  great  portion  of  the  most  earnest 
service  of  the  war,  was  in  the  engagement  at 
Chattanooga,  siege  of  Atlanta  and  the  At- 
lanta campaign,  and  was  with  Gen.  Sherman 
on  his  memorable  march  to  the  sea.  He  is  a 
practical  business  man,  having  had  an  ex- 
tensive experience  in  mercantile  life.  He 
now  controls  an  extensive  house  on  the  cor- 
ner of  Main  street  and  North  avenue,  carry- 
ing a  $10,000  stock  of  general  goods,  includ- 
ing a  complete  stock  of  dry  goods,  clothing, 
boots  and  shoes.  While  Flora  is  favored 
with  a  number  of  deserving  merchants,  we 
believe  none  are  more  deserving  than  Mr 
Jay  Kenner,  and  a  casual  survey  of  his  stock 
is  all  that  is  necessary  to  convince  one  that 
he  possesses  the  business  ability  to  anticipate 
and  supply  the  wants  of  the  public.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Repub- 
lic and  of  the  Christian  Church. 

JOSEPH  LUSE,  of  the  firm  of  Warner  & 
Luse,  Flora,  111.,  was  born  June  13,  1824,  in 
Washington  County,  Penn.  While  he  was 
yet  a  child,  his  parents,  Daniel  and  Susan 
(Hartley)  Luse,  removed  to  Ohio  and  settled 
in  Guernsey  County,  where  he  grew  to  man- 
hood, being  reared  upon  the  farm  and  edu- 
cated in  the  common  schools.  He  was  mar- 
ried, November  10,  1 847,  in  Guernsey 
County,  to  Miss  Elizabeth  Starr,  daughter 
of  James  and  Catherine  (Hiskett)  Starr. 
She  was  born,  July  4,  1827,  in  Guernsey 
County,  Ohio.  Mr.  Luse  continued  on  the 
farm  in  Ohio  until  the  fall  of  1864,  when, 
having  completed  a  term  of  enlistment  in 
the  military  service,  he  removed  his  family 
!  to  Illinois,  and  settled  in  Harter  Township, 
Clay  County.  He  here  prosecuted  his  farm- 
ing interest  until  coming  to  Flora,  in  1881, 
and  still   owns    a  landed  interest  of  several 


CITY  OF  FLORA. 


199 


hundred  acres.  Since  coming  to  Flora  he 
has  engaged  in  an  extensive  mercantile  busi- 
ness, associated  with  C.  H.  Warner.  His 
family  are  Sarah  C,  wife  of  Ed  Higginson; 
Susan  M. .  wife  of  Samuel  Finley;  Mary  E., 
wife  of  L.  Sheehan;  William  A.  (deceased); 
John  M. ;  Cynthia  A.,  and  Matilda,  both  of 
whom  died  in  infancy;  Linna,  wife  of  R. 
L.  Stanford;  James  S.  (deceased);  Joseph E., 
Alice  and  Charles  L.  Luse.  Mr.  Luse  is  an 
Elder  in  the  Christian  Church,  of  which 
Mrs.  Luse  is  also  an  honored  member. 

STEPHEN  J.  MAJOR,  proprietor  of  the 
Major  House,  Flora,  111.,  is  a  son  of  H 
R.  Major,  one  of  the  most  venerable  of  Flora's 
citizens  Stephen  J.  was  born  in  Defiance, 
Defiance  Co.,  Ohio.  April  29,  1840,  where  he 
attained  the  age  of  fourteen,  when  he  came 
with  his  parents  to  Illinois.  They  settled  in 
Richland  County,  from  whence  they  came  to 
Flora  in  1859.  At  that  time  S.  J.  engaged  in 
hotel  and  livery  business,  which  he  continued 
until  1862,  when  he  went  to  California  to 
work  at  mining.  In  the  latter  part  of  1863, 
he  returned,  and  for  two  years  was  engaged 
in  the  mercantile  trade.  In  1865,  he  again 
resumed  the  hotel  business  which  he  has  con- 
tinued successfully  ever  since.  He  then  be- 
gan in  a  small  frame  building  on  the 
north  side  of  North  avenue,  which  has 
since  been  removed.  In  1872,  the  main 
building  of  the  present  elegant  building  was 
erected.  This  building  is  of  brick,  three 
stories  high  and  contains  fifty- four  rooms. 
In  1882,  the  two-story  addition  was  built,  the 
whole  costing  $22,000.  Mr.  Major  is  in 
politics  a  Republican.  He  is  a  member  of 
Flora  Lodge,  No.  204,  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.,  Flora 
Chapter,  No.  154,  R.  A.  M.,  and  the  Gorin 
Conimandery.  No.  14,  K.  T.  He  was  mar- 
ried in  1866  to  Miss  Carrie  Peake,  daughter 
of  William  Peake,  of  Clay  County.  She 
was  born  in  Ohio  in  1842.  They  have  two 
children,  Harry  S.  and  Mary  Major. 


WILL  A.    MOORE.     There  are  probably 
none  of    the  many  worthy  citizens  of  Clay 
County  more    worthy   of    mention  in  these 
pages  than  he  whose  name  heads  this  sketch. 
He  was   born  in  the  year  1851  in  the  city  of 
Balrimore,    Md.,    where  his  childhood   days 
were  passed,  but  at  an  early  age  removed  to 
Salem,   111.,    where   he    learned    the    art    of 
printing,  soon  acquiring  a  proficiency  in  the 
"  art  preservative."     He  then   went  West,  as 
he  says,  "  to  grow  up  with  the  country,"  and 
while  in  Missouri  was  for  five  years  employed 
on  the  Herald  of  Rolla,  Mo.      From  the  lat- 
ter place  he  went  to  St.  Louis,  and  was  for 
four  years  engaged  on   the   Globe  Democrat. 
He  returned  to  Illinois  and  located  in  Louis- 
ville,   Clay  County,    where  he  engaged  for 
eight  years  in   a  successful  mercantile  busi- 
ness, associate.!  with  his  father,  Henry  Moore, 
now  of  Missouri.      Mr.   Moore  now  occupies 
the  very  important  position  of  teller  in  the 
First  National  Bank  of  Flora,  III,  a  position 
which  he  fills  with  marked  ability,  and  with 
perfect  satisfaction  to  all  concerned.      While 
he  has   been  very  successful  in  these   various 
pursuits,  he   appears  to  manifest  a  decided 
preference  for  journalism,  and  is  an  excep- 
tionally good  printer,  and  looks  forward  with 
pleasurable  anticipation  of  some  time  in  the 
future  editing  a  paper  which  will  be   a   new 
departure  in  journalism.      Possessing  as  he 
does  to  a  remarkable  degree    the   merit  of 
honor  and  personal  responsibility,  he  is  des- 
tined to  prove  successful  in  the  future  as  in 
the  past,  and  we  point  with  pride  to  him  as 
an  example  after  which  other  young  men  may 
safely    follow.       We    conclude    this   sketch, 
rendered  only  too  brief,   but  regard  it    like 
many  others,  as  forming    one  of  the  brightest 
paragraphs  in  the  history  of  Clay  County. 

JAMES  G.  NEFF,  son  of  George  and 
Eleanor  (McCrary)  Neff,  was  born  May  16, 
1832,  in  Lawrence  County.   Ohio,   and  came 


200 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


with  his  parents  to  Clay  bounty,  111.,  in 
1849.  His  father,  George  Neff,  was  born  in 
1789,  in  Brownstown,  Penn.,  and  the  mother 
was  born  in  South  Carolina  in  1796.  They 
both  came  to  Ohio  in  early  life,  and  were 
there  married.  George  Neff  was  a  practical 
farmer,  and  on  settling  in  Clay  County  en- 
tered a  large  amount  of  land,  consisting  of 
4,000  acres,  and  became  a  wealthy  man, 
leaving  a  large  estate  at  his  death,  which  oc- 
curred on  the  8th  of  December,  1863.  His 
wife,  Eleanor  Neff,  died  October  2,  1855. 
They  were  members  of  the  Baptist  Church, 
and  were  prominent  in  establishing  that 
society  in  this  county,  their  house  affording 
a  place  of  worship,  before  the  erection  of 
any  public  church  building.  They  left  a 
host  of  ardent  friends,  and  had  a  family  of 
nine  children,  some  of  whom  are  now 
among  the  honored  citizens  of  Clay  and 
Wayne  Counties.  James  G.,  whose  name 
heads  this  sketch,  is  the  seventh  member  of 
this  family,  of  whom  live  are  now  deceased. 
He  was  married  in  Scioto  County,  Ohio, 
March  7,  1867,  to  Mrs.  E.  B.  Wolcott,  wid- 
ow of  Henry  Wolcott,  and  daughter  of  John 
B.  Richart,  of  Ohio.  She  was  born  in  Ohio. 
William  E.  Wolcott,  of  Chicago,  is  the  only 
child  of  the  first  marriage.  James  G.  and 
E.  B.  Neff  have  two  children,  viz.,  John  B. , 
born  January  10,  1868,  and  Sarah  Edna  Neff, 
born  February  29,  1876.  They  are  members 
of  the  .Baptist  Church,  and  own  a  quantity 
of  valuable  real  estate  in  the  town  of  Flora. 

GEN.  LEWIS  B.  PARSONS. 
In  presenting  to  the  people  of  Wayne  and 
Clay  Counties  the  name  of  Gen.  L.  B.  Parsons, 
we  feel  our  inability  to  do  justice  to  him,  and 
will  content  ourselves  by  standing  aside  and 
allowing  some  of  his  friends  to  speak  for  us 
— friends  of  whom  any  man  may  feel  a  par- 
donable pride.      Space  will  not  permit  us  to 


insert  the  many  letters  of  just  commendation 
shown  the  writer,  and  we  give  in  the  brief 
space  at  our  command  sufficient  to  show  the 
merits  of  his  public  service  and  adminis- 
trative ability. 

The  following  is  from  the  Constitution  and 
Union,  May,  1880: 

THE    GOVERNORSHIP. 


GEN.    LEWIS    B.    PARSONS    PRESENTED   TO   THE    11,1.1 

NOIS    DEMOCRACY   AS   A   SUITABLE   NOMINEE 

FOR   GOVERNOR. 


THE    RECORD    OF    A    STERLING    MAN. 


[Eagle  (111.  ■  Constitution  and  Union.] 
The  time  has  come  when  it  is  proper  to 
speak  out  more  strongly  than  heretofore  in 
favor  of  Gen.  Lewis  B.  Parsons,  of  Clay 
County,  as  the  best  man  to  lead  the  Demo- 
cratic State  ticket  in  the  contest  this  year. 
There  are  many  gentlemen  of  eminent  quali- 
fications for  the  place  in  various  parts  of  the 
State,  among  whom,  it  is  generally  admitted, 
Gen.  Parsons  has  a  prominent  position,  and 
circumstances,  we  think,  when  fairly  con- 
sidered, especially  point  him  out  at  the  pres- 
ent time  as  the  safest  and  best  man  to  lead 
our  ticket. 

In  Southern  and  Central  Illinois,  Gen. 
Parsons  has.  for  many  years,  been  so  well 
known  as  to  render  any  words  in  his  favor 
unnecessary;  but  as  he  has  ever  declined  to 
seek  or  hold  political  positions,  he  is  not  so 
well  known  in  other  sections.  It  seems, 
therefore,  proper  to  say  a  few  words,  that  we 
may  in  this  most  important  campaign  arrive 
at  a  wise  conclusion  in  regard  to  the  man 
most  sure  to  lead  to  success,  and  who.  if 
elected,  will  secure  a  good  administration. 

Democrats  through  the  State  are  divided 
by  hopes  of  success  and  fear  of  defeat.  If 
elected,  Gen.   Parsons  will  make  a  fearless, 


CITY  OF  FLORA. 


201 


prudent  and  efficient  officer.  If  defeated,  no 
honest  man  will  regret  or  be  ashamed  of  hav- 
ing voted  for  him.  The  fact  that  Gen.  Par 
sons  has  for  months  persistently  refused  to 
heed  the  solicitations  of  his  friends  to  allow 
the  use  of  his  name  as  a  candidate  for  Gov- 
ernor is  well  known;  and  any  one  visiting 
his  farm  and  beautiful  home,  knowing  his 
love  for  agricultural  pursuits,  and  his  dislike 
of  tho  turmoil  of  political  strife,  which  has 
repeatedly  led  him  to  decline  important  posi- 
tions, can  well  understand  the  cause.  But 
it  seems  now  generally  understood  that  while 
Gen.  Parsons  will  enter  into  no  wrangling 
competition  to  secure  the  nomination,  yet 
acting  on  the  advice  of  men  whose  only  aim 
is  to  secure  the  best  interests  of  the  State, 
he  will  accept  should  the  Democratic  Con- 
vention on  the  10th  of  June  so  decide,  and 
enter  upon  the  campaign,  which  with  him 
would  mean  a  full  and  complete  organization 
of  the  State,  and  a  thoroughly  business-like 
canvass,  from  the  morning  after  the  nomina- 
tion to  the  evening  after  the  election.  Gen. 
Parsons  is  a  native  of  New  York,  born  in 
1818.  His  earlier  years  were  mostly  spent 
in  his  father's  country  store,  in  St.  Lawrence 
County,  the  home  of  Mr.  Silas  Wright,  of 
the  purity  and  simplicity  of  whose  private 
life  he  has  ever  been  a  great  admirer.  On 
his  father's  side,  he  comes  from  the  old  Mas- 
sachusetts stock,  which  emigrated  to  that 
State  from  England  nearly  two  and  a  half 
centuries  ago;  and  on  his  mother's  side  from 
the  equally  well-known  Hoar  family  of  the 
same  State.  His  father,  a  man  of  rare 
energy,  business  capacity  and  public  spirit, 
was  the  founder  of  the  nourishing  college  in 
Iowa  bearing  his  name,  and  for  the  endow- 
ment of  which  he  gave  a  large  fund.  Gen. 
Parsons'  grandfathers,  both  on  the  paternal 
and  maternal  sides,  served  in  the  Revolu- 
tionary war,  one  as  an  officer  of  distinction 


through  the  whole  of  that  struggle.  Gen. 
Parsons  entered  Yale  College  in  1836.  His 
father  having  suffered  severely  by  the  finan- 
cial revulsion  in  1837,  he  was  obliged  to 
struggle  for  an  education  under  great  diffi- 
culties, his  pecuniary  embarrassment  com- 
pelling him  to  spend  much  of  his  time  the 
last  two  years  out  of  college  in  teaching. 
Yet,  by  his  energy  and  industry,  he  main- 
tained his  position  and  graduated  with  repu- 
tation in  his  class  in  1840.  In  order  to  dis- 
charge debts  incurred  in  college,  and  obtain 
funds  to  enable  him  to  pursue  his  profession, 
he  taught  a  classical  school  in  Mississippi  for 
two  years,  evincing  those  traits  of  energy, 
honesty  and  prudence,  which  not  only  then 
met  with  a  just  reward,  but  which  have  char- 
acterized him  through  his  successful  life. 
Entering  Harvard  Law  School,  then  presided 
over  by  Justice  Story  and  Prof.  Greemleaf, 
in  1842,  he  pursued  his  studies  till  the  spring 
of  1844,  when,  turning  his  steps  westward, 
he  landed  in  St.  Louis  in  March  of  that 
year,  with  funds  only  sufficient  to  pay  a  dray- 
man to  take  his  baggage  to  a  hotol,  a  good 
library,  for  which  he  owed  $600,  a  determined 
will,  and  an  honest  purpose  to  succeed  ;  but 
with  no  friend  or  acquaintance  on  whom  to 
call  for  aid  within  hundreds  of  miles.  Less 
than  twenty  years  after,  the  same  man  had 
been  the  General  Manager  of  the  Ohio  & 
Mississippi  Railroad,  one  of  the  greatest  com- 
mercial arteries  leading  to  the  same  city,  and 
had  been  for  years  engaged  in  directing  the 
transportation  of  great  armies,  with  all  their 
supplies,  animals  and  munitions,  during  a  long 
war  of  the  greatest  magnitude,  controlling 
by  his  single  will,  uuder  the  general  order  of 
the  Secretary  of  War,  all  the  vast  means  aud 
modes  of  transportation,  not  only  of  all  the 
rivers  and  railroads  of  the  West,  but  of  the 
entire  country.  Such  are  the  changes  of  our 
country  and  time! 


203 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


LAWYER    AND    RAILROAD    MANAGER. 

Mr.  Parsons  soon  after  reaching  St.  Louis 
went  to  Alton  and  became  the  partner  of 
Newton  D.  Strong,  an  eminent  lawyer  and  a 
brother  of  Judge  Strong,  of  the  United 
States  Supreme  Court.  The  firm  did  a  large 
and  successful  business  till  Mr.  Strong  left 
the  State,  when  Mr.  Parsons  formed  a  part- 
nership with  Judge  Henry  W.  Billings, 
afterward  a  member  of  the  Constitutional 
Convention  of  1869,  a  gentleman  known  and 
esteemed  as  widely  as  his  early  and  sad  death 
was  lamented.  In  1858,  Mr.  Parsons  left 
Alton  and  became  the  legal  adviser  of  the 
great  banking  house  of  Page  &  Bacon,  then 
engaged  in  constructing  the  Ohio  &  Missis- 
sippi Railroad,  at  the  same  time  purchasing 
the  land  on  which  he  has  since  made  the 
large  farm  on  which  he  now  resides.  On  the 
suspension  of  the  banking  house  of  Page  & 
Bacon,  Messrs.  Aspinwall  and  associates  took 
possession  of  the  railroad,  retaining  Mr. 
Parsons  as  the  General  Western  Manager. 
The  work  was  completed  far  in  advance  of 
the  contract  time,  eminently  to  the  satisfac- 
tion of  all  parties.  In  the  various  positions 
of  Attorney,  Treasurer,  General  Manager,  Di- 
rector and  President  of  this  road  for  a  quar- 
ter of  a  century,  he  has  discharged  his  duties 
so  as  to  secure  the  perfect  confidence  of  all 
parties  and  the  public  *in  his  integrity, 
energy  and  capacity,  and  though  he  has 
long  since  parted  with  all  pecuniary  interest 
in  the  road,  he  is  still  retained  in  the  direc- 
tory. In  1860,  Gen.  Parsons  resigned  his 
official  position  with  a  view  of  rest  and  a 
European  tour;  but,  like  other  sagacious 
men,  perceiving  the  country  was  on  the  brink 
of  a  civil  war,  he  resolved  to  stay  at  home 
and  serve  the  nation.  Soon  after  the  com- 
mencement of  the  war,  Gen.  George  B.  Mc- 
Clellan,  who,  as  Vice  President  of  the  Ohio 
&    Mississippi    Railroad,    had    known    Gen. 


Parsons  and  his  abilities,  offered  him  a  posi- 
tion under  him  in  the  East,  which  was  at 
once  accepted,  and  he  proceeded  thither. 

Early  satisfied  that  the  field  and  the 
West  best  suited  his  taste,  Gen  Parsons 
obtained  an  order  to  report  to  St.  Louis, 
with  a  view  to  raising  a  regiment.  On 
arriving  there,  Gen.  Curtis,  commanding 
the  department,  placed  him  on  a  commission 
with  Captain,  now  Lieutenant  General,  Sher- 
idan, to  investigate  the  afairs  connected  with 
Gen.  Fremont's  administration,  which  soon 
led  to  the  celebrated  Holt- Davis  commission  of 
greater  civil  powers.  In  the  meantime, 
Gen.  Halleck  having  taken  command,  and 
finding  nothing  but  disorder  and  confusion 
in  the  transportation  service — that  it  was 
conducted  utterly  regardless  of  system  or 
economy — was  inefficient,  and  the  souroe  of 
endless  complaints  by  the  railroads  who 
neither  knew  whose  order  to  obey,  nor  how  to 
obtain  compensation  due  them,  learning  of 
Gen.  Parsons'  experience  and  abilities,  ob- 
tained an  order  from  the  Secretary  of  War 
placing  him  on  his  staff  as  aid  de  camp,  with 
rank  of  Colonel,  and  gave  him  entire  charge 
of  railroad  and  river  transportation.  To  one 
like  Col.  Parsons,  accustomed  to  organize 
and  direct  the  efforts  of  large  bodies  of  men 
and  the  movements  of  large  quantities  of 
material,  the  pending  difficulties  were  of  easy 
solution,  and  he  accepted  the  situation  with 
a  cheerful  confidence  which  was  amply  vin- 
dicated by  the  results,  and  which  soon 
brought  order  and  harmony  out  of  chaos  and 
confusion.  Introducing  a  few  simple  well- 
defined  rules,  combining  uniformity  with 
responsibility,  and  efficiency  with  economy, 
a  revolution  was  at  once  effected  most  satis- 
factory to  the  Government  officers  and  the 
railroads  performing  service,  so  that  they  as 
well  as  all  river  navigation  became  part  of  a 
single,  central  system,  acting  not  only  with 


CITY  OF  FLORA. 


20=5 


power  and  efficiency  but  with  unsurpassed 
economy.  Such  yuccess  gained  the  entire 
confidence  of  the  Government,  and  Col. 
Parsons'  authority  soon  became  complete  and 
co-extensive  with  the  valley  west  of  the  Alle- 
ghanies,  extending  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico 
to  the  Indian  wars,  two  thousand  miles  up  the 
Yellowstone,  as  also  the  Upper  Mississippi. 
In  1863,  the  Secretary  of  War  ordered  Col. 
Parsons  to  Washington,  but  revoked  the 
order  on  his  tendering  his  resignation  rather 
than  leave  the  West.  In  1864,  however,  on 
an  imperative  order  of  the  Secretary  he  took 
charge  of  the  bureau  of  rail  and  river  trans- 
portation for  the  entire  country,  and  in  a 
brief  period  he  perfected  a  complete  organi- 
zation and  introduced  rules,  regulations  and 
forms  which  were  made  the  basis  of  action 
for  that  important  department. 

While  in  that  position  he,  in  person,  effect- 
ed a  movement  pronounced  by  Secretary 
Stanton  as  well  as  by  high  English  and 
French  military  authorities  as  without  a 
parallel  in  the  movement  of  armies,  and  on 
the  result  of  which  President  Lincoln  ordered 
his  promotion  to  a  full  Brigadier,  viz. ,  the 
transfer  of  the  Twenty-third  Army  Corps  of 
20,000  men,  with  all  its  artillery  and  animals, 
from  Clinton,  Tenn.,  to  the  Potomac,  in 
the  brief  space  of  eleven  days,  a  distance  of 
over  1.400  miles  in  mid-winter,  over  mount- 
ains and  through  rivers  obstructed  by  snow 
and  ice  and  by  broken-down  railroads,  sub- 
ject to  guerrilla  incursions,  all  without  the 
loss  of  life  or  property. 

It  is  a  singular  fact  that  though  so  suc- 
cessful in  all  respects,  Col.  Parsons  twice 
tendered  his  resignation  in  order  to  raise  a 
regiment  for  active  field  service,  which  was 
as  it  should  have  been,  imperatively  declined 
by  the  Secretary  of  War.  Happening  to  be 
present  at  the  first  attack  on  Vicksburg,  he 
tendered   his  services  and  acted  as  volunteer 


abundant  evi- 
authority — from 
Lincoln,    Gens. 


aid  to  Gen.  Shermau,  and  subsequently  acted 
in  like  capacity  on  Gen.  McClernand's 
staff  at  the  battle  and  capture  of  Arkansas 
Post,  where,  if  not  the  first,  he  was  among 
the  first  to  enter  the  fortification,  and  for 
which  he  received  special  notice  from  the 
commanding  officers.  Soon  after  the  sur- 
render of  Lee,  Gen.  Parsons  tendered  his 
resignation,  his  private  business  imperatively 
requiring  his  attention,  but  was  detained  by 
the  Secretary  of  War  for  many  months  to  aid 
in  important  service.  The  same  firmnesB, 
energy  and  economy  have  distinguished  Gen. 
Parsons  equally  in  public  and  private  life, 
and  evinced  his  superior  organizing  and 
administrative  abilities. 

There  is  upon  record 
dence  from  the  highest 
such  men  as  President 
Grant.  Sherman  and  Schofield,  Judges 
David  Davis,  Trumbull,  E.  B.  Washburne, 
and  a  host  of  others — of  most  meritorious 
service,  all  agreeing  that  Gen.  Parsons'  ad- 
ministration saved  millions  to  the  Govern- 
ment. 

As  early  as  September  13,  1863,  that  most 
able  and  excellent  officer.  Gen.  Robert  Allen, 
then  Col.  Parson's  superior,  in  writing  the 
Secretary  of  War,  asking  for  Col.  Parsons'  pro- 
motions, among  other  things  said:  "  Having 
had  charge  of  that  most  important  branch  of 
the  service — steamboat  and  railroad  transpor- 
tation— his  duties  have  been  arduous,  have 
been  highly  responsible,  and  he  has  dis- 
charged them  with  signal  success  and  ability. 
His  administration  of  his  branch  of  the  de- 
partment has  been  eminently  satisfactory. 
No  military  movement  in  the  West  has  failed 
or  faltered  for  lack  of  transportation  or  sup- 
plies of  any  kind.  The  wants  of  armies  in 
the  field  have  been  anticipated  and  met  with 
alacrity  and  dispatch.  If  industry  joined  to 
capacity,   and  integrity  to   energy,    all    pos- 


204 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


sessed  and  duly  exercised  in  the  same  person, 
entitled  him  to  the  advancement,  then  I 
may  safely  claim  promotion  for  Col.  Par- 
sons. " 

An  equally  strong  statement  was  made  by 
Gen.  Grant  in  May,  1865,  and  the  following 
is  an  extract  from  the  New  York  Times,  of 
July  20,  of  that  year: 

"  No  officer  of  the  United  States  Army  could 
speak  with  a  more  correct  knowledge  than  did 
Gen.  Parsons  of  the  number  and  efficiency  of 
the  armies  of  the  Union,  for  no  one  perhaps 
had  more  experience  than  he  in  their  organi- 
zation, subsistence  and  handling.  We  vent- 
ure to  say  that  if  Secretary  Stanton  were 
called  on  to  name  the  officer  that  more  than 
any  other  had  distinguished  himself  in  the 
task  of  wielding  the  vast  machinery  of  the 
Union  armies  during  all  the  stages  of  the 
conflict  in^response  to  the  plans  and  require- 
ments of  our  Generals,  he  would  with  little 
hesitation  designate  Gen.  Lewis  B.  Parsons. 
It  is  to  his  matchless  combination  that  must 
be  attributed  much  of  the  efficiency  and  suc- 
cess that  almost  invariably  marked  every 
military  movement  in  the  West." 

Soon  after  the  war,  Gen.  Parsons  spent 
two  years  abroad,  visiting  all  parts  of  Europe 
and  the  Orient,  seeking  to  regain  his  health, 
greatlv  impaired  by  over  four  years  of  inces- 
sant labor,  he  having  been  absent  from  duty 
but  twenty-one  days  while  in  service.  Dur- 
ing the  war,  while  faithfully  serving  his 
country,  he  never  wavered  in  his  political 
faith.  Beginning  a  Douglas  War  Democrat, 
he  continued  such,  though  some  of  his 
friends  firmly  believed  this  long  delayed 
his  just  promotion.  Continuing  since  the 
war  an  earnest  but  conservative  Democrat,  he 
has  never  been  drawn  into  any  temporary 
political  experiments,  but  has  believed  that 
there  lay  at  the  foundation  of  true  Demo- 
cratic principles  certain  great  truths  which. 


in  time,  would  assert  supreme  power,  and  in 
their  practical  application  restore  the  Gov- 
ernment to  the  simplicity,  purity,  economy 
and  honesty  of  the  better  days  of  the  Repub- 
lic. Believing  such  a  man  at  the  present 
time  most  likely  to  lead  us  to  victory,  Gen. 
Parsons'  friends  in  Southern  Illinois,  where 
he  has  so  greatly  aided  in  restoring  our  Dem- 
ocratic majorities,  ask  all  sections  of  the 
State  to  assist  in  his  nomination  and  elec- 
tion, relying  not  only  on  his  abilities  as  a 
public, speaker,  but  on  his  organizing  abili- 
ties and  great  energy  of  character. 

Headquarters  Armt  of  U.  8.  I 
Washington,  D.  C,  May  20,  1865.  f 
Dear  General: 

I  have  long  contemplated  writing  you  and  ex- 
pressing niy  satisfaction  with  the  manner  in  which 
you  have  dischargsd  the  very  responsible  and 
difficult  duties  of  Superintendent  of  river  and  rail- 
road transportation  for  the  armies  both  in  the  West 
and  East. 

The  position  is  second  in  importance  to  no  other 
connected  with  the  military  service,  and  to  have 
been  appointed  to  it  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  of 
the  magnitude  and  duration  of  this  one,  and  holding 
it  to  its  close,  providing  transportation  for  whole 
armies,  with  all  that  appertains  to  them  for  thou- 
sands of  miles,  adjusting  accounts  involving  millions 
of  money,  and  doing  justice  to  all,  never  delaying 
for  a  moment  any  military  operations  dependent  on 
you,  meriting  and  receiving  the  commeudatious  of 
your  superior  officers,  and  the  recognition  of  the 
Government  for  integrity  of  character,  and  for  the 
able  and  efficient  manner  in  which  you  have  rilled 
it,  evidences  an  honesty  of  purpose,  knowledge  of 
men,  business  intelligence  and  executive  ability  of 
the  highest  order,  and  of  which  any  man  might  be 
justly  proud. 

■\Yishingyou  a  speedy  return  to  health  and  duty, 
I  remain,  yours  truly. 

U.  S.  Grant. 
Brig.  Gen.  Lewis  B.  Parsons,  A.   Q.  M. 

The  following  is  a  copy  of  the  order  of 
President  Lincoln  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  au- 
thorizing the  speedy  promotion  of  Gen.  Par- 
sons to  the  commission  of  Brigadier  Gen- 
eral: 


CITY  OF  FLORA. 


205 


Executive  Mansion,  I 
Washington,  March  17,  1865.  f 
Hon.  Sec't  or  War: 

Dear  Sir — I  have  long  thought  Col.  Lewis  B. 
Parsons  ought  to  be  promoted,  and  intended  it 
should  have  been  sooner  done.  His  long  services 
and  uniform  testimon)'  to  the  ability  with  which  he 
has  discharged  his  very  responsible  and  extended 
duties  render  it  but  just  and  proper  his  services 
should  be  acknowledged,  and  more  especially  so 
since  his  great  success  in  executing  your  order  for 
the  recent  movement  of  troops  from  the  West.  You 
will  therefore  at  once  promote  Col.  Parsons  to  the 
rank  of  Brigadier  General  of  Volunteers,  if  there  is 
a  vacancy  which  can  be  given  to  the  Quarter- 
master's Department,  and  if  not  you  will  so  promote 
him  when  the  first  vacancy  occurs. 

Yours  truly, 

[Signed]  A.  Lincoln. 

M.  H  PRESLEY.  In  representing  to  the 
readers  of  Clay  County's  history  the  man 
whose  name  heads  this  sketch,  we  feel  incom- 
petent to  do  him  justice.  We  fully  realize 
that  it  is  due  the  present  as  well  as  the  future 
generations,  that  a  record  of  noble  men  be 
faithfully  preserved;  not  for  the  purpose  of 
eulogizing  those  of  whom  we  write,  but  to 
give  those  for  whom  we  write  the  benefits  of 
their  noble  example.  It  is  said  that  "  an 
honest  man  is  the  noblest  work  of  God." 
Tbis  is  more  especially  true  because  of  the 
potent  influence  of  their  example,  the  emu- 
lation of  which  makes  the  world  happier, 
and  by  making  it  happier  makes  it  better. 
M.  H.  Presley  was  born  in  North  Carolina  in 
October,  1828,  but  grew  to  manhood  in  Smith 
County,  Tenn.,  where  his  parents  removed 
when  he  was  but  a  child.  His  father,  whose 
name    was    Valentine    Presley,   was  born  in 

1790  in  North  Carolina,  but  descends  from 
German  parentage  on  the  father's  side,  and 
Scotch-Irish  on  the  side  of  his  mother,  whose 
name   was  Susan  Morton,  who  was  born  in 

1791  in  Virginia.  We  are  informed  that 
the  name  Presley  was  originally  Bressly,  and 
the  change  was  made  as  a  matter  of  choice 
by  Valentine,  the  father  of  M.  H.      Valen- 


tine Presley  and  Susan  Morton  were  married 
about  1808.  The  result  of  this  union  was  a 
large  family  of  children,  seven  of  whom  were 
reared  to  man  and  womanhood.  The  oldest, 
Sanders  M.  Presley,  became  an  influential 
minister  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
and  died  in  Tennessee  at  the  age  of  thirty  - 
three;  Thursey  J.,  is  the  wife  of  Andrew 
Winchester,  of  Tennessee;  Huldah,  deceased, 
wife  of  Joel  "Winchester;  P.  W.  and  Andrew 
M. ,  now  of  De  Kalb  County,  Tenn.;  Susan 
D.,  deceased,  wife  of  William  Coggin,  and 
M.  H.  Presley,  the  subject  of  this  sketch. 
The  parents  of  this  family,  with  M.  H.,  came 
to  Clay  County,  111.,  in  1852,  and  settled  on 
a  farm  in  the  northwest  part  of  the  county, 
where  the  father  died  the  same  year,  and 
where  the  mother  also  died  in  1858.  De- 
cember 15,  1853,  M.  H.  Presley  was  married 
to  Miss  Sarah  E.,  daughter  of  Alfred  J.  and 
Sarah  J.  Moore.  She  was  born  in  Clay 
County,  111.,  July  21,  1835.  Their  family 
comprises  five  children — William,  who  was 
drowned  in  July,  1866,  was  born  July  5, 
1855;  Selecta  J.,  was  born  July  25,  1S59; 
Frankie  M.,  was  born  January  25,  1862,  and 
is  the  wife  of  T.  A.  Wilson,  of  Flora;  Alfred 
M.  Presley,  the  youngest,  was  born  January 
18,  1867.  In  politics,  Mr.  Presley  is  a  Re- 
publican, and  while  he  is  not  a  politician,  he 
wields  an  influence  of  no  mean  order  in  lo- 
cal politics,  and  positively  refuses  to  accept 
office.  He  is  an  honored  member  of  the 
Masonic  fraternity  and  A.  O.  U.  W.  As  a 
business  man,  he  displays  unusual  wisdom, 
and  by  a  life  of  energetic,  honorable  deal- 
ing, has  become  one  of  the  ablest  men  of 
Clay  County.  He  is  a  director  and  stock- 
holder in  tbe  First  National  Bank  of  Flora. 
SYLVESTER  RIDER.  The  subject  of 
this  sketch,  for  many  years  a  resident  of 
Wayne  County,  111.,  was  born  in  Adams 
County,  Penn.,  in  May,  1814.     He  is  a  son 


206 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


Paul  Rider,  who  was  born  in  the  same  county, 
and  whose  parents  came  from  Switzerland 
and  settled  in  Pennsylvania.  When  Sylves- 
ter was  a  small  boy,  his  parents  removed  to 
Frederick  County,  Md.,  where  they  remained 
a  few  years,  coming  thence  in  1825  to  Stark 
County,  Ohio.  There  the  parents  died — the 
father  in  1828,  and  the  mother,  whose  maiden 
name  was  Sarah  Shorb,  died  about  1846. 
Sylvester  grew  to  maturity  in  Ohio,  and  in 
1836  was  married  to  Ann  F.  C.  Shorb,  who 
was  born  in  1812  in  Maryland.  To  these 
parents  have  been  born  twelve  children,  of 
whom  but  five  are  now  living — L.  J.,  A.  B. 
and  C.  B.  Rider,  whose  sketches  appear  else- 
where in  this  work,  and  Misses  Dora  and 
Margaret  Rider,  of  Flora.  Mr.  Rider  came 
from  Ohio  to  Wayne  County,  111.,  in  1843, 
having  decided  to  engage  in  sheep-raising 
and  wool-growing,  which  he  pursued  with 
profit  for  several  years.  He  settled  a  farm 
near  Fairfield,  which  he  developed  and  so  thor- 
oughly improved  that  he  obtained  a  premium 
for  the  best  improved  farm  in  the  State. 
Having  sold  this  farm,  he  removed  to  Flora, 
Clay  County,  in  1865,  purchasing  a  small 
farm  of  forty  acres  within  the  corporate  lim- 
its of  the  town,  where  he  has  an  elegant 
house  and  a  truly  happy  home.  He  is  re- 
tired from  active  business,  but  is  a  director 
of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Flora.  He 
was  educated  to  the  Catholic  faith,  to  which 
he  has  ever  remained  ardently  attached,  and 
in  his  house  was  said  the  first  mass  in  Wayne 
County,  by  the  Rev.  Father  Fisher.  Both 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rider  are  well  advanced  in  life, 
and  are  looking  beyond  the  brief  interval 
that  separates  them  from  their  eternal  re- 
ward, and  we  think  when  that  supreme  hour 
comes  they  will  leave  behind  as  many  friends 
and  as  few  faults  as  commonly  bless  the 
lot  of  man. 

GEORGE  W.  SMITH,  insurance  and  real 


estate  agent,  Flora,  111.,  is  a  son  of  Willie 
and  Cynthia  (Jones)  Smith,  and  was  born 
October  7,  1847,  in  Marion  County,  111.  The 
father  was  born  in  North  Carolina,  and  when 
a  mere  boy  removed  with  his  parents  to  Ten- 
nessee, where  he  attained  to  manhood.  He 
came  with  other  members  of  the  family  to 
Illinois,  and  settled  in  Marion  County  in 
1828,  and  was  there  married  to  Sallie  Lynch, 
who  died,  leaving  a  family  of  six  children, 
of  whom  three  are  still  living.  Mr.  Smith 
next  married  Cynthia  Jones,  daughter  of 
Bjrori  Jones,  and  widow  of  John  Rotan. 
She  was  born  in  White  County,  Tenn.,  in 
1812,  and  is  still  living,  and  a  resident  of 
Flora,  111.  She  is  the  mother  of  eight  chil- 
dren, three  of  whom  are  the  issue  of  the  mar- 
riage to  Willis  Smith,  which  occurred  in 
1845.  The  Rotan  children  were  William 
Rotan,  now  a  farmer  in  Missouri;  Nancy 
(deceased),  wife  of  Mr.  L.  L.  Johnson,  of 
Missouri;  the  late  Hon.  Byron  J.  Rotan,  of 
Louisville,  111.,  who  was  an  able  lawyer,  and 
a  member  of  the  State  Legislature  from  the 
Forty-fourth  District  from  1873  to  1875;  he 
died  in  Louisville,  111.,  March  9,  1880,  leav- 
ing a  wife  and  three  children,  now  residents 
of  Missouri ;  the  fourth  was  Jane  Rotan,  who 
died  in  1854,  in  early  womanhood;  the 
youngest  being  John  M.  Rotan,  now  of  Kin 
mundy,  111.  Of  the  three  children  born  to 
Willis  and  Cynthia  Smith,  the  first  died  in 
infancy,  George  W.  being  the .  second  and 
Randolph  Smith  the  youngest.  George  W. 
was  educated  in  the  common  schools  and  at 
the  Plattsburg  College,  of  Missouri.  He 
adopted  the  profession  of  teacher,  and  dur- 
ing an  experience  of  fifteen  years  in  Clay 
County  established  a  reputation  as  an  able 
educator.  He  retired  from  the  profession  in 
1883,  having  the  three  years  preceding  been 
the  Principal  of  the  public  school  of  Flora. 
In  1873,    he  was  appointed   to  the  office  of 


CITY  OF  FLORA. 


207 


County  Superintendent  of  Schools  of  Clay 
County,  to  fill  tbe  unexpired  term  occasioned 
by  the  resignation  of  J.  H.  Songer.  In  1874, 
he  was  elected  to  the  same  office,  and  was  in 
1877  again  the  choice  of  the  people,  in  which 
office  he  served  with  acceptance  until  the  fall 
of  1882,  an  aggregate  term  of  nine  years. 
He  is  now  Police  Magistrate  of  the  village  of 
Flora,  and  is  doing  a  thriving  business  in 
insurance  and  real  estate.  He  was  married, 
in  Louisville,  111.,  April  9,  1875,  to  Miss 
Nora  David,  daughter  of  James  and  Eliza- 
beth (Adams)  David,  the  former  deceased  and 
the  latter  the  wife  of  Judge  L.  S.  Hopkins, 
of  Louisville.  Mrs.  Nora  Smith  was  born 
October  20,  1852,  in  Indiana.  They  have 
had  but  two  children,  viz.,  Randolph,  born 
September  18,  1876,  died  November  9,  1878: 
and  Nell  Smith,  born  March  3,  1880.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Smith  are  members  of  the  M.  E. 
Church,  and  be  of  the  Masonic  order.  Willis 
Smith,  father  of  George  W.  and  Randolph 
Smith,  died  in  1S50,  of  cholera,  while  en 
route  for  California. 

RANDOLPH  SMITH,  Cashier  of  the  First 
National  Bank  of  Flora,  is  a  son  of  Willis 
and  Cynthia  Smith,  and  was  born  May  31, 
1849,  in  Marion  County,  111.  He  was  edu- 
cated in  the  public  schools  of  Marion  and 
Clay  Counties,  and  qualified  himself  for  the 
profession  of  teaching,  which  he  began. 
After  a  brief  period,  however,  he  was  induced 
to  accept  the  position  of  Deputy  Circuit 
Clerk  of  Clay  County,  which  he  did  in  the 
spring  of  1870,  retaining  this  position  two 
.years.  In  the  fall  of  1872,  he  was  the  can- 
didate on  the  Democratic  ticket  for  the  office 
of  Circuit  Clerk,  but,  in  common  with  the 
entire  ticket,  sustained  a  defeat.  In  March, 
1873,  he  became  the  book-keeper  for  the 
First  National  Bank  at  Flora,  the  duties  of 
which  he  ably  performed  until  1878,  when 
he  was  elected   to  the  position  of  cashier, 


which  he  still  fills  with  universal  acceptance. 
He  was  married,  in  Louisville,  111.,  October 
1,  1873,  to  Miss  Minnie  L.  Hanna,  daughter 
of  William  H.  and  Anna  M.  Hanna.  She 
was  born  June  1,  1852,  in  Ohio.  The  fol- 
lowing children  were  born  to  them:  Medora 
A.,  George C.  and  Claude  Earl  Smith.  Both 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Smith  are  members  of  the  M. 
E.  Church,  and  he  of  the  Masonic  order  and 
A.  O.  U.  W. 

ANDREW  SNYDER,  a  resident  of  Flora, 
and  one  of  the  first  farmers  of  Clay  County, 
was  born,  February  5,  1818,  in  Bavaria, 
Germany.  When  eighteen  years  old,  he 
came  to  the  United  States  with  his  parents, 
Nicholas  and  Barbara  Snyder,  who  settled  at 
Wheeling,  Ohio  Co.,  W.  Va.,  where  they 
died.  Andrew  is  the  third  of  their  family  of 
four  children.  In  January,  1846,  he  was 
married  to  Miss  Rebecca  Whitney,  daughter 
of  John  Whitney  and  Sarah  Hansel,  the  lat- 
ter of  German  ancestry.  She  was  born 
June  12,  1827,  in  Virginia.  They  resided  in 
Virginia  after  marriage  about  seven  years, 
when  they  removed  to  Monroe  County,  Ohio, 
from  where  they  came  to  Clay  County,  111., 
in  1861.  They  then  settled  on  a  farm  in 
Harter  Township,  south  of  Flora,  where  they 
lived  several  years,  and  where  Mr.  Snyder 
still  owns  a  large  tract  of  valuable  land. 
They  have  been  blessed  with  eleven  children, 
four  of  whom  have  died — Margaret  Jane 
(deceased),  wife  of  Benjamin  Chaney;  Anna 
M..  Sarah  E.,  both  of  whom  are  deceased; 
John  N.,  of  the  firm  of  Cook  &  Snyder,  at 
Flora;  Josephus  (deceased);  Andrew  C, 
Annie  E.,  Martin  T.,  Rhoda,  Daisy  and  Vio- 
let Snyder.  The  family  are  members  of  the 
Baptist  Church. 

JOHN  N.  SNYDER,  of  the  milling  firm 
of  Cook  &  Snyder,  of  Flora,  111.,  is  a  son  of 
Andrew  Snyder,  and  was  born  March  28, 
1851,   in  Wheeling,   Ohio  Co.,  W.  Va.     He 


208 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


came  to  Clay  County  with  his  parents  in 
1861,  and  remained  with  his  father  on  the 
farm  until  1873,  when  he  went  to  Tennessee 
and  engaged  in  railroad  work  until  return- 
ing to  Flora,  111.,  in  1875.  In  the  latter 
year,  he  married  Rebecca  Todd,  a  daughter 
of  Henry  M.  and  Nancy  J.  Todd,  of  Mont- 
gomery County,  111.  She  was  born  May  6, 
1857,  in  Champaign  County,  Ohio.  They 
have  three  children,  viz.:  Ethel,  born  Decem- 
ber 7,  1876;  Josephus  Lee,  born  October  27, 
1878;  and  Rosamond  Snyder,  born  April  24, 
1882.  In  April,  1881,  J.  N.  Snyder  pur- 
chased an  interest  in  the  Farmers'  Mill,  of 
Flora,  associated  with  his  father  and  Will- 
iam W.  Cook. 

DR.  W.  L.  SUGGETT,  of  Flora,  111., 
and  only  child  of  Dr.  James  M.  and  Caro- 
line M.  Suggett,  was  born  in  Henry  County, 
Ky.,  March  5,  1S52.  At  the  age  of  sixteen 
he  entered  the  State  Normal  University,  at 
Normal,  111.,  where  he  remained  as  a  student 
for  four  years.  He  then  began  the  study  of 
medicine  with  his  father,  and  in  1876  and 
1877  attended  lectures  at  the  University  of 
Louisville.  In  1878,  he  began  the  practice  of 
medicine  in  Flora  and  vicinity,  where  he  en- 
joys the  reputation  of  an  able  physician. 
Having,  however,  a  natural  ambition  to  excel 
in  his  chosen  profession,  he  is  at  the  pres- 
ent writing  availing  himself  of  the  benefits 
of  a  thorough  course  in  the  Medical  College 
of  St.  Louis,  in  which  he  will  soon  gradu- 
ate. He  was  married  in  Louisville,  Ky., 
June  4,  1872,  to  Miss  Alice  J.  Rncker,  of 
Spencer  County,  Ky.,  where  she  was  born 
July  4,  1855.  She  is  a  daughter  of  Dr. 
George  W.  and  Julia  (Bennett)  Rucker. 
They  have  two  interesting  children,  viz.: 
Orril  L.  Suggett,  born  May  13,  1873,  and 
Virgil  O.  Suggett,  born  December  17,  1878. 
The  older  son,  though  but  ten  years  old,  is  a 
complete  master  of  the  science  of  telegraphy, 


and  has  charge  of  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio 
Company's  office  at  Flora.  He  is  probably 
the  youngest  operator  in  the  State,  if  indeed 
there  is  another  in  any  State  so  young,  who 
assumes  the  entire  duties  of   an  office. 

DR.  JAMES  M.  SUGGETT,  Flora,  111., 
was  born  in  Kentucky  May  11,  1824.  His 
father,  William  Suggett,  was  a  native  of  Vir- 
ginia, though  of  Welsh  origin,  and  his 
mother,  whose  name  was  Elizabeth  Castle- 
ton,  was  of  German  ancestry,  and  born  in 
Kentucky.  James  M.  is  the  youngest  of  a 
family  of  twelve  children  born  to  these  par- 

i  ents,  who  died  in  Kentucky,  the  mother  in 
1838,  and  father  in  1861.  Dr.  James  M. 
Suggett  was  educated  in  Georgetown  College, 
Kentucky,  and  having  decided  on  the  prac- 
tice of  medicine  he  did  the  preparatory 
reading  under  Dr.  H.  C.  Craig,  of  George- 
town, Ky. ,  and  in  1847  graduated  in  the 
Medical  Department  of  the  Transylvania 
University   of    that  State.     After  a  practice 

;  of  twelve  years  in  Kentucky,  be  removed  to 
Missouri  in  1856,  and  there  engaged  in  prac- 
tice until  1862,  when  he  removed  to  McLean 
County,  111.      From   there  he  came  to  Flora 

i  in  1877,  and  has  practiced  in  Clay  County 
since,  principally  in  Louisville.  He  was 
married  in  Henry  County,  Ky.,  in  1846,  to 
Ellen  D.  Hays,  who  died  in  Kentucky  in 
1850,  leaving  a  daughter  Catherine,  who 
died  in  1870.  He  was  married  to  Caroline 
M.  Rucker,  of  Kentucky,  on  the  25th  day  of 
February,  1851.  She  was  born  March  9, 
1829,  in  Shelby  County,  Ky.,  and  is  still 
living.  Dr.  James  M.  Suggett  is  a  member 
of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  and  in  1S82  was 
elected  to  the  office  of  County  Coroner,  of 
Clay  County,  which  he  now  holds. 

JOHN  S.  SYMONDS,  a  resident  of  Flora, 
111.,  and  present  member  of  the  Legislature, 
was  born  January  18,  1S33,  in  Cayuga 
County,  N.  Y.     His  father,  Shubel  Symonds, 


CITY   OF   FLORA. 


209 


was  born  in  1786,  and  served  as  a  soldier  in 
the  war  of  1812,  and  in  1815  was  married  in 
York  State  to  Mary  Baker.  She  was  born  in 
Rhode  Island,  in  1796  and  is  now  a  member  of 
the  family  of  her  son,  John  S.,  of  Flora. 
He  is  the  youngest  of  seven  children  born  to 
these  parents,  and  was  educated  in  the  pub- 
lic schools  of  New  York;  he  was  there  mar- 
ried, in  November,  1855,  to  Helen  M.  Thom- 
as,' and  two  years  later  came  to  Illinois  and 
settled  in  Clay  County,  which  has  been  his 
permanent  home  since.  From  1859  to  1863, 
he  was  engaged  in  mining  interests  in  Colo- 
rado. From  1863  to  1881,  he  engaged  in 
merchandising  at  Xenia,  111.,  and  in  the 
meantime  superintended  an  extensive  agri- 
cultural interest.  During  the  late  war,  and 
until  1872,  he  supported  the  administration, 
but  prior  to  and  since  that  period  has  been 
acting  with  the  Democratic  party.  He  has 
filled  the  various  offices  of  the  town  and  coun- 
ty, and  in  1882  was  elected  to  his  present 
position  as  a  member  of  the  Lower  House. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity, 
and  of  the  Baptist  Church.  Mrs.  Symonds 
was  born  December  6,  1839,  in  New  York, 
and  is  a  daughter  of  Sidney  O.  and  Ophelia 
(Eaton)  Thomas.  The  family  consists  of 
Lilly,  Lula,  Helen  O.,  Edwin,  Minnie  and 
Sidney  O.  Symonds,  the  eldest  of  whom  is 
deceased. 

THOMAS  A.  WILSON,  druggist  and  phar- 
macist, at  Flora,  111.,  and  son  of  John  and 
Eliza  J.  Wilson,  of  Fairfield,  Wayne  County, 
was  born  in  Wayne  County  February  11, 
18  19.  He  was  reared  to  manhood  in  Wayne 
County,  and  in  the  meantime  attended  the 
public  schools  of  Fairfield.  He  came  to 
Flora  in  1873,  and  engaged  as  a  druggist's 
clerk  in  the  store  of  Dr.  W.  B.  Wilson,  in 
which  capacity  he  worked  until  1876,  when, 
in  connection  with  C.  B.  Rider,  he  pur- 
chased   the  stock,  which  partnership  termi- 


nated in  1878,  by  the  retiring  of  Mr.  Rider, 
since  which  time  Mr.  Wilson  has  conducted 
the  business  alone.  He  carries  a  complete 
stock  of  goods,  and  is  located  on  the  north 
side  of  North  avenue.  He  was  married,  in 
Flora,  on  the  22d  of  November,  1881,  to 
Miss  Frankie  M.  Presley,  daughter  of  M.  H. 
and  S.  E.  Presley,  of  Flora.  She  was  born 
in  Clay  County,  111.,  January  25,  1862. 
They  have  one  child — Electa  Wilson,  born 
November  5,  18S2.  Mr.  Wilson  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Masonic  order,  and  of  the  A.  O. 
U.  W.  Both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wilson  are  hon- 
ored members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  of  Flora. 

MATHINSEY  O  WITHERSPOON,  of 
the  firm  of  Witherspoon  &  Kiely,  Flora.  HI., 
was  born  November  30,  1823,  in  Allen  Coun- 
ty, Ky.  He  is  the  youngest  of  a  family  of 
ten  children  born  to  Hardy  and  Nancy  (Mot 
ley)  Witherspoon,  who  were  both  natives  of 
North  Carolina,  where  they  were  reared  and 
married,  moving  afterward  to  Kentucky, 
where  M.  O.  Witherspoon  grew  to  manhood. 
He  was  married.  March  23,  1843,  to  Miss 
Frances  A.  Tibbs,  daughter  of  James  Tibbs 
and  Martha  (Webb),  both  of  whom  were  na- 
tives of  Virginia.  Frances  A.  was  born  Jan 
uary  4,  1823.  Mr.  Withe-spoon,  in  1853, 
removed  to  Missouri,  where  he  resided  until 
1863,  when  on  account  of  the  turbulent  agi- 
tation of  the  issues  of  the  war,  he  decided  to 
leave  th9  State,  not,  however,  until  he  had 
been  robbed  by  guerrillas  of  his  property, 
amounting  to  $2,000.  He  then  settled  in 
Wayne  County,  111.,  where  for  three  years  he 
was  engaged  in  milling  and  lumber  business, 
but  in  1866  he  went  to  Xenia,  Clay  County, 
where  he  resided  until  coming  to  Flora  in 
1868.  Since  the  latter  date,  he  has  served 
eight  years  as  Constable,  and  the  remaining 
years  has  given  his  attention  to  merchandis- 
ing.    He  is  now  the  active  partner  in  a  gro 

14 


210 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


eery  business  on  the  south  side  of  North 
avenue.  Both  he  and  ivife  have  been  hon- 
ored members  of  the  Baptist  Church  for 
thirty-seven  years,  he  sustaining  the  rela- 
tion of  Deacon.  He  is  also  an  ardent  advo- 
cate of  the  cause  of  temperance,  and  is  con- 
trolled in  his  political  views  largely  by  that 
issue.  They  have  had  a  family  of  nine  chil- 
dren, but  eight  times  has  the  angel  of  death 
invaded  their  family  circle,  each  time  bear- 


ing one  of  their  "  jewels  "  to  the  "  farther 
side."  But  one  of  these  eight  deceased  chil- 
dren grew  to  maturity,  viz.,  William  T.,  who 
died  in  1864,  while  in  military  service. 
Martha  A.,  who  was  born  January  23,  1855, 
is  the  wife  of  John  Kiely,  of  Flora,  to  whom 
she  was  married  February  20,  1878.  John 
Kiely  was  born  November  20,  1854,  in  Ohio, 
and  came  to  Flora  in  1880.  They  have  one 
son — Ollie  Kiely,  born  December  11,  1879. 


HARTER    TOWNSHIP. 


JOHN  EGGINTON,  farmer,  P.  O.  Flora, 
is  a  native  of  Worcestershire,  England,  where 
he  was  born  in  the  month  of  May,  1817. 
He  is  the  oldest  of  three  children  born  to 
Joseph  and  Eleanor  Egginton,  each  of  whom 
were  natives  of  England.  John  Egginton 
grew  to  maturity  in  his  native  country,  aud 
was  reared  to  the  trade  of  iron  refiner,  which 
pursuit  he  followed  for  many  years  in  Eng- 
land. In  1848,  he  was  married  to  Jane 
Robson.  daughter  of  James  Robson  and  Mary 
A.  Miller.  She  was  born  March  10,  1827, 
in  England.  In  August,  1849,  they  emi- 
grated to  the  United  States,  and  for  one  year 
resided  in  Pittsburgh,  Penn. ,  coming  thence  to 
Wayne  County,  111.  There  they  settled  in 
the  Arrington  Prairie,  but  after  a  residence 
of  a  few  years,  traded  their  farm  for  the  one 
they  now  occupy  in  Clay  County.  He  owns 
over  200  acres  of  land,  devoting  his  attention 
to  agriculture  and  fruit-growing,  and  has  one 
of  the  finest  apple  orchards  in  Southern  Illi- 
nois. The  family  consists  of  eight  children, 
as  follows:  Ellen,  the  wife  of  James  Hen- 
derson, born  August  3,  1849;  Christopher, 
the  only  son,  was  born  July  29,  1852;  Mary 
A.,  born  July  28,  1854;  Sarah  J.,  born  April 


30,  1857;  Margret  I.,  born  December  17, 
1859;  Clara,  born  July  17,  1862;  Amanda, 
born  August  17,  1864;  and  Alice  Egginton, 
born  October  17,  1S71.  The  family  are 
members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
and  Mr.  Egginton  and  son  Christopher  are 
members  of  the  Xenia  Lodge.  A. ,  F.  &  A.  M. 
URIAH  FISHER,  Jr.,  is  a  son  of  Uriah 
and  Elizabeth  (Core)  Fisher.  They  were 
both  natives  of  Virginia,  where  they  were 
married,  and  where  four  children  were  born, 
including  Uriah  Fisher,  Jr.,  who  was  born 
March  31,  1828.  In  1836,  the  family  re- 
moved to  Tennessee,  where  they  resided  two 
years,  and  where  one  child  was  born.  In 
1838,  they  removed  to  Illinois,  and  settled  in 
Wabash  County.  In  1843  or  1844,  they  came 
to  Clay  County,  and  purchased  a  tract  of 
land  in  Section  17,  of  Town  3,  Range  6, 
where  they  lived  until  the  time  of  their  death. 
The  father  died  January  4,  1859,  and  the 
mother  lived  to  be  eighty-four  years  old,  and 
died  May  17,  1883.  The  family  consisted  of 
Peter  F.,  Catherine,  William,  Uriah,  Eliza- 
beth, Sarah  F. ,  Calvin,  the  last  of  whom  was 
born  in  Clay  County,  111.,  all  of  whom  are 
deceased  except  Uriah.     Uriah  was  married, 


HARTER  TOWNSHIP. 


Ml 


January  15,  1852,  in  Clay  County,  to  Mary 
Golden,  daughter  of  Edward  and  Mary  Gol- 
den, who  were  among  the  first  settlers  of 
Clay  County.  Mary  (Goldeu)  Fisher  was 
born  in  Clay  County.  111.,  September  16, 
1832.  In  August,  1862,  Mr.  Fishsr  enlisted 
in  Company  F,  Ninety-eighth  Illinois  Infan- 
try, from  which  he  was  discharged  at  Spring- 
field July  7,  1865,  having  participated  in 
the  battles  of  Hoover's  Gap,  Chickamauga, 
siege  of  Atlanta,  and  all  the  fighting  inci- 
dent to  the  Atlanta  campaign  and  battle  of 
Selma,  Ala.,  taking  part  in  the  memorable 
charge  on  that  place.  Since  the  war,  he  has 
devoted  his  time  to  the  pursuits  of  the  farm, 
and  owns  a  farm  of  eighty  acres  in  Section 
17,  of  Harter  Township.  They  have  had 
six  children,  four  of  whom  are  living  at  this 
time — Rebecca  C,  wife  of  James  Jacobs,  was 
born  January  22.  1853;  Jane  F.,  wife  of 
Jefferson  McGrew,  born  March  30,  1855; 
Mary  E.,  wife  of  James  Lyon,  was  born 
February  24.  1860;  William  D.,  born  June 
11,  1857,  deceased;  Eliza  A.,  born  Septem- 
ber 2S,  1862,  deceased;  John  N.  G.,  born 
April  29,  1867;  and  Dora  G.  Fisher,  born 
June  5,  1869. 

GEORGE  FOSTER  was  born  December 
5.  1830,  in  Muskingum  County.  Ohio.  An- 
drew Foster,  his  father,  was  born  in  Penn- 
sylvania December  11,  1788,  and  there  grew 
to  manhood,  and  married  Nancy  St.  Clair, 
who  was  born  in  the  same  State,  October  7. 
1790.  They  emigrated  to  Muskingum 
County,  Ohio,  residing  there  from  1815  to 
1841,  when  they  removed  to  Jackson  County, 
of  the  same  State.  There  the  father  died  in 
August,  1865.  The  mother,  in  1867.  came 
to  Clay  County,  111.,  and  died  at  the  resi- 
dence of  her  son,  George  Foster,  in  Decem- 
ber of  1872.  They  had  eleven  children 
(George  being  the  tenth),  seven  of  whom  are 
now  living.      The  parents  were  both  members 


of  the  Baptist  Church,  the  mother  having 
belonged  for  fifty -eight  years.  George  Fos- 
ter came  to  Clay  County.  111.,  in  1865.  and 
has  been  a  resident  of  Harter  Township  since. 
On  the  8th  of  December.  1852,  in  Jackson 
County,  Ohio,  Mr.  Foster  was  married  to 
Lora  A.  Hayward,  who  was  born  in  Scioto 
County,  Ohio,  in  1832.  She  died  in  1S76. 
in  Clay  County,  111.,  and  was  the  mother  of 
five  children,  three  of  whom  died  previous  to 
their  mother.  Martha  M.,  the  eldest,  was 
born  in  Jackson  County.  Ohio.  November  7. 
1855,  and  died  January  22.  1S74;  Leonard 
A.  was  born  January  28,  1858,  in  Ohio,  and 
married  Miss  Annie  Abbott,  November  15. 
1883;  Effie  E.,  wife  of  Z.  Reeder,  born  in 
Ohio,  May  8.  1861;  Ernest  H..  was  born  June 
24,  1865,  and  died  June  30,  of  same  month. 
The  youngest  was  born  in  Clay  County.  111. . 
and  died  unnamed.  Mr.  Foster  was  mar- 
ried, May  22,  1879,  to  his  present  wife.  Mrs. 
Martha  Owens,  widow  of  G.  Owens,  and 
daughter  of  Henry  and  Sarah  Hawkins.  She 
was  born  April  12,  1834,  in  Canada,  and 
came  to  Clay  County  about  1858.  with  her 
parents.  Mrs.  Foster  was  married  first  to 
Greenbury  Owens,  December  16,  1860.  by 
whom  she  had  five  children,  all  of  whom  were 
born  in  Clay  City,  of  Clay  County.  The 
record  of  this  family  is  another  evidence  of 
the  frailty  of  human  life,  and  shows  how  in 
a  few  brief  years  our  fondest  hopes  may  be 
dwarfed.  Four  times  in  the  brief  space  of 
five  years  the  death  angel  invades  this  house- 
hold, and  takes  in  his  embrace  one  of  its 
members;  first,  Sarah  A.,  the  eldest  child, 
died  on  the  28th  of  February,  1S6S;  she 
was  born  November  19,  1861.  The  next  was 
the  father,  who  died  in  Clay  City,  August 
18,  1871;  he  was  buried  at  Flora,  with  the 
honors  of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  of  which  he 
was  an  accepted  member.  Mattie  Owens  was 
born    June    11,   1868,  and    died    October    6 


212 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


1872;  Flora  I.  was  born  November  2,  1863, 
aud  died  April  5,  1873.  The  two  surviving 
children  are  Edward  G,  born  April  7,  1865, 
and  Albert  H.  Owens,  born  August  28, 1870. 
While  Mrs.  F.  has  been  thus  bereaved  of  very 
much  that  would  make  life  happy,  she  is  still 
a  submissive  Christian  lady,  and  lavishes  her 
heart's  affections  on  her  present  family, 
which  includes  an  orphan  child,  named  Lola 
Manicol.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Foster  own  a  farm- 
ing interest  in  Harter  Township,  consisting 
of  420  acres  of  beautiful  land. 

JOHN  A.  GERHART,  a  prominent  farmer 
in  Harter  Township,  was  born  in  Lebanon 
County,  Penn. ,  November  15,  1833.  He  is 
a  descendant  of  one  of  the  early  and  most 
prominent  families  of  that  State.  The  fam- 
ily was  first  represented  in  the  United  States 
in  the  colonial  days,  the  great-grandfather  of 
John  A.  serving  as  a  soldier  through  the  en- 
tire war  of  the  Revolution.  The  father  of 
John  A.  Gerhart  was  Jacob,  and  was  born 
and  reared  in  Pennsylvania,  where  he  mar- 
ried Mary  Albert,  who  was  a  native  of  the 
same  State,  and  like  her  husband  descended 
from  German  ancestors.  They  had  four  chil- 
dren, John  A.  being  the  oldest.  The  three 
daughters  are  still  living  in  the  East.      John 

A.  Gerhart  was  reared  to  the  pursuits  of  the 
farm,  though  he  afterward  followed  other 
callings,  in  all  of  which  success  attended  his 
efforts.  He  was  married  in  Pennsylvania, 
December  26,  1858,  to  Miss  Lydia  Roebuck, 
daughter  of  Jacob  Roebuck  and  Sarah 
Yungst,  who  were  both  of  German  origin  and 
descendants  of  pioneer  families  in  Pennsyl- 
vania. She  was  born  in  Pennsylvania  Sep- 
tember 18,  1836.  Their  union  has  resulted 
in  the  birth  of  seven  children,  viz.,  Allen  J., 
born  on  the  10th  of  September,  1860,  and 
died  February  25,    1861;    Lizzie,  wife  of  T. 

B.  Crisp,  of  Irving,  111.,  was  born  December 
3.    1861,  and   married   Decomber    2,    1880; 


John  Gerhart,  February  18,  1864;  Emma, 
January  22,  1866;  Ellen,  April  12,  1868; 
Robert  L.,  September  17,  1869;  and  Albert 
Gerhart,  July  18,  1871.  Both  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Gerhart  are  members  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Flora.  Mr.  Gerhart  came  to  Clay 
County,  111.,  in  1S76,  and  purchased  a  farm 
of  222  acres  in  Harter  Township  near  the 
village  of  Flora,  where  he  still  resides. 

JUDGE  R.  B.  HENRY  was  born  Febru- 
ary 15,  1828,  in  Ohio,  and  there  grew  to 
manhood.  He  became  a  member  of  the 
Baptist  Church  in  his  boyhood,  maintaining 
a  membership  in  that  society  for  about  five 
years,  when  he  transferred  his  membership 
to  the  Christian  Church.  When  about 
twenty-one  years  old,  he  was  regularly  or- 
dained as  a  minister  in  the  Christian  Church, 
to  which  he  has  remained  ardently  attached 
ever  since.  About  twelve  years  of  his  life 
have  been  spent  in  exclusive  ministerial  labor, 
the  remainder  of  his  time  having  been  de- 
voted to  teaching,  preaching  and  superintend- 
ing the  interests  of  the  farm.  Though  an 
unpartisan  in  politics,  he  has  exerted  a  potent 
influence  for  the  general  good.  He  was 
originally  an  anti-slavery  man  and  supported 
the  administration  during  the  late  war,  but 
since  1872  his  influence  has  been  enjoyed  by 
the  Independent  Reform  party,  and  upon 
that  ticket  was  elected  in  1873  to  the  office  of 
County  Judge  of  Clay  County,  which  position 
he  filled  with  acceptance  for  four  years.  In 
1874,  and  during  his  term  of  office  as  Judge, 
he  was  made  the  candidate  of  his  party  to 
represent  the  Sixteenth  District  in  Congress, 
but  sustained  a  defeat.  In  1876,  he  was  a 
Presidential  Elector,  and  cast  his  vote  for 
Peter  Cooper.  He  was  married  in  Darke 
County,  Ohio,-  November  4,  1852,  to  Eliza- 
beth Adams,  daughter  of  George  and  Virlin- 
da  (Webb)  Adams.  She  was  born  in  Ohio  in 
October,  1832.     Her  father  was  a  native  of 


HARTER   TOWNSHIP. 


213 


Ohio,  and  was  born  where  Cincinnati  now 
stands.  Her  mother  was  born  in  Virginia. 
Mr.  Henry  has  reared  a  family  of  ten  chil- 
dren named  as  follows:  George  A.,  Vir- 
ginia A.,  Rolando  H,  Anna  V.  (wife  of 
David  W.  Blain,  of  Kansas  City),  James  T. , 
Carrie  B. ,  Rolla  B. ,  Jr.,  Hattie,  Rebecca  and 
Harry  Henry.  Judge  Henry  was  educated 
in  Springfield,  Ohio,  and  as  a  public  speaker 
is  possessed  of  a  talent  of  no  ordinary  char- 
acter. He  is  a  man  of  strong  physical  frame 
and  endurance,  which  characterizes  the  en- 
tire family,  as  they  have  all  enjoyed  remark- 
able health  and  have  never  had  a  death  in 
their  large  family. 

EDWARD  HIGGINSON  was  born  in 
Ireland  July  22,  1841,  and  came  with  his 
parents,  Alexander  and  Charlotte  Higginson, 
to  the  United  States  in  1850.  The  year  fol- 
lowing, the  family  settled  in  Harter  Town- 
ship of  Clay  County,  where  they  have  since 
resided.  Alexander  Higginson  was  born  in 
the  year  1813  in  Ireland,  and  was  there  mar- 
ried to  Charlotte  Peel,  who  was  also  a  native 
of  Ireland.  She  was  born  in  1815,  and  died 
in  Ireland  in  1843.  Their  family  consisted 
of  four  children — Maria  J.,  died  in  infancy; 
Frances  A.,  wife  of  E.  S.  Jenkins;  Edward 
and  Jane  Higginson.  Alexander  Higginson 
was  married  in  Clay  County  to  Jane  Suffern, 
who  was  a  native  of  Ireland.  She  died  in 
Clay  County  in  January,  1872.  Edward 
grew  to  manhood  in  Clay  County,  and  on  the 
6th  of  August,  1862,  he  enlisted  in  Company 
A.  of  the  Ninety -eighth  Illinois  Volunteer 
Infantry,  and  served  until  mustered  out  at 
the  close  of  the  war  in  1S65.  He  participat- 
ed in  several  general  engagements,  including 
Hoover's  Gap,  Chickamauga  and  the  lighting 
incident  to  the  Atlanta  campaign.  He  was 
married  on  the  12th  of  April,  1866,  to  Sarah 
C,  daughter  of  Joseph  and  Elizabeth  Luse. 
She    was    born    in    Ohio    in   October,  1847. 


They  have  a  family,  consisting  of  Mary 
Frances,  born  April  5,  1869;  Charlotte  E., 
born  December  28,  1870;  William  E.,  No- 
vember 29,  1872;  Emma  Grace,  April  13, 
1875;  Effie  Jane,  March  20,  1878;  and  Joseph 
A.  Higginson,  born  February  10,  1881. 

BARTON  B.  INGRAHAM  is  one  of  the 
substantial  farmers  of  Harter  Township,  liv- 
ing in  Section  12,  Town  3  north,  Range  6 
east.  He  was  born  in  Wabash  County.  111., 
April  3,  1825.  His  parents,  Henry  and  An- 
geline  Ingraham,  were  very  early  settlers  in 
Wabash  County,  but  while  Barton  B.  was  a 
mere  child,  they  removed  to  Ohio,  and  in 
1839  they  again  removed,  this  time  going  to 
the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  which  was  for 
many  years  their  home.  The  father  died  in 
Ohio  while"on  a  visit,  and  the  mother  subse- 
quently removed  to  Illinois,  and  died  in 
Clay  County  in  1879.  B.  B.  Ingraham  was 
reared  to  the  pursuits  of  the  farm,  to  which 
he  has  ever  clung  with  a  persistency  which 
has  insured  his  success.  He  now  owns  more 
than  600  acres  of  valuable  land  in  Clay 
County.  He  was  married  in  Pennsylvania, 
in  1847,  to  Jane  C.  Johnston.  She  is  a 
daughter  of  Joseph  and  Martha  Johnston, 
and   was    born    in  Pennsylvania    September 

27,  1827.  Mr.  Ingraham  came  to  Illinois 
and  to  Clay  County  in  1861,  first  locating  in 
the  village  of  Flora,  where  he  and  Mr.  Fred- 
erick Pierce  erected  one  of  the  first  mills  of 
the  town.  He,  however,  soon  abandoned  this 
business  to  engage  in  that  of  farming.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Ingraham  are  members  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church  of  Flora.  They 
have  been  blessed  with  a  family  of  fourteen 
children,  two  of  whom  died  in  infancy  un- 
named. The  others  are  Lauretta,  wife  of 
John  Tanner,  of   Louisville,  born  November 

28,  1847;  Virgil  S.,  born  January  15,  1849, 
and  died  April  24,  1862;  Leverett  J.,  born 
September  19,  1850;  LeanderH,  born  March 


3U 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


4,  1852;  Cerissa  B.,  wife  of  D.  C.  Hagle, 
was  born  October  24,  1854;  Isadora,  born 
September  6,  1856,  and  died  September  1, 
1872;  Alpheus  F.,  born  April  12,  1858; 
Justin  M.,  born  January  26,  1860,  and  died 
in  Kansas;  William  E.  E.,  born  September  1, 
1862;  Mary  E.,  born  August  26,  1865;  Mar- 
tha A.,  born  November  17,  1867;  and  Joseph 
H„  born  April  23,  1870. 

HENRY  McELYEA,  one  of   the  pioneers 
of  Clay  County,  111.,  was  born  May  3,  1815, 
in  Montgomery  County,  Tenn.    The  ancestors 
came    to    the  United    States    from    Ireland, 
though  of  Scotch  origin.     His   great-grand- 
father   was    the    first    representative    of  the 
name  in   this    country.      He    settled    in   the 
East.      John  McElyea,  father  of  Henry,  was 
born  in  Virginia,  and  was   a  son  of  Patrick 
McElyea.     John  McElyea  married   in  East- 
Tennessee  to  Miss  Sarah  Boone,  daughter  of 
Hezekiah    Boone,    an    own    cousin    to     the 
famous  Daniel    Boone,    of   Kentucky    fame. 
Her  immediate  ancestors  were  from  England 
and  "Wales  and  came  in  the  colonial  days  to 
this  country,    settling    in   Washington  City. 
Sarah,  the  mother  of    Henry  McElyea  was 
born    iu    Virginia.     John    McElyea    was    a 
soldier  in  the  war  of  1812,  had  a  family  of 
twelve   children,  and  both  he  and  his  wife 
died    many   years   since  in  Orange  County, 
End.,  where  they  settled  in  1828.     Henry  is 
the  ninth  of  this  family,  and  the  only  one 
now  living.     He  grew  to  manhood  in  Orange 
County,    Ind.,   where,  December   2,  1S36,  he 
married  Miss  Elizabeth  Miller,  a  daughter  of 
Jacob    Miller  and  Elizabeth  Liston.     Jacob 
Miller  was  a  native  of  Tennessee,  and  Eliza- 
beth of   Kentucky.     They  were   married  in 
Indiana,  and  reared   a    family  of  ten    chil- 
dren, all  of  whom  grew  to  maturity.      Eliza- 
beth McElyea  was  the  fourth  of   this  family, 
and  was  born  July  20,  1819,  in  Orange  Coun- 
ty,    Ind.      Mr.    and    Mrs.    Elyea   have    been 


blessed  with  eleven  children,  but  three,  how- 
ever, survive — Andrew  J.,  a  resident  of  Son- 
ger  Township,  Clay  County,  the  father  of 
sis  children;  Jacob,  born  August  7,  1853,  in 
Clay  County,  111.,  and  now  a  resident  of 
Harter  Township,  married  to  his  second  wife 
Phoebe  E.  Anderson,  September  4,  1879;  he 
has  three  children— Effie,  the  issue  of  former 
marriage  was  born  October  14,1871;  Otto 
Merritt,  born  September  9,  1880;  and  Re- 
becca A.,  born  August  13,  1883.  Lucinda 
Ellen,  daughter  of  Henry  and  Elizabeth  Mc- 
Elyea. was  born  September  18,  1857,  and 
married,  September  12,  1878,  to  George  An- 
derson, of  Wayne  County,  111.  They  have 
two  children.  Mr.  McElyea  came  to  Clay 
County  in  1849,  and  settled  near  Oskaloosa 
in  Songer  Township,  where  he  lived  until 
1871.  when  he  removed  to  his  present  home 
in  Harter  Township.  He  is  a  man  of  acknowl- 
edged honesty;  both  he  and  his  venerable  wife 
having  been  members  of  the  Christian  Church 
for  nearly  forty  years. 

ALEXANDER  G.  McQTJEEN,  though  not 
a  pioueer  of  Clay  County,  is  one  of  the 
thrifty,  enterprising  farmers  of  Harter  Town- 
ship, where  he  has  recently  purchased  a  val- 
uable farm,  not  as  the  result  of  any  inherent 
love  for  the  rural  pursuits,  but  as  a  means  of 
regaining  his  lost  health,  which  became  im- 
paired in  military  service  during  the  late 
civil  war.  It  is  of  his  military  record  which 
we  would  speak  more  particularly.  He  was 
born  in  Columbiana  County,  Ohio,  November 
30,  1830,  and  is  a  son  of  Donald  McQueen 
and  Ann  Fraser,  both  of  whom  were  born  in 
:  the  Highlands  of  Scotland,  the  father  in 
1779.  and  mother  in  1797.  These  parents 
settled  in  Ohio  in  1820,  where  they  died — 
the  mother  in  1851,  and  the  father  in  1866. 
Alexander  G.  attended  the  common  schools 
until  fourteen  years  old.  when  he  engaged  as 
a  clerk   to  procure   means    to    continue   his 


HAHTEB    TOWNSHIP. 


215 


studies  in  college.  He  took  a  preparatory 
course  in  the  Academy  at  Wellsville,  Ohio, 
and  in  1852  entered  the  Jefferson  College  at 
Cannonsburg,  Penn.  In  1856,  he  went  to 
Iowa,  where  he  engaged  for  ;i  short  time  in 
milling,  after  which  he  was  a  partner  in  a 
wholesale  grocery  house  in  Keokuk.  Having 
disposed  of  his  interest  in  this  business    in 

1860,  he  embarked  in  the  general  produce 
and  shipping  business,  carrying  his  mer- 
chandise by  boat  to  the  South.  The  fall  of 
1860  found  him  in  Memphis  with  a  cargo  of 
goods  which  was  left  aB  a  drug  on  his  hands 
by  the  suspension  of  the  Southern  banks,  in- 
cident to  the  election  of  A.  Lincoln.  Re- 
maining in  this  place  until  the  coming  spring 
of  1861,  he  was  given  the  alternative  of  en- 
listing in  the  Confederate  army,  or  being 
conscripted.  He  chose  the  voluntary  enlist- 
ment, but  soon  after  deserted  and  returned 
to  Keokuk,    Iowa,    where,  in  the  spring  of 

1861,  he  assisted  to  organize  the  First  Iowa 
Cavalry,  entering  the  service  as  a  private  in 
Company  A.  In  September,  1861,  he  was 
commissioned  as  First  Lieutenant  of  the 
company,  and  promoted  to  the  position  of 
Captain  in  December  of  the  same  year.  He 
was  nest  promoted  to  the  office  of  Major  of 
the  regiment,  then  to  Lieutenant  Colonel. 
Owing  to  unfitness  for  field  duty  by  severe 
illness,  he  was  detailed  as  First  Assistant  in 
charge  of  the  Western  Division  of  the  Cav- 
alry Bureau,  with  his  headquarters  at  Chi- 
cago. In  July,  1864,  he  was  appointed  In- 
spector General  of  Cavalry  for  the  Military 
Department  west  of  the  Mississippi  River, 
with  headquarters  at  New  Orleans.  While 
on  duty  here,  he  became  Chief  of  Gen. 
Davidson's  Staff,  and  for  meritorious  service 
was  promoted  to  the  office  of  Brigadier  Gen- 
eral of  his  regiment,  which  commission  he 
held  when  the  regiment  was  disbanded  on 
the  4th  of  March,  1866.    Space  will  not  permit 


us  to  enumerate  the  various  engagements  in 
which  he  participated;  suffice  it  to  say  that 
he  performed  valuable  service  both  in  the 
field  and  in  the  various  administrative  posi- 
tions to  which  he  was  called.  He  was  mar- 
ried, March  7,  1867,  to  Maggie  Falconer,  a 
native  of  Ohio,  who  was  born  September  26, 
1840.  They  have  but  one  child — Daniel  A. 
McQueen,  who  was  born  in  Keokuk,  February 
11.  1872.  Mr.  McQueen  is  a  member  of  the 
Masonic  fraternity,  and  came  to  Clay  County 
in  1879. 

WILLIAM  T.  SMITH  was  born  in  Wood 
County,  W.  Va.,  August  17,  1825.  His  par- 
ents, Edward  E.  Smith  and  Elizabeth  (Peck) 
Smith,  were  natives  of  New  England,  where 
they  grew  to  maturity,  married,  and  lived  till 
their  removal  to  West  Virginia,  ?probably 
about  1823  or  1824.  They  had  a  family  of 
eleven  children,  WT.  T.  Smith  being  the 
sixth,  and  of  whom  but  five  are  now  living. 
The  mother  died  in  West  Virginia  in  April, 
1835,  and  the  father  in  the  summer  of  1863. 
After  the  death  of  his  mother,  William  T. 
was  placed  among  strangers,  and  has  since 
proved  the  architect  of  his  own  fortune.  He 
remained  on  a  farm  until  he  was  seventeen 
years  old,  when  he  learned  the  trade  of  tailor, 
and  was  so  successful  that  after  a  few  years 
he  opened  for  himself  a  merchant  tailoring 
establishment,  which  business  he  pursued 
until  1866.  His  success  in  a  business  way, 
which  has  been  very  flattering,  has  been 
more  than  equaled  by  his  domestic  adversity, 
having'buried  two  wives  and  three  children. 
His  first  marriage  occurred  April  28,  1846, 
to  Eunice  A.  Shaw,  who  died  April  1,  1849. 
She  was  the  mother  of  two  children — Will- 
iam L.  and  Frank  Smith,  the  latter  being 
deceased.  January  24,  1850,  he  married 
Carolina  L.  Bliss,  in  Marietta,  Ohio,  where 
she  was  born,  and  where,  on  the  23d  of  May, 
1856,  she  died.    She  was  the  mother  of  three 


210 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


children,  viz. :  Mary  F.,  Catherine  E.  Dixon 
(of  Kansas),  and  Charley,  of  whom  the 
former  and  latter  are  dead.  His  present 
wife,  Rebecca  H  Means,  to  whom  he  was 
married  in  November,  I860,  was  born  October 
6,  1832,  in  Westmoreland  County,  Penn.,  and 
is  a  daughter  of  James  Means  and  Elizabeth 
(Robinson)  Means.  These  parents  were  born 
in  Maryland,  the  father  December  8,  1799, 
and  the  mother  September  11,  1799.  They 
were  married  October  6,    1820,  in  Pennsyl- 


vania, and  were  blest  with  six  children,  Mrs. 
S.  being  the  fifth.  Mr.  Smith  came  to  Clay 
County,  111.,  in  1875,  and  purchased  a  farm 
of  175  acres  in  Harter  Township,  near  Flora, 
to  which  he  has  added  at  times  until  he  now 
owns  315  acres.  He  is  one  of  the  county's 
best  farmers,  and  a  man  who  is  universally 
respected  and  honored^by  all  who  know  him. 
Both  he  and  his  estimable  wife  are  members 
of  the  Flora  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 


BIBLE   GBOYE  TOWNSHIP. 


GEORGE  W.  COLBORN,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Bible  Grove.  Among  the  steady,  well-to-do 
farmers  in  Clay  County  is  the  gentleman 
whose  name  heads  this  sketch.  He  was 
born  August  20,  1825,  in  Hamilton  County, 
Ind.  He  is  a  son  of  Robert  Colborn,  a  na- 
tive of  Ohio,  who  came  here  about  1840,  and 
entered  considerable  land  at  $1. 25  per  acre. 
Robert  Colborn  was  a  good  citizen,  farmer 
and  neighbor.  He  died  here,  mourned  by  all 
who  knew  him.  The  mother  of  our  subject 
was  Rosanna  (West)  Colborn,  a  native  of 
Virginia.  She  also  died  here.  She  was  the 
mother  of  ten  children,  some  of  whom  with 
their  descendants  are  now  living  in  this 
county.  Our  subject  did  not  get  the  help  in 
starting  in  life  that  others  did,  yet  by  his  in- 
dustry and  perseverance,  he  has  done  so  well 
that  he  was  able  to  buy  the  home  place,  and 
now  owns  640  acres  of  land  and  is  one  of 
the  largest  land  owners  in  the  township.  He 
was  joined  in  matrimony  to  Miss  Ophelia 
Ackison,  born  September  21,  1829,  in 
Holmes  County,  Ohio.  She  is  a  daughter  of 
William  and  Harriet  (Cook)  Ackison.  He  is 
a  native  of  Pennsylvania  and  she  of  Rhode 


Island.  Nine  children,  of  whom  seven  are 
now  living,  blessed  this  happy  union,  viz., 
Nancy  J.  Curtright,  Robert  W.  (deceased), 
Rosanna  Webster,  Steven  A. ,  Martha,  George 
W.,  Caroline  and  Josiah  F.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Colborn  are  members  of  the  Christian  Church. 
He  has  served  the  people  as  Constable  and 
Justice  of  the  Peace;  the  latter  office  he  has 
held  for  the  last  twenty  years.  In  politics, 
he  is  identified  with  the  Democratic  party. 

W.  W.  DUNCAN,  physician,  Bible  Grove. 
Among  the  men  who  owe  their  success  in 
life  to  their  own  energy  and  ability  stands  him 
whose  name  appears  at  the  head  of  this 
sketch.  He  was  born,  December  10,  1829, 
in  Nelson  County,  Ky.  He  is  a  son  of  James 
Duncan,  a  native  of  South  Carolina,  and  a 
farmer  by  occupation.  The  grandfather  of 
our  subject  was  William  Duncan.  He  was  a 
native  of  Virginia,  of  Scotch  descent.  The 
mother  of  our  subject  was  Editha  (McKay) 
Duncan,  a  native  of  Nelson  County.  Ky. 
Dr.  Duncan  was  married,  November  28,  1860. 
in  Mason,  Effingham  County,  111.,  to  Miss 
Mary  Ella  White,  born  March  18,  1841.  in 
Bond   County,    111.      She   is    a  daughter    of 


BIBLE   GROVE   TOWNSHIP. 


!17 


William  and  Agnes  (Johnson)  White.  He 
is  a  native  of  North  Carolina  and  she  of 
Tennessee.  Four  children  are  the  result  of 
this  happy  union,  viz.,  William  C,  born  Jan- 
uary 31,  1863;  Anna  J.,  August  2, 1868;  Mary 
Edith,  February  19,  1871;  and  Charles  Ed, 
June  23,  1877.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Dr.  Dun- 
can are  religiously  connected  with  the 
Baptist  Church.  The  Doctor  received  his 
medical  education  in  Louisville,  Ky.,  but  is 
mainly  self-educated.  On  October  30,  1861, 
Dr.  Duncan  settled  in  Georgetown,  where  he 
follows  his  noble  profession,  he  having  prac- 
ticed over  two  years  in  Kentucky  and  three 
years  near  Mason,  Effingham  County,  111.,  pre- 
vious to  his  coming  here.  He  does  not  shun  his 
work,  and  is  one  of  that  kind  of  physicians 
who  ride  themselves  into  a  lucrative  practice. 
LOREN  GOULD,  farmer,  P.  O.  Bible 
Grove,  was  born  May  11,  1838,  in  Edwards 
County,  111.,  son  of  Philander  Gould, a  native 
of  New  York.  He  is  a  farmer  by  occupation, 
and  came  to  Illinois  when  about  eighteen 
years  old,  settling  in  Edwards  County,  111., 
where  he  yet  resides.  The  family  is  an  old 
one  of  good  standing,  and  distantly  connected 
with  the  famous  railroad  king,  Jay  Gould. 
The  mother  of  our  subject  was  Sarah  (Knol- 
ton)  Gould,  a  native  of  Virginia.  She  died 
January  10,  1876.  She  was  the  mother  of 
ten  children,  who  are  all  living  and  have 
numerous  descendants.  Our  subject  was 
educated  in  Edwards  County,  111.,  where  he 
resided  till  he  was  of  age,  when  he  got  mar- 
ried and  moved  to  this  county  in  1859;  here 
he  bought  and  commenced  to  farm;  success 
has  crowned  his  efforts,  and  now  he  owns  in 
this  and  Jasper  County  410  acres  of  good 
land.  Mr.  Gould  is  an  enterprising  farmer. 
He  was  married,  August  25,  1859,  to  Miss 
Delia  E.  Stanley,  born  June  24,  1842,  in 
Edwards  County,  111.  She  is  a  daughter  of 
William  and  Maria  (Gunn)  Stanley,  who  are 


natives  of  Ohio.  Eight  children  blessed  this 
happy  union,  their  names  are  Sarah  M. , 
born  August  2,  1860;  Lizzie  H,  born  March 
9,  1863;  Cina  P.,  born  August  28,  1865;  Ezra 
O.,  born  July  17,  1869;  Ella  R.,  born  April 
15,  1873;  Duel  W.  (deceased  aged  two  years 
and  eight  months);  Hattie  C,  born  October 
15,  1878;  and  Effie  C,  born  December  25, 
1882.  Mr.  Gould  has  served  his  neighbors 
in  the  capacity  of  School  Trustee,  and  polit- 
ically he  is  a  Republican. 

THEOREN  GOULD,  merchant,  Bible 
Grove.  Among  the  wide-awake  business 
men  of  Clay  County  must  be  classed  Mr. 
Gould.  He  was  born  July  10,  1842,  in 
Edwards  County,  111.;  son  of  Philander 
Gould,  a  native  of  New  York,  and  a  farmer 
by  occupation.  The  mother  of  our  subject 
was  Sarah  (Knowlton)  Gould,  a  native  of 
Virginia,  she  died  in  Edwards  County,  111. 
She  was  the  mother  of  ten  children,  all 
living.  Our  subject  was  educated  in  Edwards 
County.  In  early  life  he  farmed,  and  at  the 
age  of  nineteen  entered  the  army,  enlisting  in 
the  fall  of  1861,  and  served  faithfully  till 
he  was  wounded  at  Jackson,  Miss.,  when 
he  was  honorably  discharged  and  returned 
home.  While  in  the  army,  he  participated 
in  the  battle  of  Shiloh,  siege  of  Corinth, 
Vicksburg  and  other  engagments.  He  was  a 
Sergeant.  After  the  war  Mr.  Gould  engaged 
in  farming  and  stock-dealing,  owning  now 
over  600  acres  in  this  and  adjoining  counties. 
Between  1878  and  1880,  he  opened  the  Bible 
Grove  Grist  Mill,  and  bought  D.  D.  C.  Pix- 
ley's  general  merchandising  store  in  George- 
town, where  he  now  does  a  thriving  business. 
Mr.  Gould  was  joined  in  matrimony  May  25, 
1865,  to  Miss  Nancy  A.  Webster,  who  was 
born  January  23,  1848  in  Clay  County,  111. 
She  is  a  daughter  of  Anderson  and  Sarah 
(Fulk)  Webster.  Five  children  blessed  this 
union,    viz.:   Chloe  F.,   born  June  4,   1866; 


218 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


Charley  A.,  born  June  10,  1868;  Philander, 
born  February  24,  1872;  Sarah  E.,  born  Feb- 
ruary 23,  1877,  she  died  September  26,  1879; 
and  Lola  G.,  born  October  31,  1881.  Mrs. 
Gould  is  a  member  of  the  Christian  Church. 
Mr.  Gould  is  an  A.  F.  &  A.  M.,  also  an  I.  O. 
O.  F..  and  is  at  present,  Commander  of  the 
G.  A.  R.  Post. 

A.  T.  HARDIN,  farmer,  P.  O.  Bible  Grove, 
was  born  June  25,  1824,  in  Orange  County, 
Ind.  He  is  a  son  of  John  Hardin,  who  for 
many  years  was  a  resident  of  Clay  County, 
having  first  settled  in  Effingham  County, 
111.,  to  which  place  he  came  from  Washing- 
ton County,  Ind.,  about  1860,  to  which  latter 
rjlace  he  came  in  1815.  He  died  February 
11,  1883,  aged  eiglity-seven  years.  He  reared 
a  large  family  of  eleven  children,  and  lived 
to  see  them  all  happily  married.  The 
mother  of  our  subject  was  Ellen  (Colclasure) 
Hardin.  She  was  born  in  1798,  in  Hardin 
County,  Ky.,  and  died  February  12,  1871,  in 
Mason,  Effingham  County,  111.  Subject  had 
been  educated  in  Washington  County,  Ind., 
and  in  early  life  taught  school  three  years, 
and  then  settled  down  to  farming.  He  came 
to  Clay  County,  111.,  in  1850,  and  permanent- 
ly located,  having  first  been  here  in  1846  on 
a  visit,  but  stayed  long  enough  to  teach  a 
three  month  school.  In  Bible  Grove  Town- 
ship he  settled  on  eighty  acres  of  land  that 
his  father  had  entered  in  1836.  Here  he 
has  lived  ever  since,  owning  now  325  acres 
of  fine  land  with  good  buildings.  Mr.  Har- 
din was  married,  August  15,  1850,  in  Wash- 
ington County,  Ind.,  to  Miss  Winifred  Chen- 
oweth,  a  native  of  Indiana,  born  October 
28,  1831.  Her  parents  were  Elias  and  Eliz- 
abeth (Mcintosh)  Chenoweth.  This  happy 
union  resulted  in  eight  children  that  are  now 
living — William  A.,  John,  Ellen  E.,  Stevens 
S.,  Aaron  L.,  Mary  A.,  Florence  and  Eva  M. 
— all  esteemed  members  of  the  respective  com- 


munities in  which  they  reside.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Hardin  are  connected  with  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church.  He  is  a  Democrat, 
has  filled  school  offices,  and  for  two  years  was 
Township  Supervisor.  Of  Mr.  Hardin  it  may 
be  said  that  he  owes  his  succees  in  life  to  in- 
dustry and  perseverance. 

C.  F.  LANDWEHR,  farmer,  P.  O.  Bible 
Grove,'was  born  January  5,  1851,  in  Prussia, 
Germany.  His  father,  Charles  Landwehr, 
is  also  a  farmer  by  occupation,  and  yet  re- 
sides in  Bible  Grove  Township,  near  his 
son.  The  mother  of  our  subject  is  Catha- 
rine (Coors)  Landwehr;  she  is  yet  living  and 
is  the  mother  of  five  children.  Our  subject 
received  his  education  partly  in  Germany 
and  partly  in  St.  Louis.  In  early  life  he 
farmed,  but  in  1873  he  went  to  California, 
the  acme  of  this  wonderland  America,  and 
there  in  Pescadero,  he  worked  at  the  Lincoln 
Hotel,  a3  porter  and  clerk.  Finally,  after 
working  for  some  time  at  the  Swanton  House, 
he  went  to  farming,  and  in  the  winter  of 
1870,  returned  to  Illinois.  Here  he  was 
married  in  April,  1880,  to  Miss  Mary  Mascher ; 
this  lady  was  born  June  20,  1863,  in  Jasper 
County,  111.  She  is  a  daughter  of  Frederick 
Mascher.  She  has  blessed  her  husband  with 
two  children — Emery  and  Emelia,  Mr.  Land- 
wehr is  an  intelligent  farmer,  and  owns  220 
acres  of  land.  He  and  his  wife  are  members 
of  the  Lutheran  Church.  Politically,  our 
Bubject  is  a  Republican. 

CAMERON  McKNIGHT,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Ingraham,  was  born  October  7,  1828,  in 
Lawrence  County,  Ind.  He  is  a  son  of  Will- 
iam A.  McKnight,  born  1800,  in  North  Caro- 
lina. In  1811,  he  came  to  Indiana,  and  in 
1835  he  removed  to  Clay  County,  111.,  where 
he  bought  land  and  improved  it.  He  was 
one  of  the  first  to  settle  in  that  part  of  the 
county,  and  was  a  man  of  a  great  deal  of  en- 
ergy and  ability.      He  died  in  this  county  in 


BIBLE  GROVE  TOWNSHIP. 


219 


the  spring  of  1862,  from  wounds  received  at 
the  hands  of  robbers  on  the  night  of  October 
1,  18(31,  in  Bible  Grove  Township.  The 
grandfather  of  our  subject  was  Roger  Mc- 
Knight,  a  native  of  North  Carolina;  he  died 
in  Indiana.  Rebecca  (Erwin)  McKnight  was 
the  mother  of  Cameron  McKnight.  She  was 
born  1804,  in  Lawrence  County,  Ind.  She 
died  1843,  in  Clay  County,  111.  Eight  chil- 
dren called  her  mother,  of  whom  five  are  now 
living.  Our  subject  received  only  about  six 
months' schooling  in  his  life.  In  early  life 
he  was  fond  of  the  sport  and  spent  consider- 
able leisure  time  in  hunting,  and  even  now 
will  devote  some  time  each  year  to  a  hunting 
trip,  generally  going  south  to  Arkansas. 
His  father  gave  him  forty  acres  of  land,  and 
in  1850  he  bought  160  himself,  and  on 
these  200  acres  he  settled  just  after  he  was 
married  to  Rebecca  Fields,  a  native  of  Indi- 
ana, who  died  in  April,  1877,  leaving  eight 
children,  viz.,  Sarah  C.  Harmon,  Austin  R. , 
Cynthia  Moore,  Millard  F.,  Jehu  L.,  Lyman 
T..  Homer  B.  and  Laura.  Mr.  McKnight's 
second  wife  is  Mrs.  Martha  Turner,  born 
February  3,  1832,  in  Orange  County,  Ind. 
She  is  a  daughter  of  Francis  M.  and  Eliza- 
beth (Reed)  Moore.  The  following  six  chil- 
dren are  by  her  first  husband,  Mr.  B.  H. 
Turner:  Francis  M. ,  Joseph  B.,  Sarah  E., 
ressie  D.  Odell.  William  S.,  and  Ida  M. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  McKnight  are  members  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  In  politics, 
he  is  a  Republican.  Although  he  has  given 
his  children  a  great  deal  of  land,  he  has  yet 
240  acres  of  good  land.  In  early  life,  at  the 
age  of  twenty  he  worked  on  the  Mississippi 
River,  going  as  far  north  as  St.  Paul,  Minn., 
where  he  worked  fifteen  months  in  the  pine- 
ries, returning  in  1849,  after  an  absence  of 
twenty- five  months,  to  Clay  County,  with 
which  he  has  been  identified  ever  since. 
JOHN    MURVIN,  druggist,  Bible  Grove. 


This  energetic  young  business  man  was  born 
November  1,  1850,  in  Richland  County,  111. 
His  father,  Francis  P.  Murvin  was  a  native 
of  Kentucky.  He  was  a  farmer  by  occupa- 
tion, and  came  to  Richland  County  when 
quite  young,  and  died  there  in  1858.  The 
mother  of  our  subject  was  Rebecca  (Hock- 
man)  Murvin,  a  native  of  Illinois.  Five 
children  bless  her  memory.  She  died  1867, 
in  Richland  County,  111.  Our  subject  went 
to  school  in  early  life  in  Richland  Couuty, 
and  at  the  age  of  sixteen  went  to  live  with 
his  uncle,  John  A.  Murvin,  of  Clay  County, 
111.  He  lived  with  his  uncle  five  years,  and 
during  that  time  taught  school  two  years. 
Afterward  he  taught  school  another  year. 
He  was  joined  in  matrimony,  April  25,  1872, 
in  Clay  County,  111.,  to  Miss  Charlotte  Lewis, 
born  April  22,  1854,  in  this  county.  She  is 
a  daughter  of  Washington  Lewis,  a  well- 
known  settler  of  Clay  County.  Mrs.  Char- 
lotte Murvin  died  November  6,  1880.  She 
was  the  mother  of  the  following  children, 
viz.,  Francis  W.,  Harry  B.  and  Marvin  E. 
Our  sabject  was  married  a  second  time,  June 
19,  1881,  to  Susannah  Littell,  born  July  9, 
1860.  She  is  a  daughter  of  Hiram  R.  and 
Martha  A.  (Boston)  Littell.  One  little  boy 
named  Claude  blessed  this  union.  He  was 
born  September  24,  1882.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Murvin  are  members  of  the  Methodist  Protest- 
ant Church.  He  is  also  an  I.  O.  O.  F., 
Bible  Grove  Lodge,  273.  Mr.  Murvin  lived 
seven  months  in  Richland  County,  and  then 
one  year  in  Flora;  then  raised  one  crop  on 
his  father-in-law's  farm,  and  then  went  to 
Ingraham,  where  he  clerked  for  Osman  Pix- 
ley  five  years  and  four  months;  then,  in  Jan- 
uary, 1880,  came  to  Bible  Grove,  where  he 
now  keeps  a  drug  store  and  the  post  office. 

JOHN  SCHMIDT,  merchant,  Bible  Grove, 
was  born  December  24,  1850,  in  Holstein, 
Germany.      His  father  was  N.  P.  Schmidt,  a 


220 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


teacher  by  occupation,  and  yet  living  in 
Germany.  The  mother  of  our  subject,  Chris- 
tina Schmidt,  is  the  mother  of  five  children, 
of  whom  three  are  now  living,  viz.,  John, 
Herman  and  Emma.  John,  our  subject,  is 
a  true  type  of  our  northern  German,  who  is 
noted  the  world  over  for  his  quietness,  firm- 
ness, industry  and  honesty.  He  was  edu- 
cated in  Germany,  and  came  to  the  United 
States  in  the  fall  of  1869,  locating  in  Ches- 
ter, Randolph  Co.,  111.,  where  he  teamed  and 
peddled  for  A.  Smith,  with  whom  he  after- 
ward came  to  Bible  Grove,  Clay  County,  111., 
where  he  clerked  for  him  till  he  was  admit- 
ted as  a  junior  partner  in  1877.  In  the  fall 
of  the  same  year,  he  was  married  to  Mrs. 
Barbara  Bald,  who  was  born  December  26, 
1849,  in  Hesse-Darmstadt,  Germany.  She 
is  a  daughter  of  Henry  and  Katharina  (Sau- 
erwein)  Sehnert.  Two  children,  now  living, 
blessed  this  happy  union,  viz.,  John  P.  A., 
born  in  November,  1878,  and  Henry  J.  H. , 
in  January,  1881.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Schmidt 
are  religiously  connected  with  the  German 
Methodist  Ejjiscopal  Church,  and  are  exem- 
plary members  of  society.  The  Republican 
party  claims  Mr.  Schmidt  as  a  supporter. 

JACOB  SEHNERT,  merchant,  Bible  Grove, 
was  born  September  28,  1844,  in  Hesse-Darm- 
stadt, Germany.  He  is  a  son  of  Henry  Sehnert, 
also  a  native  of  Germany,  where  he  followed 
farming.  He  came  to  the  United  States  in 
1853,  landing  in  New  York.  From  there  he 
went  to  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  but  finally  settled  in 
Monroe  County,  111.,  where  he  bought  a  farm 
and  where  he  died  the  same  year.  The 
mother  of  our  subject  is  Katharina  (Sauer- 
wein)  Sehnert,  a  native  of  Germany,  and  yet 
living,  the  mother  of  nine  children,  of  whom 
seven  are  now  living,  viz.:  Nicholas,  Adam, 
Margaret  Smith,  Jacob,  Mary  Reitz,  Barbara 
Schmidt  and  Peter.  Our  subject  went  to 
school    in    Monroe    County,    111.,    where   he 


afterward  farmed  till  1872,  when  he  came  to 
Bible  Grove,  where  he  entered  in  partnership 
with  A.  Smith,  his  brother-in-law,  and  en- 
gaged in  mercantile  pursuits,  keeping  a  large 
general  store,  and  also  selling:  the  McCor- 
mick  farm  machinery.  Our  subject  also  has 
an  interest  in  the  Bible  Grove  Star  Flouring 
Mills;  and  the  company  have  also  a  branch 
store  in  Dieterich,  Effingham  County.  Our 
subject  was  married,  in  Washington  County, 
111.,  October  14,  1875,  to  Lydia  Bernreuter, 
born  November  23, 1852,  in  Watertown,  Wis. 
She  is  a  daughter  of  Conrad  and  Katherine 
(Stullken)  Bernreuter,  the  former  a  native  of 
Bavaria,  and  the  latter  of  Oldenburg,  Ger- 
many. Three  children  blessed  this  happy 
union,  viz.:  Matilda  M.,  born  January  5, 
1877;  Lydia  C.  October  5,  1879;  and  Ed- 
ward, June  17,  1882.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sehnert 
are  members  of  the  German  Methodist  Ejiis- 
copal  Church.  In  poli+ics,  he  is  a  Repub- 
lican, and  in  business  circles  is  counted  as  a 
wide-awake,  energetic  man. 

ANDREW  SMITH,  merchant,  Bible  Grove, 
was  born  February  4, 1838,  in  Schleswig,  Ger- 
many. He  is  a  son  of  Peter  Smith  (whose  name 
is  spelled  Schmidt  in  German),  also  a  na- 
tive of  Schleswig,  Germany,  where  he  fol- 
lowed farming  for  an  occupation.  The 
mother  of  our  subject  was  Stinka  (Jacobson) 
Schmidt.  She  also  died  in  Germany.  Oar 
subject  was  educated  in  Germany,  where  he 
clerked  sevei'al  years,  and  there  laid  the  foun- 
dation of  the  strict  business  habits  which 
characterize  him  now,  and  make  him  a  valu- 
able acquisition  to  the  business  circles  of 
Clay  County.  At  the  age  of  twenty,  he  left 
the  home  of  his  childhood  and  emigrated  to 
the  United  States,  here  to  seek  his  fortune 
with  that  determination  which  is  character- 
istic to  the  race  from  which  he  sprung. 
After  a  short  sojourn  in  New  York,  he  went 
to  Randolph  County.   111.,  where  he  farmed 


BIBLE   GROVE   TOWNSHIP. 


221 


mostly  for  over  thirteen  years.      In  the  spring 
of   1872,  he  came  to  Effingham  County,  and 
in  the  fall  of  the  same  year  he  removed  to 
Bible  Grove  Township,  where  he  went  into 
business  with  J.  Sehnert.      These  gentlemen 
kept  a  general   store,  adding  to  their  stock 
yearly,  till  at  present  they  keep  a  full  line  of 
dry  goods,  groceries,  clothing,  hardware,  farm 
implements,  harness,  glass   and  queensware, 
etc.     In  1876,  John  Schmidt  was  taken  into 
the  firm  as  a  junior  partner.      John  Schmidt 
is  a  nephew  of  Andrew  Smith,  for  whom  he 
had  been   clerking  several  years.     Our  sub- 
ject  was  married,  March   22,   1870,  in  Ran- 
dolph County,  111.,  to  Miss  Margaret  Sehnert 
born   in    April,    1S42,    in    Hesse-Darmstadt 
Germany.      She  is  the  mother  of  seven  chil 
dren,  viz.:  Peter  H.,  born  January  28,  1871 
Anna  B.,  September  16, 1872;  John  William 
August   14,    1874;    Jacob  A.,    March,  1876 
Charles  E.,  December   18,  1877;  Lydia  M. 
November  5,  1879;  and  Philip  N.,  May  29 
1881.    Mr.  and  Mrs.  Smith  are  religiously  con- 
nected with  the  German  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church. 

GEORGE  W.  STURDIVANT,  farmer  P. 
O.  Bible  Grove,  born  June  14,  1820,  in 
Washington  County,  Va. ,  near  Abingdon. 
He  is  a  son  of  Joseph  A.  and  Mary  (Hollo- 
way)  Sturdivant,  natives  of  North  Carolina, 
where  he  was  a  distiller  by  occupation.  Our 
subject,  George  W.  Sturdivant,  went  to 
school  in  Indiana.  He  came  here  in  1842,  ac- 
companied by  his  faithful  wife,  and  with  only 
about  $20  of  earthly  possessions,  but  through 
industry,  perseverance  and  economy  he  has 
acquired  considerable  means,  and  is  counted 
among  our  most  substantial  men  in  Bible 
Grove  Township.  He  has  500  acres  of  land 
in  this  county,  besides  owning  town  prop 
erty.  Mr.  Sturdivant  is  now  practically  re- 
tired from  active  life,  and  is  reaping  the  re- 
sult   of  his  well-spent  life.     He  has  served 


the  public  in  different  offices,  among  others 
that  of  Constable  twelve  years,  Township 
Supervisor  seven  years,  and  in  an  early  day 
was  Deputy  Sheriff  under  Col.  Henry  Neff. 
Our  subject  was  joined  in  matrimony  in  In- 
diana, to  Miss  Margaret  Vandyke,  born 
April  10,  1822,  in  North  Carolina.  She  is  a 
daughter  of  Charles  and  Jane  (Phelps)  Van 
dyke.  Eight  children,  of  whom  three  are 
now  living,  blessed  this  union — James  K. , 
born  January  6,  1846;  Sarah  Greenwood, 
born  May  26,  1868,  and  Joseph  A.,  born 
April  20,  1851,  who  are  all  happily  married, 
and  are  exemplary  members  of  their  respec- 
tive communities. 

WILLIAM  SUNDERMANN,  farmer 
and  stock-raiser,  P.  O.  Bible  Grove,  is 
a  native  of  Lippe-Detmold,  Germany.  His 
father,  William  Sundermann,  Sr.,  was  a 
farmer  by  occupation.  Our  subject  was 
one  of  those  restless  young  men  who  early 
in  life  are  infatuated  with  a  desire  to  travel 
and  see  the  wonderland  America,  to 
which  he  emigrated  when  quite  young.  He 
had  barely  enough  funds  to  bring  him  to  the 
United  States,  and  after  a  few  months'  stay 
in  New  York,  he,  with  the  assistance  of  a 
friend  with  whom  he  was  afterward  associated 
in  business  in  Illinois,  made  his  way  to 
Philadelphia,  and  then  to  St.  Louis,  Mo. 
For  some  years  he  roamed  and  led  a  wander- 
ing life  full  of  adventure  and  interesting  in- 
cidents, for  which  we  have  no  space  here. 
In  1837,  he  came  to  Clay  County,  111.,  where 
he  worked  on  the  old  State  road  under  Rod- 
gers.  He  liked  the  country,  and  conceived 
the  idea  to  return  to  it  some  future  time. 
About  1838,  he  went  up  the  Arkansas  River 
in  a  United  States  Government  snag  boat, 
under  Capt.  Cooper,  falling  overboard  twice, 
"just  for  the  fun  of  it,''  as  the  Captain  told 
him.  In  the  year  1839,  he  returned  to  Illi- 
nois   in    a  two- wheeled  vehicle,  loaded  with 


223 


BIOGRAPHICAL 


goods,  mostly  jewelry  and  calico,  which  he 
peddled  over  the  country,  buying  and  trading 
for  skins  and  pelts  of  all  kinds,  with  which 
he  returned  to  St.  Louis.  He  traveled  in 
this  way  all  over  Clay  County,  and  was  a 
welcome  guest  wherever  he  made  his  appear- 
ance. By  the  solicitation  of  settlers  on 
Hoosier  Prairie,  he  was  induced  to  put  up  a 
store  in  partnership  with  Henry  Mickey,  in 
the  south  part  of  the  prairie.  Mr.  Mickey's 
interest  was  bought  out  by  A.  Hauseman, 
who  in  partnership  with  our  subject  bought 
eighty  acres  of  land  in  Section  33,  where 
Mr.  Sundermann  now  resides.  To  this  land 
he  removed  his  log  store  house,  added  to  his 
stock  of  goods,  opened  a  market  and  kept  a 
two-horse  wagon  between  here  and  St.  Louis. 
At  that  time,  saddle-hams  of  deer  sold  often 
for  only  for  25  cents,  eggs  for  3  cents  per 
dozen,  dressed  pork  from  $1.50  to  $2.50  per 
cwt. ;  cattle  from  one  to  two  years  old,  from 
$1  to  $10  per  head;  cows,  $8  and  $9.  At 
one  time  Mr.  Sundermann  had  his  two  good 
and  only  horses  stolen;  he  traveled  several 
weeks  in  search  of  them,  but  never  found 
them.  His  partnership  with  Mr.  Hauseman 
expired  after  one  year.  In  course  of  time 
our  subject  bought  more  land,  and  after  hav- 
ing peddled  and  sold  goods  for  about  eight 
years,  he  settled  down  to  farming,  and  his 
industry  and  perseverance  has  been  awarded 
to  such  an  extent  that  he  is  now  oue  of  our 
wealthiest  farmers  in  this  county.  He  owns 
over  1,400  acres  of  land  which  lies  nearly  in 
one  body  around  him.  Our  subject  was  mar- 
ried, August  8,  1841,  in  this  county,  to  Mary 
Johnson,  a  daughter  of  Thomas  H.  and 
Susan  (StalliDs)  Johnson.  She  was  born 
January  16,  1823,  and  died  August  15,  1858. 
She  was  the  mother  of  a  large  family,  of 
whom  only  Jefferson  T.  and  Elizabeth,  wife 
of  James  Brooks,  are  now  living;  Susan, 
George  W.,  Henry,  Frederick  W.,  Col  ambus 


and  Mary  are  deceased.  Our  subject  was 
married,  a  second  time,  November  21,  1860, 
to  Catharine  Fopa,  born  April  6,  1839,  in 
Germany.  She  was  a  daughter  of  Henry 
and  Elsebein  (Straut)  Fopa.  She  died  in 
this  county  leaving  five  children — Dora,  born 
October  17,  1861;  William  H.,  born  April  3, 
1863;  John,  born  June  24,  1864;  Conrad, 
deceased;  and  Edwin,  born  February  7,  1868. 
Mr.  Sundermann  is  an  example  of  what  en- 
ergy, industry  and  close  application  to  farm 
ing  will  accomplish.  Religiously,  he  is  con- 
nected ffith  the  Reformed  Church 

ANDERSON  WEBSTER  (deceased). 
Among  the  worthy  men  who  have  lived  in 
Clay  County,  and  whose  influence  was  felt  in 
all  things  that  concerned  the  good  of  the 
community  in  which  they  resided  and  who 
have  given  wealth  and  stamina  to  the  couuty. 
we  count  him  among  one  of  the  first  and 
foremost  whose  name  heads  this  sketch.  Mr. 
Anderson  Webster  was  a  man  who  meant  yes 
when  he  said  it,  and  his  friendship  was 
sought  far  and  wide.  He  was  one  of  those 
progressive  kind  of  men  who  did  not  con- 
sider his  own  interest  first  when  the  interest 
of  his  friends  and  his  county  came  into  con- 
sideration. He  is  and  always  will  be  re- 
membered as  a  man  of  sterling  worth.  His 
demise,  which  occurred  July  6,  1877,  left  a 
void  in  the  social  and  business  circles  in 
Clay  County  that  will  always  be  felt.  As  an 
evidence  of  his  financial  success,  it  is  said 
that  he  had  only  forty  acres  of  land  when  he 
was  married,  but  at  the  time  of  his  death 
owned  about  1,300  acres  of  jland,  on  a  part 
of  which,  260  acres,  the  old  home  farm, Mis 
Sarah  AVebster,  the  widow  of  Anderson  Web- 
ter,  now  resides;  the  other  land  has  been  di- 
vided among  the  children.  Mr.  Webster 
was  born  June  27,  1827,  in  Indiana,  and  is  a 
son  of  Isaac  and  Margaret  (Bell)  Webster, 
natives  of  Kentucky.     Isaac  Webster  died  in 


BIBLE  GROVE  TOWNSHIP. 


Indiana,  but  his  wife  and  seven  children 
came  to  this  county;  they  are  mentioned  in 
another  part  of  the  history.  Our  subject 
was  married,  September  10,  1845,  in  Louis- 
ville, 111.,  to  Sarah  Fulk,  daughter  of  An- 
drew and  Susan  (Fiska)  Fulk,  natives  of 
North  Carolina.  He  came  here  in  1839,  and 
died  here;  she  died  in  Madison  County,  111. 
They  were  the  parents  of  ten  children,  of 
whom  four  are  now  living.  Mrs.  Sarah 
Webster  went  to  school  in  Indiana,  and  was 
brought  to  this  country  by  her  parents. 
She  is  the  mother  of  nine  children,  viz. : 
Nancy  A.  Gould,  Jonathan,  David,  Noah  M., 
Lavina  E.,  William  A.,  Ferdinand  E.,  Mary 
Ida  and  Lola  E.  The  subject  of  this  sketch 
was  no  politician  and  gave  his  support  to  the 
Democratic   party. 

NOAH  WEBSTER,  farmer,  P.  O.  Bible 
Grove.  The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born 
January  31,  1833,  in  Martin  County,  Ind. 
His  parents,  Isaac  and  Margaret  (Bell)  Web- 
ster, came  from  Kentucky.  They  were  mar- 
ried in  Tennessee,  and  after  living  many 
years  in  Kentucky  went  to  Martin  County, 
Ind.,  where  Isaac  Webster  died  from  a 
wound  received  accidently  by  an  adze  with 
which  he  was  blazing  trees  in  the  winter. 
He  bled  to  death  before  he  reached  home. 
Mrs.  Margaret  was  the  mother  of  fourteen 
children,  of  whom  four  are  now  living,  viz. : 
Wilson,  Thomas,  James,  and  Noah,  our  sub- 
ject, who  was  brought  to  this  county  by  his 
mother  in  1835.  She  settled  four  miles 
southeast  of  Louisville,  where  they  lived 
three  years,  and  then  moved  to  what  is  now 
called  Blair  Township,  on  Panther  Creek, 
near  Jordan  Post  Office,  where  she  died  in 
1845.  Six  boys  besides  Noah  came  with  her 
to  this  county;  of  them  only  Thomas  and 
James,  of  Indiana,  are  now  living.  After  the 
death  of  our  subject's  mother,  Noah  Webster 
lived  with  his  brother,  Sanford  Webster,  and 


accompanied  him  to  Texas;  returned  the 
same  year,  1840.  In  1849,  he  left  his 
brother  and  went  to  DeWitt  County,  and 
from  there  to  Adams  County,  returning  to 
this  county  in  1852,  and  since  then  he  has 
lived  in  this  county.  Our  subject  was  mar- 
ried, August  7,  1850,  to  Rebecca  Turner,  born 
November  10,  1830,  in  Lawrence  County, 
daughter  of  Ezekiel  and  Hannah  (Taylor) 
Turner,  natives  of  Illinois.  This  union 
was  blessed  with  six  children,  viz. :  Merrit 
D.  (deceased),  Celesta  E  ,  Effie  J.,  Harrison 
R.,  Richard  A.  and  Stella  M.  Mrs.  Webster 
is  a  member  of  the  Christian  Church.  Mr. 
Webster  is  a  member  of  the  A. ,  F.  &  A.  M. , 
Mayo  Lodge,  and  G.  A.  R.  To  the  member- 
ship of  the  latter  lodge  he  is  entitled 
by  his  service  in  the  army.  He  enlisted  Jan- 
uary 1,  1804,  and  served  till  the  close  of  the 
war.  He  participated  in  the  battles  of 
Resaca,  Dallas,  New  Hope  Church,  Kene- 
saw  Mountain,  Sand  Town,  siege  of  At- 
lanta, Jonesboro,  Lovejoy,  siege  of  Savannah, 
Fort  McAllister,  in  Georgia;  Duck  Branch, 
Edisto  River,  Columbia,  in  South  Carolina, 
and  Bentonville,  North  Carolina.  Mr.  Web- 
ster merchandized  about  one  year  in  Louis- 
ville. Financially  he  has  been  successful, 
owning  now  700  acres  of  land  in  Bible 
Grove  Township,  where  he  now  resides  sur- 
rounded by  his  family.  Mr.  Webster  has 
served  the  pubiic  in  the  caj>acity  of  Town- 
ship Supervisor,  and  other  township  and  school 
offices.  He  is  a  warm  supporter  of  the  Re- 
publican party.  While  in  the  army  he 
worked  his  way  by  his  punctuality  from 
Second  Lieutenant  to  First  Lieutenant  and 
Captain.  Our  subject's  life  thus  far  has 
been  a  success,  and  is  au  example  worthy  of 
imitation. 

LEONARD  WOLF,  farmer,  P.  O.  Bible 
Grove,  is  a  son  of  Anderson  and  Polly  (Ford) 
Wolf,  who  came  to  this  county  from  Orange 


224 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


County, Iud.  Our  subject  received  such  advan- 
tages in  schooling  as  our  county  afforded  at 
that  time.  He  spent  the  early  part  of  his 
life  tilling  the  virgin  soil  of  Bible  Grove 
Township,  and  when  the  war  clouds  began  to 
show  themselves  on  the  southern  horizon,  he 
became  zealous  to  protect  the  stars  and 
stripes,  and  enlisted  September  2,  1861,  in 
the  Forty-eighth  Regiment  Illinois  Volun- 
teer Infantry,  Company  B,  commanded  by 
Capt.  W.  J.  Stevenson,  serving  till  the  close 
of  the  war,  participating  in  the  battles  of 
Forts  Henry  and  Donelson,  Jackson,  Vicks- 
burg,  Chattanooga,  Mission  Ridge,  Lookout 
Mountain,  siege  of  Knoxville,  Franklin, 
Tenn.,  aud  others.  He  veteranized  in  1864, 
and  while  home  was  married,  February  17, 
1864,  to  Miss  Susan  J.  Wheat,  born  in  Law- 
rence County,  Ind.  She  was  a  daughter  of 
Andrew  and  Rose  Ann  (Moore)  Wheat,  farmers 
by  occupation  and  natives  of  Kentucky. 
Four  children  have  blessed  this  union,  viz., 
Louis  A.,  born  July  19,  1866;  Sarah  L., 
March  13,  186S;  Cora  M.,  May  31,  1873; 
and  Edith  F.,  April  6,  1879.  Mrs.  Susan  J. 
Wolf  was  a  member  of  the  Christian  Church, 
and  died  April  4,  1882.  Our  subject  was 
married  a  second  time  to  Miss  Mary  E.  Ut- 
terback,  born  June  24,  1855,  iu  Clay  County, 
111.  She  is  a  daughter  of  Upton  and  Bar- 
bara (Bracket)  Utterbank,  natives  of  Ken- 
tucky.     Mrs.    Mary   E.    Wolf    is   a   member 


of  the  Christian  Church.  He  is  a  Democrat 
in  politics;  owns  forty  acres  of  land,  and 
farms  part  of  his  time;  is  a  Constable  and  is 
also  an  agent  for  the  Cobbs  &  Son  Marble 
Works,  Olney,  111. 

WILLIAM  F  WYATT,  farmer  and 
thresher,  Section  26,  Bible  Grove  Township, 
P.  O.  Ingrahara,  was  born  in  Greenbrier 
County,  Va.,  November  2,  1833.  His  father, 
Andrew  Wyatt  (deceased),  was  a  native  of 
Massachusetts,  who  removed  with  his  family 
to  Braxton  County,  Va. ,  in  1834.  There  our 
subject  worked  on  the  farm  and  attended  a 
subscription  school.  He  came  to  Edwards 
County  in  1853,  and  settled  near  Bone  Gap. 
He  served  in  the  late  war,  in  Company  H, 
Ninety-eighth  Illinois  Regiment,  and  par- 
ticipated in  the  battles  of  Chickamauga,  and 
all  the  engagements  of  the  campaign  from 
Murfreesboro  to  Atlanta,  and  on  to  the  close  of 
the  war.  He  came  to  Clay  County  in  the 
spring  of  1874,  where  he  owns  eighty  acres 
of  land,  and  also  follows  threshing  and  car- 
pentering. He  is  a  member  of  the  Grand 
Army  of  the  Republic  and  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  Mr.  Wyatt  was  married, 
November  7,  1855,  to  Eliza  A.  Hawkins, 
daughter  of  James  Hawkins  (deceased). 
They  had  nine  children,  seven  of  whom  are 
living — James  H,  Mary  E.,  Rhuhama  A., 
William  A.,  Anga  L..  Ettie  A.  and  Catharine 
M. 


SONGER    TOWNSHIP 


JOSEPH  ANDERSON,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Xenia,  was  born  in  Grant  County,  Ky.,  Sep- 
tember 1,  1819,  to  Joseph  and  Patsie  D.  (Hen- 
derson) Anderson.  The  father  was  a  native 
of  Virginia,  born  May  8.  1792.     The  mother 


was  born  July  8,  1791,  in  Kentucky.  When 
he  was  a  child  he  emigrated  to  Boone  County, 
Ky.,  with  his  parents,  and  it  was  there  he 
was  married,  and  afterward  moved  to  Grant 
County.     In  March,  1824.  they  removed  to 


SONGER  TOWNSHIP. 


225 


Decatur  County,  Ind.,  where  they  resided 
till  1859,  and  then  came  to  Clay  County,  111., 
where  they  lived  until  death.  He  died  May 
29,  1879;  she,  January  17,  1SS0.  They 
were  the  parents  of  six  sons  and  two  daugh- 
ters. The  following  yet  survive:  Thomas, 
Joseph,  John  J.,  William,  Mrs.  Rebecca  J. 
Irwin,  of  Arkansas,  and  George.  All  reside 
in  this  county  except  Mrs.  Irwin.  Our  sub- 
ject was  reared  and  educated  in  Indiana, 
where  he  resided  until  1847.  February  2, 
1847,  he  was  married  in  Indiana  to  Miss 
Eliza  Anderson.  She  was  born  in  Boone 
County,  Ky.,  July  15,  1827,  and  is  the 
daughter  of  Thomas  and  Sarah  (Myers)  An- 
derson. They  died  in  Kentucky,  he  Octo- 
ber 27,  1880,  she  March,  1881.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Joseph  Anderson  have  four  children  liv- 
ing and  three  dead.  The  living  are  David 
S. ;  Sarah  J.,  wife  of  Welcome  Anderson; 
George  W.  and  Jasper  R.  Soon  after  mar- 
riage, Mr.  Anderson  moved  to  this  county, 
and  December  7,  1847,  settled  on  his  present 
farm,  buying  at  first  but  240  acres.  He  now 
owns  628  acres,  520  lying  in  one  body.  He 
has  been  successful  in  his  business,  for  all 
has  been  obtained  through  hard  work  and 
good  business  tact.  In  1848,  his  farm  was 
burned  over  'by  a  prairie  tire,  and  he  lost 
10,000  rails,  besides  part  of  his  crop.  As  he 
was  away  from  home,  his  neighbors  turned 
out  and  gathered  the  corn  still  remaining, 
and  cribbed  it  for  him.  In  1802,  he,  in  part- 
nership with  his  brother  George,  ran  the  first 
steam  thresher  ever  used  in  Clay  County. 
Mr.  Anderson  has  never  taken  much  of  a  part 
in  political  matters,  but  he  is  identified  with 
the  Democratic  party. 

WELCOME  ANDERSON,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Xenia,  was  born  in  Guernsey  County,  Ohio, 
April  11,  1837,  to  S.  C.  and  Sarah  (Moore), 
Anderson.  The  father  was  a  native  of  Penn- 
sylvania,   and    the   mother  of   Ohio.      They 


were  the  parents  of  six  children  now  living, 
three  sons  and  three  daughters.  His  occu- 
pation was  that  of  a  farmer.  When  our  sub- 
ject was  about  nine  years  of  age,  he  removed 
to  Muskingum  County,  Ohio,  with  his  par- 
ents, and  it  was  there  he  was  reared  and  edu- 
cated. He  remained  at  home  till  about 
twenty-two  years  of  age,  and  then  began  for 
himself.  In  1861,  he  went  to  Texas,  and  for 
f  our  years  was  engaged  in  the  sheep  business. 
In  1865,  he  sold  out  and  returned  to  Ohio, 
and  engaged  in  the  saw  mill  business.  In 
1866.  he  brought  his  mill  to  Clay  County, 
111.,  and  for  three  years  was  engaged  in  that 
business,  and  then  began  farming.  He  now 
owns  240  acres  of  prairie  land  and  40  of  tim- 
ber, on  which  he  does  general  farming.  In 
1S67.  he  was  married  in  this  county,  to  Miss 
Sallie  J.  Anderson,  a  daughter  of  Joseph 
Anderson,  whose  sketch  appears.  This 
union  has  been  blest  with  the  following- 
named  children:  Ezra  W.,  Flora  O,  Asher 
L.  and  Leslie  J.  Mr.  Anderson  is  identified 
with  the  Democratic  party,  but  has  avoided 
political  life. 

J.  M.  BRYAN,  farmer.  P.  O.  Xenia. 
was  born  in  Pendleton  County,  Ky.,  Sep- 
tember 1,  1822,  to  Luke  and  Mary  (San- 
ders) Bryan,  natives  of  North  Carolina. 
When  our  subject  was  eight  years  of  age,  he 
moved  to  Indianapolis, Ind.,  with  his  parents, 
and  remained  there  until  1860,  when  he  came 
to  Clay  County,  111.  For  five  years,  he  was 
there  engaged  in  farming,  but  about  1865,  he 
engaged  in  the  milling  business  at  Xenia,  in 
which  he  continued  for  fourteen  years,  when 
he  again  removed  to  the  farm.  He  now  owns 
295  acres  of  well-improved  land.  April  2, 
1844,  he  was  married,  in  Indianapolis,  Ind., 
to  Miss  Martha  Russell.  She  is  a  native  of 
Indiana,  and  a  daughter  of  John  and  Malena 
Russell.  Mi\  and  Mrs.  Bryan  have  four  chil- 
dren, viz. :     Alphonso,  an  attorney  in  Cham- 

is 


226 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


paign,  111.;  John  R.,  a  farmer  in  this  coun- 
ty; Mrs.  Parraelia  Garland,  of  Howell, 
Michigan;  and  Orvil  Grant,  at  home.  Mr. 
Byan  is  a  member  of  the  A.  P.  &  A.  M .  of 
Xenia.  He  and  wife  are  members  of  the 
Baptist  Church.  The  grandfather  of  our 
subject,  Samuel  Bryan,  was  a  native  of 
Virginia,  but  moved  to  Kentucky  in  company 
with  Daniel  Boone,  and  his  wife,  our  sub- 
ject's grandmother,  is  said  to  have  been  the 
first  white  woman  in  Kentucky. 

JOHN  R.  BRYAN,  farmer,  P.  O.  Xenia, 
was  born  in  Indiana  April  6,  1848,  and  is 
the  son  of  J.  M.  Bryan.  Our  subject  was 
reared  on  the  farm,  and  was  educated  in  the 
schools  of  Xenia,  but  afterward  attended  the 
State  University  at  Champaign,  111.,  for  one 
year.  His  occupation  has  been  that  of  a 
stock  dealer  and  raiser  and  farmer.  He  now 
owns  200  acres  of  land,  160  acres  of  which 
are  prairie  and  forty  timber  land.  In  1880, 
he  built  on  the  farm  one  of  the  best  farm 
residences  in  the  county.  The  main  building 
is  32x17  feet,  L  9x17  feet,  all  two  stories 
high,  and  a  single-story  kitchen  14x18  feet. 
December  23,  1875,  he  was  married,  in  this 
county,  to  Miss  Catherine  A.  Cannon.  She 
was  born  in  Kentucky  November  1,  1858, 
daughter  of  John  and  Mary  Cannon,  now 
residents  of  Xenia.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bryan 
have  four  children,  viz.:  Inez  C. ,  Minnie, 
Joseph  Lyman  "and  Malena.  He  and  wife 
are  members  of  the  Baptist  Church.  In  pol- 
itics, he  is  Democratic.  In  early  life,  Mr. 
Bryan  spent  two  years  in  Colorado,  mining, 
dairying,  etc.,  and  made  a  success  of  his 
enterprise.  He  had  gone  to  the  West  when 
only  nineteen  years  of  age. 

P.  B.  DOW,  farmer,  P.  O.  Xenia,  was  born 
in  Bellefontaine,  Logan  Co.,  Ohio,  May  5, 
1840,  to  Robert  and  Harriet  (Brewster)  Dow. 
The  father  was  born  in  Scotland,  near  Crief, 
but  came  to  the  United  States  when  only  live 


years  of  age.  He  is  yet  living,  and  at  the 
advanced  age  of  seventy  years.  The  mother 
was  born  in  Pennsylvana,  and  died  when  our 
subject  was  small.  She  was  the  mother  of 
live  sons,  four  of  whom  yet  survive — one  son 
died  in  1878.  Mr.  Robert  Dow  has  been 
married  three  times.  By  the  second  wife, 
however,  he  had  no  child,  but  has  a  daughter 
by  the  third  wife.  His  occupation  has  al- 
ways been  that  of  farmer,  but  is  now  retired 
from  active  life.  Our  subject  was  reared  on 
the  farm  and  educated  in  the  schools  of  his 
native  county.  He  has  made  farming  his 
occupation  during  life,  and  has  met  with 
success,  as  he  now  owns  a  farm  of  240  acres 
of  well -improved  land.  On  his  farm  there 
are  never- failing  springs  of  pure  water,  and 
also  an  outcropping  of  coal  in  a  four-inch 
vein.  In  the  spring  of  1864,  he  enlisted  in 
the  One  Hundred  and  Thirty-second  Ohio 
Infantry.  Soon  afterward,  however,  he  raised 
a  company  for  the  One  Hundred  and  Ninety- 
first  Ohio  Infantry,  and  was  elected  Captain 
of  the  company.  He  then  served  as  Captain 
of  Company  F  till  receiving  his  discharge  in 
Sepiember,  1865.  During  his  service,  he  was 
in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  participating  in 
all  the  engagements  on  the  Peninsula  and 
around  Richmond  during  his  time  of  service. 
After  returning  from  the  army,  he  again  en- 
gaged in  farming  in  Ohio,  but  in  1871  came 
to  Clay  County,  111.,  to  his  present  farm. 
In  April,  1869,  he  was  married,  in  his  native 
county  in  Ohio,  to  Miss  Sallie  E.  Patterson, 
a  native  of  Washington  County,  Penn.  This 
union  has  been  blessed  with  the  following- 
named  children:  Stewart  P.,  Robert  B., 
William  S.,  D.  Jay,  Mary  Nina  and  Brew- 
ster. He  and  wife  are  members  of  the 
United  Presbyterian  Church.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  G.  A.  R.  of  Xenia.  In  politics, 
he  is  Republican. 

THOMAS    HARRISON,     farmer,    P.    O. 


SONGER  TOWNSHIP. 


227 


Xenia,  was  born  ia  Dearborn  County,  Ind., 
July  18,  1825,  to  John  and  Phoebe  (Milburn) 
Harrison,  both  natives  of  Virginia,  where 
they  were  married.  In  1814,  they  emigrated 
to  Indiana,  and  lived  in  a  block-house  for 
some  time.  They  resided  in  'Indiana  till 
death.  They  were  the  parents  of  four  sons 
and  four  daughters;  three  sons  and  one  of  the 
daughters  yet  survive,  viz.,  Simeon,  Thomas, 
John,  and  Elizabeth  Caldwell.  When  our 
subject  was  a  young  man,  he  learned  to  be  a 
pilot  on  the  river,  and  for  nine  years  was  on 
a  boat  as  pilot,  running  between  Cincinnati 
and  New  Orleans.  The  life  was  too  rough 
to  suit  him,  so  he  quit  the  river,  and  for  five 
and  one-half  years  was  in  the  distilling  bus- 
iness.'. In  1853,  he  commenced  farming  in 
Indiana.  He  continued  farming  and  dealing 
in  stock  in  Indiana  till  1865,  when  he  sold 
out  and  came  to  Clay  County,  111.,  and  bought 
his  present  farm,  which  now  contains  345 
acres,  2S0  of  which  are  in  prairie.  When 
Mr.  Harrison  started  in  life,  it  was  under 
adverse  circumstances,  having  no  capital, 
and  but  very  little  education.  However, 
through  his  energy  and  perseverance,  he  has 
accumulated  a  good  property,  and  has  litted 
himself  for  a  good  business  man.  Ever  since 
his  marriage,  he  has  taken  an  active  interest 
in  schools,  and  for  eight  years  has  held  the 
office  of  Township  Treasurer  of  schools. 
June  7,  1849,  he  was  married  to  Mary  L. 
Hudson.  She  died  April,  1850.  May  4, 
1851,  Mr.  Harrison  was  married  to  Miss 
Martha  Wheeler.  She  was  born  in  Indiana, 
daughter  of  William  and  Nancy  Wheeler. 
This  union  has  been  blest  with  nine  children 
living  and  one  dead,  viz.:  Mary  E.,  Atha  J., 
Nancy,  Margaret  (deceased),  William  H.,  Per- 
ry, John,  Theodore,  Abigail  and  Cornelia. 
He  and  wife  are  members  of  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  Church.  He  is  identified  with 
the  Democratic  party. 


A.  M.  E.  MARTIN,  farmer,  P.  O.  Xenia, 
was  born  in  Rush  County,  Ind.,  November 
20.  1833.  to  William  and  Mary  (Jones)  Mar- 
tin, natives  of  Woodford  County,  Ky.,  where 
they  were  married.  In  about  1823,  they  em- 
igrated to  Indiana,  where  they  resided  till 
1842,  and  then  came  to  Clay  County,  111., 
where  she  died  in  1843.  He,  however,  lived 
till  1876.  He  was  married  three  times,  but 
only  had  children  by  the  first  wife,  and  by 
her  there  were  five  daughters  and  three  sons, 
and  of  that  number  only  the  following  are 
now  living:  James  W.,  Elizabeth  Holeman, 
and  our  subject.  A.  M.  E.  Our  subject  has 
resided  most  of  his  life  in  Clay  County,  com- 
ing here  with  his  father  in  1842.  Six  years 
of  his  life,  however,  he  resided  in  Marion 
County.  He  also  has  been  married  three 
times;  first,  November  11,  1853,  to  Mary 
Jane  Atkinson,  a  native  of  Orange  County. 
Ind.  She  was  the  mother  of  five  children 
now  living,  and  three  dead.  Mrs.  Martin 
died  in  1870.  He  was  married,  February  9, 
1873,  to  Lucinda  A.  Chasteen,  a  native  of 
Illinois.  She  was  the  mother  of  one  child, 
now  living.  Mrs.  M.  died  January  3,  1874. 
July  11,  1875,  he  was  united  in  marriage  to 
Elizabeth  Thomas,  a  native  of  Orange  Coun- 
ty, Ind.  She  is  the  mother  of  three  children. 
The  following  are  the  names  of  Mr.  Martin's 
living  children:  Jasper  N.,  William  A,  Mary 
E.,  Rosa  B.,  Lydia  J.,  Winnie  L.,  Ella  J., 
James  E.  and  an  infant.  When  Mr.  Martin 
first  started  for  himself,  it  was  as  a  farm 
hand,  working  for  two  years  on  a  farm  in  In- 
diana in  1850  and  1851.  October  3,  1864, 
he  moved  on  to  his  present  farm,  which  was 
at  that  time  all  an  open  prairie.  He  now 
owns  a  farm  of  218  acres  of  well-improved 
land.  He  and  wife  are  members  of  the  Cum- 
berland Presbyterian  Church,  and  have  been 
for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  during 
that  time  he  has  been  an  Elder  in  the  church. 


228 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


In  politics,  be  is  Democratic,  and  has  held 
different  township  offices;  for  four  years  in 
succession  he  was  Supervisor  of  the  town- 
ship, and  for  two  years  was  Chairman  of  the 
board. 

I.  N.  SEFTON,  farmer,  P.  O.  Xenia,  was 
bom  in  Greensburg,  Decatur  Co.,  Ind. , 
September  5,  1835,  and  is  the  son  of  Henry 
and  Eliza  (Poe)  Sefton.  The  mother  was 
born  in  Kentucky,  but  was  mostly  reared  in 
Indiana.  The  father  was  born  in  Ireland 
but  came  to  the  United  States,  when  about 
twelve  years  of  age,  and  settled  with  his 
parents  in  Indiana.  His  trade  was  that  of 
wa^'on  and  carriage  maker,  and  he  followed 
that  occupation  till  coming  to  Clay  County 
in  about  1852.  He  then  invested  in  a  farm 
of  160  acres  at  first,  to  which  he  afterward 
added  eighty  more,  so  that  now  the  old  home- 
stead contains  240  acres  of  land.  For  three 
years  after  coming  to  the  county,  he  was  en- 
gaged in  a  wagon  and  blacksmith  shop  in 
Xenia,  but  then  returned  to  the  farm  where 
he  died  in  1871.  His  widow,  however,  still 
survives,  and  was  seventy-one  years  of  age  in 
February,  1883.  She  is  the  mother  of  eight 
children — two  daughters  and  six  sons.  One 
son  and  one  daughter,  however,  died  after 
reaching  maturity.  The  remaining  ones  are 
living  in  this  county.  Our  subject  is  the 
eldest  of  the  family.  He  was  reared  in  De- 
catur County,  Ind.,  and  in  this  county,  and 
mostly  educated  here.  March  21,  1861,  he 
was  married  to  Ellen  Sefton.  She  was  born 
in  Decatur  County,  Ind..  daughter  of  Will- 
iam Sefton,  of  this  county.  Mrs.  Sefton 
died  October  31,  1872.  She  was  the  mother 
of  two  sons  and  two  daughters,  viz.,  Almira, 
Cyrus,  Dora  and  Thiers.  Mr.  S.  settled  on 
his  present  farm  soon  after  marriage.  It 
was  at  that  time  all  open  prairie.  He  now 
owns  160  acres  of  well-improved  land,  on 
which    he    is    engaged   in  general    farming, 


stock  and  hay-raising.  He  and  his  brothers 
have  a  hay  press  on  the  farm,  and  a  ware- 
house in  Xenia  for  their  hay.  In  politics, 
he  is  identified  with  the  Republican  party. 

JACOB  H.  SONGER,  farmer,  P.  O.  Xenia, 
was  born  in  Clay  County  April  6,  1838,  and 
is  the  son  of  Samuel  and  Elizabeth  (Whit- 
man) Songer.  The  father  was  a  native  of 
Virginia,  born  February  8,  1801.  The  moth- 
er was  born  in  Kentucky  April  20,  1809. 
In  youth  they  had  emigrated  to  Indiana,  and 
were  there  married  November  14,  1828,  and 
almost  immediately  afterward  moved  to  Clay 
County,  III.  In  the  spring  of  1829,  settled 
on  the  farm,  where  they  lived  to  a  good  old 
age,  he  dying  April  6,  1874,  and  she  Octo- 
ber 13,  1880.  They  were  the  parents  of  six 
sons  and  six  daughters.  Of  the  twelve  only 
the  following  are  now  living:  John;  Nancy, 
wife  of  Robert  Walker;  Frances  A.,  wife  of 
Flemming  Warren;  Eliza  A.,  wife  of  John 
W.  Chapman;  Frederick  W.  and  Jacob  H. 
Mr.  Samuel  Songer's  occupation  was  that  of 
a  farmer,  and  through  his  industry  accumu- 
lated a  good  property,  and  more  than  all 
lived  so  as  to  gain  the  respect  and  confidence 
of  all.  Our  subject  was  reared  on  the  farm, 
and  in  early  life  he  attended  the  schools  of 
the  county.  In  later  years,  he  was  a  student 
at  McKendree  College,  Lebanon,  111.,  for 
two  years.  In  starting  in  life  for  himself, 
he  chose  the  same  occupation  as  his  father. 
However,  he  has  taught  several  schools.  Mr. 
Songer's  farm  contains  420  acres  of  land, 
part  of  it  being  a  portion  of  the  old  home- 
stead. He  is  engaged  in  general  farming, 
however  the  raising  of  hay  receives  most  of 
his  attention.  December  22,  1863,  he  was 
married  to  Miss  Sarah  J.  Onstott,  daughter 
of  Levi  Onstott,  of  Xenia  Township.  She 
was  tlie  mother  of  three  children,  viz.,  Agnes, 
Edgar  (who  died  at  two  and  a  half  years  of 
age),   and  Delbert.     Mrs.    Songer   died  Au- 


PIXLEY  TOWNSHIP. 


229 


gust  22,  1873.  March  6,  18S1,  he  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Amanda  E.  Mul- 
ling, daughter  of  John  D.  Mullins,  a  resident 
of  this  township.  This  union  has  been  blest 
with  one  child,  viz.,  Bruce.  In  politics,  Mr. 
Songer  is  identified  with  the  Republican 
party. 

ROBERT  WALKER,  Xenia.  The  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch  was  bom  in  Rush  County, 
Ind.,  June  6,  1827,  to  John  and  Margaret 
(Anderson)  Walker,  both  natives  of  Virginia. 
The  father  was  born  February  1, 1786.  The 
mother  September  20,  1791.  In  early  life 
they  had  emigrated  to  Kentucky,  where  they 
were  married  October  14,  1813.  Some  years 
after  this,  they  moved  to  Indiana.  His  oc- 
cupation was  that  of  a  farmer  in  early  life, 
but  in  later  years  he  followed  school-teach- 
ing, as  he  was  unable  for  farm  work  on  ac- 
count of  rheumatism.  In  fall  of  1837,  they 
removed  from  Indiana  to  Coles  County,  111., 
where  he  died  February  8,  1840.  In  fall  of 
1840,  the  family  returned  to  Indiana,  to  De- 
catur County,  and  in  November,  1848,  came 
to  Clay  County,  111.,  where  the  mother  re- 


sided till  her  death,  December  27,  1876. 
They  were  the  parents  of  seven  children  who 
lived  to  be  grown;  three  had  died  in  infancy. 
Only  three  of  the  family  are  now  living — 
James  M.,  Robert  and  Samuel.  Our  subject 
was  educated  in  Indiana,  and  has  made  farm- 
ing his  occupation  during  life.  September 
18,  1851,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Nancy 
Songer,  a  daughter  of  Samuel  Songer 
(see  sketch  of  Jacob  Songer).  She  was 
born  February  28,  1832,  and  is  the 
mother  of  seven  children  living  and  two 
dead— John  S.,  Margaret  (wife  of  Henry  V. 
Jessup),  Josephine  Sayre,  Angie,  Leander, 
Kittie  and  Arthur.  After  marriage,  Mr. 
Songer  settled  on  the  farcn  one  mile  north  of 
his  present  residence,  where  he  resided  till 
1883,  and  then  came  to  his  present  farm, 
which  was  the  old  homestead  of  Mr.  Samuel 
Songer.  His  farm  now  contains  290  acres 
of  land,  most  of  which  is  in  cultivation. 
He  and  wife  are  members  of  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  Church.  In  politics,  he  is  an 
active  Republican. 


PIXLEY    TOWNSHIP. 


MILO  BLACK,  M.  D,  and  farmer,  P.  O. 
Sailor  Springs,  was  born  in  Hamilton  County, 
Ohio,  November  22,  1816,  and  is  a  son  of 
Matthias  Black  (deceased)  and  Elizabeth 
(Hammel)  Black.  The  latter  died  in  New- 
ton. Ind.,  in  1881,  at  the  age  of  eighty-nine 
years.  Our  subject  was  brought  up  on  the 
farm  and  educated  in  the  Madisonville  Sem- 
inary, in  his  native  county.  He  graduated 
from  the  Ohio  Medical  College  at  Cincinnati 
in  1841,  and  at  once  removed  to  Lawrence- 
burg,  Ind.,  where  he  practiced  medicine  un- 


til 1846.  He  then  returned  to  Madisonville, 
Ohio,  and  practiced  there  until  1849,  when 
he  went  via  Cape  Horn  to  California.  He 
practiced  in  San  Francisco  until  March, 
1851;  during  this  time  he  built  and  carried 
on  a  hospital  there.  In  1851,  he  returned 
to  Madisonville,  and  built  there  a  fine  resi- 
dence, which  has  remained  the  finest  in  that 
place,  until  the  present  day.  He  continued 
to  practice  medicine  in  his  old  home  town 
until  1864,  when  he  came  to  Clay  County. 
He  practiced  medicine  with  great  success  in 


230 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


and  around  Pixley  Township  until  1880, 
when  he  left  the  farm  to  the  care  of  his  sons 
and  established  a  drug  store  in  Clay  City, 
but  sickness  in  his  sons'  families  caused  him 
to  return  to  the  farm,  but  he  refuses  to  practice 
regularly.  The  Doctor  has  been  very  success- 
ful also  as  a  farmer  and  stock -raiser,  and 
owns  520  acres  of  land.  He  was  married, 
December  7,  1843,  to  Priscilla  H.  Clason,  a 
daughter  of  Smith  Clason.  They  have  had 
seven  children,  live  living — John  L.,  present 
Treasurer  of  Clay  County;  Charles  W.,  at 
home;  Frederick  E.,  at  home;  Stella  H.  Mc- 
Collum,  in  Alabama;  and  Otto  E.  is  learning 
telegraphy  in  Clay  City.  While  in  Ohio,  the 
Doctor  was  Township  Treasurer  for  five  years. 

JOSEPH  DEWHIEST,  farmer,  P.  O.  Wil- 
sonburg,  was  born  in  Edwards  County,  111., 
January  24,  1836,  and  is  a  son  of  James 
Dewhirst  (deceased),  a  native  of  Epworth, 
Lincolnshire,  England,  who  came  to  America 
when  eighteen  years  old.  He  was  a  carpenter, 
but  in  after  life  a  farmer.  Our  subject  has 
always  lived  on  the  farm.  His  educational 
advantages  were  limited,  having  attended  a 
subscription  school  a  short  time,  taught  in  a 
log  cabin  with  a  dirt  floor  and  slab  seats. 
He  came  to  Clay  County  with  his  parents  in 
1851,  and  has  since  made  this  his  home. 
He  owns  170  acres  of  land,  and  is  en- 
gaged in  farming  and  stock-raising  on  Sec- 
tion 13.  In  religion,  he  is  a  Methodist.  He 
was  married  December  25,  1856,  to  Nancy 
C,  daughter  of  Samuel  Byrne  (deceased). 
They  have  had  six  children,  five  living — 
James  A  ,  Elizabeth  F..  Solomon  H,  John 
M.   and  Jettie  C. 

JOHN  DITTEE,  farmer  and  stock  raiser, 
P.  O.  Sailor  Springs,  is  a  native  of  Smith 
County,  Tenn.,  and  was  born  December  7, 
18(»7.  His  father,  Elijah  Ditter,  was  a  Da- 
tive of  North  Carolina.  John  was  raised  on 
the  farm  in  his  native  county,  and  received  a 


limited  education  in  a  subscription  school, 
taught  in  a  log  cabin  with  a  dirt  floor  and  a 
paper  window.  He  came  to  Clay  County  in 
the  spring  of  1829,  and  settled  at  Sailor 
Springs,  on  Section  25,  Hoosier  Township, 
where  he  entered  a  cabin  on  the  claim  of 
Hack  Sams,  paying  him  soon  afterward 
$75  for  his  claim  and  improvements.  Mr. 
Ditter  afterward  went  ten  or  twelve  miles  to 
assist  in  house-raising,  and  the  settlers 
worked  the  roads  from  Louisville  to  Fox 
Eiver,  near  Olney,  under  the  same  path- 
master.  The  deer  and  other  wild  animals 
were  numerous  in  those  days,  and  Mr.  Ditter 
killed  many  of  them  for  his  supply  of  meat. 
He  resided  at  the^Springs  for  seven  years, 
when  he  removed  to  his  present  homestead  on 
Section  18,  Pixley  Township.  He  began 
life  with  little  or  no  means,  and  gradually 
worked  his  way  up.  As  a  farmer  and  stock- 
raiser,  he  has  been  eminently  successful,  and 
now  owns  680  acres  of  land.  He  held  the 
office  of  Supervisor  one  term,  but  has  never 
sought  political  favors.  He  is  a  Mason,  and 
in  religious  views  a  Universal isi  He  was 
married,  July  10,  1828,  lo  Amelia  McKinney, 
a  daughter  of  Jeremiah  McKinney  (deceased), 
and  a  sister  of  James  McKinney,  of  Pixley 
Township,  of  whom  we  make  further  mention 
elsewhere  in  this  work.  This  union  was 
blessed  with  eight  children,  but  one  of 
whom  is  living,  viz.,  John.  Mrs.  Ditter  died 
in  November,  1S48,  and  he  married  again  in 
1849,  this  time  to  Mrs.  Thursey  Chapman, 
by  whom  he  has  had  four  children,  two  of 
these  are  living — George  W.  and  Amanda 
(Hammer). 

WILLIAM  L.  HOUSTON,  builder,  Sail- 
or  Springs,  was  born  in  Hillsboro  Coun- 
ty. N.  H,  August  20,  1813,  and  is  a  son 
of  John  Houston  (deceased),  also  a  native 
of  New  Hampshire.  Mr.  Houston  spent  his 
boyhood  days  on   the    farm,  and  attended  a 


P1XLEY  TOWNSHIP. 


231 


common  school,  and  a  select  school  in  Hop- 
kinton,  N.  H.  He  learned  the  carpenter  and 
builder's  trade  when  but  a  boy.  He  is  also 
an  accomplished  brick  mason  and  plasterer. 
In  January,  1836,  he  removed  to  Pike  Coun- 
ty, 111.,  locating  in  Griggsville.  He  there 
followed  his  trade  until  1866,  when  he  came 
to  Pana,  111.,  and  there  engaged  in  the  man- 
ufacture of  brick,  until  1882,  when  he  visited 
his  native  State,  and,  returning,  purchased 
some  land  on  Section  30,  just  in  the  edge  of 
Pixley  Township,  and  laid  out  Houston's 
Addition  to  Sailor  Springs,  and  has  since 
busied  himself  in  building  houses  here.  Mr. 
Houston  does  not  neglect  the  religious  and 
charitable  institutions;  he  built,  at  his  own 
expense,  a  house  for  public  worship  at 
Sailor  Springs  in  1883.  He  is  a  Baptist  in 
faith  and  practice.  He  moved  his  family  to 
the  Springs  in  the  spring  of  1883.  He  was 
married  in  April,  1837,  to  Maria  Whittimore, 
a  native  of  Massachusetts. 

WILLIAM  H.  LEVITT,  farmer  and  stock- 
dealer,  P.  O.  Gatewood,  is  a  native  of  Posey 
County,  Ind.,  and  was  born  October  2,  1834. 
His  father,  Michael  Levitt,  was  born  near 
Lexington,  Ky.,  and  his  mother,  Maria  (Han- 
ning)  Levitt,  was  a  native  of  Fayette  County, 
Ky.,  and  a  daughter  of  Daniel  Hanning,  a 
Virginian  by  birth,  and  of  German  descent. 
Michael  Levitt  removed  with  his  family  to 
Clay  County  in  1849,  and  settled  on  Levitt's 
Prairie,  in  Pixley  Township,  which  was 
settled  iirst  by  his  brother,  James  Levitt,  as 
early  as  1828.  William  attended  the  com- 
mon schools,  and  since  grown  has  paid  his 
attention  to  farming  and  dealing  in  stock. 
He  owns  500  acres  of  land.  For  two  years 
he  engaged  in  the  mercantile  business  at 
Gatewood.  In  religion,  he  is  a  Baptist.  He 
was  married,  October  27,  1875,  to  Drucilla, 
only  child  of  Joel  Wammack  (deceased),  an 
early  settler  of  Clay  County.     They  have  had 


two  children  -Francis  Marion  and  Will- 
iam R. 

PETER  M.  LOUGH,  farmer,  P.  O.  Wil- 
sonburg,  was  born  in  Braxton  County,  W.  Va.  > 
March  26,  1838,  and  is  a  son  of  Peter  Lough' 
a  native  of  Pennsylvania.  Mr.  Lough  was 
brought  up  on  the  farm,  and  attended  school 
in  a  log  cabin  with  a  dirt  floor.  He  came 
with  his  parents  to  Edwards  County,  111.,  in 
1839,  and  to  this  county  in  1840.  The  first 
summer  they  lived  in  a  rail  pen,  and  in  the 
fall  built  a  cabin.  Mr.  Lough  was  a  soldier 
in  the  late  war,  in  Company  H,  Twenty-sixth 
Regiment  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,  and 
participated  in  the  battles  of  Vicksburg,  At- 
lanta, Kenesaw  Mountain,  Lookout  Mountain, 
both  battles  at  Corinth,  Jackson,  Miss.,  Res- 
aca,  Big  Shanty,  Island  No.  10,  Point 
Pleasant,  Bentonville  and  others,  and  was 
with  Sherman  to  the  sea.  He  was  married, 
February  1,  1875,  to  Elizabeth  Dewhirst, 
daughter  of  James  Dewhirst  (deceased).  Our 
subject  owns  ninety  acres  of  land,  and  is  en- 
gaged in  general  farming.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  and  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church. 

JAMES  McKINNEY,  farmer,  P.  O.  Sailor 
Springs,  is  a  native  of  Wilson  County,  Tenn., 
and  was  born  April  26,  1812.  His  father, 
Jeremiah  McKinney  (deceased)  was  a  native 
of  Virginia.  Our  subject  was  left  an  orphan 
when  only  three  or  four  years  old,  and  was 
brought  up  by  his  uncle,  Elijah  Wammack, 
who  resided  also  in  Wilson  County.  James 
enjoyed  very  limited  educational  advantages, 
but  had  to  perform  much  hard  labor;  to  use 
his  own  words:  "  I  had  a  very  hard  row  to 
peddle."  He  came  to  this  county  in  1830, 
where  he  has  since  resided.  As  a  farmer  and 
stock-raiser,  he  has  been  eminently  success- 
ful, and  now  owns  about  400  acres  of  land. 
He  was  a  soldier  in  the  Bla'ck  Hawk  war  in 
1832,  under  Capt.    John  Onstott  and    Gen. 


232 


BIOGRAPHICAL 


Pope.  His  Lieutenants  were  Henson  and 
Moore.  In  the  early  clays,  he  saw  many  In- 
dians here,  but  they  were  peaceable  and 
quiet.  He  also  saw  and  killed  many  deer, 
wild  eats,  catamounts  and  panthers.  He  al- 
so saw  several  bears;  he  killed  three  wild 
cats  in  one  day.  He  has  been  a  valued  and 
useful  citizen  all  through  life.  For  several 
years  he  held  the  office  of  Supervisor  for 
Pixley  Township.  Mr.  McKinney  was  mar- 
ried in  October,  1835,  to  Elizabeth  Berry, 
daughter  of  Thomas  Berry,  an  early  settler 
of  Clay  County.  They  had  three  children, 
all  deceased.  Mrs.  McKinney  died  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1839,  and  the  following  fall  he  mar- 
ried Mary,  daughter  of  Dugal  Campbell.  By 
her  he  had  eleven  children,  of  whom  but  two 
are  living — Jeremiah  and  John  A.  Two 
sons,  James  K.  and  Charles  B.,  died  after 
grown.  Mrs.  McKinney  died,  and  he  mar- 
ried Mrs.  Mary  Lutz  for  his  third  wife,  who 
is  his  present  companion.  She  had  one 
child  by  her  first  husband — Diana   Lutz. 

JAMES  A.  NEVINS,  Superintendent, 
Sailor  Springs,  was  born  in  Overton  County, 
Tenn.,  January  30,  1835.  His  father,  Rob- 
ert Nevins  (deceased),  was  a  native  of  the 
same  county,  and  brought  his  family  to  Ma- 
coupin County,  111.,  in  1839.  Mr.  Nevins 
assisted  in  getting  out  the  timbers  of  the 
trestles  on  the  Springfield  Branch  of  the 
O.  &  M.  R.  R.,  and  was  the  company's  first 
agent  at  Louisville,  in  Clay  County.  The 
first  three  months  he  used  a  box  car  for  an 
office.  He  remained  at  Louisville  until  Jan- 
uary, 1871,  when  he  was  transferred  to  Fair- 
field, in  AVayne  County.  He  remained  there 
until  April,  1880,  when  he  removed  to  Sailor 
Springs,  where  he  has  for  over  three  years 
been  Superintendent  and  general  manager  of 
the  Springs  and  grounds.  He  was  a  soldier 
for  Uncle  Sam  in  the  late  war,  in  Company 
B,     Fortieth    Regiment    Illinois    Volunteer 


Infantry.  He  was  wounded  accidentally 
while  performing  some  labor,  and  now  draws 
a  pension.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic 
fraternity,  belonging  to  the  Fairfield  Chapter. 
He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  Church.  Mr.  Nevins  was  mar- 
ried, December  22,  1856,  to  Martha  Sprouse, 
a  sister  of  Capt.  W.  T.  Sprouse,  formerly  of 
Company  B,  Fortieth  Regiment  Illinois  Vol- 
unteer Infantry. 

DR.  ANDREW  J.  SHORE,  physician, 
Gatewood,  was  born  in  Orange  County,  Ind., 
April  12,  1835,  and  is  a  son  of  John  H. 
Shore  (deceased),  a  native  of  North  Carolina. 
The  Doctor  was  brought  up  on  the  farm,  and 
attended  the  common  schools.  He  came  to 
Clay  County  in  1852,  and  for  eighteen  years 
engaged  in  teaching,  for  the  most  part  in 
this  county.  He  taught  the  first  public 
school  in  District  No.  5,  in  Pixley  Township. 
He  served  in  the  late  war  in  Company  F, 
Forty-sixth  Regiment  Illinois  Volunteer  In- 
fantry, and  participated  in  the  battles  of 
Jackson  Cross  Roads,  Fort  Blakely  and 
others.  "  After  peace  was  declared,  his  regi- 
ment was  kept  on  provost  duty  until  January, 
1866.  It  was  during  that  time  that  he  did 
much  of  his  reading  medicine.  He  began 
the  practice  of  medicine  in  Pixley  Township 
in  1873,  and  built  up  a  large  practice.  In 
1877,  he  passed  the  State  Board  of  Medical 
Examiners  at  Charleston,  and  has  since  con- 
tinued his  practice.  He  also  owns  a  good 
farm.  The  Doctor  is  at  present  Postmaster, 
Township  School  Treasurer,  and  Justice  of 
the  Peace.  In  1880,  he  took  the  census  of 
Pixley  Township.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Ancient  Order  of  United  Woikmen,  and  of 
the  Christian  Church.  He  was  married,  in 
February,  1870,  to  Cecelia  Wheatly,  daugh- 
ter of  Josiah  Wheatly  (deceased).  They 
have  four  children,  viz. :  Matilda  E.,  Fran- 
cis M..  Elizabeth  A.  and  John  P.  J. 


P1XLEY  TOWNSHIP. 


233 


ROBERT  H.  SMITH,  Justice  of  the 
Peace,  and  farmer,  P.  O.  Clay  City  is  a 
native  of  Franklin  County,  N.  C,  and  was 
born  February  18,  1833.  His  father,  James 
H  Smith  (deceased),  was  a  native  of  Frank- 
lin County  also,  who  brought  his  family  to 
Clay  County  in  1852,  where  he  died  in  1856. 
Our  subject  was  brought  up  on  the  farm,  and 
educated  in  the  common  schools.  He  is  also 
a  carpenter  by  trade,  and  has  followed  that 
avocation  more  or  less.  He  owns  eighty 
acres  of  land,  and  resides  on  Section  32.  He 
has  held  the  office  of  Justice  of  the  Peace  for 
the  past  nine  years,  and  is  the  present  incum- 
bent. The  Esquire  is  a  member  in  good 
standing  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
He  was  married,  May  11,  1S56,  to  Susan  A., 
daughter  of  James  Alexander  (deceased),  a 
North  Carolinian,  who  settled  in  Clay  County 
over  forty  years  ago.  They  have  had  eight 
children,  seven  living —John  H,  Ella,  James 
A.,  Laura  I.,  Stella  F.,  Theodore  and 
Edward.  Mr.  Smith's  grandfather,  GoodmaD 
Smith,  was  born  in  North  Carolina,  and  of 
Irish  descent. 

BENJAMIN  H.  WILLIAMS,  farmer  and 
stock-raiser,  P.  O.  Clay  City,  was  born  hi 
Lawrence  County,  Ind.,  April  30,  1816,  and 
is  a  son  of  James  Williams  (deceased),  a 
native  of  North  Carolina,  and  one  of  the 
first  settlers  of  Lawrence  County,  Ind.  Ben- 
jamin attended  a  subscription  school  taught 
in  a  log  cabin,  with  split-pole  benches, 
puncheon  floor,  stick  and  clay  chimney  and  a 
huge  fire-place.     He  came  to  this  county  in 


1840,  where  he  has  since  resided.  He  began 
life  on  nothing,  and  by  hard  work  and  econ- 
omy has  acquired  200  acres  of  valuable  land, 
well  improved.  He  has  been  married  three 
times  His  first  wife  was  Nancy  West,  who 
bore  hem  eight  children,  but  one  of  whom  is 
living,  viz.,  Susan  (Payne).  He  married 
Gracie  Cooper  for  his  second  wife,  who  had 
two  children,  one  living,  viz.,  Jesse.  His 
third  wife  was  Cynthia,  daughter  of  JameB 
Ritcheson,  who  came  to  Clay  County  in  1850. 
By  her  he  has  had  four  children,  three  liv- 
ing— John  A.,  Charlotte  and  Sarah  C.  Mr. 
W.  is  a  member  of  the  Christian  Church. 

NATHAN  H.  WILLIAMS,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Clay  City,  was  born  in  Greenbrier  County, 
Va.,  January  23,  1820,  and  is  a  son  of  "Will- 
iam Williams  (deceased),  a  native  also  of 
Greenbrier  County.  Mr.  Williams  spent  his 
boyhood  days  on  his  father's  farm  in  his 
native  county,  and  attended  a  subscription 
school.  In  1839,  he  went  to  Johnson  Coun- 
ty, Mo.,  but  returned  to  Virginia  in  1840. 
In  1845,  he  came  to  Gallia  County,  Ohio, 
where  he  engaged  in  farming  until  1865,  when 
he  came  to  Clay  County.  He  owns  100  acres 
of  land,  and  lives  on  Section  31.  He  is  a 
Deacon  in  the  Christian  Church.  Mr.  "Will- 
iams married  Melissa  Eagle,  January  1, 
1846,  and  by  her  has  had  nine  children — 
William  (killed  by  the  cars  at  Lebanon,  111., 
several  years  ago),  George,  ReeBe  and  Char- 
ley (twins),  Mary  E.,  Margaret,  Elmer  (de- 
ceased), Alonzo  and  John. 


234 


BIOGRAPHIC  A], 


STANFORD    TOWNSHIP. 


J.    T.   BOTHWELL,  farmer,  P.    O.    Clay 
City,  was  born  in  what  is  now  Vinton,  then 
Athens  County,  Ohio,  on  September  16, 1816, 
and  is  a  son  of  James  and  Charlotte  (Potter) 
Bothwell.     The  father  was  a  native  of  Scot- 
land  and  came  to  this  country  when  eight 
years  old,  with  his  parents,  who  settled  in  Win- 
chester, Va.     After  residing  there  a  few  years, 
the  parents  moved  to  Greensburg  in  the  same 
State,  where  they  died.      The  father  grew  to 
manhood  there  and  married   Miss  Charlotte 
Potter,  who  was  a  native  of  Fayette  County, 
Penn.     The  twain  came  to  Athens   County, 
Ohio,  soon  after  their  marriage  and  settled 
down.     Subject   was    the    fourth    of    eleven 
children,  of  whom  but  six  are  now  living — J. 
T.,  J.  K.  and  A.  W.  (in  this  county),  G.   B. 
(in    Missouri),    E.    P.    (in  McArthar,    Ohio) 
and    Mrs.  Catherine  Foster  (in  Chillicothe, 
Ohio).      The  subscription  schools  of  his  na- 
tive county  furnished  subject  his  means  of 
education.     He  remained  at  home  until  about 
twenty-one,  and  then  commenced  working  as 
a    journeyman  tailor,  going    from   point    to 
point.     In  November,  1840,  he  came  to  Clay 
County,  and  first  settled  in  Maysville.      Here 
he   followed    numerous  vocations.      He    first 
worked  at  his  trade,  then  opened  a  general 
store,  next  accepted  the  position   of  station 
agent  on  the  stage   line,  and  finally  became 
Postmaster.       He     remained     in   Maysville 
until  April,  1857,  and  then  came  to  his  pres- 
ent farm  in   this    township.     He    first  pur- 
chased   120   acres,  which  he   has   increased 
to   about   1,800   acres    in    this    and   Wayne 
County.      He  now  has  about  800  acres  in  cul- 
tivation and   thirty   acres   in  orchard.     Has 
been  considerable  of   a  stock  dealer,  but  of 


late  years  has  not  paid  so  much  attention  to 
it.  Mr.  Bothwell  has  been  married  three 
times.  The  first  time  in  Ohio,'  in  March, 
1840,  to  Miss  Priscilla  Potter,  a  daugh- 
ter of  Charles  Potter.  This  lady  was  the 
mother  of  five  children,  two  of  whom  are  now 
living,  viz.:  Charles  H.,  in  Missouri;  and 
J.  O,  in  Wayne  County.  Her  death  took 
place  in  November,  1847.  And  he  was  mar- 
ried the  second  time,  in  Wayne  County,  in 
June,  1848,  to  Miss  Indiana  Mabry,  a  daugh- 
ter of  Benjamin  Mabry,  one  of  the  early 
pioneer's  of  the  adjoining  county.  This 
union  resulted  in  ten  children,  eight  of  whom 
are  now  living,  viz.:  J.  C.  (in  Colorado), 
Mrs.  Alice  Lownsdale  (in  Clay  City),  Mrs. 
Emma  Foster  (in  Missouri),  Mrs.  Sallie 
Todd  (in  Shelby  County,  111.),  Ben  (in  In- 
diana), and  Samuel  I.,  Clara  and  Kate  (at 
home).  This  lady  died  in  January,  1872. 
And  subject  was  married  in  July,  1873,  to 
Miss  Kebecca  Louthridge.  She  is  the  daugh- 
ter of  Samuel  Louthridge,  a  native  of  Scot- 
land. Mr.  Bothwell  is  a  member  of  the 
Clay  City  Methodist  Church,  and  Mrs. 
Bothwell  of  the  Flora  Presbyterian  Church. 
In  politics,Mr.  Bothwell  is  identified  with 
the  Republican  party. 

JOHN  M.  CHAFFIN,  farmer,  P.  O.  Clay 
City,  was  born  in  Scioto  County,  Ohio,  on 
March  28,  1828,  and  is  a  son  of  Reuben  and 
Sarah  (Smith)  Chafiin.  The  father  was  a 
native  of  New  Hampshire,  and  of  English 
descent,  the  mother,  a  native  of  Vermont, 
and  died  in  January,  1876.  The  father  was 
both  a  farmer  and  miller  by  occupation.  His 
death  occurred  in  February.  1863.  Subject 
was  the  fifth   of  eleven  children,  of  whom 


STANFORD  TOWNSHIP. 


235 


nine  are  now  living,  viz.,  Osman,  in  Howard 
County,  Ind. ;  Mrs.  Electa  Smith,  of  Stanford 
Township  ;    Leander,     in    Warren    County, 
Iowa  ;  Francis  M. ,   in  Page  County,  Iowa  ; 
Reuben,   in   San  Diego   County,   Cal. ;  Mrs. 
Lucy  Michaelney,  in  Sumner  County,  Kan. ; 
Benjamin  F.,  in  Wan-en  County,  Iowa  ;  Mrs. 
Roxy  Newlan.  in  Scioto  County,   Ohio,  and 
John  M.  (our  subject).     The  latter' s  educa- 
tion was  received  in  the  schools  of  his  native 
county.     He  remained  at  home  until  twenty- 
one,  assisting  in  his  father's  mill,  and  also 
learned  the  carpenter's  trade.      He  then  be- 
came a  partner  in  a  mill  in  Scioto  County. 
In  1852,  he  came  to  Clay  County,  and  here 
for  a  number  of  years  he  followed  his  trade 
of  carpenter.     In  the  fall  of  1865,  he  came 
to  his  present  farm,  where  he  now  owns  390 
acres  in  Sections  13  and  24,  of  Township  3 
north.  Range  7  east.      Has  about  300  acres 
in  cultivation.      Mr.  Chaffin  was  married  in 
Stanford  Township,  on  May  17,  1863,  to  Miss 
Mary  E.  Clay  pool,  a  daughter  of  John  Clay- 
pool,  of  Ohio.     Mrs.  Chaffin  was  born  on  May 
10.  1845,  and  is  the  mother  of  three  living 
children,    viz.,    Herbert   Bruce,   born  March 
U7 .    1864  ;   Francis  Marion,    born  December 
•_:5.   1869  ;  Horatio  Clyde,  born  January  4, 
1873.      Mr.  and  Mrs.  Chaffin  are  both  mem- 
bers of  the  Clay  City  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.      Our  subject  is  a  strong  Republican. 
ABEL  CHANEY,  farmer,  P.  O.  Clay  City. 
The  gentleman  whose  name  heads  this  sketch 
is  one  of  the  oldest  settlers  now  living  in  the 
township.      He  was  born  on  February  5,  1816, 
in    Calvert   County,    Md. ,    and    is  a  son   of 
William  and  Ann  (Wilkinson)  Chaney,  natives 
of  that  State.      Subject  was  the  eighth  of  ten 
children,  four"  of  whom  are  now  living,  viz., 
Louis,  Abel  and  Henry  in  this  township,  and 
Mrs.    Phoebe    Ann    Price,    of    Flora.       Soon 
after  subject  was  born,  his  parents  moved  to 
Butler  County,  Ohio,  where  the  father  died 


on  September  1,  1834,  and  in  October  follow- 
ing the  mother  moved   to   Clinton   County, 
Ind.,   with  her   family.      Here   she  died   in 
1841.      Subject's     education     was     received 
mainly  in  the  schools  of  Ohio.      He  remained 
at  home  with  his  mother  until  twenty-two, 
and  then  settled  down  on  a  farm  in  Clinton 
County,   and   commenced    life    for   himself. 
There  he  remained   until  September,    1853, 
and  then  came  to  Clay  County.      He  settled 
on  his  present  farm  in  this  township,  where 
he  now  owns  130  acres  in   Sections  24  and 
25,  of  Township  3  north,  Range  7  east.     He 
has  about  110  acres  in  cultivation,  and  about 
two  and  a-half  acres  orchard.     Mr   Chaney 
was  married,    in   Clinton   County,   Ind.,   on 
January  4,  1838,  to  Miss  Christina  Fisher,  a 
daughter  of  Peter  and  Catherine   (Zaering) 
Fisher,  natives  of  Pennsylvania,  and  of  Dutch 
descent.     Mrs.  Chaney  was  born  on  October 
4,  1818,  and  is  the  mother  of  nine  children, 
six  of  whom  are  now  living,  viz.,  Washington 
C,  born  April  2,  1839,   and  now  in  Flora  ; 
Thomas  A.,  born  October  5,   1841,   now  in 
Wayne  County  ;  Sarah  C,  born  May  4,  1844, 
now  wife  of  F.  J.  Sheridan  ;  David  F.,  born 
October    1,   1846,    now  in  Wayne  County  ; 
Phoebe    Ann,    born   October    27,    1848,    now 
wife  of  E.  McGilton;  Charles  O,  born  March 
3,  1862,  and  now  at  home.     Of  the  deceased 
ones  Louis  M.  was  born  February  15,  1851, 
died  August  19,  1858  ;  Mary  E.   was  born 
May  17,  1853,  died  August  4,  1860  ;  Edward 
A.  was  born  September  21,  1853,  died  April 
23,  1862.     Mr.  Chaney  has  served  in  many 
offices,    among  which   are   School  Treasurer 
twelve  years,  and  Justice  of  the  Peace  twelve 
years.     Both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Chaney  are  mem- 
bers   of    the    Methodist    Episcopal    Church 
South  of  Clay  City.     In  politics,   our  sub- 
ject is  identified  with  the  Democratic  party. 
WALTER  GILL,  farmer.  P.  O.  Clay  City, 
was  born  in  Yorkshire,  England,  on  April  18, 


236 


BIOUUAPHK'AI.: 


1827,  and  is  a  son  of  "William  and  Sallie 
(Littlewood)  Gill,  both  of  whom  are  now 
dead.  He  was  the  eldest  of  a  family  of 
thirteen  children,  of  whom  but  four  are  now 
living,  William,  Ruth  and  Eliza,  in  England, 
and  Walter,  our  subject.  The  latter  received 
a  common  English  education  in  the  old 
country,  and  at  an  early  age  was  apprenticed 
to  learn  the  mason  and  stone-cutter's  trade. 
He  worked  at  that  trade  in  England  until 
about  twenty-three,  and  then  came  to  this 
country,  landing  in  the  city  of  New  York 
in  the  summer  of  1850.  He  worked  in  that 
city  at  his  trade  the  following  fall  and  win- 
ter, and  in  the  next  two  years  he  worked  in 
different  cities  in  the  Atlantic  and  Middle 
States.  In  1853,  he  came  to  Illinois  and 
began  working  as  a  contractor  for  mason  and 
stone  work  on  the  Ohio  &  Mississippi 
Railroad.  He  worked  on  that  road  for  two 
years,  and  then  went  to  Missouri  and  there 
worked  on  the  North  Missouri,  which  was 
then  under  process  of  construction.  He 
only  worked  there  for  one  year,  and  then  re- 
turned to  Illinois.  He  settled  in  Stanford 
Township,  Clay  County.  He  first  purchased 
120  acres  which  he  has  since  increased  to 
360  acres,  situated  in  Sections  10, 15,  21  and 
22.  Has  about  230  acres  in  cultivation;  al- 
so pays  some  attention  to  stock-raising, 
handling  about  fifty  head  of  cattle,  and  con- 
siderable amount  of  other  stock  in  a  year. 
Mr.  Grill  was  married  in  Clay  City  Town- 
ship, Clay  County,  on  March  15,  1855.  to 
Mary  Ann  Evans,  a  daughter  of  Seth  and 
Ketorah  Evans,  early  pioneer  settlers  in 
this  county,  and  already  noticed  in  the  his- 
tory of  Clay  City  Township.  Mrs.  Gill  was 
born  in  this  county  on  October  5,  1827,  and 
was  the  mother  of  seven  children,  live  of 
whom  are  now  living — Jonas  in  Flora,  "Will- 
iam in  Flora,  Francis  at  Xenia,  Charles  in 
Louisville,  and  Oscar  at  Mill  Shoals.     Her 


death  took  place  in  March,  1866,  and  on 
September  26,  1869,  Mr.  Gill  was  married 
near  Lawrenceville,  Lawrence  Co.,  111.,  to 
Miss  Mary  Jane  Gray,  a  daughter  of  George 
and  Mary  Ann  (Doty)  Gray,  both  natives  of 
Virginia.  This  lady  was  also  born  in  that 
State  on  January  1,  1840,  and  to  her  have  been 
born  five  children,  three  of  whom  are  now 
living,  viz.,  Cora  L.,  Ida  R.  and  Emma  J. 
Mr.  Gill  is  a  strong  Democrat.  Mrs.  Gill  is 
a  member  of  the  Clay  City  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church. 

JOSEPH  S.  PEAK,  school  teacher, 
Flora,  was  born  in  Butler  County,  Ohio,  on 
March  16,  1837,  and  is  a  son  of  William  E. 
and  Cynthia  (Flenner)  Peak.  The  parents 
were  also  born  in  that  county,  but  the  father 
originally  descended  from  English  emigrants 
who  settled  in  an  early  day  in  Maryland, 
and  the  mother  came  from  Pennsylvania 
Dutch  stock.  Subject  was  the  second  of 
eleven  children,  of  whom  eight  are  now  liv- 
ing— Mrs.  Angeline  Chidester,  of  Flora;  Mrs. 
Mary  Floyd,  of  Dublin,  Ind. ;  T.  De  "Witt,  of 
Portsmouth,  Ohio;  Mrs.  Carrie  Major,  of 
Flora;  Mrs.  Callie  Manker,  of  Clay  City; 
R.  F.,  in  Fort  Scott,  Kansas;  Lou  M.,  in  Clay 
City,  and  Joseph  S.,  our  subject.  In  1853, 
the  parents  came  to  Indiana  and  settled  in 
Shelby  County.  There  they  remained  some 
ten  years,  and  then  came  to  Flora,  111.  At 
this  place  the  mother  died  in  February,  1877, 
but  the  father  is  still  living  there  at  the  hale 
old  age  of  seventy-five.  The  free  schools  of 
Ohio  furnished  our  subject  his  means  of  ed- 
ucation. He  assisted  on  the  home  farm  in 
Indiana  until  about  eighteen,  when  he  com- 
menced teaching,  and  ever  since  he  has  made 
that  the  vocation  of  his  life.  He  remained 
in  Indiana  until  1S64,  when  he  came  to  Clay 
County  and  settled  in  this  township.  Here 
he  now  owns  sixty  acres  in  Section  16,  of 
Town  2  north,  Range  7,  which  he  farms  in 


STAFFORD  TOWNSHIP. 


23T 


the  summer.  His  schools  have  been  taught 
mainly  in  this  township,  and  he  is  regarded 
as  one  of  the  best  teachers  in  the  county. 
He  has  taught  every  year  since  he  arrived  in 
the  county.  Among  the  schools  which  he 
has  taught  have  been  two  terms  at  Baylor 
Schoolhouse,  four  at  Seminary  School,  two 
at  Bothwell  and  is  now  teaching  at  the  Cen- 
ter School.  He  enlisted  in  Indiana  on 
August  20,  1861,  in  Company  B  of  the 
Thirty-third  Regiment  Indiana  Volunteer 
Infantry,  and  served  nine  months.  Was 
honorably  discharged  on  account  of  sickness. 
Mr.  Peak  was  married  in  Shelby  County, 
Ind.,  on  November  7,  1857,  to  Miss  Susan 
Lick,  a  daughter  of  John  B.  and  Maria 
(East)  Lick,  natives  of  North  Carolina. 
This  union  has  resulted  in  seven  children, 
six  of  whom  are  now  living — Addie,  Charles 
A.,  Mary  (now  Deputy  Postmistress  at  Clay 
City).  William  B.,  Edwin  E.  and  Tillie  L. 
He  has  served  in  many  township  offices, 
among  which  might  be  mentioned  that  of 
Township  Supervisor,  Clerk  and  Treasurer. 
He  has  always  been  connected  with  the  Re- 
publican party.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
United  Brethren  Church  at  Harmony  Chapel- 
HARRY  L.  VAIL,  farmer,  P.  O.  Clay 
City,  was  born  in  Butler  County,  Ohio,  on 
February  22,  1845,  and  is  a  son  of  Moses 
and  Elizabeth  (Vail)  Vail.  The  parents  were 
natives  of  Darke  County,  and  of  Scotch  de- 
scent. Subject  was  the  seventh  of  eight 
children,  of  whom  seven  are  living,  viz. : 
Mrs.  Ellen  Smalley,  in  Montgomery  County, 
Ind. ;  Mrs.  Sarah  Murphy,  of  Randolph 
County,  Ind.;  Linus,  in  Butler  County,  Ohio; 


Mrs.  Maria  Enyart,  of  Louisville.  Clay 
County;  Mrs.  Matilda  Kinikin,  of  Butler 
County,  Ohio;  Mrs.  Eliza  J.  Peak,  of  Ports- 
mouth. Ohio;  and  Harry  L.,  our  subject. 
The  free  schools  of  his  native  county  fur- 
nished the  latter  his  means  of  education. 
He  remained  at  home  until  twenty,  and  then 
came  to  Schuyler  County,  111.,  where  he 
remained  but  one  year;  then,  in  1867,  he  came 
to  Clay  County,  and  first  settled  in  this  town- 
ship. After  a  year's  residence  on  the  farm, 
he  moved  to  Clay  City,  and  purchasing  a 
drug  store  ran  it  for  two  years.  He  next 
went  to  Mississippi,  and  there  merchandized 
for  two  years.  From  this  State  he  again 
returned  to  Clay  County,  and  this  time  lo- 
cated at  Louisville,  where  he  merchandized 
for  one  year.  In  1872,  he  again  came  back 
to  his  farm  in  this  township,  and  resided 
here  for  four  years.  The  next  two  years  he 
spent  in  his  native  county  in  Ohio,  and  then 
again  came  to  this  township.  Here  he  now 
owns  740  acres  in  Sections  34.  35  and  36. 
He  has  about  700  acres  in  cultivation,  and 
twelve  acres  in  orchard.  He  also  devotes 
some  attention  to  stock-raising,  handling 
about  seventy  -five  head  of  hogs  and  100  head 
of  cattle  per  year.  Mr.  Vail  was  married, 
in  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  on  December  1,  1867,  to 
Miss  Fanny  Murphy.  This  lady  was  born  on 
January  7,  1845.  Mr.  Vail  gives  his  support 
to  the  Democratic  party.  Both  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Vail  are  members  of  the  Olive  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  South  of  this  township. 
Subject  is  also  a  member  of  Clay  City  Lodge, 
No.  488,  A.  F.  &  A.  M. 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


LARKINSBURG    TOWNSHIP. 


J.  M.  ALLDRIDGE,  merchant,  Iola,  was 
born  June  18,  1840,  in  this  township.  He 
is  a  son  of  William  and  Dicy  (Davis)  Al- 
dridge,  of  whom  mention  is  made  in  another 
part  of  this  work.  Our  subject  went  to 
school  here,  and  engaged  in  farming  till  he 
came  to  Iola.  Previous  to  this,  he  had 
owned  two  good  farms;  the  first  of  100  acres 
he  sold  to  Andrew  Koss;  the  last  of  136 
acres  he  told  to  S.  Weaver.  In  Iola,  he 
bought  a  lot  and  house  of  Moore  &  Riley,  in 
which  he  keeps  a  grocery  store,  also  queens- 
ware  and  glassware.  He  also  keeps  boarders. 
Mr.  Alldridge  was  married  here,  December 
17,  1868,  to  Miss  Sarah  J.  Littleton,  born 
August  5,  1850,  in  this  township.  She  is  a 
daughter  of  John  and  Catharine  (Peck)  Lit- 
tleton, who  are  natives  of  Ohio.  The  result 
of  this  happy  union  is  five  children,  viz., 
Mary  A.,  Robert  E., Leslie,  Dollie  and  Claude 
(deceased).  Mi-.  Alldridge  has  made  a  suc- 
cess in  farming,  and  also  in  his  new  occupa- 
tion, for  which  he  seems  eminently  fitted.  He 
has  filled  the  offices  of  Township  Clerk  two 
years,  and  of  Township  Assessor  two  years. 
In  politics,  he  is  an  ardent  Democrat,  and  con 
sidered  a  leader  among  the  Democrats  in 
Larkinsburg  Township. 

EDWAED  FENDER,  farmer,  P.  O.  Iola, 
was  born  September  16,  1826,  in  Ashe  Coun- 
ty, N.  C,  son  of  Andrew  and  Elizabeth  (Bath) 
Fender.  Andrew  Fender  was  a  native  of 
North  Carolina,  and  was  a  farmer  and  black- 
smith by  occupation.  He  came  to  this  county 
from  Owen  County,  Ind.,  in  1843,  and  settled 
in  Louisville  Township,  where  he  lived  one 
year,  then  came  to  Larkinsburg  Township, 
where  he  settled  in  Section  11,  and  bought  the 


improvements  on  Lowtrip*s  farm,  which  land 
he  deeded  the  next  year.  After  living  here 
eighteen  years,  he  went  to  Mercer  County, 
111.,  where  he  lived  fourteen  years;  then  re- 
turned to  this  county,  and  after  a  three  rears' 
residence  here  moved  back  to  Mercer  County, 
where  he  died  March  1 1, 1883,  aged  one  hun- 
dred years.  He  was  married  four  times,  his 
first  wife,  Sarah  O.  Bath,  died  leaving  seven 
children,  viz.,  Aaron,  Louis,  John,  Nellie, 
Anderson,  Catharine  and  Nancy,  of  whom 
only  Aaron  is  now  living.  His  second  wife, 
Elizabeth  Bath,  born  in  North  Carolina,  was 
the  mother  of  six  children,  viz.,  Daniel,  An- 
drew, Charity  (deceased),  Edward  (our  sub- 
ject), Elizabath  Williamson  and  Nancy  (de- 
ceased). His  third  wife,  Mrs.  Margaret 
Dyer,  died  in  Mercer  County.  She  was  the 
mother  of  four  children  by  this  marriage, 
viz.,  Polly  A.  Shieft,  Isaac,  Madison  and 
Jacob.  His  fourth  wife,  Mrs.  Bingum.  is 
yet  living,  and  is  the  mother  of  several  chil- 
dren. Our  subject  has  been  a  farmer  and 
trader.  After  he  was  married,  he  bought 
eighty  acres  of  land  in  Louisville  Township, 
which  he  sold.  He  then  bought  120  acres 
which  he  also  sold,  living  only  a  short  time 
on  each  place.  He  then  bought  160  acres 
in  Oskaloosa  Township,  where  he  lived  about 
twenty-nine  years,  during  which  time  he 
bought  considerable  land,  owning  at  one 
time  640  acres.  He  moved  to  Iola  in  Febru- 
ary, 1873.  and  has  practically  retired  from 
active  life.  He  started  with  nothing  in  the 
world  and  is  a  self-made  man  in  every  re- 
spect. While  in  Iola,  he  worked  at  the 
blacksmith  trade  part  of  the  time,  also  was 
in  a  drug  store,  and  for  two  years  owned  a 


LARKINSBURG   TOWNSHIP. 


one-third  interest  in  the  Iola  Mills.  He 
never  learned  to  read  and  write,  but  has  done 
a  good  deal  of  business  in  his  life.  Our  sub- 
ject was  married  here,  April  9,  1846,  to  Miss 
Ella  J.  Davis,  born  February  16,  1829,  in 
Tennessee.  She  is  a  daughter  of  Basil  and 
Sarah  (Tims)  Davis.  She  is  the  mother  of 
eleven  children,  of  whom  five  are  now  living, 
viz.,  John  W.,  Andrew  B.,  Henry  M.,  Theo- 
dosia  Williams  and  James  N.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Fender  are  religiously  connected  with  the 
Baptist  Church.  He  is  a  Democrat;  and  has 
yet  280  acres  of  land,  having  given  all  his 
children  a  farm  or  its  equivalent  in  money. 

I.  D.  FENDER,  farmer,  P.  O.  Edgewood, 
Effingham  Co.,  111.,  was  born  December  24, 
1839,  in   Lawrence  County,  Ind.     His   par- 
ents were  John  and  Matilda  (Sheeks)  Fender, 
the  former  a  native   of   North  Carolina,  and 
the   latter  of   Lawrence   County,   Ind.;    she 
died  in  1875.     John  Fender,  the  father  of 
our  subject,    came   to   Illinois  in    1850,  and 
settled  in  Effingham  County,  where  he  died 
in  the  fall  of  1865.   He  was  one  of  the  largest 
farmers  of  his  day,  owning  at  one  time  over 
1,200  acres  of   land   in    this   and   Effingbam 
Counties,  of  which  a  great  deal  was  deeded 
to  his  children  before  his  demise.      He  was 
also  a  great  stock-trader  as  well   as    farmer, 
and  widely  known  for  his  honesty  in  dealing 
and  his  broad  ideas  and  general  knowledge. 
He  was  married  in  Indiana.      His  wife   was 
the  mother  of   nine  children,   of    whom  live 
are   now    living,  viz.:     Malinda    C.   Brown, 
Isaac   D.    (our   subject),   Sarah    (deceased), 
Daniel  (now  a  resident   of   Mercer   County), 
John    B.     (deceased),    Mary   E.    (deceased), 
Joseph  O.,  Martha  E.  Brown  (deceased),  and 
Henry    D.       Our   subject   was    reared    and 
schooled  in  Indiana  and  in  this  county.      He 
has   been    married    twice,    the  first  time  in 
1860,  to  Sarah  J.Price,  a  native  of  this  town- 
ship, a  daughter  of  James  and  Sina  (Trover) 


Price,  he  a  native  of  North  Carolina,  and 
she  of  Larkinsbnrg  Township,  of  which  her 
father  was  an  old  settler.  Seven  children 
were  the  result  of  this  union,  of  whom  only 
Sina  O,  born  May  16,  1868,  is  now  living. 
After  the  death  of  Mr.  Fender's  first  wife,  he 
was  married  a  second  time,  to  Eugenia  Brown, 
born  April  2, 1855,  in  Johnson  County,  Ind., 
daughter  of  Job  and  Phcebe  (Williams) 
Brown.  Four  children  are  the  result  of  this 
union,  viz.:  Charley  J.,  Phcebe  L. ,  Robert 
O.,  and  Maggie  D.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fender 
are  members  of  the  Church  of  the  United 
Brethren  in  Christ.  He  is  a  Republican;  has 
been  Tax  Collector  three  terms;  and  keeps 
his  farm  of  250  acres  in  a  high  state  of  cul- 
tivation. 

H.  S.  WATSON,  farmer  and  miller,  P.  O. 
Iola.  Some  men  can  only  follow  one  occu- 
pation in  life,  and  that  one  is  the  only  one 
which  leads  to  their  prosperity.  Other  men, 
with  large  and  active  brains,  perhaps  with  a 
restless  disposition,  but  with  sterling  business 
qualities,  can  go  into  almost  anything  and 
make  a  success  of  it.  The  subject  of  the  fol- 
lowing sketch  belongs  to  the  latter  class,  and 
at  life's  close  can  look  back  and  say  that  he 
has  not  lived  in  vain:  Mr.  H.  S.  Watson 
was  born  October  6,  1831,  in  Washington 
County,  N.  Y. ,  of  which  place  his  pai-ents, 
David  R.  and  Lydia  (Whedon)  Watson,  are 
also  natives.  David  Watson  is  a  mechanic, 
and  is  yet  living  in  Livingston  County,  N.  Y. , 
aged  seventy-seven  years,  and  is  the  father 
of  three  children,  viz.:  Henry  S.,  William 
D.  and  Maria  McKinnon  (deceased).  Mrs. 
Lydia  Watson  died  in  this  township  in  1871, 
after  which  David  R.  WTatson,  the  father  of 
our  subject,  was  married  a  second  time  to 
Lois  A  Worthington,  a  native  of  New  York. 
She  is  yet  living,  and  is  the  mother  of  Walter 
Watson.  Our  subject  was  educated  in  New 
York,  and  at    the  age  of    fourteen  went   to 


240 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


Monticello,  Jefferson  Co.,  Ga.,  whore  he 
clerked  eight  years  in  succession  for  his  un- 
cle, Joel  S.  Graves,  who  owned  one  store  in 
Georgia  and  another  across  the  line  in  Flor- 
ida. Mr.  Watson  also  clerked  in  the  Florida 
store  whenever  business  was  pressing.  In 
Thomas  County,  Ga.,  on  February  1,  1S54, 
onr  subject  was  married  to  Miss  Julia  A. 
Wood,  born  February  3,  1832,  in  Southwick, 
Mass.  Her  parents,  William  A.  and  Laura 
(Shepard)  Wood,  wero  also  natives  of  Massa- 
chusetts, and  of  English  descent.  Our  subject 
followed  farming  in  Georgia  till  December, 
1857,  when  he  came  to  Xenia,  Clay  Co.,  111., 
where  he  followed  the  carpenter  and  joiner's 
trade  till  1860,  when  he  merchandized  oneyear 
in  Blue  Point,  Wayne  Co.,  111.,  with  discour- 
aging results,  and  in  1801  came  to  Larkins- 
burg  Township,  where  he  farmed  one  year. 
In  1802,  he  enlisted  in  the  Ninety-eighth 
Illinois  Mounted  Infantry,  Company  C,  act- 
ing as  Regimental  Quartermaster,  with  the 
rank  of  Lieutenant.  While  at  Macon,  Ga., 
he  was  detailed  as  Post  Quartermaster,  in 
which  capacity  he  remained  until  he  was  or- 
dered home  with  his  regiment,  having  served 
nearly  three  years.  After  the  war,  our  sub- 
ject engaged  in   the    furniture    business    in 


Xenia,  but  after  one  year  moved  to  Odin, 
Marion  County,  where  he  worked  at  the  car- 
ponter  trade,  and  then  went  to  Medina,  Or- 
leans Co.,  N.  Y. ,  where  he  remained  but  a 
short  time,  and  then  returned  to  Larkins- 
burg  Township,  Clay  Co.,  111.,  which  he  has 
made  his  home  mainly  ever  since.  During 
the  years  1872  to  1870,  he  served  as  County 
Treasurer  of  Clay  County.  In  1876,  he 
formed  a  partnership  with  William  H.  Hudle- 
son,  and  engaged  in  the  banking  business  at 
Louisville  till  November,  1881,  when  he 
closed  up  and  returned  to  Larkinsburg  Town- 
ship, where  he  is  at  present  engaged  in  the 
milling  business,  having  bought  a  one-fourth 
interest  in  the  Tola  Mills.  He  also  is  inter- 
ested in  farming,  and  owns  900  acres  of  land 
in  this  and  adjoining  townships.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Watson  are  members  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  Flora,  and  are  the  parents  of  two 
children,  viz. :  Laura  S.  Rapp  (born  Novem- 
ber 9,  1854),  and  Henry  E.  (born  September 
22,  1856).  Mr.  Watson  is  an  active  member 
of  the  Iola  Lodge,  No.  091,  of  which  he  has 
been  Master.  He  is  identified  with  the  Re- 
publican party,  has  tilled  many  township 
offices,  and  is  at  present  President  of  the 
Board  of  Supervisors. 


BLAIR    TOWNSHIP. 


JAMES  ANDERSON,  physician,  Hord,  was 
born  July,  3,  1 825  in  Fayette  County,  Ind. ,  son 
of  George  and  Eliza  (Shipley)  Anderson,  he  a 
native  of  Kentucky,  and  she  of  Maryland. 
He  was  born  in  September,  1798,  and  died 
Aug.  0,  1883,  and  was  a  farmer  and  mechanic 
by  occupation.  She  was  born  in  1S03,  and 
died  in  Sonoma  County,  Cal.  She  is  the 
mother    of    ten  children,  viz.:     James,  Cyn- 


thia, Eliza,  Robert  and  David  (twins), 
Sarah,  Jane,  George,  Rebecca  and  Thomas. 
Our  subject  is  mainly  self-educated,  receiv- 
ing his  medicial  education  at  Des  Moines, 
Iowa,  to  which  city  his  father  had  moved  in 
1848.  There  Dr.  Russell  was  his  preceptor 
for  two  years,  after  which  he  studied  medi- 
cine himself  and  gradually  acquired  his  fund 
of  knowledge.     In  the  spring  of  1852,  he  re- 


BLAIR    TOWNSHIP. 


241 


turned  to  Illinois,  where  he  stayed  one  year 
with  Dr.  Falley,  of  Mason,  Effingham 
County.  In  1856,  our  subject  came  to  Clay 
County,  where  he  boarded  nine  months  with 
Dr.  Bugher  and  taught  school,  also  prac- 
ticed medicine  a  little  by  visiting  Dr. 
Bugher's  patients  for  him.  After  this,  our 
subject  taught  school  in  this  and  Effingham 
County  for  two  years,  and  finally  in  1858 
established  himself  as  a  physician  in  Jordon. 
At  present  he  resides  a  half  mile  west  of 
Jordon,  now  called  Hord  Post  Office,  enjoy- 
ing a  large  and  remunerative  practice.  The 
Doctor  also  owns  215  acres  of  land  in  this  town- 
ship. Dr.  Anderson  was  joined  in  matrimony, 
January  2,  1859,  in  Blair  Township  to  Miss 
Susannah  Blair,  born  February  13,  1836,  in 
Indiana.  She  is  a  daughter  of  James  and 
Margaret  (Hughes)  Blair.  Six  children  are 
the  result  of  this  happy  union,  the  names  of 
the  children  are:  George  (born  October  10, 
1859),  David  B.  (born  December  10,  1861), 
Francis  H.  (born  October  15,  186 1),  Howard 
M.  (born  July  23,  1870),  Luella  (born  April 
24,  1872,  she  died  November  14,  1874),  and 
Mahala  A.  (born  March  10,  1876).  Dr.  and 
Mrs.  Anderson  are  members  of  the  Baptist 
Church.  He  has  filled  the  office  of  Town- 
ship Clerk,  Highway  Commissioner,  Town 
ship  Supervisor. 

DAVID  BLAIR,  farmer,  P.  O.  Hord,  was 
born  June  16,  1829,  in  Martin  County,  Ind. 
He  is  a  son  of  James  and  Margaret  (Hughes) 
Blair,  natives  of  Tennessee,  who  settled  in 
Blair  Township  on  Section  15,  in  the  fall 
of  1839.  Our  subject  received  his  schooling 
in  Indiana  and  in  the  old-fashioned  subscrip- 
tion schools  of  this  county.  When  the  war 
clouds  began  to  hover  over  this  country,  Mr. 
Blair  became  an  ardent  supporter  of  the 
Union  cause  and  enlisted  August  12,  1861,  at 
Mason,  111.,  in  the  Thirty-eighth  Illinois  Vol- 
unteer Infantry,  Company  B,  Capt.    Young. 


He  held  the  position  of  First  Duty  Sergeant, 
and  served  till  September  15,  1864,  that  be- 
ing the  expiration  of  his  time,  and  on  ac- 
count of  sickness,  received  his  discharge  at 
Chattanooga.  He  participated  in  the  battles 
of  Frederickstown,  Stone  River,  the  Georgia 
campaign  and  other  engagements.  At  the 
battle  of  Stone  River,  he  was  taken  prisoner 
of  war,  but  paroled,  and  as  the  parole  was 
not  recognized,  he  continued  to  do  duty. 
Upon  his  leturn  home,  he  engaged  in  agri- 
cultural pursuits,  and  as  the  result  of  his  la- 
bor has  a  fine  farm  of  140  acres  of  land  with 
good  improvements.  He  bought  his  first 
land  in  1864.  forty-eight  acres,  for  which  he 
paid  $800.  Our  subject  was  married.  No- 
vember 3,  1864,  to  Hannah  R.  Wilson,  who 
died  July  3,  1865.  His  present  wife,  nee 
Miss  Adeline  Lewis,  a  model  wife  and  house- 
keeper, was  born  October  10,  1835,  in  Louis- 
ville. She  is  a  daughter  of  Crawford  and 
Elizabeth  (Neel)  Lewis,  and  is  the  mother  of 
four  children — Hallie  G.,  born  August  25, 
1869;  Francis  W.,  born  December  2,  1870. 
Harrison  E.  born  August  5,  1872,  and  Anna 
Rosette,  deceased.  Mr.  Blair  has  served  his 
many  friends  in  the  capacity  of  School  Treas- 
urer, and  in  politics  is  a  Republican. 

JESSE  BLAIR,  farmer,  P.  O.  Hord,  is 
another  descendant  of  one  of  our  old  pio- 
neer families  in  Blair  Township.  He  is  a 
son  of  Josiah  Blair,  who  was  a  native  of 
Hawkins  County,  Tenn.  He,  Josiah  Blair, 
was  married  twice;  his  first  wife,  Hattie  (Ray) 
Blair,  was  a  native  of  Indiana,  where  she 
died.  She  was  the  mother  of  five  children 
— George,  Nancy  Eytchison,  John,  Jesse,  our 
subject,  and  Jemima  Redman.  His  second 
wife,  Lavina  Westmoreland,  whom  he  mar- 
ried in  Indiana,  and  with  whom  he  came  to 
this  county,  was  the  mother  of  the  following 
children — Manley,  William,  Alfred,  Josiah 
and  Hailey  are  now  dead,  Manley  and  Josiah 


242 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


dying  while  in  the  army.  The  following  are 
yet  living:  James  H.,  Henry  C,  Harrison, 
Louisa  Williams,  Lavina  E.,  Elizabeth  Rex- 
rode  and  Sarah  J.,  wife  of  Dr.  Gladson. 
Josiah  Blair  died  in  this  county  in  1865. 
Mrs.  Lavina  Blair  died  several  years  after 
her  husband's  demise.  The  grandfather  of 
our  subject  was  Robert  Blair,  whose  wife's 
maiden  name  was  Bean;  they  came  here  in 
1837,  and  died  here.  Our  subject,  Jesse 
Blair,  received  only  three  months'  schooling, 
which  was  obtained  from  William  Laws  in  a 
log  schoolhouse,  but  not  learning  to  write 
till  he  was  twenty-one  years  old.  He  came 
to  this  county  with  his  father  in  the  spring 
of  1837,  and  spent  his  youth  in  cultivating 
the  virgin  soil  of  Blair  Township,  which  was 
named  in  honor  of  his  father  and  uncles. 
In   1855,  Jesse   Blair  bought  forty  acres  of 


land,  for  which  he  paid  $325.  He  now  owns 
200  acres  of  good  land.  Mr.  Blair  has  been 
married  twice.  His  first  wife,  Polly  A.  Ed- 
wards, was  a  daughter  of  William  Edwards, 
an  old  pioneer,  who  is  yet  living  in  this 
county.  She  was  born  in  Indiana,  and  died 
here.  His  present  wife,  who  was  Mrs.  Mary 
Hodge,  a  widow  lady  at  time  of  marriage,  is 
a  daughter  of  William  and  Frances  Jordan, 
both  natives  of  North  Carolina.  Mrs.  Blair, 
a  native  of  Indiana,  and  is  the  mother  of  A. 
E.  Hodge,  a  son  of  her  first  husband.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Blair  are  connected  with  the  Chris- 
tian Church,  sometimes  called  New-Lights. 
Mr.  Blair  enjoys  the  respect  of  the  commu- 
nity in  which  he  resides,  having  served  the 
people  therein  as  Constable  seven  years,  and 
Justice  of  the  Peace  seven  years;  votes  the 
Republican  ticket. 


^& 


